Spring 2017 dramas coming your way via Waku Waku Japan

For those who have access to the cable channel Waku Waku Japan, do check out the following Spring 2017 dramas coming your way this month!

First of all, "CRISIS Kouan Kido Sousatai Tokusouhan" starring Oguri Shun and Nishijima Hidetoshi will be aired on the same day of its Japanese broadcast with a delay of just two hours! The drama is scheduled to be shown at 9pm Japan time on next Tuesday while Waku Waku Japan's broadcast is at 10pm (10.15pm for the first episode) on the same night SG time. Usually, the overseas broadcast tends to be at least a week away from the Japanese broadcast so it's a rare opportunity for this drama to be shown on the same night, what's more just two hours later! Do check it out if you can because if the ratings are satisfactory, we might get more of such "timely" broadcasts in future.

Later in the month, "Chiisana Kyojin" starring Hasegawa Hiroki, Okada Masaki, Yoshine Kyoko, Yasuda Ken, Shunputei Shota and Kagawa Teruyuki who is back in another classic baddie role will be shown on Saturdays at 9pm from 22nd April. The Japanese broadcast of this drama is on 16 April (Sundays) so there's a gap of about a week for the overseas broadcast which is considered pretty much the norm. Note that the first broadcast is 1.5 hours long while the rest of the episodes are scheduled for one hour each. For more details on the broadcast, you can also visit Waku Waku Japan's website but note that this is the SG version so you will need to check the page applicable for your country/region.

Last but not least, Arashi or rather Aiba fans will probably be very excited to see "Kizoku Tantei" showing on Waku Waku Japan from 23 April 2017 on Sundays at 9pm. Again, the gap in the overseas and Japanese broadcast is about a week since the drama starts its run in Japan from 17 April. Waku Waku Japan's website doesn't have any visuals on this drama which I suppose is due to Johnny's Jimusho's restrictions on the use of its artistes' images online. Note that the first episode's broadcast will be 30 minutes longer than the others.

At present, Waku Waku Japan can be seen in 8 Asian countries i.e. Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Note that the schedules I mentioned above are applicable to Singapore only so there may be variations for your country. Please check out the respective countries' websites for the necessary details via this page.

It's a good thing that the cable channels are becoming more up-to-date in terms of their offerings rather than showing dramas which are at least a season old. Although they probably can't do that for every drama, it's still an improvement from the old days when you could only resort to streaming or downloading these dramas only to get your drama fix. Personally, although I'm quite keen to check out "CRISIS", I was wondering why they didn't bring in "Reverse" instead of "Chiisana Kyojin" considering that the Asian audience would have been more familiar with Fujiwara Tatsuya and Toda Erika from their "Death Note" movies. "Kizoku Tantei" was sort of expected considering Arashi's popularity and the star-studded cast but I have a nagging suspicion that this drama's fate could go in extreme ways i.e. a big hit or a horrendous flop if the story is not good enough. Hope that it won't perform that badly though!