Preview of "Kaibutsu" - Summer 2025

Title: Kaibutsu / 怪物

Official website: here

O.A. Start Date: 6 July 2025

Timeslot: Sundays at 10pm

Broadcast by: WOWOW

Original Korean drama by: Kim Su-jin

Cast: Yasuda Ken, Mizukami Koushi, Gouriki Ayame, Fujimori Shingo, Matobu Sei, Saotome Taichi, Kubo Saori, Kote Shinya, Hashimoto Jun, Mitsuishi Ken, Takahata Atsuko & Watabe Atsuro

Quick Review #132: Tsuki no michikake (movie)

Title: Tsuki no michikake / 月の満ち欠け　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a love story but don't mind the illogical and harrowing reincarnation concepts in the movie and/or are fans of the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The love stories of the two couples i.e. the Osanais (Ooizumi Yo and Shibasaki Kou) and Ruri x Akira-kun (Arimura Kasumi and Meguro Ren) were depicted pretty well with the former being the heartwarming and brings-a-smile-to-your-face type of subtle love and the latter being more of passionate and somewhat intense kind of love. I actually prefer the Osanais' story especially the parts where they talked about how they fell in love with each other and eventually got married. Such a warm and fuzzy vibe and very blissful kind of love to watch. 

- The acting of the four leads were definitely quite spot-on and very enjoyable to watch except for the scene when Ooizumi's character Tsuyoshi was crying at the sight of his loved ones' bodies after the accident where his cries sounded a bit odd. While Shibasaki may not have appeared a lot, I thought that the ending moments of her character Kozue telling her side of the love story were extremely well done. Fans of Meguro Ren would be quite happy to see him as a lovelorn chap but may not be so excited to see the bed scene with Arimura Kasumi (not explicit though since they were mainly long shots from a distance and there was a blanket covering the actors).

Much as I don't feel like praising Tanaka Kei, I have to give him credit when it's due - he's really suited to play this kind of obsessive/abusive husband and lover with a seemingly harmless and nice face.

Disliked: 

- This is my personal preference though but I am really not a fan of 転生 / reincarnation stories to begin with. While I understood that this was necessary for the purpose of this story, the loopholes and illogical execution of this concept made it impossible for me to like the movie. To be able to choose at will how or who you will be reborn as - that's already quite unbelievable. Not to mention waiting for the reborn version to grow up (which will take at least more than a decade) before resuming your love story from the last life - that just comes across as a horror and rather repulsive thing to happen and I certainly don't find it, romantic at all. Especially the final scene showing who Kozue was reborn as - that really killed any remaining positive feelings I had for the movie. This was quite a pity though because I did like specific parts of the movie as outlined above but it ended on such a sour note that I am not even sure if I want to finish reading the original novel which has been lying around since I bought it a while ago.

- Given that the story spans quite a number of years, I was surprised to see that there wasn't any attempt to distinguish between the 80s and 90s more distinctively. As such, in terms of clothing, the sets, surroundings and character images, they didn't feel that different from each other in the two timelines. That could be a bit confusing for viewers though so that's probably why the years kept appearing on screen to indicate the time when the development happened. 

- In relation to the above point, while Ooizumi and Shibasaki's characters did appear different in the two timelines, both in terms of mannerisms and appearance since the couple did evolve from newly-weds to parents of a 18-year-old senior high school kid, Meguro's character didn't really show the progression of time. He may have dressed more maturely as a guy in his 30s when he met Ooizumi's character for the first time but it felt like he was stretching it a bit too far and didn't come across as too convincing in this sense. On the other hand, his scenes as the university student-version of Akira-kun were definitely more natural since that's close to his actual age.

Preview of "Oi, Dazai" - Spring 2025

Title: Oi, Dazai / おい、太宰

Official website: here

O.A. Start Date: 29 June 2025

Timeslot: Sundays at 10pm

Broadcast by: WOWOW

Cast: Tanaka Kei, Koike Eiko, Miyazawa Ema, Kajihara Zen & Matsuyama Kenichi

When holding your horses may be better than trying to outsmart the competition - The strategic game of setting drama broadcast timeslots

Much has been said about how viewing habits have changed in recent years due to the increasing popularity of OTT platforms and on-demand viewing services which offer flexibility to viewers in watching what they want at a convenient time. This has inevitably led to lower real-time ratings across the board as TV stations struggle to pull in the audiences needed to sell commercial slots to sponsors and advertisers. Despite so, the TV stations still spend much time and effort in playing the strategy game of setting drama broadcast timeslots against their fellow competitors and other forms of entertainment, albeit with varying degrees of success.

This article examines the positioning of and strategies deployed in planning drama broadcast timeslots by the main TV stations. While this may not be so relevant to us outside of Japan who usually do not get to watch the dramas in real-time since we tend to rely on OTT platforms or delayed broadcasts, it is interesting to see the logic and justification behind these decisions.

TV Asahi

• Their core/signature timeslots are Wednesdays 9pm and Thursdays 9pm which are usually the ones with the highest real-time ratings.
• Signature offerings in the Wednesdays timeslot include the long-running series "Aibou" which entered its 23rd season last year.
• Other timeslots include Tuesdays 9pm and the late-night Fridays 11pm timeslot. 
• For dramas with lower real-time ratings such as those in late-night slots, the criteria to determine if the drama is doing well is also dependent on the number of views via on-demand platforms. For example, "Munou no taka" achieved the highest first-episode views to date for the Fridays 11pm timeslot with 2.13 million views.

FujiTV

• Its signature timeslot is the Mondays 9pm timeslot which used to be well-known as the leader for "trendy dramas" in the 90s along with three other timeslots i.e. Tuesdays 9pm, Wednesdays 10pm and Thursdays 10pm.
• Other offerings from affiliated TV stations in the same network include Kansai TV's Mondays 10pm timeslot and Tokai TV's Saturdays late-night timeslot.
• Movements in recent years include the establishment of the Fridays 9pm timeslot in autumn 2023 which was moved to Tuesdays 9pm in the following year.
• There have been a number of examples in recent years where some dramas perform very well on on-demand platforms such as "silent" which achieved record-breaking views despite relatively low real-time ratings and being in the Thursdays timeslot. However, "Umi no hajimari" which was made by the same team and featured the same lead actor Meguro Ren, was aired in the signature Mondays timeslot so the criteria for success and expectations were naturally higher as compared to the other timeslots.
• The Thursdays timeslot has a tendency to feature controversial or more adult themes such as extramarital affairs and adult romance which some viewers may not feel comfortable watching with others and family so the on-demand views typically see rather high numbers.
• The Tuesdays timeslot usually features workplace-related stories or those focusing on specific occupations such as "Jinji no Hitomi" in the Spring 2025 season.
• The Wednesdays season tends to feature edgy, unconventional and adventurous works such as "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu" in Autumn 2024 and "Shinjuku Yasen Byouin" in Summer 2024. A lot of effort is put into collaborations with OTT platforms so these works are also put onto Netflix to target the international audiences.
• They are also experimenting with putting the next episode of their dramas onto their own on-demand platform FOD ahead of the live broadcast schedule since "Paripi Koumei" in Autumn 2023. This is said to be effective in attracting part of the viewers who watch on FOD to flow back to real-time viewing.

NTV

• Up till 2023, there were three 1-hr timeslots i.e. Wednesdays 10pm, Saturdays 10pm and Sundays 10.30pm.
• Since then, there were new 30-min late-night timeslots introduced i.e. Mondays 12.30am (produced by a local TV station in the Kanto region) and Fridays 12.30am. The Fridays slot has been shifted to Tuesdays from autumn 2024 while the original Fridays slot is no longer reserved for dramas only.
• Yomiuri TV in the same network produces the Thursdays 12 midnight drama.
• At one time, the Wednesdays timeslot was shifted to Saturdays 9pm i.e. two dramas back-to-back on Saturdays for a year but the Wednesdays timeslot was restored in April this year.
• As for the Sundays timeslot, the drama offerings tend to be those light enough for people to watch before starting a brand new week the following day.
• Compared to the past when most, if not all of its dramas were exclusively reserved for release on its own Hulu platform, there have been some which made it onto international platforms like Netflix e.g. "Houkago karute".
• In order to boost awareness of the drama before its release, the TV station is also experimenting with releasing a short clip of the first episode on TVer and YouTube before the first OA.
• One parameter for assessing whether viewers' interest and if they will be staying on for the long-term to watch a drama is the number of users who add the drama to their favourites list on platforms like TVer prior to the first OA.
• In the late-night timeslots, they tend to be dramas which female viewers prefer to watch on their own rather in the company of others thus this explains the high on-demand views on streaming platforms.

TBS

• The key timeslots are its signature Sundays 9pm along with Tuesdays 10pm and Fridays 10pm.
• The Tuesdays timeslot is targeted at female viewers in their 30s and 40s and had quite a number of romantic love stories or comedies to date. However, the trend has shifted to include other forms of love such as family love in recent years.
• The Fridays timeslot has a slightly higher target market in terms of age i.e. women from their 30s to 50s.
• As for the Sundays timeslot, it is meant to capture the attention of a wide range of viewers thus explaining the variety of offerings and not being bound to a specific genre.

TV Tokyo

• Its Mondays and Fridays late-night dramas are making waves on on-demand platforms such as its Monday offering in Summer 2024 i.e. "Otto no katei wo kowasu made" which generated total views above 30 million thus breaking TV Tokyo's record to date. This type of "affair-horror" or edgy stories are usually not meant to be watched together with family members thus explaining why the on-demand views are so high.
• In order to promote their dramas, signature scenes are made into short clips and released on platforms like TikTok which in turn generates more interest. Those who watch the drama are also drawn to these short clips and they even have one video which has registered as many as 116 million views to date.
• As for the Thursdays timeslot, one signature offering is the long-running series "Kodoku no Gurume" which had humble roots but grew to become so successful that it even had its own movie released in January 2025.
• Until three years ago, TV Tokyo didn't have a department handling the drama content streaming business since it was only focused on the rights business for anime series. As they believe that affair stories with a suspense angle and revenge stories go very well with online streaming platforms, they intend to go big on these while still tapping on their expertise in doing gourmet and horror dramas.
• It is also entering the short drama genre with its streaming app "BUMP" which releases dramas with 10 to 30 episodes of no more than 3 minutes long each and charges apply to each episode watched. These new content ideas are proposed by their younger employees and aimed at capturing new users and viewers.

　

What can be observed from the above:

• Some TV stations hardly change their timeslots while some are adopting a bit of a "trial-and-error" approach to see what works for them.
• Some TV stations are a lot more adventurous in trying new forms of PR and increasing access routes to their content rather than sticking to the usual.
• Parameters for judging success seems to be expanded beyond real-time ratings to include views on streaming platforms and user interest. However, real-time ratings haven't been ignored completely since this is still critical for securing advertising income.
• Some timeslots have a clearly defined target audience which shapes the nature of the content offerings while some have a defined type of genre instead.

The thing is, the decision of whether to hold the horses, create, cancel or move timeslots does come with a risk of failure, or at the very least embarrassment/ridicule by rivals and the industry insiders for the private networks. This article examines the rationale behind the strategy of drama timeslot planning and how the TV stations have fared in this game over the years.

When NTV resurrected its Wednesdays 10pm timeslot this spring after shifting it to Saturdays for one short year, it was inevitable that people would see this as a failure of its decision to move its long-running and considerably successful Wednesdays timeslot. Although the official reason given by NTV was to attract the female viewers who would already be tuning in to the variety show "Ueda to onna ga hoeru yoru" that airs before the drama to continue watching, the other side of the story was that the variety show "Sekai Itadaki Gurume" which was put into the original Wednesdays timeslot last year, isn't doing well and having two dramas back-to-back on Saturdays did not work out as planned. This type of change is often viewed as a blow to the morale of the staff and cast members of the shows/dramas involved and will affect the confidence of sponsors. On the other hand though, NTV has always been known to make decisions decisively when the going gets tough so being able to cut losses at such an early stage is also seen as beneficial to its long-term interests.

Actually, when NTV made the decision to shift its Wednesdays drama timeslot which had been around for 38.5 years, this was met with skepticism and dismay by the industry which failed to comprehend their reasons for doing so. One reason cited for NTV's decision back then was FujiTV creating a new drama timeslot which overlapped with NTV's since Spring 2022 but the performance of NTV's traditional drama timeslot was seen as still being able to hold its own against the new contender. Despite so, NTV probably felt that any small gains it had over FujiTV in this timeslot were not going to be enough to help it secure the top spot in the ratings race as a whole. Besides, seeing how FujiTV seemed to be able to achieve success with its back-to-back drama strategy on Mondays since autumn 2021, this was probably what tempted NTV to try doing the same on Saturdays by moving the Wednesdays drama to the weekend.

In FujiTV's case, it has probably seen even more missteps compared to NTV when playing around with its drama timeslots.

While NTV unexpectedly gave up the fight on Wednesdays last year and led to FujiTV hogging the drama timeslot, FujiTV actually had another short-lived fight against TBS' signature Sundays 9pm timeslot twice. From autumn 2010 to winter 2013 (2.5 years) and from spring 2016 to summer 2017 (1.5 years), FujiTV failed to break TBS' monopoly in this timeslot. FujiTV also created the Fridays 9pm timeslot to fight against TBS which barely lasted a year from autumn 2023 to summer 2024 until it was moved to the Tuesdays 9pm timeslot last autumn. 

Another classic example was FujiTV's Tuesdays 10pm timeslot which started in spring 1996 but was axed in summer 2016 despite seeing many past hits like "GTO" and "Kekkon dekinai otoko". A reason for the withdrawal from this timeslot was said to be NHK and TBS setting up new drama timeslots in spring 2010 and spring 2014 respectively. The result was that TBS managed to build the love story branding for this timeslot very quickly starting with the hit "Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu".

These movements by FujiTV coincide with its slip from the No.1 position in the ratings race since 2010 and its desperate desire to improve its situation by doing something. However, it turned out that things got progressively worse for them no matter what they tried to do. 

While TV Asahi may have been seen as generating consistent hits through its reliance on long-running series like "Aibou" and "Kasouken no onna" which targets the middle-aged and elderly market segments, its willingness to change things around recently seems to suggest that it is also feeling the heat from the competition. For example, the end of its 23-year-old Thursdays 8pm mystery drama timeslot in summer 2022 and airing dramas in the Tuesdays 9pm timeslot were meant to capture viewers in the core market of teens to 40s but it seems like things aren't looking too rosy for them too.

TBS may be the odd one out in the field as it seems to be churning out consistent results while not making any changes to its primetime drama timeslots i.e. Sundays 9pm and Fridays 10pm. However, this is probably a chicken-and-egg issue where you risk being seen as a loser if you move your timeslot easily when faced with competition but if you don't, you might not be able to get the desired ratings which the TV station business focuses on. This has led to the phenomenon where any movement or changes typically last for just 1 to 3 years before things go back to how it is originally.

The unique nature of dramas as compared to other types of TV programmes like news, variety, infotainment and sports is also a key factor to consider. These programmes tend to rely on timeliness, how eye-catching they are and whether they are interesting so it's not so easy to record and watch/stream them later as compared to dramas. As such, many TV stations focus more on luring viewers to watch their dramas in real-time rather than work on quality instead thus creating the situation where some offerings are often mocked for being exaggerated, childish or silly e.g. NTV's Saturday dramas but very much talked-about, be it in the positive or negative sense.

It takes time to build up a viewing habit and for viewers to remember these timeslots. These constant changes to the programming schedule actually have a detrimental effect to cultivating the viewing habits needed to shore up the real-time viewing figures which the TV stations are seeking. Even for those who do not wish to view the dramas in real-time, having a grasp on the schedule helps in keeping track of when new episodes are uploaded to platforms like TVer which tends to erase episodes after 1 week or so (except the first three and last episodes). Speaking from personal experience, there were quite a number of instances to date when I dropped a drama because I missed an episode or did not manage to watch it in time on TVer before it got deleted, not because I lost interest and gave up voluntarily.

One other thing that gets in the way of cultivating real-time viewing habits is the disruption caused by variety show specials. Often, these ad-hoc shows tend to last for 2 to 3 hours at one go and inevitably eat into the timeslots usually meant for dramas. When that happens too often, viewers lose track of what is considered regular programming so this is especially problematic when a longtime drama timeslot gets shifted into a timing which has all along shown something else.

In comparison, NHK can do its own thing without being affected by what the private networks are doing because it has a different modus operandi. It is not bound by the seasonal cycle of new dramas shown every three months - its dramas have a variety of lengths and start/end dates can be anytime. From the perspective of the private networks, NHK is a competitor that "doesn't play by the rules" and thus is able to snatch away viewers at unexpected junctures, often without prior notice and giving the TV stations little room and time to react to the national broadcaster's moves. For example, just as FujiTV had to shift its Tuesdays 10pm timeslot to avoid a heads-on clash with NHK, NTV also had to bring forward its Saturday drama from 10pm to 9pm nowadays to prevent fighting with NHK. Besides, NHK has no need to consider ratings or sponsors due to its business model so it can afford to produce dramas with varied themes which often cannot be found on the private networks.

Even though this game of setting drama broadcast timeslots is hard to win, TV stations are unlikely and unable to give up on making dramas. This is because in this age of changing viewing habits, dramas and anime are actually the best intellectual property/content that can bring it the most money now compared to other TV shows. While it would be silly to keep banking on real-time ratings only to bring in the dough in the form of advertisement income, dramas can lead to an enormous amount of income through other channels such as:

• releasing the dramas on OTT platforms (both domestic and international)
• doing installments of successful series which can include spin-offs, movies, anime, stage plays, games, events, music and character goods
• corporate collaborations such as special menus and goods

As such, despite the low return on investment in terms of the real-time ratings as compared to the costs involved in drama production, dramas are still going to take up the golden and primetime slots as compared to variety shows which tend to see better ratings. Besides, each of the private TV networks have their own OTT platforms so the growth of such channels in the form of paid users can be sustained as long as they have a decent archive of their past and current dramas. 

Preview of "Teruko to Rui" - Spring 2025

Title: Teruko to Rui / 照子と瑠衣

Official website: here

O.A. Start Date: 22 June 2025

Timeslot: Sundays at 10pm

Broadcast by: NHK

Total number of episodes: 8

Original novel by: Inoue Areno

Cast: Fubuki Jun, Natsuki Mari, Fukuchi Momoko, Miura Ryota, Toudou Hinata, Okano Yoichi, Anzai Hajime, Yamaguchi Tomomitsu, Yuki Saori & Owada Shinya

Quick Review #131: Mukashi no otoko - Spring 2001

Title: Mukashi no otoko / 昔の男　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 4 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch an erotic/adult story about people who go crazy for love and/or like stories about people having affairs but masked as pure love

AND/OR

Those who want to see the key cast members i.e. Fujiwara Norika, Oosawa Takao, Abe Hiroshi and Tomita Yasuko from 24 years ago in a messy romance story

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I had actually watched this before a long time ago but didn't remember the details.

Liked:

- Oosawa Takao + Abe Hiroshi exuding a lot of sexy charm from 24 years ago is probably going to be a huge draw for the female viewers. As for the guys, there is Fujiwara Norika looking hot and gorgeous and Tomita Yasuko with a demure and beautiful look (not when her character goes crazy though).

- This being an adult love story and that there was quite a fair bit of attention on the physical attraction and desire between the characters, it was no wonder that there were a lot of intimate scenes. While I thought that there were too many at some point because it got so repetitive, I guess the sole saving grace was that they didn't go too big on the nudity so it didn't feel like a porn flick.

- Tomita's acting definitely outshone everyone else in the cast. Not an easy role to play because it would feel fake if she went too overboard so I thought that she did very well with maintaining a fine balance between the different facades of her character.

Disliked: 

- You might arrive at different conclusions and views on this drama depending on at which age or life stage when you watched this and/or in which era. Back then when this first aired, although I don't quite remember how I came across this drama and the details of the story, I do have a vague impression that I was pretty shocked by this. Not sure if it was due to the scriptwriter Uchidate Makiko's style of storytelling but I think I had a similar shocking experience when I watched another drama from her i.e. "Kegareta shita" in 2005. That was even more extreme than this drama, if I must say.

I was not an adult yet when this drama aired so I think my interpretation of the storyline and the characters naturally differed from how I look it at it now. There were probably many like me at that time who might wanted the lead characters to be together happily ever after despite the mess they created in the process. However, the me in 2025 just cannot see the lead couple in the same light anymore because the tinted glasses which I saw them through due to the way the story was crafted are gone. Perhaps it's due to having seen so many fictional and real-life affair stories in the Japanese entertainment scene over the past two decades that it has "opened up my eyes" to the problematic, immoral and sometimes evil behaviour which many of the characters engaged in. As such, it was difficult for me to feel for the characters, much less rooting for them.

I failed to comprehend how the lead couple could be having an affair so openly and selfishly while the people around them somehow facilitated or egged them or sort of turned a blind eye to what was going on. The mother-in-law who didn't blame her son for having an affair but directed criticism at the daughter-in-law? And what's with the boyfriend and the ex-boyfriend sitting together to have drinks in a pub talking about the same woman they were sleeping with?! A woman feeling like she got spurned but actually the man had never even expressed any interest in her before and it was one-sided on her part all along? And the current boyfriend helping the girlfriend go to taunt the ex-boyfriend so that the latter could be seduced by her again? All these things made it rather impossible for me to like this drama and instead, I found myself shaking my head at how ridiculous and nonsensical some of these developments were.

While I might have thought in the past that Tomita's character as the cheated on wife was largely at fault for "indirectly" causing her husband's infidelity, I think that the other side of the story which might not have been apparent to my younger self had become more obvious and understandable to me now. If I was writing this review after the first time I watched this drama, I might have kinder words for it though.

Preview of "Hitori de shinitai" - Spring 2025

Title: Hitori de shinitai / ひとりでしにたい

Official website: here

O.A. Start Date: 21 June 2025

Timeslot: Saturdays at 10pm

Broadcast by: NHK

Original manga by: Curry Zawa Kaoru

Theme Song: "Bounitsuki" by Shiina Ringo

Cast: Ayase Haruka, Sano Hayato, Yamaguchi Sayaka, Koseki Yuuta, Tsunematsu Yuri, Mitsushima Shinnosuke, Maro Akaji, Kishimoto Ayuka, Fujima Sawako, Kominami Mayuko, Koume Dayu, Kunimura Jun & Matsuzaka Keiko

Quick Review #130: Sunset Sunrise (movie)

Title: Sunset Sunrise / サンセット・サンライズ　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a feel-good story with serious topics embedded within amid some funny elements and/or are fans of Suda Masaki and Inoue Mao

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- While this movie was longer than 2 hours, it surprisingly didn't feel draggy nor rushed. Although I was a bit worried that this story might be big on senseless humour because it's a Kudo Kankuro script or go the other way to be a serious and dark story given the location in Tohoku (will inevitably talk about the aftermath of the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami crisis), I'm glad that there was a fine balance struck to make the movie quite palatable.

The story was pretty straightforward as it depicted how a company employee from Tokyo came to a fictitious town in the Tohoku region to rent a large house at an unbelievably low price after seeing the ad online. Since that was during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the virus hadn't actually spread in the countryside yet, an outsider from a place which was already seeing shutdowns and people working from home full time to curb the spread of the infection would naturally be viewed with increased scrutiny and skepticism. Even if the locals realised that his choice was largely influenced by the fact that he was a fishing enthusiast, had no ulterior motives and could make use of the fact that he could work remotely outside of Tokyo to pursue his interest, it still took them some time to warm up to this stranger. The journey which the lead character went through was predictable and there wasn't a lot of "drama" in that sense. However, I thought that the story provided quite a lot of food for thought on various issues. 

One line which I thought was quite memorable and impactful goes something like this - "We in the Tohoku region have always looked to Tokyo as the capital for things like the hottest TV shows to watch and the songs we listen to. However, how many people in Tokyo actually pay the same kind of attention to us? You people can't even name the 6 prefectures in the Tohoku region, for heaven's sake. And then after the tsunami crisis, you people just came to volunteer for a while, take off after that and conveniently forgot about us." Wow, very blunt but I think really impactful message which KudoKan was trying to convey here.

- Suda Masaki was definitely the star of the show as an endearing and funny stranger in this countryside as he learned how to live among the locals. I really liked his pairing with Inoue Mao and the ending was a tad unconventional i.e. that flying hug but very sweet. You would probably like this movie a lot if you are a fan of them.

Disliked: 

- Although the movie as a whole had a nice vibe, I thought that there were some parts where the humour got a bit stale. Perhaps by making the pace a bit faster in the second half of the story and cutting out the fluff might make this even more enjoyable to watch.

Romaji lyrics of "Boku niwa doushite wakarun darou" by Vaundy (Theme Song of TV Asahi Spring 2025 drama "PJ ~ Koukuu kyuunandan ~")

Title: Boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

Artist: Vaundy

Written by: Vaundy

Theme Song of TV Asahi Spring 2025 drama "PJ ~ Koukuuu kyuunandan ~"

konban wa oriru eki wo kae

boku no kokoro ni saiteita

chiisana puraido no yukue wo sagashita

zutto kizukenakattanda

boku no kokoro ga dou nimo

ano kikinareta ririkku de

namida wo nagashidasu made

ima dounika iiwake sagashite

me wo sorashite miyou ga

kitto

boku ijou ni boku izen ni boku yori mo

boku no koto tsukutteru

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

mayoeru hibi ga

kore to nai aji no essei

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

zasetsu no hibi wa irozuku tame

zenbu monokuro

konban wa aruku michi wo kae

boku no kokoro ni maiteita

chiisana puraido no kaori wo tadotta ga

toki wa manatsu

kouten to kaijin

souen kiwatatsu

kossou ao ni toke

monokuro wa keshian souhaku e

kotoba tarazu de itsumo miushinau no

kanashimi wa iiwake no kazu de

me wo tozashite miyou ga

zutto

boku ijou ni boku izen ni boku yori mo

boku no koto tsukutteru

mabuta ni utsutta eiga

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

subete no koto ga

soumatou mune ni nokotteiru

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

subete no koto ga

iro de michiteita monokuro

ano minato kara hikari wo tagutte

koko made kitanda

jitto

koudou wo kiiteita

[bokutachi wa, hisui no kiseki wo ikiteiru]

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

subete no koto ga

soumatou mune ni nokotteiru

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

subete no koto ga

marude akuru mae no you

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

subete no hibi ga

kore to nai aji no essei

boku niwa doushite wakarun darou

subete no keshiki ga

omoidasu tame no monokuro

Quick Review #129: Kounodori 1 - Autumn 2015

Title: Kounodori 1 / コウノドリ １　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a no-frills realistic take on the issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth with a star-studded cast and/or are fans of the MIU404 duo i.e. Ayano Go and Hoshino Gen in a hospital setting

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Currently showing on Netflix (availability subject to geographical location)

* I have not read the original manga.

Liked:

- Unlike a lot of medical dramas which tend to make the lead character-doctor appear to be almighty and can cure anyone or all medical complications/issues can be resolved no matter what happens, this drama came across as pretty down-to-earth and largely realistic because it showed both the positive and negative sides for issues raised. While there were some regretful developments which may be sad, the imperfection portrayed here mirrors how life is really like so I thought it was good that the drama did not try to gloss over things and push for a all-ends-well-eventually vibe throughout.

There was also a lot of useful and hardly-known information about pregnancy, childbirth and social support for childcare which I think would be beneficial for anyone to know and to understand that having a child safely and successfully is not a given. Most importantly, I think the story did not try to give a best or only answer for the topics raised and left that judgement to the viewers because we would probably think differently based on our circumstances and experience to date. As such, it didn't feel like the drama was trying to push for a single outcome or most acceptable solution to viewers.

- The drama boasted of a star-studded line-up with the regulars being all leading-actors level by now so if you are fans of them, you will probably enjoy watching this at least for the sake of seeing how they used to act 10 years ago. I also liked the bickering young doctors played by Matsuoka Mayu and Sakaguchi Kentaro. What was also good was that the drama didn't try too hard in making the characters look like super beings who could do everything so everyone was endearing and relatable in their own right especially the parts where their vulnerabilities were displayed.

- Among the guests, I would say that Oguri Shun and Yamaguchi Mayu left the strongest impression on me. Well, in Oguri's case, you can consider him to be somewhat like a sub-regular member of the cast because he appeared quite a number of times across multiple episodes despite being a guest. Not that I mind though because I really enjoyed his performance as a single father who had to take care of his baby daughter on his own after his wife passed away due to an accident. As for Yamaguchi, her scene as a teenage mother who had to give up her baby for adoption as soon as she had given birth - I thought her acting was really heart-wrenching and convincing despite her being a teenager as well at that time. Although the drama featured quite a number of sad moments, hers was the only one which really moved me.

Disliked: 

- Perhaps this might be more of an issue for people like me who watched "MIU404" first before the "Kounodori" series but I felt that the character setting for Ayano and Hoshino's characters was somewhat identical i.e. one hot and one cold. As such, there were quite a lot of times when I felt that I was watching "MIU404" in a hospital setting and I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching a different drama. Given that the gap between both dramas was a good 5 years and that "MIU404" did not have original content to be based on, I just found that the overlap in their character settings somehow gave a been-there-done-that vibe so the novelty factor in that sense was somewhat lacking. I wonder if I might have felt the same way about "MIU404" if I had watched "Kounodori" first.

- Much as I said above that the story was largely rooted in reality and didn't try to be too dramatic, I found the ending a bit too idealistic and seemingly in a hurry to wrap up everything nicely. Perhaps it might be better to maintain the imperfection e.g. how Arai (Yamaguchi Sayaka) did not return to work as she was taking a break due to burnout rather than try to make everything look so hopeful and positive such as the couple taking their baby home after being unable to accept him for a long time.

The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Mikami-sensei
2) Hotspot
3) Tokyo Sarada Bouru

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Onzoushi ni koi wa muzusugiru

2) Apollo no uta

3) Mikami-sensei

4) Nipponichi no saitei otoko

5) Madoka 26-sai, Kenshuui yattemasu!

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Hotspot
2) Mikami-sensei
3) Tokyo Sarada Bouru

4) Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

5) Madoka 26-sai, Kenshuui yattemasu!

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Mikami-sensei

2) Hotspot

3) Tokyo Sarada Bouru

4) Nipponichi no saitei otoko

5) Bansan Blues

Source: The Television

The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Leading Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Matsuzaka Toori - Mikami-sensei

2) Matsuda Ryuuhei - Tokyo Sarada Bouru

3) Katori Shingo - Nipponichi no saitei otoko

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Nagase Ren - Onzoushi ni koi wa muzusugiru
2) Matsuzaka Toori - Mikami-sensei
3) Sato Shouri - Apollo no uta
4) Katori Shingo - Nipponichi no saitei otoko
5) Fujiwara Joichiro - Boku no asadoi motokano from Asadokute nani ga warui no?

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Matsuzaka Toori - Mikami-sensei
2) Matsuda Ryuuhei - Tokyo Sarada Bouru
3) Katori Shingo - Nipponichi no saitei otoko
4) Inowaki Kai - Bansan Blues

5) Kaneko Daichi - Bansan Blues

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Matsuzaka Toori - Mikami-sensei
2) Matsuda Ryuuhei - Tokyo Sarada Bouru

3) Katori Shingo - Nipponichi no saitei otoko

4) Kamikawa Takaya - Mondai Bukken

5) Kaneko Daichi - Bansan Blues

Source: The Television

The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Ichikawa Mikako - Hotspot 
2) Nao - Tokyo Sarada Bouru
3) Hirose Suzu - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Yoshine Kyoko - Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!
2) Hirose Suzu - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

3) Ichikawa Mikako - Hotspot

4) Takaishi Akari - Apollo no uta

5) Kawaguchi Haruna - Ensemble

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Ichikawa Mikako - Hotspot
Nao - Tokyo Sarada Bouru
3) Hirose Suzu - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

4) Yoshine Kyoko - Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!

5) Takaishi Akari - Apollo no uta

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Ichikawa Mikako - Hotspot

Nao - Tokyo Sarada Bouru

Hirose Suzu - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

4) Yoshine Kyoko - Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!

5) Renbutsu Misako - Vanilla na mainichi

Source: The Television

The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Supporting Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Kakuta Akihiro - Hotspot

2) Okudaira Daiken - Mikami-sensei

3) Matsuyama Kenichi - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Nishihata Daigo - Onzoushi ni koi wa muzusugiru
2) Matsumura Hokuto - Ensemble
3) Shison Jun - Nipponichi no saitei otoko
4) Kakuta Akihiro - Hotspot
5) Okudaira Daiken - Mikami-sensei

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Kakuta Akihiro - Hotspot
2) Okudaira Daiken - Mikami-sensei
3) Isomura Hayato - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?
4) Matsuyama Kenichi - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?
5) Okada Masaki - Mikami-sensei

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Kakuta Akihiro - Hotspot
2) Matsuyama Kenichi - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

3) Okudaira Daiken - Mikami-sensei

4) Okada Masaki - Mikami-sensei

Kitamura Kazuki - Mikami-sensei

Source: The Television

The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Shibuya Nagisa - Jigoku no hata made tsureteiku

2) Hiraiwa Kami - Hotspot
3) Suzuki An - Hotspot

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Yamashita Mizuki - Onzoushi ni koi wa muzusugiru
2) Yoshioka Riho - Mikami-sensei
3) Hotta Mayu - Mikami-sensei
4) Tominaga Ai - Nipponichi no saitei otoko
5) Naka Riisa - Omusubi

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Shibuya Nagisa - Jigoku no hata made tsureteiku
2) Hiraiwa Kami - Hotspot

3) Yoshioka Riho - Mikami-sensei

4) Suzuki An - Hotspot
Hotta Mayu - Mikami-sensei

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Tokiwa Takako - Mikami-sensei
2) Shibuya Nagisa - Jigoku no hata made tsureteiku

3) Uchida Rio - Mondai Bukken

4) Hiraiwa Kami - Hotspot

Takiuchi Kumi - Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?

Source: The Television

The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)

2) Elf - Ado (Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?)

3) Koe - Hitsujibungaku (119 Emergency Call)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) HEART - King & Prince (Onzoushi ni koi wa muzusugiru)
2) Circus Funk (feat. Chevon) - Katori Shingo (Nipponichi no saitei otoko)
3) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)
4) Eureka - Hoshino Gen (Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!)
5) Cinema - aiko (Ensemble)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)

2) Elf - Ado (Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?)

3) Koe - Hitsujibungaku (119 Emergency Call)
4) Eureka - Hoshino Gen (Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!)
5) Illumination - B'z (Omusubi)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)

2) Elf - Ado (Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?)

3) Iris - BUDDiiS (Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~)

Koe - Hitsujibungaku (119 Emergency Call)

5) Circus Funk (feat. Chevon) - Katori Shingo (Nipponichi no saitei otoko)

Source: The Television

Winners of Music Awards Japan (MAJ) 2025 - Grand Ceremony (22 May 2025)

Here are the winners announced during the grand ceremony of Music Awards Japan 2025 on 22 May 2025:

Song of the Year: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Artist of the Year: Mrs. GREEN APPLE

New Artist of the Year: tuki.

Album of the Year: "LOVE ALL SERVE ALL" by Fujii Kaze

Top Global Hit from Japan: "Idol" by YOASOBI

Best Song - Asia: "Supernova" by aespa

Best Viral Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best of Listeners' Choice - Japanese Song: "GOAT" by Number_i

Special Award - Korean Popular Music: "God of Music" by SEVENTEEN

Special Award - Chinese Popular Music: "Shao guan wo" by Zhou Shen

Special Award - Thai Popular Music: "Ghost" by Jeff Satur

Special Award - Indonesian Popular Music: "Bunga Hati" by Salma Salsabil

Special Award - Vietnamese Popular Music: "Tai Sinh" by Tung Duong

Special Award - Philippine Popular Music: "Raining in Manila" by Lola Amour

Best of Listeners' Choice - International Song: "Neva Play (feat. RM of BTS)" by Megan Thee Stallion

Best Japanese Hip Hop / Rap Artist: Creepy Nuts

Best Idol Artist / Group: Snow Man

MAJ Timeless Echo: Yazawa Eikichi

Karaoke of the Year - J-pop: "Lilac" by Mrs. GREEN APPLE

Karaoke of the Year - Enka / Kayokyoku: "Showa Katagi" by Tendo Yoshimi

Special Award - Oshi-katsu request Artist of the Year: Number_i

Song of the Year for Creators: "Idol" by YOASOBI

A case of mis-directed anger? - Reading between the lines of Higashimura Akiko's criticism towards Bunshun for Nagano Mei's scandal

Amid the controversy surrounding the alleged affair scandal of Nagano Mei and Tanaka Kei over the past month or so, the comments made by manga artist Higashimura Akiko recently are gaining attention as Nagano is the lead for the new movie "Kakukaku Shikajika" which is based on Higashimura's work. During her appearance on ABEMA's "Nichiyou The NIGHT Akiko to Osamu ga ichiyakagiri no kinkyuu nama housou" on 18 May 2025, Higashimura had the following to say about Shuukan Bunshun which first reported on the scandal:

"I know it's weird to say this, but I publish my manga through the publishing company Bungeishunju such as "Gisou Furin". Just two days after the news (about Nagano) was published, I had a meeting with the company to discuss my work. 

While I'm proud to be working with a company which delivers joy through literary works, to have our hard work (the movie) which we poured our heart and soul into being destroyed by a single magazine fills me with so much pain. To be honest, it felt like I was dating someone with a split personality. Especially since I do interact with some of the editors at Bunshun (not involved in the reporting of this scandal though) and go for drinks with them, I was really shocked that Bunshun would do that to me."

From her comments, it seems that Higashimura feels that the negative attention on her movie as a result of Nagano's scandal was more to do with Bunshun's reporting and at this timing before the movie was to be screened. Given that she has a working relationship with the publisher, it seems that she probably expected some form of "consideration" (忖度) to be given because what Bunshun did was tantamount to "betrayal" of their ties.

Now...looking at the comments below the article, it looks like the public doesn't see it in the same way and feels that her anger seems to be wrongly directed at Bunshun rather than Nagano who created this mess with her actions. There are a few aspects to consider here:

Holding back on negative coverage and interfering with the business of another department in the same company?

Coincidentally, TBS' drama which Nagano also stars in, featured a similar development where the reporter in the societal news department was lashing out at her colleagues in the news reporting department that their negative news coverage about her contact would spoil the effort and trust she had spent in building the relationship. And this was met with the retort that because of this bending-over-backwards consideration for the interests of others / "sontaku" was what made their news reporting hardly effective and not reflective of reality.

Going by Higashimura's argument, because she has a working relationship with the literary publishing arm of Bungeishunju, Shuukan Bunshun should not have reported on this scandal, especially not just before the release of her movie? The thing is, the literary works department and the editorial department of Shuukan Bunshun are most likely operating independently so for one department to exert influence on the other probably doesn't work in real life. Besides, Shuukan Bunshun is known for not shying away from controversy and influence (whether you feel that their articles are good for the public interest is another issue though) so I strongly doubt that the literary works department has the power to make the magazine "cancel" out a juicy scoop they took time and effort to investigate.

Likewise, if you consider the fact that the literary arm is still doing business as usual with Higashimura after the scandal's report came to light, this can also be seen as a sign of how both departments operate independently. It is not known if the literary department were "apologetic" or did anything to pacify her in the meeting straight after the publication of Bunshun's report but honestly, there was no need for them to do so anyway since they didn't go anything wrong to her in the first place.

And if Higashimura has an issue with the timing of the reporting, perhaps TBS should be even madder at Bunshun for releasing the first report just one episode after they started showing "Caster"? And if Nagano and Tanaka had taken a different route after the first report e.g. admitting to the scandal, would the second report even have come out with more damning evidence? Too many "what-ifs" here to consider.

Is the fault of the scandal with the parties who created the mess or the media outlet which exposed them?

From what it seems, Higashimura does have a very good opinion of Nagano which is fair enough because the latter was picked for this role which is modelled after Higashimura herself. And whatever Nagano may have done or not done in her private life, that could be unrelated to how she worked and acted in this movie. As such, I think it's understandable that Higashimura is full of praise for Nagano's acting or hard work put in for the movie.

The issue here is, Higashimura's comments seem to suggest that the mess which is plaguing her movie is because of Shuukan Bunshun's reporting. This is what I struggle to reconcile - why are you not upset with your lead actress who plunged your movie into this controversy and created trouble for everyone but you lash out at the media outlet for exposing her? Erm...perhaps someone can explain to me why?

Would negative press about the cast necessarily cause the performance of a work to suffer?

Consumers do have a choice. If you don't like something or someone in the cast, you make your choice with your remote control (TV), mouse (online streaming) or wallet (cinema). People who won't want to watch something in the first place will not choose the work anyway regardless of what happens. And those who really want something will still go ahead despite the "obstructions".

For those who wouldn't want to watch "Caster" because of Nagano, they can make a conscious choice not to watch the drama. Conversely, if you want to watch the movie "Kakukaku Shikajika" or want to support Nagano, you visit the cinema voluntarily and pay for the ticket with the money in your wallet. It is arguable whether negative press about the cast will affect the performance of a work and by how much. However, it is a bit too simplistic to draw a definite correlation between the scandal and the performance of a work because there are many factors which can come into play.

Personally, as I've been watching "Caster" every week, I find that the messy storyline is more likely to make me drop this drama rather than me rolling eyes while watching Nagano mouth those self-righteous lines with the bad press she is mired in right now at the back of my mind. Likewise, you can argue that "Kakukaku Shikajika" may do better in the box office if Nagano wasn't caught in this scandal (No.4 in the first week of release) but looking at the latest weekly box office ranking, it is up against blockbusters like "Conan", "Mission Impossible" and "Minecraft" so that's definitely questionable. 

I do not know what Higashimura intended to achieve by making those comments but whether they will help in her movie's performance in the box office, that remains to be seen. For now though, with both Nagano and Tanaka losing all their CM deals and being taken off projects due the cloud of doubt still hanging over their heads, those who are working with them can only pray that Bunshun or any other tabloid doesn't have an even more damning Part 3 to put the final nail in the coffin for their careers.

Winners of Music Awards Japan (MAJ) 2025 - Premiere Ceremony (21 May 2025)

The Music Awards Japan (abbreviated as MAJ), is a music awards show held by the Japanese music industry to honour music talents from Asia, Japan and the Western regions and introduce Asian music to the global audience. The awards are organized by the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA) in collaboration with the Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). CEIPA was founded by the five major music organizations of the Japanese music industry i.e. the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), the Japan Association of Music Enterprises, the Federation of Music Producers Japan, the Music Publishers Association of Japan, and the All Japan Concert & Live Entertainment Promoter's Conference and is responsible for the organization, marketing and hosting of the Music Awards Japan.

The list of eligible works and artists was generated through an automatic system based on data from Oricon, Billboard Japan, GfK Japan, Luminate, Usen, Daiichi Kosho Company, JASRAC etc. The artist concerned must have released at least one work during the qualification period of 29 January 2024 to 26 January 2025. 

The nominees (up to 5 per category) were then decided by a panel from the Japanese music industry. An international panel then decided on the winner for each category. However, the following categories' nominees and winners were selected through a public voting exercise via Spotify:

• Best of Listeners' Choice: Japanese Song
• Best of Listeners' Choice: International Song

The winners for the inaugural edition of MAJ will be announced over two days i.e. during the premiere ceremony on 21 May and the grand ceremony on 22 May, both held at Rohm Theater in Kyoto.

* Note that the announcement website provides links to various streaming/download portals to listen to the winning songs.

* The delayed-live stream of the grand ceremony can be viewed here.

Here are the winners announced during the premiere ceremony:

Best Japanese Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best J-Rock Song: "SPECIALZ" by King Gnu

Best Japanese Hip Hop / Rap Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best Japanese R&B / Contemporary Song: "Automatic" by Utada Hikaru

Best Japanese Dance Pop Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best Japanese Alternative Song: "more than words" by Hitsujibungaku

Best Japanese Singer-Songwriter Song: "Kaiju no Hanauta" by Vaundy

Best Idol Culture Song: "Watashi no ichiban kawaii tokoro" by FRUITS ZIPPER

Best Anime Song: "Idol" by YOASOBI

Best Enka / Kayokyoku: "Kurenai no chou" by Yamauchi Keisuke

Best Revival Hit Song: "Peppermint Blue" by Ohtaki Eiichi

Best Cross-Border Collaboration Song: "Feelin' Go(o)d" by Fujii Kaze / A.G. Cook

Best Instrumental Song: "aruarian dance" by Nujabes

Best Vocaloid Culture Song: "Senbonzakura" by Kurousa

Best Music Video: "Idol" by YOASOBI

Best Dance Performance: "Otonablue" by Atarashii Gakko!

Best Viral Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Top Japanese Song in Asia: "Lemon" by Yonezu Kenshi

Top Japanese Song in Europe: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Top Japanese Song in North America: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Top Japanese Song in Latin America: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best International Pop Song in Japan: "APT." by ROSE & Bruno Mars

Best International Rock Song in Japan: "feelslikeimfallinginlove" by Coldplay

Best International Hip Hop / Rap Song in Japan: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar

Best International R & B / Contemporary Song in Japan: "we can't be friends (wait for your love)" by Ariana Grande

Best International Alternative Song in Japan: "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" by Billie Eilish

Best K-pop Song in Japan: "Ditto" by NewJeans

Best Jazz Album: "Step Into Paradise - LIVE IN TOKYO -" by Yano Akiko x Hiromi

Best Classical Album: "Opus" by Sakamoto Ryuichi

Best Japanese Song Artist: Mrs. GREEN APPLE

Best J-Rock Artist: King Gnu

Best Japanese R & B / Contemporary Artist: Utada Hikaru

Best Japanese Dance Pop Artist: Atarashii Gakko!

Best Japanese Alternative Artist: Hitsujibungaku

Best Japanese Singer-Songwriter: Fujii Kaze

Largest Live Audience: WEST.

Best Radio-Break Song: "Ai ga issou mellow" by Rikon Densetsu

Best Dance / Electronic Song in association with JDDA: "Edison" by Suiyoubi no Campanella

Best DJ in association with JDDA: DJ Nobu

Quick Review #128: Bansan Blues - Winter 2025

Title: Bansan Blues / 晩餐ブルース　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a healing show featuring food and friendship amid the struggles of life

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- What really left a deep impression on me was how well the cooking scenes were done. While it may feel like I was watching "Kinou nani tabeta" at times, the style here was a lot more "calming and comfortable" because there was hardly any narration nor loud BGM to explain the steps involved in the cooking process. As such, I managed to focus more on the visuals of the food and natural sounds from the cooking steps which somehow felt very therapeutic to watch. Be warned though, don't watch this while hungry because it can be quite torturous to see the delicious dishes on display and the cast indulging in the food.

- The "blues" part of the story was handled with the right amount of heaviness and did not make the whole drama feel like a depressing tale. The struggles felt by the key characters in this drama were relatable and very real. As the story progressed and the trio rekindled their friendship through sharing dinner, the whole atmosphere became a lot more positive and hopeful even though there wasn't any definite or long-term solution given. This transition coincided with the season setting in this drama i.e. from the cold and bleak winter to a warmer and brighter spring.

- Inowaki Kai and Kaneko Daichi were very good in their respective roles. Inowaki managed to convey the lethargic and somewhat brooding character especially towards the end. As for Kaneko, I thought that he did the cooking scenes really well and showed the depressed side of his character with precision without going overboard. I must say, this drama has also changed my impression of Kaneko to a large extent because I honestly didn't remember much of his past performances in supporting roles even though he is a familiar face to me.

Disliked: 

- While it was good that the episodes were less than 30 mins long, I thought that it could have been a bit shorter because the pace was a bit draggy towards the last few episodes. This probably coincided with the twist in Yuuta's (Inowaki) psychological state because he had been the one who was more "cheerful" at first so the atmosphere became a lot more heavier compared to when it was Kousuke (Kaneko) who was in the doldrums. Perhaps keeping it to between 6 and 8 episodes might make the story a bit more succinct.

- As I pointed out above, I liked the cooking scenes for being "no-frills" which allowed me to enjoy them more. Towards the end when more people started to cook with Yuuta, it got a lot more noisier and there were some parts which had narration so I didn't quite like this change.  

Too detached from reality? - The conflicting settings and unrealistic things in TBS Spring 2025 drama "Caster"

While "Caster" has been getting the wrong kind of attention of late due to Nagano Mei's ongoing controversy about an alleged affair with Tanaka Kei, another part of the drama is also being scrutinized for its apparent gaps between reality and fiction. This article from Pinzuba highlights the key discrepancies that are being talked about among viewers and industry insiders especially with regard to the character and newsroom settings.

To begin with, let's find out more about the key positions in a TV news reporting programme's production team:

• Producer (プロデューサー): Person-in-charge of the entire programme. Manages various aspects such as planning, production and budget control.
• Assistant Producer (アシスタントプロデューサー): Assists the producer in areas including drafting proposals, schedule and budget management
• Overall Director (総合演出): Decides on the direction of the programme, issues instructions to directors and monitors the programme on-site
• Director (ディレクター): Executes the plans from the overall director as well as gives instructions and manages the situation on-site.
• Assistant Director (アシスタントディレクター): Follows the instructions of the director and provides support on-site.

• Desk (デスク): The boss of the reporters who checks the articles and direction of the news reporting, decides on the composition of news topics for the day and time allocated to each story
• On-site Reporter (リポーター・取材記者): Reporting news on site
• Editing Reporter (編集記者): Compiles the information obtained on-site and creates articles to be read during the programme
• Cameraman (カメラマン): The person-in-charge of filming footage at news reporting venues
• Editors (編集者): Edits the information and filmed footage to produce news videos
• Editor-in-chief (編集長): The boss of the editors who considers the quality and direction of the video content along with the viewers' needs and preferences and decides on the content mix

• Caster / Announcer (キャスター・アナウンサー) : The person who reads the news in the programme
• Commentator / Panelists (解説委員): Subject matter experts or panelists to explain the background and meaning behind news topics

• Technical staff (技術スタッフ): Includes those working in broadcast technology, sound, artistic direction and technical support

Note that there may be slight differences in the terms used for the positions and/or segregation and overlap of duties between positions depending on various TV stations but the above more or less covers the key staff members for such news programmes.

If we are to look at the cast lineup in "Caster", the corresponding positions are as such:

Main Caster: Shindo Souichi (Abe Hiroshi)

Sub Caster: Koike Nami (Tsukishiro Kanato)

News Reporting Department Head: Kaiba Kouji (Okabe Takashi)

Producer: Yamai Kazuyuki (Otoo Takuma)

Overall Director: Sakikubo Hana (Nagano Mei)

Editor-in-chief: Ichinose Sakiko (Miyazawa Ema)

Director: Kajihara Koudai (Tamaoki Reo)

Assistant Director: Motohashi Yuusuke (Michieda Shunsuke) / Choi Jae-seong (Kim Mu-jun)

Editor: Ono Junya (Kimura Tatsunari)

Reporter (Society News): Ando Erika (Kikuchi Akiko)

The role and age of the overall director

First of all, one of the most commonly-heard "complaints" was the choice of Nagano to play the role of the overall director and what that position actually involves. This important role is often said to be the second-highest-in-command after the producer and has to manage the entire production personally in the studio while the producer actually spends more time away from the recording/broadcast of the programme doing high-level planning behind-the-scenes.

 

While the age of Nagano's character was not specified, it is estimated that she should be in her mid/late 20s to early 30s. Considering the fact that she was said to have worked in the variety department for a while and even got the Chairman's Award before, her age should be somewhere in her late 20s at the very least. In addition, the drama did have some scenes where Michieda's character Motohashi referred to her as his senior. This could be in reference to the fact that her position is higher than his or that she is older than him since the time setting of the story is that he is just into his second year of employment with JBN (his estimated age should be somewhere around 25).

Given her age setting, industry insiders pointed out that it was near impossible for someone to be given such an important position especially for a news programme. It would have been more appropriate for her to be a director instead. Moreover, based on what has been shown in the drama, this overall director had hardly done any "directing" within the studio and was often seen outside the studio such as going along with Shindo to film his interviews or get involved in the news reporting process. These are things which the overall director does not do in real life.

The unclear job scope and overlapping responsibilities

There are also seemingly unnatural points about the job scopes of other characters. 

For example, the editor-in-chief played by Miyazawa Ema should be busy enough dealing with news stories and making decisions on what to include for the day's broadcast. However, she had been depicted multiple times to be wearing an intercom headset and giving instructions to the staff during the broadcast which is what an editor-in-chief does not do. It also appears as if the story treats the role of the editor-in-chief to be equivalent or similar to that of the desk because she did refer to herself as the desk but the official cast chart shows her job title as editor-in-chief.

Likewise, Otoo Takuma's producer character should have been focusing on the management of resources and budgets instead of getting involved heavily in what goes on during the broadcast. As such, his actual job scope in the drama seems to deviate from reality too.

The unnatural / nonsensical news reporting process

In real life, there will be reporters in charge of designated areas/topics in the TV station's news reporting department. They are the ones who actually go out to report on news and pass the footage and information to the editors who create videos and other content used for the broadcast.

However, "Caster" hardly features any reporters doing this. In fact, the assistant director Motohashi and the overall director Sakikubo go outside the TV station to do the reporting while there is a noticeable absence of a reporter on site each time. Having an AD to confront a interviewee with proof of wrongdoing as featured in Ep 3 was also something that could never happen in reality. Moreover, a key component of the reporter's work i.e. negotiations with the production team on how much of the content is shown during the broadcast is sorely absent from the drama.

Spoiling the exclusive scoop

In Ep 3, when Motohashi exposed the professor's wrongdoing, he had done so in the presence of representatives from other media outlets even though this was an exclusive scoop he secured due to the evidence given to him by his friend. The thing is, nobody in the news reporting circle would spoil their own exclusive scoop like this because your rivals would just take the same information and report it. As such, the usual practice is to secure confirmation from the target in private without letting your competitors know. 

Employment matters are not decided on the fly

In Ep 5, the director Kajihara was suspended from work and told that his contract expiring at the end of the month would not be renewed due to an issue which cropped up for a report he was doing. The head of the news reporting department Kaiba said that since Kajihara's contract happened to be near the expiry date, the TV station would use this as the perfect excuse to give the latter his marching orders. However, this is not what happens in reality because there will be at least a two to three-month notice period when it comes to contract renewals especially if you factor in handover procedures. In addition, Kajihara is the chief director so for an important position like this, it is impossible to treat his contract in such a manner.

Trivalising the impact of a senior employee's brush with the law

In one episode, the director of JBN's societal news department was arrested for a criminal offense. However, JBN continued to operate as per normal as if nothing had happened. For a scandal like this involving a senior employee and in a position that deals with law enforcement authorities and the government bodies, the TV station couldn't have gotten away with just a simple apology on air. In extreme cases, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications can even issue a broadcast suspension as punishment because this is considered a significant breach of trust as a TV broadcaster. 

While it is obvious that the drama prioritises entertainment over reality and tries really hard to portray Shindo as a super news caster who seems to do no wrong (until the rest of the characters do seem quite silly at times), these gaps with reality, conflicting settings and unrealistic developments make it more difficult for viewers to immerse themselves fully into the story. Although there were clear attempts at using real-life incidents as the base of these news stories featured in the drama (perhaps to boost the reality factor and gain more eyeballs by tapping on these big cases), it was also evident that the drama could not delve too deeply into these because of the potential negative impact on the actual persons and entities involved. In the end, this became a vicious cycle where the story ends up in the middle of nowhere.

Based on the episodes I've watched so far, I must say that the points raised in the article are indeed valid to a large extent. Personally, I wouldn't say that I have enjoyed all episodes of this drama to date because the quality seems to fluctuate a fair bit and the gap with reality does bug me to a large extent. And at this stage, most of the episodes can be considered to be fillers until the main plot/background story surfaces in the second half of the season so it's probably no wonder that the quality of the story seems to be a bit lacking at the moment. Coupled with the distraction from Nagano's scandal - somehow when she tries to be self-righteous and criticises Abe's character, it just comes across as uncomfortable to watch and less impactful as it should have been. This inevitably causes the impact of the drama and the message it is trying to convey to be weakened too. While I'm hopeful of better developments to come, I think it will take a major improvement in the second half of the drama to make up for the underwhelming first half in more ways than one.

Quick Review #127: Kawapperi Mukoritta (movie)

Title: Kawapperi Mukoritta / 川っぺりムコリッタ　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a slow and mild heartwarming story and/or are fans of the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The charm of this story lies in the mild but heartwarming developments in the second half of the movie where people who aren't related come together to offer one another comfort in their respective struggling lives. However, the movie didn't go big on theatrics or extremely emotional outbursts to be a tearjerker so it came across more like a gentle river flowing through.

- While the characters were clearly struggling with their respective circumstances and flaws, there were also parts which made them look more endearing and relatable to the audience. In this respect, I think that the cast of Matsuyama Kenichi, Muro Tsuyoshi, Mitsushima Hikari and Yoshioka Hidetaka were critical in making these characters look more appealing than they seemed on the surface. Also look out for some of the cameos who added a nice edge and surprise to the story at times.

Disliked: 

- It took a lot of patience and willpower not to give up on this halfway because the slow pacing was indeed a big deterrent. Coupled with the fact that the gloomy state of affairs added to the weight of the story, this is probably something you might not want to watch if you are feeling down or frustrated because it will get on your nerves. Moreover, the ending may bring a light smile to your face but I wouldn't call it gratifying enough to justify the "torture" from the first half of the movie.

- Much as the characters were endearing and quirky in their own ways, I thought that the movie painted them as rather one-dimensional so it was difficult to see why they behaved as they did. As such, I found that I couldn't really understand these characters enough to form an opinion about them and only remembered them more for their interpersonal interactions that were the highlight of this movie.

The more the merrier vs. too many cooks spoiling the broth? - Looking into the trend of multiple scriptwriters in TBS' Sundays 9pm dramas

Is it a case of the more the merrier or will too many cooks spoil the broth? 

This article from Real Sound raises the above question by looking at the dramas from TBS' Sundays 9pm timeslot which has consistently done better than its competition in terms of ratings and critical reviews despite the languishing real-time ratings in recent years amid the rise of alternative viewing channels such as TVer and a wider variety of content vying for eyeballs such as those from Netflix.

While Japanese dramas traditionally tend to be written by a single scriptwriter, there is an increasing number of dramas featuring a main writer with assistants or multiple scriptwriters to share the workload or producing a collective script in the Hollywood style of "writers' room" where the team can range from as many as 10 to 20 writers. Recent examples in Japan which adopted the Hollywood style include NHK 2024 drama "3000-man" and Amazon Prime Video 2023 drama "Angel Flight".

Given that the Sundays 9pm timeslot is TBS' crown jewel in its drama programming, it is no wonder that a lot of time and resources are put into the offerings. However, the TV station's attempts to experiment with various genres and writing styles may not always turn out to deliver desired results. For example, while "VIVANT" in 2023 may have been a hit in terms of scale, the star-studded line-up and unexpected storyline which was kept a secret until the first OA, the response to last season's "Mikami-sensei" was somewhat divided especially over the long, complicated and philosophical lines in the script which required a fair bit of brain power to process.

The article highlights this season's "Caster" as being one of the unusual examples in this timeslot for having as many as 6 scriptwriters compared to the usual 1 to 4 writers in most dramas these days. Considering that a Sundays 9pm timeslot drama these days tends to last for 10 episodes, this actually means that each scriptwriter will probably get to work on slightly less than 1.5 episode (if divided equally). However, it is not known if they will actually co-write for each episode or divide individual episodes among themselves. 

One thing to note though, the last time a Sundays 9pm timeslot drama had 6 writers was in 2023's "Get Ready!" which was criticized for the lack of consistency in its story caused by fluctuating tones, writing style and story tempo back then. While it may be good to bounce off ideas from one another with a team of writers, it can also be risky if the team fails to agree on a single approach or chooses the wrong one when faced with varying viewpoints and options or worse still, come up with a script that has developments which do not agree with one another.

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After reading this article, I wanted to investigate whether the number of scriptwriters do have a part to play in a drama's success/failure and if there are indeed trends pointing to a shift from single scriptwriters towards the multiple-writers system. As such, I obtained data for the TBS Sundays 9pm timeslot based on their offerings for the past decade and also tried to compare between figures from the pre- and post-COVID eras.

No. of dramas between Winter 2015 and Autumn 2019 = 20 (Pre-COVID)

No. of dramas between Winter 2020 and Winter 2025 = 19 (Post-COVID)

*Note that the Spring 2020 drama "Hanzawa Naoki 2020" was postponed to Summer 2020 due to the lockdown caused by the COVID pandemic. 

*I did not include "Caster" in the sample for the Post-COVID group since it is still running.

*Ratings information are based on the Kanto region thus may not reflect the true popularity and extent of viewership on both domestic and international streaming platforms.

Key observations over the past decade

• The number of dramas which were real-life adaptations from novels and manga were about the same for pre-COVID (10 out of 20) and post-COVID (9 out of 19). 
• Why I chose to make a distinction between the originals and adaptations in my analysis is that scriptwriters working on the latter need to fit their work within the parameters of the source material thus would have lesser creative freedom to do their thing. On the other hand, those doing originals have to bear the risk of their own ideas going either way - could be a success or flop.
• One other thing to note is the difference between 原作 (original work) and 原案 (original draft). In the former, the scriptwriter has an original novel/manga etc. to adapt into a drama's script but in the latter, a draft with the broad outline of the characters and story setting is written by someone else other than the scriptwriter. As such, 原案 works are somewhat in the middle of the spectrum with adaptations and original creations at both ends and can be likened to be a "template" for scriptwriters to work with. In the pre-COVID days, there were no 原案 dramas but after the pandemic, there were at least 2 in this timeslot. This might be something to look out for in future - the concept of "DCU" was from overseas producers while "Gekokujou Kyuuji" was based on a non-fiction book about a true story. 

• The number of Sundays 9pm dramas written by single scriptwriters was the same for both periods i.e. 11 out of 20 for pre-COVID and 11 out of 19 for post-COVID.
• While some may say that there seems to be more dramas with multiple scriptwriters these days, the truth is that at least for this particular timeslot, it still seems to be fairly distributed between single and multiple scriptwriter systems for now.

• However, the average number of scriptwriters for each Sundays 9pm drama has indeed increased. From an average of 1.65 writers per drama in the pre-COVID days, it does seem like there is a shift towards the multiple writers format with an average of 2.47 per drama in the post-COVID era.
• It can also be observed that in terms of the number of writers per drama, the norm before COVID was anything from 2 to 4 but 4 seems to be the ideal number as seen in the post-COVID era with some going up to as many as 6 for a 10-episode drama series. This should explain why the average jumped so much in the past 5 years.

• The length of a drama in this timeslot seems to be headed towards the sweet spot of 10 episodes per season post-COVID as compared to a variety of numbers in the pre-COVID era (ranging from 7 to 12). The average number of episodes per drama was 9.85 before 2000 but after that, the average inched up to 10.42.
• As compared to the past when there was more or less standardization in terms of start and end dates for the seasonal dramas, there is a lot more variation these days with some having start dates before the beginning of the first month in the season and some not starting until the competition is already done with 2 or 3 episodes.
• Despite so, to have the same number of episodes each season at 10 per drama since Spring 2022 (except for "Atomu no ko" which had only 9 episodes) seems to suggest the trend going forward that this is the preferred number of episodes for dramas in this timeslot.

• In terms of performance based on average ratings, while the number of dramas which got an average above 10% was about the same at 15 titles for each period, the average rating was actually higher post-COVID at 13.39% compared to 12.81% pre-COVID. 
• It is important to note that the post-COVID era included the monster hit "Hanzawa Naoki" which had a high average of 24.7% that was easily double of most offerings so this brought the average up significantly. In addition, the average ratings between 2020 and 2022 (the height of the pandemic where more people stayed home) were higher as compared to when restrictions were relaxed and people could head out more than before.

• However, if you delve deeper in the 10%-and-above "hits" for both eras, only 6 out of 15 were written by single scriptwriters in the pre-COVID era while as many as 9 out of 15 were from solo scriptwriters in the post-COVID era.
• What this probably suggests is that putting an entire drama in the hands of one scriptwriter can turn out to be a huge gamble thus resulting in the subsequent shift towards multiple scriptwriters as a form of risk mitigation by the TV station. 
• On the other hand, since dramas by multiple scriptwriters tend to be those who are relatively unknown or fresh to this industry, it also helps in giving them experience without the burden of shouldering a drama's fate single-handedly.
• In most scenarios, the staff credits list do not actually make a distinction in terms of hierarchy in the scriptwriting team. It is only when there is a main writer that the others are named as assistants e.g. "Mikami-sensei". As such, it looks from the outside that the members in such teams are on equal footing (more or less).
• The higher success rate in the post-COVID era also needs to be considered along with the pandemic's situation between 2020 and 2022 when more people stayed home to watch TV. As such, out of the 9 hits in this period, 7 of them were from these years while there was only 1 in 2023 and 1 in 2025. 
• The 3 dramas which got above 10% in 2024 were all written by teams of 4 scriptwriters while the only solo work "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" in the same year had a single-digit average rating.
• Interestingly, while the 6 hits in the pre-COVID era were all from different solo writers, Kuroiwa Tsutomu accounted for as many as 4 out of the 9 hits in the post-COVID era i.e. "Kiken na Venus", "TOKYO MER", "My Family" and "Last Man Zenmou no sousakan". Of these, only "Kiken na Venus" was an adaptation from a novel so the others were all original scripts. 
• On the other hand, the only other scriptwriter who had more than 1 hit in the past decade was Morishita Yoshiko but her two works were from different eras i.e. 2015's "Tennou no ryouriban" in the pre-COVID era and 2021's "Tengoku to Jigoku" from the post-COVID days. Perhaps this phenomenon seems to reflect a tendency to go back to tried-and-tested names when engaging solo writers because of the stakes involved for a golden timeslot like this?

On a personal note, I do pay attention to the scriptwriter other than the cast lineup and genre when deciding what to watch. While I do have some favourites, it is not always a given that I will like everything from them. Likewise, I don't really shun works by people I am not aware of or familiar with since the cast and genre tend to play a more significant part in influencing my decision. Of course, there are some who I know I probably wouldn't like because of their style of writing or past bad experience and would approach such works with a bit more caution and apprehension. 

One other thing which I do not really like is the idea of putting big names together to work on the same story especially if their styles are totally different and very hard to integrate with each other. One recent example I can think of is Netflix's "Rikon shiyouyo" - my conclusion is that the styles of Kudo Kankuro and Ooishi Shizuka just do not match and their individual strengths do not get amplified by putting them together.

Just based on the findings above, I think what's clear is that the more established names in the industry are likely to be the ones who get sole responsibility and power to write their scripts on their own especially for a primetime slot like TBS' Sundays 9pm. On the other hand, the willingness to shift towards having multiple writers can be good for the industry as a whole to introduce fresh and varied perspectives but it does come with a risk of the story being messed up. How to strike a balance between the need for consistently high quality throughout the entire drama and risk & resource management within the confines of the harsher operating environment is going to be an important issue to consider. Otherwise, it will be even hard to get access to good scriptwriters and nurture new ones when they get wooed with more resources from companies with deeper pockets and enjoy more creative liberty beyond what's allowed on traditional TV. In the end, viewers like us would probably not get to enjoy good productions if the scriptwriter i.e. one of the three key pillars in drama production is not there to shore up the story even with the best cast and staff lineup.