Keeping things platonic: The "strictly business" mixed-gender work partners in Japanese dramas

While Japanese dramas featuring male-female partners at work are commonplace, this article highlights an interesting phenomenon in the Winter 2025 season - there are as many as 5 titles featuring such combinations and 3 of them involve lawyers*:

• "Tokyo Sarada Bouru" - Nao x Matsuda Ryuuhei
• "Mondai Bukken" - Kamikawa Takaya x Uchida Rio
• "Houtei no Dragon" - Kamishiraishi Mone x Takasugi Mahiro *
• "Ensemble" - Kawaguchi Haruna x Matsumura Hokuto *
• "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?" - Hirose Suzu x Matsuyama Kenichi*

The nature of the relationship between the pairings and the storyline pretty much determine if romance will be in the picture. On one end of the spectrum, "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?" features the "client" i.e. Komugi who approaches a lawyer Matsukaze to help her in the investigation of her father's arson-murder case. Considering their business-only relationship and that the story has a strong mystery/suspense angle, there is no room for romance to bloom between the characters. On the other hand, "Ensemble" features the leads as colleagues in a budding romantic relationship with a love triangle thrown in from the start due to the appearance of the female lead's ex-boyfriend.

Looking back at the past mixed-gender pairings in the past, while there were some workplace pairs who eventually became lovers onscreen, there were also quite a number of dramas with such pairings that either had no romance or a comparatively faint/hinted romance angle:

• "Keizoku" - Nakatani Miki x Watabe Atsuro
• "Trick" - Nakama Yukie x Abe Hiroshi
• "HERO" - Kimura Takuya x Matsu Takako
• "Galileo" - Fukuyama Masaharu x Shibasaki Kou & Yoshitaka Yuriko
• "SPEC" - Toda Erika x Kase Ryo
• "Legal High" - Sakai Masato x Aragaki Yui
• "Ishiko to Haneo" - Arimura Kasumi x Nakamura Tomoya
• "Unfair" - Shinohara Ryoko x Nagayama Eita
• "Jikou Keisatsu" - Odagiri Jo x Asou Kumiko
• "Strawberry Night" - Takeuchi Yuko x Nishijima Hidetoshi
• "Liar Game" - Toda Erika x Matsuda Shota
• "Kyousou no bannin" - An x Sakaguchi Kentaro
• "RoOT" - Kawai Yumi x Bandou Ryouta
• "Okuto" - Iitoyo Marie x Asaka Koudai
• "Invisible" - Takahashi Issei x Shibasaki Kou
• "Motokare no Yuuigonjou" - Ayase Haruka x Ooizumi Yo
• "Tengoku to Jigoku" - Ayase Haruka x Takahashi Issei

As seen from the list above, a large number of these platonic pairings appeared in investigative/legal/suspense stories. Over time, the stories would show the gradual development of the characters' relationships as they solved cases or dealt with issues together. A reason cited in the media for the inclusion of romance for such mixed-gender pairings was said to be related to the viewing preferences during the "trendy dramas" era i.e. late 1980s to early 1990s. Back then, "squeal-worthy" scenes featuring popular actors and actresses who played characters transitioning from colleagues/buddies/enemies/rivals to lovers were pretty well-received and in demand. As such, it became sort of a standard formula for such relationships to head towards the romance direction rather than keep things strictly professional.

However, as times have evolved, there are more titles these days featuring platonic working relationships for such mixed-gender pairings. While it is perfectly normal for love to blossom when people work together, it is also natural for mutual respect rather than romantic feelings to be developed between such pairings. As such, when such dramas do not add in romance in an "artificial" or "unnatural" manner, they are generally well-received and readily accepted as the norm reflective of current times. 

In recent years, I would say that "Ishiko to Haneo" was one of the more successful examples at eliminating the romance factor from the leads' relationship. Frankly speaking, I didn't expect this initially since there was no indication pre-season that the work buddies would have no romantic feelings for each other. In the end, the female lead ended up with the second male lead rather than her partner at work which was unexpected and somewhat unconventional but I really liked this arrangement.

On the contrary, there have been examples where adding romance when it's unnecessary or illogical can backfire. For example, "Mystery to iu nakare" depicted Ito Sairi's police detective character having feelings for the lead played by Suda Masaki. This went against the nature of their relationship described in the original manga and attracted criticism from viewers.

Personally, I am more inclined towards the notion of keeping things platonic for mixed-gender pairings especially if the drama is not positioned to be a romance-themed one. While I get it that some viewers may like to see their favourite pairings engage in a romantic relationship onscreen, the manner of how this develops is crucial. As such, keeping it naturally-flowing and not forcing things to head towards the romantic genre would be the best. Especially when dealing with stories based on original material like novels and manga, it would be simply reckless and foolish to spoil the relationship dynamics crafted by the original works' authors for no apparent or justifiable reason.

Do share with me your favourite mixed-gender work partners in J-dramas and movies and let me know if I've missed any significant/popular examples from my list above!

Top 10 private network dramas in the Heisei era with the highest single episode rating (Daily Shincho)

With the impending end of the Heisei era, there are lots of rankings, surveys, articles about anything imaginable in the media these days. Daily Shincho did a check on the top 10 private network dramas in the Heisei era with the highest single episode rating i.e. excluding NHK and here are the results with the year of broadcast in brackets:

"Hanzawa Naoki" is still unbeaten for the last six years since it became the monster blockbuster of 2013. Looking at the results, it's obvious that the days of dramas easily exceeding the 20% mark are long gone. It may be a long time before another big hit in the 30% range ever comes up in the Reiwa era with more and more sources for your drama fix including Netflix, HBO Asia, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video other than the traditional TV stations and many alternative forms of entertainment besides TV spreading the viewership base further.

In case you are wondering, I actually watched everything in this list (which gives you a clue as to how old I am) and naturally, there are some which I like more than the others for various reasons! I watched "101 Kaime no Proposal" when I was still a kid who knew nothing much and I actually remembered the scene of Takeda Tetsuya jumping in front of that truck more than the love story itself because I was laughing at how ridiculous it seemed (sorry, no romantic bone in me back then). "Ienakiko" was shocking and painful to watch due to the constant bullying of Suzu (Adachi Yumi) but it was gratifying and encouraging to see how she overcame hurdle after hurdle. "Long Vacation" introduced me to Takenouchi Yutaka (although it was his clean look in "Beach Boys" which got me hooked) and I am still listening to the songs from then even to this day. And not forgetting "Hanzawa Naoki" which I felt was a bit far-fetched because that kind of insubordination would never happen in a company, much less a Japanese bank - but the story of a nobody fighting against power and status probably resonated with everyone who faced similar issues and had no way or courage to fight like Hanzawa. So many beautiful memories from the Heisei era dramas!

How many of the top 10 have you watched before? Do feel free to share your thoughts with me!

1) Hanzawa Naoki / TBS / 42.2% (2013)
2) Beautiful Life / TBS / 41.3% (2000)
3) Kaseifu no Mita / NTV / 40.0% (2011)
4) Hitotsu Yane no Shita / FujiTV / 37.8% (1993)
5) GOOD LUCK!! / TBS / 37.6% (2003)
6) Ienakiko / NTV / 37.2% (1994)
7) HERO / FujiTV / 36.8% (2001)
8) 101 Kaime no Proposal / FujiTV / 36.7% (1991)
Long Vacation / FujiTV / 36.7% (1996)
10) GTO / FujiTV / 35.7% (1998)

Source: Daily Shincho

FujiTV to show reruns of past SMAP dramas and movies before the end of 2016

To commemorate SMAP's 25th anniversary since their CD debut, FujiTV will be showing reruns of past dramas and movies featuring the SMAP members between 19 November and 28 December. The feature titled "SMAP Graffitti" will show the following dramas series, SPs and movie. Numbers in brackets indicate the year when the drama/SP/movie was first shown:

HERO (2014)
Starring Kimura Takuya
Broadcast dates: 23rd to 25th November, 28th November to 2nd December and 5th to 9th December
Timing: 3.50pm to 4.50pm

Boku to Kanojo to Kanojo no Ikiru Michi (2004)
Starring Kusanagi Tsuyoshi
Broadcast dates: 12th to 16th December, 20th to 22nd December and 26th to 28th December
Timing: 3.50pm to 4.50pm (28th December's timing is 3.55pm to 5.45pm)

Issenchouen no Mishirokin (2015)
Starring Katori Shingo
Broadcast date: 19 November
Timing: 3.05pm to 5pm

Shin Naniwa Kinyudo (2015)
Starring Nakai Masahiro
Broadcast: 26 November
Timing: 3.05pm to 5pm

Kindaichi Kousuke Yatsuhakamura (2004)
Starring Inagaki Goro
Broadcast: 3 December
Timing: 3pm to 5pm

Boku ga boku de aru tame ni (1997)
Starring SMAP
Broadcast: 10 December
Timing: 3.05pm to 5pm
　　
Furuhata Ninzaburo vs SMAP (1999)
Starring SMAP
Broadcast: 17 December
Timing: 2.05pm to 5pm

Yo ni mo kimyou na monogatari SMAP no Tokubetsuhen (2001)
Starring SMAP
Broadcast: 24 December
Timing: 3pm to 5.30pm

Gekijouban HERO (2015)
Starring Kimura Takuya
Broadcast: 10 December
Timing: 9pm to 11.20pm

Source: Oricon

FujiTV's most popular Gekku dramas ranking (Facebook)

FujiTV conducted a survey through its Facebook page asking Internet users to select their No.1 Gekku drama over the past 20 years i.e. from 1995 to the current season's offering "Date" and the results were concluded this morning at 8am (Japan time). A total of 628 votes were received and it seems like they did accept multiple titles selected by a single user because that's what I did (I chose 5 titles). Is your favourite in this ranking too?

The dramas which I voted for are in bold, numbers in brackets indicate the number of votes while the year when the drama was shown is displayed after the title. Unfortunately, Love Revolution and Beginner did not make the top 20 list. Note that for dramas with multiple installments such as HERO and Galileo, the votes were counted together rather than attributed to the specific parts. For such "combined" titles, I put down the multiple years when the series were shown in:

1) Long Vacation - 1996 (87)
2) HERO - 2001 & 2014 (56)
3) Yamato Nadeshiko - 2000 (34)
4) Nodame Cantabile - 2006 (33)
5) Galileo - 2007 & 2013 (22) / Tokyo Love Story - 1991 / Love Generation - 1997
8) Hitotsu Yane no Shita - 1993 & 1997 (20)
9) Pride - 2004 (18) / Buzzer Beat - 2009
11) Beach Boys - 1997 (16)
12) Nagareboshi - 2010 (15)
13) Proposal Daisakusen - 2007 (14) / Hito ni Yasashiku - 2002
15) Code Blue - 2010 (12)
16) Lunch no Joou - 2002 (12)
17) Shitsuren Chocolatier - 2014 (10) / Sora kara furu Ichioku no Hoshi - 2002
19) Watashi ga renai dekinai riyuu - 2011 (9)
20) Rich Man, Poor Woman - 2012 (8) / 101-kaime no Proposal - 1991 / Asunaro Hakusho - 1992

There were some "outliers" where dramas before 1995 were also selected such as Asunaro Hakusho, 101-kaime no Proposal and Tokyo Love Story. Of the 22 titles in the top 20, 7 were in the pre-2000 era, 6 were from 2000 to 2005 while the remaining 9 were after 2005. Does this show that the newer dramas were better and more popular? Not necessarily so because you have to "Like" the FujiTV Facebook page before you get to see this poll so for those who have not done so, they wouldn't have been able to vote. Moreover, some past polls I've seen about FujiTV's Gekku show a stronger representation from the pre-2005 dramas which suggests that the titles from recent years didn't make such a great impact. If this survey was done through other mediums, the results might have turned out differently.

Source: FujiTV's Facebook Page

"HERO" to have a movie version next summer

"HERO" will be back as a new movie next summer as a continuation of its second drama series shown this year. The new movie which is due to be shown in cinemas from 18 July 2015, will still feature Kimura Takuya as the unconventional prosecutor Kuryu Kohei as well as the heroine in the second series Kitagawa Keiko and will bring back the original drama series' heroine Matsu Takako and feature new names in the cast lineup including Sato Koichi as a rival of Kuryu. Filming begins at the end of this month.

This time, Kuryu will be investigating a case related to a foreign country's embassy. However, due to the lack of rights to investigate the embassy and its diplomats, any wrong move may escalate into a major issue thus making Kuryu face his biggest crisis so far in his career.

Source: Sponichi