Sawamura Ikki & Takashima Masanobu to return in New Year's SP of "DOCTORS ~ Saikyou no Meii ~"

Sawamura Ikki and Takashima Masanobu will be returning in the New Year's SP of TV Asahi drama "DOCTORS ~ Saikyou no Meii ~" which will be shown at 9pm on 4 January 2018. This is the first installment in the series for the first time in three years. Although Nogiwa Yoko who played Dogami Tamaki, the director of Dogami General Hospital, had passed away in June, she will "remain" in the series as the story setting mentions that she has gone to Bhutan to open a new hospital. With regard to this, Sawamura said that for as long as this series continues, they will let her character stay alive which they hope that the viewers will feel the same way about this.

Top 30 highest-rated dramas based on single-episode ratings in 2015

Note that this ranking includes full drama series and once-off drama SPs shown between 29 December 2014 and 27 December 2015. The figures in brackets indicate the ratings for that particular episode or once-off SP broadcast:

1) Asa ga Kita - NHK - 4 December 2015 (27.2%)
2) Massan - NHK - 30 March 2015 (25.0%)
3) Mare - NHK - 7 April 2015 (22.7%)
4) Shitamachi Rocket (last episode) - TBS - 20 December 2015 (22.3%)
5) Aibou season 13 (last episode) - TV Asahi - 18 March 2015 (20.3%)
6) 24 Jikan Terebi SP Okasan Ore wa Daijoubu - NTV - 22 August 2015 (20.2%)
7) I'm Home (last episode) - TV Asahi - 18 June 2015 (19.0%)
8) Aibou season 14 (first episode) - TV Asahi - 14 October 2015 (18.4%)
9) Tenno no Ryoriban (last episode) - TBS - 12 July 2015 (17.7%)
10) DOCTORS 3 (Ep 5) - TV Asahi - 5 February 2015 / Death Note (first episode) - NTV - 5 July 2015 (16.9%)

12) Hana Moyu (first episode) - NHK - 4 January 2015 (16.7%)
13) Oriental Kyuukou Satsujin Jiken Part 1 - FujiTV - 11 January 2015 (16.1%)
14) Oriental Kyuukou Satsujin Jiken Part 2 - FujiTV - 12 January 2015 (15.9%)
15) Hanasaki Mai ga damattenai (Ep 7) - NTV - 19 August 2015 (15.6%)
16) Zeni no Sensou (last episode) - FujiTV - 17 March 2015 (15.4%)
17) Marumaru Tsuma (Ep 2 & Ep 4) - NTV - 21 January 2015 (15.2%)
18) Youkoso, Wagaya e (last episode) - FujiTV - 15 June 2015 (15.0%)
19) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~ (first episode) - FujiTV - 19 January 2015 / Specialist 3 - TV Asahi - 28 February 2015 (14.8%)

21) Gisou no Fuufu (first episode) - NTV - 7 October 2015 (14.7%)
22) Kinkyuu Torishirabeshitsu - TV Asahi - 27 September 2015 (14.6%)
23) Isan Sozoku - TV Asahi - 22 October 2015 (14.2%)
24) Keishicho Sousa Ikka 5 Hira kara nariagatta Saikyo no Keiji! - TV Asahi - 17 October 2015 (14.1%)
25) Dr.Rintaro (first episode) - NTV - 15 April 2015 / Keishicho Sousa Ikka 9 Kakari season 10 (episode 3) - TV Asahi - 6 May 2015 (13.9%)
27) Shin Naniwa Kinyuudo - FujiTV - 24 January 2015 (13.8%)
28) Houigaku Kyoshitsu no Jiken File 40-kai Kinen - TV Asahi - 14 February 2015 / Morimura Seiichi Sakka 50nen Kinen Shuchakueki Series Zeni no Kasa - TV Asahi - 26 September 2015 (13.6%)
30) Kasoken no Onna (first episode) - TV Asahi - 15 October 2015 / Shikaku Tantei Higure Tabibito - NTV - 20 November 2015 (13.5%)

Source: Sponichi

2015 Drama Ratings Ranking among the Big 4 TV stations based on average ratings

The following is the ranking of dramas shown in 2015 by the Big 4 (FujiTV, TBS, NTV and TV Asahi) based on their average ratings. Numbers in brackets indicate the average rating of each drama.

Note that TV Tokyo tends to produce a lesser number of dramas per season compared to the Big 4, NHK dramas are generally shorter and do not last the entire three months' season while cable networks like WOWOW do not release ratings, their dramas would not appear in this ranking.

Much as I don't think that ratings do reflect a drama's quality especially in this time and age when you don't have to tune in to a drama realtime, this will be a guide for those who are looking for dramas to watch and are interested to see how the J-drama scene performed in the year soon to end. Do share your views on the results so that we can discuss.

For those who are wondering about the colour coding, dramas which I've watched are in red, blue ones are those which I haven't finished watching or have started but not sure about whether to continue while purple ones are those which I'm planning to check out. Looks like my backlog for reviews is growing again!

Average rating above 15% (3 dramas)
1) Shitamachi Rocket - TBS - Autumn 2015 (18.54%)
2) Aibou 13 - TV Asahi - Winter 2015 (17.9%)
3) Aibou 14 - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (15.4%)

Average rating between 10% and 14.99% (19 dramas)
4) Tenno no Ryoriban - TBS - Spring 2015 (14.94%)
5) I'm Home - TV Asahi - Spring 2015 (14.82%)
6) Hanasaki Mai ga damattenai - NTV - Summer 2015 (14.47%)
7) DOCTORS 3 - TV Asahi - Winter 2015 (14.38%)
8) Marumaru Tsuma - NTV - Winter 2015 (14.26%)
9) Zeni no Sensou - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (13.41%)
10) Dr. Rintaro - NTV - Spring 2015 (12.73%)
11) Youkoso, Wagaya e - FujiTV - Spring 2015 (12.55%)
12) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~ - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (12.54%)
13) Gisou no Fuufu - NTV - Autumn 2015 (12.17%)
14) Keishicho Ikka 9 Kakari - TV Asahi - Spring 2015 (11.8%)
15) 5-ji kara 9-ji made: Watashi ni koi shita obosan - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (11.73%)
16) Death Note - NTV - Summer 2015 (11.55%)
17) Kounodori - TBS - Autumn 2015 (11.46%)
18) Kasoken no Onna - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (11.0%)
19) Isan Souzoku - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (10.77%)
20) Koinaka - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (10.74%)
21) Ouroboros - TBS - Winter 2015 (10.42%)
22) Ryusei Wagon - TBS - Winter 2015 (10.31%)

Average rating between 5% and 9.99% (32 dramas)
23) Okitegami Kyoko  no Biboroku - NTV - Autumn 2015 (9.78%)
24) Mondai no Aru Resutoran - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (9.34%)
25) Do S Deka - NTV - Spring 2015 (9.33%)
26) Angel Heart - NTV - Autumn 2015 (9.29%)
27) Gakkou no Kaidan - NTV - Winter 2015 (9.27%)
28) Siren - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (9.22%)
29) Napoleon no Mura - TBS - Summer 2015 (9.08%)
30) Age Harassment - TV Asahi - Summer 2015 (8.86%)
31) Mother Game - TBS - Spring 2015 (8.82%)
32) Wild Heroes - NTV - Spring 2015 (8.78%)
33) Otona Joshi - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (8.74%)
34) Ghost Writer - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (8.68%)
35) Algernon ni Hanataba wo - TBS - Spring 2015 (8.61%)
36) Ishitachi no Renai Jijo - FujiTV - Spring 2015 (8.49%)
37) Tantei no Tantei - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (8.11%)
38) Do Konjo Gaeru - NTV - Summer 2015 (7.98%)
39) Hotel Concierge - TBS - Summer 2015 (7.95%)
40) Mutsuu - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (7.92%)
41) Zannen na Otto - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (7.68%)
42) Keibuho Sugiyama Shintaro - TBS - Winter 2015 (7.33%)
43) Tamiou - TV Asahi - Summer 2015 (7.14%)
44) Second Love - TV Asahi - Winter 2015 (7.14%)
45) Kokoro ga Pokitto ne - FujiTV - Spring 2015 / Samurai Sensei - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (6.71%)
46) Utsukushiki Wana - TBS - Winter 2015 (6.63%)
47) Yamegoku - TBS - Spring 2015 (6.48%)
48) 37.5C no Namida - TBS - Summer 2015 (6.17%)
49) Tenshi to Akuma - TV Asahi - Spring 2015 (6.08%)
50) Omotesando Koukou Gasshobu - TBS - Summer 2015 (5.92%)
51) Masshiro - TBS - Winter 2015 (5.85%)
52) Kekkon Shiki no Zenjitsu ni - TBS - Autumn 2015 (5.63%)
53) Risk no Kamisama - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (5.09%)

Average rating below 5% (6 dramas)
54) Tatau! Shoten Girl - FujiTV - Spring 2015 (4.78%)
55) Itsutsuboshi Tourist - NTV - Winter 2015 (4.42%)
56) Seishun Tantei Haruya - NTV - Autumn 2015 (4.32%)
57) HEAT - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (4.12%)
58) Renai Jidai - NTV - Spring 2015 (4.02%)
59) Konkatsu Deka - NTV - Summer 2015 (3.95%)

Key trends in 2015
- Out of the 59 dramas listed here, less than half made it pass the 10% mark in terms of their average ratings. This coincides with the general observation that dramas these days tend to register lower ratings due to various reasons.

- Out of the top 22 dramas which were above 10%, 5 were from TBS, 7 were from TV Asahi, 5 were from NTV and 5 were from FujiTV which seems to suggest that they are pretty on par with one ano. However, if you look at the average rating per drama from each TV station in the top 22 category, TBS got 13.13%, TV Asahi got 13.72%, NTV got 13.04% while FujiTV got 12.19%. TV Asahi is leading the pack while TBS and NTV have a small difference between them and FujiTV is lagging behind.

- The No.1 dramas from each of the TV stations are "Shitamachi Rocket" (TBS), "Aibou 13" (TV Asahi), Hanasaki Mai ga damattenai (NTV) and "Zeni no Sensou" (FujiTV).

- 4 out of the Top 10 are sequels i.e. Aibou (13 and 14), Hanasaki Mai and DOCTORS.

- Looking at the season distribution in the top 22, 7 were from the Winter season (Jan to Mar), 5 from Spring (Apr to June), 3 from Summer (Jul to Sep) and 7 from Autumn (Oct to Dec). This seems to suggest that in the colder seasons, the ratings tend to be higher while in summer, due to the summer holidays, festivals and Obon, lesser people seem to be tuning in to dramas realtime.

- In the category of dramas between 5% and 9.99%, there were 6 from NTV, 10 from FujiTV, 11 from TBS and 5 from TV Asahi. This suggests that 1) TBS dramas tend to fall into two extremes, they either do really well or really badly 2) FujiTV's dramas are falling behind and 3) TV Asahi is doing pretty well in recent years with a high number of dramas in the top category and a comparatively smaller number of below-10s.

- Almost one-third i.e. 9 of the dramas below 10% but above 5% were shown in summer. However, when you look at the breakdown across other seasons i.e. 7 from Autumn, 8 from Winter, 8 from Spring, it doesn't seem like the seasons were not major contributing factors as to why dramas do not fare well in ratings.

- In the category of the below 5% dramas, NTV may have the most number of 4 dramas out of 6 but the two entries from FujiTV stand out for the fact that they supposedly should have done better since they were shown during primetime while the four from NTV were all in the late-night slots which are expected to do less well.

So what do you think of the results in 2015?

Nikkansports Drama Grand Prix 2014 - Best Supporting Actor

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of votes:

1) Watabe Atsuro - Zeni no Sensou (442)

2) Suda Masaki - Shinigami-kun (325)

3) Oguri Shun - Ouroboros (264)

4) Tsutsumi Shinichi - Massan (163)

5) Matsushige Yutaka - HERO 2 (156)

6) Fukushi Sota - Kyouwa Kaisha Yasumimasu (128)

7) Saito Takumi - Hirugao (123)

8) Namase Katsuhisa - Second Love (119)

9) Takashima Masanobu - DOCTORS 3 (106)

10) Endo Kenichi - Doctor X (70)

Source: Nikkansports

Kobukuro to sing the theme song for TV Asahi Winter 2015 drama "DOCTORS 3"

Kobukuro will be singing the theme song for TV Asahi's Winter 2015 drama "DOCTORS 3" which began its run from 8 Jan in the Thursdays 9pm timeslot. The song "Kiseki" was written after the duo watched Part 1 and Part 2 several times. Kobukuro commented that even though they had written theme songs for dramas in the past, they usually relied on the script rather than watch the drama to find ideas so it was a refreshing experience for them and they even came up with 5 songs as a result. The leading cast members Sawamura Ikki and Takashima Masanobu also paid a surprise visit to the recording studio where Kobukuro was recording the theme song.

Source: Sponichi

Top 10 highest single-episode ratings ranking for dramas in 2013 (Oricon)

1) Hanzawa Naoki Last Episode (TBS) - 42.2%

2) Gochisousan Ep 15 (NHK) - 27.3%

3) Ama-chan Ep 145 (NHK) - 27.0%

4) Doctor X ~ Gekkai Daimon Michiko ~ Last Episode (TV Asahi) - 26.9%

5) 24 Jikan Terebi SP - Kyou no hi wa sayounara (NTV)  - 23.4%

6) Galileo Ep 1 (FujiTV) - 22.6%

7) DOCTORS 2 Last Episode (TV Asahi) - 21.7%

8) Yae no Sakura Ep 1 (NHK) - 21.4%

9) Legal High Ep 1 (FujiTV) - 21.2%

10) Aibou Season 11 Last Episode (TV Asahi) - 20.7%

Source: Oricon

Sawamura Ikki to reprise his role in summer 2013 drama "DOCTORS 2 Saikyou no Meii"

Sawamura Ikki will be back in TV Asahi's medical drama "DOCTORS 2 Saikyou no Meii"  which is due to be shown as a SP on 1 June and begins its run as a series from July onwards at 9pm on Thursdays. The first series titled "DOCTORS Saikyou no Meii" was shown in autumn 2011 and had featured Sawamura as a doctor named Sagara Kousuke who changes the hospital he works in through his unconventional ways. In one moment, he can be full of smiles towards his patients but he is unafraid to change into a unfeeling person in order to realise his ideals as a doctor. The first drama had been shown in 80 countries in Asia, Europe and America so there have been calls for a sequel to be made.

In the SP, it features Sagara being caught in the middle of a struggle between the hospital he works in and an university hospital. As for the drama series, it shows Sagara clashing again with his longtime rival Moriyama played by Takashima Masanobu and exposing the dark side of the medical world.

Source: Sanspo