Winners of the TVer Awards 2025 (Drama categories)

Here are the winners of the TVer Awards 2025's drama-related categories based on total views tabulated by TVer Data Marketing:

Grand Prix: Jaa, Anta ga tsukutte miroyo

Late Night Drama: Otto yo, shinde kurenai ka

Excellence Award: 

Ii koto warui koto

Mikami-sensei

Classics Award: Mystery to iu nakare

Winners of the Tokyo Drama Award 2025

Drama Series Category

Grand Prix: Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

Excellence Award:

* Berabou ~ Tsutajuu Eiga no Yumebanashi ~

* Tokyo Sarada Bouru

* Hot Spot

* Mikami-sensei

* Otto no katei wo kowasu made

* Nami uraraka ni, meoto biyori

* Golden Kamuy - Hokkaido irezumi shuujin soudatsuhen-

Drama SP Category

Grand Prix: Slow Train 

Excellence Award:

* Oboenai satsujin

* Shin Abarenbo shogun

* Oi, Dazai

Individual Category

Best Leading Actor: Matsuzaka Toori - Mikami-sensei

Best Leading Actress: Nao - Tokyo Sarada Bouru

Best Supporting Actor: Kakuta Akihiro - Hot Spot

Best Supporting Actress: Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

Best Scriptwriter: Shimori Roba - Mikami-sensei

Best Director: Tsukahara Ayuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

Special Award: Nishida Toshiyuki

Source: Tokyo Drama Award

Understanding "Kasumigaseki Bungaku" through TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

If you have watched "Mikami-sensei", you would have heard this term "Kasumigaseki Bungaku" being mentioned multiple times throughout the entire drama. So what is "Kasumigaseki Bungaku" and why was this being featured prominently in the drama?

To begin with, the literal translation of "Kasumigaseki Bungaku" / 霞が関文学 is Kasumigaseki literature. As you may already know, Kasumigaseki is a district in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, where most government ministries are located so the place name is often used as a metonym for the Japanese bureaucracy. Likewise, the term Nagata-cho is used to refer to the elected government or legislative branch since the Diet of Japan and the Prime Minister's residence are located here.

While the exact origin of Kasumigaseki Bungaku is not known, what sets this form of word usage apart from daily Japanese speech is the use of terms which on their own, are easy to understand but when pieced together becomes ambiguous, difficult to comprehend and often sounds ridiculous. As such, the term Kasumigaseki Bungaku actually contains a certain degree of mockery to mean that bureaucrats often speak in a hard-to-understand and somewhat unfeeling/robotic manner to complicate simple things. On the surface, they give the impression that things are progressing smoothly but nothing is said clearly so that they wouldn't be held responsible for their ambiguous words. This is said to be reflective of the bureaucrats' mindset of always looking for a way out in case things go wrong and their tendency to avoid having their mistakes being pointed out. 

Key characteristics of Kasumigaseki Bungaku speech include:

• Only answering things that they are asked
• Answering only the bare minimum and avoiding elaboration/clarification
• Using ambiguous expressions in written form which could be interpreted in various ways
• Making the subject vague, or in some cases omitting the subject, and obscuring who is responsible

Similarly, Nagata-cho Bungaku / 永田町文学 can be said to be the politicians' version of Kasumigaseki Bungaku. However, it is also said that Nagata-cho Bungaku is heavily influenced by the latter since a lot of ministers speak using scripts and statements prepared by bureaucrats in their ministries and heavily rely on them for advice since they are the subject matter experts. Over time, the use of Kasumigaseki Bungaku terms sort of "flowed over" to the political circle. Inevitably, both types of literature have identical characteristics i.e. complicated, ambiguous and unclear responsibility. 

Here are some examples of simple terms vs. their complicated versions in Kasumigaseki Bungaku style:

Rubbish / ゴミ ----> General waste / 一般廃棄物

Business District / ビジネス街 ----> Specified commercial cluster / 特定商業集積

Mother Complex / マザコン -----> Excessive mother-child contact / 過度な母子の密着

Boom in learning foreign languages /  外国語ブーム ----> Increased motivation to learn languages / 語学学習意欲の高まり

For those who may be interested in knowing more about Kasumigaseki Bungaku, you can read this article from NHK.

In "Mikami-sensei", the lead character Mikami Takashi played by Matsuzaka Toori is a bureaucrat from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology who is dispatched to a senior high school to be a teacher for a designated period of time. Given his background, it is no wonder that the things he said were sometimes or rather often delivered in the Kasumigaseki Bungaku style especially in the earlier episodes. For example, you may have remembered the following:

If my memory is correct - 僕の記憶が確かならば

It is the result of my immorality - 不徳の致すところです (used when apologising for one's mistakes)

I cannot answer anything beyond this - これ以上はお答えできません

As I do not remember, I cannot say anything beyond this - 覚えておりませんので、これ以上のことは申し上げようがありません

We will continue to improve every day - 日々、精進してまいります

From these examples, it is quite clear that while some things can be spelled out more directly and clearly, the use of Kasumigaseki Bungaku actually muddles the meaning and where responsibility lies. It can also be difficult to say and understand even when compared to business-style formal speech.

Just as the picture in this post states, Kasumigaseki Bungaku is a literary form created by bureaucrats for bureaucrats to use. While it can difficult to make sense of it at times, hopefully you will be able to appreciate the nuance and hidden meanings better when you watch a drama/movie that features bureaucrats.

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 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

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.

Quick Review #108: Mikami-sensei - Winter 2025

Title: Mikami-sensei / 御上先生

Rating: 9 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who want to watch an unconventional school drama with suspense elements and great acting from both the adults and "students"

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- Unlike many school dramas to date, this story stood out for its unconventional and brutally honest take on various issues - some longstanding while others were more recent ones in this current age. Honestly speaking, there were quite a number of times when I wondered if TBS would get into trouble for being so point blank and critical with these viewpoints. At the same time, I also chuckled at how it poked fun at itself and others at times e.g. the Kinpachi-sensei style of passionate teacher being not so suitable for the current era. For the first time in a long while, there were no raised voices, incessant preaching or shouting matches and physical clashes between teachers and students but this didn't mean that there were no sparks flying within the classroom. Most importantly, the drama did not try to shove standard, right or single answers down the viewers' throats and kept emphasizing how important it was for us to think about issues and decide for ourselves only after knowing or finding out more about these topics. As such, this was reflective of how life should be - there are no best or single answers, what's good for you may not be for me and that we can all make informed decisions by not relying on others to think on our behalf or simply relying on groupthink.

- With regard to the suspense element, I thought that the story was pretty good at weaving seemingly unrelated events together to form a grand scheme of things naturally. Frankly speaking, while I thought that the bribery-rigged entry into Rintoku part was kind of predictable and a bit underwhelming towards the end, the other elements such as how one's action gave rise to unexpected events e.g. Kanzaki's "harmless and self-righteous reporting" setting off a fatal stabbing incident unwittingly were comparatively gripping and very engaging to watch. 

- Another thing which sets this drama differently from many of its predecessors was the positioning of Mikami-sensei (Matsuzaka Toori). While the drama's title was as such and that you couldn't ignore the fact that his presence was a huge factor in setting things into motion, he was never hogging the limelight and the people around him actually all had their moments to shine. As such, nobody really felt like an outsider or afterthought as the story progressed and really brought home the message that nobody and nothing is unimportant. One line that appeared in the drama had a similar nuance with this - "even though you said that now is an important period of life, is there really a period of time in life which is unimportant?".

Many a times, school dramas tend to focus a lot on the adults or teachers rather than the students especially for stories like this which dabble in revenge and revamp of the school or education system. However, I felt that the actors who played the students this time actually stood out more than initially expected and gave their seniors a run for their money. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that their popularity and name value were secondary in the selection process which was done via auditions and their suitability for their roles was the key deciding factor. As such, it felt like some of them were especially fitting for their characters and really brought their roles to life - my favourites were Okudaira Daiken, Makita Aju, Kubozuka Airu, Kiryu Sakura and Kageyama Yuka. On the adults' side, Okada Masaki, Yoshioka Riho, Tokiwa Takako and Hotta Mayu were really brilliant in their acting alongside Matsuzaka.

Disliked: 

- Perhaps the biggest issue with this drama was how emotionally charged and heavy the story was. As I outlined above, while the drama may not have very dramatic moments like shouting, raised voices, passionate expressions and the like, there were a lot of undercurrents and emotions boiling underneath the calm facade. This made me feel quite drained emotionally after each episode and certainly not the kind of mood I would like to be in on a Sunday evening with a new week ahead.

Likewise, the huge number of lines and a lot of content to consider and think about in the story created much work and overloaded my brain. I think you really need to be in the mood to savour the good things in this drama and pace yourself rather than attempt to binge-watch this.

Behind-the-scenes of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei" and about its scriptwriter Shimori Roba

As "Mikami-sensei" continues to gather attention for its unconventional take on Japan's education system and various social issues, there have been a number of articles discussing its unique approach unlike other school dramas to date and its scriptwriter Shimori Roba. Read on for the behind-the-scenes trivia about this drama which will wrap up by the end of this month!

• "Mikami-sensei" is Shimori's first solo script for a private network drama. To date, most of her writing work was for stage productions. Due to the reputation of TBS' Sundays 9pm timeslot and the scale of the production, she was worried if she could do a good job as she was pretty much a newbie at everything.

• The first time she wrote a script was when she was in primary school.

• Shimori revealed that it was only until the last ten years or so that she finally earned enough to survive solely on writing. For a very long time, her main income was from non-theatre work so she had extensive working experience in various industries. As such, many of her works are related to or set in the workplace and she credits those days as pivotal to her writing.

• She founded the theatre group "Fuukin Koubou" in 1993 and began her activities with "serial number" since 2018. She admitted that as it can be difficult to survive solely on productions for her own company, she managed to grow her career by doing writing and directing for external productions.

• Shimori is known for being good at writing scripts based on actual events and historical facts through interviews and extensive research. As such, her stories tend to be a mix of real social issues and fiction. To date, she has created more than 100 works.

• The producer of "Mikami-sensei" i.e. Iida Kazutaka knew Shimori through a mutual acquaintance and had been to her stage plays from time to time. He then approached her to work on "Mikami-sensei" in spring 2020 after Shimori gained recognition and attention with her award-winning movie "Shinbun Kisha". As she believes that education is an important topic especially for the younger generation since they would be more receptive to new ideas and their thinking can be molded more easily to learn the right values and that she had never written about this genre in her plays, she told him that she was keen on this offer. 

• Through repeated discussions with Iida and Shimori's research, she found out that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) does have a system of dispatching its bureaucrats to schools to be teachers for short stints. Since many people would have the impression that most civil servants are diligent but find it difficult to do as they wish in the public service, this conflict was seen as something which could provide interesting viewpoints in the story. Besides, bureaucrats in areas such as education and culture have been seen as somewhat "weaker" in terms of influence and power compared to those in other ministries. As such, she raised the idea of doing a story about a bureaucrat-cum-teacher sent from MEXT to a public school and Iida liked the suggestion. However, the proposal did not get approved eventually and was put on hold. 

• On hindsight, Shimori said that it was actually better that the proposal didn't go through back then because she felt that it would have flopped due to her inadequacy as a writer. She did not have a TV at home for about 15 years then and didn't even have the habit of watching dramas. After the proposal was turned down, she started to watch lots of dramas and movies in order to understand how dramas were made and what made a drama a success or a flop. That was how she finally built up her theory of what works or not through research and analysis of other people's works. She also credits her first foray into TV work such as being a co-scriptwriter for NHK's dramas "Gunjou Ryouiki" and "Kono hanasakuya" as being important in gaining actual experience.

• In 2022, Iida suddenly sent Shimori an email and said that he still hadn't given up on their project. She was happy to hear about the revival of the plan and looked forward to working with Iida. As such, they renewed discussions and decided on the story's direction to be that of solving the students' problems one by one which would eventually lead to the resolution of a big issue in the country at the end. In addition, unlike most school dramas where teachers and students were pitted against each other, they would unite to fight against the greater evil in this drama. While Iida liked the idea, Shimori started to self-doubt when she returned home after the meeting and wondered if this plan would actually work. Nonetheless, she had faith that Iida would make this drama a reality because he was extremely motivated to make a education-themed drama due to his original dream of becoming a school teacher. She also felt that she couldn't turn in a half-baked piece of work and needed to match up to his passion in the project.

• With regard to her original draft for Ep 1, Iida commented that they needed to start things off with a stronger impact. Just then, she was reminded of the stabbing incident involving entrance exam candidates outside the University of Tokyo in 2022 which was seen as a sign of societal stress surfacing in Japan. After making some adjustments to the settings, she incorporated a similar development in the first episode.

• While Shimori prides herself as someone who has read lots of good mystery stories to date, things felt different when she was the one writing it. As such, rather than focus on surprising people with revelations, she decided to focus on making her story as logical and believable as possible.

• When designing the character Mikami Takashi, Iida told Shimori that it would be good to make Mikami a dark hero. At that time, TBS was showing "Anti Hero" so she agreed that this might be a great idea. However, she didn't think that she could come up with a character like that. And besides, Mikami was not meant to be a hero but rather a new type of teacher. 

• Shimori praised Matsuzaka Toori for being a perfect hit for Mikami since the first script reading session and was very happy that he brought this character to life. Although Matsuzaka had starred in the movie "Shinbun Kisha" which was also written by Shimori, they didn't really have much direct interaction back then since the script was adjusted along the way with the producer and director. And since Matsuzaka's character in the movie did not actually achieve what he intended despite summoning his courage to do so, Shimori really wanted Mikami to be able to realise his goal this time. In addition, she has been a follower of Matsuzaka's works and watched most of them so she felt confident that no matter what she writes, he would be able to deliver. The fact that this is their second collaboration gave her the confidence that he could do it.

• In theatre, the playwright's writing style can be quite distinct but Shimori had to tone down a bit in this respect for the drama. As such, she didn't want to focus too much on the lines but instead tried to use other ways to convey the intended messages. For example, she quoted the scene in Ep 2 when Mikami gave Kanzaki a light push in the back and walked with him into the school which was filled with reporters at the gate rather than use words to illustrate the significance of this action.

• Since Shimori had been cooped up writing the script, she decided to attend the auditions for the student characters so that she could "get out of the house to meet people". However, she did not participate in the selection process. The experience was useful for her to see for herself who was chosen to play what character and how these actors are like because it would be impossible to watch all of their prior works. She was very impressed with the casting choices as some of the actors did not actually look or feel like the characters they were playing but after the necessary styling and make-up, they were transformed accordingly to look the part. She also expressed amazement at the pool of talent they managed to secure and looks forward to seeing how these young actors will grow in time to come. Among them, she cited Okudaira Daiken as being really impressive to manage a difficult role like Kanzaki.

• Amid her wide range of stories written to date, Shimori revealed that the common theme in them was to convey the message that people still have to live on despite what happens. As such, the importance of life and using culture and arts to protect lives are what she considers as extremely crucial themes.

• Shimori revealed that coming up with names in the story was very challenging because she had to avoid having similar-sounding names for the characters. Even the school's name Rintoku Gakuin was finally decided after a while because it would be best not to overlap with an actual school's name. While writing the script, she also had a table with the characters' names and the cast members' photos which helped her imagine who would say what line. As for other details in the character settings, those were decided together with the production team.

• As for the theme of "The personal is political" which gets repeated in the drama, Shimori revealed that this came from the feminism and student activism movements and she heard about it while doing research for another LGBTQ-themed story in the past. Although she had always thought that personal and political problems were unrelated, the idea that making it easier to live on a personal basis could change the political and social systems as well became apparent to her. As such, she really wanted to incorporate this belief in the story and was glad that through this drama, many people had become more aware about this.

• Through this drama, Shimori hopes that viewers will be able to see that there is hope in things changing in the future as long as one continues to live, no matter how unlikely it may seem right now.

Romaji lyrics and translation of "Puppets Can't Control You" by ONE OK ROCK (Japanese version) - Theme Song of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

Title: Puppets Can't Control You

Artist: ONE OK ROCK

Written by: Taka / DAIDAI / Gianni Taylor / Dru Decarro / Derek Tyler Carter

Theme Song of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

* Since the song lyrics are in English except for the opening verse, the romaji lyrics and translation (in brackets) will be for the Japanese section only. Note that the English version's opening verse is not the same as this.

senkou ka koukou de kimaru you na 

bakageta petenshi no geemu ni

jissai odorasarete kuruwasare

damasareta ageku

They want to make us pick a side

(It seems like it's been decided whether you go first or second

A stupid trickster's game

After being manipulated, driven crazy and cheated

They want to make us pick a side)

Damned if I do

It's way too late to fix it

I'll be damned if I don't

The bane of my existence

They said damn kid you gotta try

Even if you never win

You can't pretend

You'll never be happy again

Clip his wings he don't deserve that halo

I'm losing faith in everyone again

If the TV stations sell their lies on cable

Then we're so blind that we'll be tuning in

But I don't know where to start

Damned if I do

It's way too late to fix it

I'll be damned if I don't

The bane of my existence

They said damn kid you gotta try

Even if you never win

You can't pretend

You'll never be happy again

Holding on to nothing

Till it turns into something

Don't like who I'm becoming

I can't keep running

Searching for an answer

Re-reading every chapter

There's no happy ever after when it's over

Damned if I do

It's way too late to fix it

I'll be damned if I don't

The bane of my existence

They said damn kid you gotta try

Even if you never win

You can't pretend

You'll never be happy again

Highlights from the chat session between ONE OK ROCK's Taka and Iida Kazutaka (producer of "Mikami-sensei")

There was a chat session featuring Iida Kazutaka i.e. producer of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei" and Taka i.e. vocalist of ONE OK ROCK which sings the theme song "Puppets Can't Control You". In the two-part article, they talked about various things such as the story leading to their collaboration and the message they want to convey in the theme song. Given the length, I have extracted some highlights pertaining to the drama and theme song as shared below:

• Iida first came into contact with ONE OK ROCK's music in 2013, thanks to Sato Takeru's recommendation. He watched the 2016 concert "18 sai" during the COVID-19 pandemic and was deeply moved by the embedded messages of respect and encouragement which transcended the boundaries between adults and youngsters at the age of 18. With the intention to showcase a similar story like this, "Mikami-sensei" materialised after 5 years.
• Iida already had the intention to get ONE OK ROCK to sing the theme song although he wasn't confident that the band would accept his offer. 
• In response, Taka said that it was rare for such an offer to come to them. He explained that the band tends to touch on supposedly taboo or controversial themes in their music so there is this perception of dealing with them can be troublesome, whether it is justified or not. As such, they were really happy to have received this offer.

• Taka revealed that on a personal level, he is not so receptive to the idea of working with TV since young. As such, under normal circumstances, he would have said no to such an offer especially since his utmost priority is to uphold the band's policy.
• In the US, it is common for them to bring in several staff members for music playing sessions with the band when making music. Through this process, it allows the band to bring in fresh ideas from different people through a trial-and-error process and identify those whose values and ideals are in sync with them vs. those who just want to make use of and tap on the power of their brand. However, this is not something that's usually practiced in Japan and the system can only work if there is mutual respect between both parties and a relationship that's geared towards making the best stuff. 

• Iida shared that in the world of making dramas, there is also a difference in practices between the US and Japan. In the US, it is common to have multiple scriptwriters work on a single drama and the story is crafted through feedback along the way. However, in Japan, the standard practice is to have one scriptwriter be responsible for the entire drama. While Iida said that he hopes to bring in a more consultative process in making Japanese dramas going forward, he felt that he can also learn from the band's experience but acknowledged that it does take courage to adopt the input of others and be receptive to change.

• Both of them highlighted the importance of communication and how it can foster understanding and convey thoughts accurately. Even through a fictitious work like this drama or music, viewers can draw parallels between the story/lyrics and their lives which will give rise to new energy and create opportunities for discussion.

• At the time when ONE OK ROCK received the proposal for the theme song, they were in the midst of making their album "DETOX" and felt that the drama matched its theme. However, they were worried initially about how far they could go for the song to portray the drama's key theme.
• The word "puppets" in the title does not refer to just its literal meaning but also those who step up to take responsibility whenever things happen such as the president of a country or company. The thing is, there are usually bigger and stronger powers behind these figures. As such, the meaning that they want to convey through this song is that, "no matter how many puppets you change to make the public's anger go away whenever there's a crisis, we will no longer be deceived by this rigged system and listen to these puppets put up by the larger powers". Taka joked that this might come across very strongly in Japanese but the interpretation of the message should differ to a certain extent since the lyrics are in English.
• The song was written entirely in English at first. Since there was feedback that there should be some Japanese lyrics given that this is still a theme song for a Japanese drama, they wrote the lyrics in Japanese for the opening verse in the Japanese version while keeping to all-English lyrics in the original version. Taka said that it's rare for the band's recent songs to begin with Japanese and felt that it was a good idea to do this after all.
• Taka also revealed a funny anecdote about the song which he let close friends hear before the tie-up with the drama was announced. However, the feedback he got was that it was difficult to appreciate what the song was trying to convey if you just heard it on its own. Once the song was played during the ending credits of "Mikami-sensei", those friends came back to tell Taka that they finally understood what the song was about and praised its compatibility with the drama. Taka himself was convinced by what they said when he watched the ending credits and realised that the song turned out to be better than he thought.
• Iida said that it was a deliberate decision to choose a hard rock song for the drama since it is positioned as one which would break stereotypes in the TBS Sunday drama timeslot.
• Taka shared that he doesn't have a TV at home and hasn't watched a TV show in more than 10 years. However, he does watch Netflix at times. This is the first time in a long while that he finds himself "hooked" to a TV drama and is surprised by how unconventional and edgy the story is especially considering that this drama is shown on a terrestrial TV network and not an international OTT platform.

Behind-the-scenes trivia from TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei" held an event on 15 February 2025 for 40 senior high school students where the producer Iida Kazutaka, director Miyazaki Yohei and cast members Toyoda Yuudai and Yamashita Kouki appeared. During the event, they shared behind-the-scenes trivia with the audience including:

- The theme song "Puppets Can't Control You" by ONE OK ROCK was kept as top secret from most of the cast and staff members until it was finally revealed in the ending credits of Ep 1's broadcast.

• According to Iida, a hint was actually dropped to everyone when they started filming the classroom scenes in December. 
• A sacoche bag which is the size of their script, was handed out to everyone at that time. On it was an English phrase which is taken from the lyrics of the song.
• During a briefing with cast members, Iida mentioned that this drama was conceptualised after he heard the song "We are" from ONE OK ROCK.
• This led to Okudaira Daiken who plays Kanzaki Takuto, to guess correctly then that the English words on the bag should be song lyrics.

- Iida revealed the roots of how this drama came about. He used to aspire to become a teacher after he saw the 5th season of "3 nen B gumi Kinpachi" sensei in the final year of his senior high school. However, he failed his university entrance exams and repeated a year before he finally entered Waseda University's School of Education. He even obtained the English teaching license for junior and senior high. 

It was then when he felt that he would not be able to teach his students well if he had no prior working experience so he applied to join TBS instead of becoming a teacher. While in TBS, he kept thinking of making a drama about teachers one day and finally realised his dream through "Dragonzakura" in 2021. 

Just when he wanted to do an original story about teachers and felt that there was a lot of pent-up frustration in society due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he happened to see a video of ONE OK ROCK's 2016 concert in 2020 and felt the youthful energy and brilliance through it. As such, he started to plan for a school drama which ultimately became "Mikami-sensei" 5 years later.

- Unlike many school dramas to date, "Mikami-sensei" emphasizes the need for teachers and students to think together rather than teachers telling the students "how to think". With regard to this point, there was a mutual understanding with scriptwriter Shimori Roba that they didn't want this drama to be preachy and instead reflect the need to change the perception of teachers as times have also changed. It was important to emphasize that while one may be passionate about something, conveying it in a calm manner with only the necessary words is probably the best way going forward. This was unlike past dramas which tended to show passionate teachers lecturing their students with grand words and long arguments just to get their viewpoints across.

- There is also a conscious attempt to shine the spotlight on social issues of today despite this drama being entertainment and make it easier for the general audience to understand and appreciate. This was something that may not be easily done in political or social dramas meant for the adult audience.

- All 29 student actors were chosen through an audition. Contrary to the tendency to choose only popular or well-known actors to play students in school dramas so as to attract the viewers' attention, it was extremely important for the selected student actors to be able to convey the key messages in the story. In this way, the story would be able to make a lasting impression on the audience rather than be a once-off thing.

- The positioning of the Sunday drama timeslot is that it provides entertainment which can provide viewers with the motivation and encouragement to work hard again at the start of a new week. As such, while keeping this in mind, the intention of this drama is also to encourage viewers to start thinking about issues and be kinder to the people around them. This will hopefully bring about more positive effects to the society at large.

Preview of "Mikami-sensei" - Winter 2025

Title: Mikami-sensei / 御上先生

Official website: here

Official Instagram: here

Official TikTok: here

Official X: here

O.A. Start Date: 19 January 2025

Timeslot: Sundays at 9pm

Broadcast by: TBS

Theme Song: "Puppets Can't Control You" by ONE OK ROCK

Cast: Matsuzaka Toori, Yoshioka Riho, Sakoda Takaya, Usuda Asami, Sakurai Kaito, Hayashi Yasufumi, Okudaira Daiken, Makita Aju, Kubozuka Airu, Kiryu Sakura, Toyoda Yuudai, Kosaka Juri, Nagase Riko, Anzai Seira, Yabuki Nako, Okada Masaki, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Tokiwa Takako & Kitamura Kazuki etc.