Key ratings highlights for NHK morning drama "Manpuku"

Although I have not been posting anything about drama ratings in recent years, I think that it's only right for me to share these key highlights in Manpuku's ratings for the past 6 months especially as it is the very first morning drama which I managed to complete in real time. Be prepared for more Manpuku-related posts in the days to come especially my review of this drama!

- Manpuku started airing from 1 October 2018 and ended its run on 30 March 2019 with 151 episodes.

- The average rating for the Kanto region was 21.4% while it was 19.5% in the Kansai region. Compared to the drama preceding it i.e. Hanbun Aoi which got an average of 21.1% in the Kanto region, Manpuku did better.

- The first episode registered a rating of 23.8% and 20.4% in the Kanto and Kansai regions respectively. This was the highest debut episode rating so far in the asadora history.

- The last episode got an average rating of 22.1% and 22.4% in the Kanto and Kansai regions respectively. Figures of the Kanto region for the last week were 22.7% -> 22.0% -> 21.8% -> 20.6% -> 21.3% -> 22.1%.

- The highest single episode rating for the Kanto region was the first episode while for the Kansai region, it was the last episode.

- Here are the average ratings for the five dramas preceding Manpuku (first figure is for Kanto while the second figure is for Kansai):
"Hanbun, Aoi" - 21.1% / 19.3%
"Warotenka" - 20.1% /  19.6%
"Hiyokko" - 20.4% / 20.3%
"Beppin-san" - 20.3% / 20.2%
"Toto Nee-chan" - 22.8% /  20.4%

- Ever since "Asa ga kita" in 2015, this is the 7th consecutive asadora which has registered an average rating of above 20%. Manpuku's average rating was higher than the 6 dramas preceding it, with the sole exceptions being "Toto Nee-chan" (22.8%) and "Asa ga kita" (23.5%).

- The ratings trend: Manpuku started off very well in its first episode and maintained an average rating of above 20% up till the 13th week before the New Year break. The only episodes when it went below 20% was on 4th and 5th January i.e. straight after the New Year break. It returned to the 20s region from the 15th week all the way to the end of its run.

Sources: Oricon / Sponichi