Winners of the Kinema Junpo Best Ten Movie Awards - 2024

Best Japanese Movie: Yoake no subete

Best Foreign Movie: Oppenheimer

Best Leading Actor: Matsumura Hokuto (Yoake no subete)

Best Leading Actress: Kawai Yumi (Namibia no sabaku / An no koto)

Best Supporting Actor: Ikematsu Sousuke (Boku no ohisama / Baby Valkyrie Nice Days)

Best Supporting Actress: Oshidari Akiko (Boku ga ikiteru, futatsu no sekai)

Best Director: Miyake Sho (Yoake no subete)

Best Scriptwriter: Nogi Akiko (Last Mile)

Best Male Newcomer: Koshiyama Keitatsu (Boku no ohisama)

Best Female Newcomer: Nakanishi Kiara (Boku no ohisama)

Best Cultural Movie: Seigi no yukue

Readers' Choice - No.1 Japanese Movie: Yoake no subete

Readers' Choice - No.1 Japanese Movie Director: Miyake Sho (Yoake no subete)

Readers' Choice - No.1 Foreign Movie: Oppenheimer

Readers' Choice - No.1 Foreign Movie Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Source: Kinema Junpo

Excellence Award Winners of the 48th Nippon Academy Awards (2024) - Film & individual acting awards

Unlike other awards, the Nippon Academy Awards selects 5 "winners" in each category for the excellence awards and presents the grand award to the No.1 among these 5 in the 15 main categories during its prize-giving ceremony. As such, the list here represent actually winners of the excellence awards and not nominees as explained by the organiser. 

The prize-giving ceremony for the 48th edition will be held on 14 March 2025. For the full list of winners, please refer here (currently, the official website is down due to high traffic).

Best Movie

- Kingdom 4 Daishogun no kikan

- Samurai Time Slipper

- Shoutai

- Yoake no subete

- Last Mile

Best Director 

- Sato Shinsuke (Kingdom 4 Daishogun no kikan)

- Tsukahara Ayuko (Last Mile)

- Fujii Michihito (Shoutai)

- Miyake Sho (Yoake no subete)

- Yasuda Junichi (Samurai Time Slipper)

Best Scriptwriter

- Irie Yu (An no koto)

- Ohshima Satomi (99-sai. Nani ga medetai)

- Kodera Kazuhisa / Fujii Michihito (Shoutai)

- Nogi Akiko (Karaoke iko!)

- Nogi Akiko (Last Mile)

- Yasuda Junichi (Samurai Time Slipper)

Best Leading Actor

- Ayano Go (Karaoke iko!)

- Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (Gobangiri)

- Yamaguchi Makiya (Samurai Time Slipper)

- Yamazaki Kento (Kingdom 4 Daishogun no kikan)

- Yokohama Ryuusei (Shoutai)

Best Leading Actress

- Ishihara Satomi (Missing)

- Kamishiraishi Mone (Yoake no subete)

- Kawai Yumi (An no koto)

- Kusabue Mitsuko (99-sai. Nani ga medetai)

- Mitsushima Hikari (Last Mile)

Best Supporting Actor

- Uchino Seiyo (Hakkenden)

- Oosawa Takao (Kingdom 4 Daishogun no kikan)

- Okada Masaki (Last Mile)

- Sato Jiro (An no koto)

- Yamada Takayuki (Shoutai)

Best Supporting Actress

- Ashida Mana (Hataraku saibou)

- Kiyohara Kaya (Gobangiri)

- Tsuchiya Tao (Hakkenden)

- Yamada Anna (Shoutai)

- Yoshioka Riho (Shoutai)

Newcomers

- Saito Asuka (Oshi no ko - The Final Act -)

- Shibuya Nagisa (Ano ko wa daare?)

- Yamada Anna (Golden Kamuy / Shoutai)

- Akaso Eiji (Rokunin no usotsuki na daigakusei / Moshimo Tokugawa Ieyasu ga souridaijin ni nattara)

- Itagaki Rihito (Hakkenden / Hataraku saibou / Onmyouji 0)

- Koshiyama Keitatsu (Boku no ohisama)

- Saito Jun (Karaoke iko!)

- Morimoto Shintaro (Shoutai)

Association Honorary Award 

- The late Nishida Toshiyuki

Happy New Year 2025 + Dorama World's Recap of 2024

First of all, a very happy new year to everyone! あけましておめでとうございます！

This year marks the 19th year since I started the blog and honestly, I would never have expected to be still doing this after so many years if you had asked me back in 2006. Regardless of whether you are new here or have been longtime readers, I would like to thank you for your support and hope that this little space will continue to be of value and meaning to everyone who are fellow fans of Japanese entertainment especially dramas and movies.

Without spending any money on ads to promote this blog other than posting through the official social media channels, awareness of this site was probably limited to those who had followed me from the forum days in the beginning. This also meant that people wouldn't have found out about this site that easily unless my posts were indexed on search engines or they happened to come across my PR posts on social media. As such, it was such a pleasant surprise to see that this blog finally crossed the 5 million views' milestone this year even with this lack of publicity (without me realising it). Going by how "fast" the blog is chalking up views, I think it will be another couple of years before the next million milestone is reached though. ^__^

And so, I thought about marking the entry into a new year by looking back at my highlights on this blog for the year 2024.

Compared to 2023 when I watched J-drama series largely on TVer, my source of dramas and movies significantly expanded beyond this platform as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video started adding more titles at a steady pace in 2024 other than their own productions. 

My final tally in 2024 is as such:

* 61 titles compared to 34 in 2023

* 34 dramas + 27 movies

* Watched mostly on Netflix (36 out of 61), followed by TVer (9) and Amazon Prime Video (8)

* Among the key TV networks, watched the most dramas from TBS (10) followed by 7 from Amazon Prime Video and 5 from WOWOW

* Among the titles I watched, I'm glad that most of my picks met or exceeded my expectations (about 80% rated 5 and above). However, it seems that I have a comparatively lower success rate with movies because 8 of the 12 titles I did not like were movies.

* My top 7 highest rated titles this year (ratings in brackets) are as follows:

1) Lion no kakurega (10)

2) Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu (9.5)

3) Unmet Aru nougekkai no nikki / Yoake no subete / Warau Matoryoushika / Grand Maison Tokyo / Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo (9)

Note that other than "Shin kuukou senkyo" which I did not write a review for, the other titles I watched were all covered here so you can click on the "Quick Review" tab on the right side of the blog for these entries.

The reviews for "Grand Maison Tokyo SP" and "Oshi no ko" (drama version) will be posted in due course in January 2025.

While our preferences may differ, I still hope that my reviews can serve two purposes i.e. allow people to find out more about titles which may potentially be their cup of tea and for those who had watched those titles to read about different perspectives and share their own views and observations. As such, if it just so happens that I didn't like what you thought more favourably of or vice versa, let's not get upset or worked up over this difference in opinions because even the most popular or supposedly hit drama/movie will have its detractors anyway.

With the increase in the number of titles I watched in 2024, this had also led to the number of reviews I wrote as compared to previous years. I hope to be able to stay on course with doing this in 2025 as much as time allows.

In addition, I am happy to note that I managed to write a number of special reports and analytical pieces about the J-ent industry this year. For those who have missed this, you can check out the Analysis/Special Report tab.

To be honest, I am not very happy with using X nowadays ever since how messed up it got due to its new owner but given that Dorama World has a significant following there, it's not easy to get the users to migrate to another platform. However, if there comes a time when I really have to exit that platform, I am glad to note that I expanded Dorama World's social media presence to new platforms i.e. Instagram, Threads and Bluesky. Hopefully, there's one platform which you can use as a backup for now if there ever comes a day when I have to say goodbye to X or even Facebook.

And this wraps up my recap of 2024 on Dorama World. I hope the new year brings good things for you and everyone can stay safe and happy! Take care ~

Winners of the 16th TAMA Movie Awards (2024)

Best Movie

Yoake no subete

Boku no ohisama

Special Award

Staff and cast members of "Boku ga ikiteru, futatsu no sekai"

Staff and cast members of "Lookback"

Best Actor

Fuji Tatsuya - "Ooinaru fuzai"

Yoshizawa Ryo - "Boku ga ikiteru, futatsu no sekai" / "Kingdom Daishogun no kikan" / "Kazoku"

Best Actress

Kamishiraishi Mone - "Yoake no subete"

Kawai Yumi - "Namibia no sabaku" / "An no koto" / "Lookback" / "Shigatsu ni nareba kanojo wa"

Best Up-And-Coming Director

Chikaura Kei - "Ooinaru fuzai"

Yamanaka Yoko - "Namibia no sabaku"

Best Up-And-Coming Actor

Matsumura Hokuto - "Yoake no subete" / "Dear Family" / "Kirie no uta"

Saito Jun - "Karaoke iko!" / "Mabuta no tenkousei" / "Karakai jouzu no Takagi-san" / "Seiyoku"

Best Up-And-Coming Actress

Morita Kokoro - "Tatsumi" / "Kuchinai Sakura" / "Sayuri" / "NN4444" / " Gudon no hohoemi"

Hayase Ikoi - "Ikoku nikki" / "Ano ko wa daare?"

Source: TAMA Eigasho

Nominees of the 49th Hochi Movie Awards (2024)

Here are the nominees of the 49th Hochi Movie Awards (2024) as announced on 12 November 2024. The numbers in brackets refer to the number of nominees in that category and the list is in the Japanese alphabetical order. Winners will be revealed in late November:

Best Japanese Movie (15)

PERFECT DAYS

Karaoke iko!

Yoake no subete

52 hertz no kujiratachi

Missing

An no koto

Kakushigoto

Hebi no michi

Samurai Time Slipper

Last Mile

Boku ga ikiteru, futatsu no sekai

Goman to zenryou

11 nin no zokugun

Aimitagai

Shoutai

Best Director (14)

Irie Yu - An no koto

Wim Wenders - PERFECT DAYS

Okuyama Hiroshi - Boku no ohisama

Katayama Shinzo - Ame no naka no yokujou

Kusano Shogo - Aimitagai

Shiraishi Kazuya - 11 nin no zokugun / Gobangiri

Sekine Kousai - Kakushigoto

Tsukahara Ayuko - Last Mile

Narushima Izuru - 52 hertz no kujiratachi

Hagiwara Kentaro - Goman to zenryou / Blue Period

Fujii Michihito - Shoutai / Seishun 18 x 2 Kimi e to tsuzuku michi

Mitani Koki - Suomi no hanashi wo shiyou

Miyake Sho - Yoake no subete

Yoshida Keisuke - Missing

Best Leading Actor (13)

Ayano Go - Karaoke iko!

Ikematsu Sousuke - Honshin

Nakano Taiga - 11 nin no zokugun

Narita Ryo - Ame no naka no yokujou

Hiraizumi Sei - Ashita wo tsuzuru shashinkan

Fujigaya Taisuke - Goman to zenryou

Matsumura Hokuto - Yoake no subete

Yakusho Koji - PERFECT DAYS / Hakkenden

Yamaguchi Makiya - Samurai Time Slipper

Yamazaki Kento - Golden Kamuy / Kingdom Daishogun no kikan

Yamada Takayuki - 11 nin no zokugun

Yokohama Ryuusei - Shoutai

Yoshizaqa Ryo - Boku ga ikiteru, futatsu no sekai

Best Leading Actress (13)

An - Kakushigoto

Ishihara Satomi - Missing

Eguchi Noriko - Amarokku / Okaasan ga issho / Ai ni ranbou

Kamishiraishi Mone - Yoake no subete

Kawai Yumi - An no koto / Namibia no sabaku

Kiyohara Kaya - Seishun 18 x 2 Kimi e to tsuzuku michi

Kusabue Mitsuko - 90-sai. Nani ga medetai

Kuroki Haru - Aimitagai

Shibasaki Kou - Hebi no michi

Sugisaki Hana - 52 hertz no kujiratachi / Ichiko / Kuchinai sakura

Nao - Goman to zenryou / Sensei no shiroi uso

Nagasawa Masami - Suomi no hanashi wo shiyou

Mitsushima Hikari - Last Mile

Best Supporting Actor (13)

Aoki Munetaka - Missing / Hebi no michi

Ikematsu Sousuke - Boku no ohisama / Baby Walkure Nice Days

Okada Masaki - Last Mile / Angry Squad Koumuin to 7 nin no sagishi

Okuda Eiji - Kakushigoto

Shison Jun - 52 hertz no kujiratachi

Nakamura Tomoya - Missing / Last Mile

Fuji Tatsuya - Ooinaru fuzai

Matsumura Hokuto - Dear Family

Mitsuishi Ken - Yoake no subete / Dear Family

Yasuda Ken - Kuchinai sakura

Yamada Takayuki - Shoutai

Yoshizawa Ryo - Kingdom Daishogun no kikan

Wakaba Ryuuya - Ichiko / Boku no ohisama

Best Supporting Actress (14)

Kawai Aoba - Kakushigoto / An no koto / Route 29

Kawaei Rina - Hen na ie / Dear Family / Angry Squad Koumuin to 7 nin no sagishi

Kuroki Haru - Gold Boy / Seishun 18 x 2 Kimi e to tsuzuku michi / Hakkenden

Sakura Yuno - Samurai Time Slipper

Takaishi Akari - Shinmai kisha Torokko Watashi ga yaraneba dare ga yaru!

Nakamura Yuri - Ichiko / Amarokku / Onihei Hankacho Kettou

Nishida Naomi - Ienai himitsu / Goman to zenryou / Aimitagai

Fujima Sawako - Yoake no subete / 90-sai. Nani ga medetai / Chacha / Aimitagai

Furukawa Kotone - Ienai himitsu / Cloud

Maeda Bibari - Goman to zenryou

Miyoshi Ayaka - Honshin / Sensei no shiroi uso

Yamada Anna - Golden Kamuy / Shoutai

Yoshioka Riho - Shoutai

Yoshine Kyoko - Karaoke iko!

Best Newcomer (8)

Kubozuka Airu - Happiness / Koi wo shiranai bokutachi wa

Koshiyama Keitatsu - Boku no ohisama

Saito Jun - Karaoke iko! / Karakai jouzu no Takagi-san / Muroi Shinji Yaburezarumono / Muroi Shinji Ikitsuzukerumono

Shiramoto Ayana - Hako Otoko

Nakasu Touma - Kakushigoto

Nakanishi Kiara - Boku no ohisama

Hamura Jinsei - Gold Boy

Hayase Ikoi - Ikoku Nikki / Ano ko wa daare?

Quick Review #63: Yoake no subete (movie)

Title: Yoake no subete / 夜明けのすべて

Rating: 9 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who want to see a film without angst and dramatic developments that will make your hearts feel lighter by the end and/or are fans of the leads Kamishiraishi Mone and Matsumura Hokuto

Liked:

- The movie stands out for its use of soft lighting like the warm sunshine in winter and slightly grainy picture quality to create a relaxing vibe despite the slightly emotionally-heavy theme weaved into the story. This is in stark contrast with the trend of going for sharp and clear picture quality and visually-wowing type of visuals these days. In addition, the movie did not use pulsating or extremely dramatic BGM to go with the story developments which flowed like a gentle river so the accompanying music felt a bit like natural atmospheric white noise that was not jarring on the ears. Even the ending credits maintained this style consistently by featuring everyday life at the Kurita Kagaku factory which was a joy to watch.

- Although the movie featured the leads as people with PMS and panic disorder who find it hard to fit in at work because of these ailments, it did not go overboard in portraying them as "sick people". It is true that people with these ailments are having a hard time in society due to the lack of understanding of these conditions by the people around them and the stigma surrounding mental conditions, illnesses that are not apparent from the outside or are related to menstruation (many people especially guys and even some women do not think that menstruation-related issues are considered an illness). However, the film's matter-of-fact approach - get people to have an interest in learning about these issues first before they can empathise with those with these ailments - was really impactful and effective. A lot of times, movies featuring people with medical conditions tend to "preach" that you must be gentle and kind towards them but that often comes without understanding their struggles in the first place. What you don't know, you probably cannot appreciate so it can be difficult to show consideration and kindness on a sustainable and sincere basis.

There was also a line which left a deep impression on me. Kamishiraishi's character Fujisawa wondered aloud that there seemed to be a "ranking" for illnesses based on perceived seriousness when Matsumura's character Yamazoe remarked that her PMS condition didn't seem as serious as his panic disorder. In fact, most people probably also feel the same way about "visible illnesses" vs. "invisible illnesses" - what you can see, you probably can imagine better than something which you can't. 

The movie also tried to strike a balanced view by showing how those who are having struggles due to their ailments, can try to cope better through seeking timely and proper treatment and being a bit more open to sharing their problems with the people around them in order for them to understand better. For example, Yamazoe was angsty at first about how people didn't get his pain and literally set up a wall around him to prevent others from getting close to him. However, once he opened up to Fujisawa and the two developed a comradeship which allowed them to empathise with and support each other in a natural manner, he was definitely happier. Goes to show that understanding and acceptance work both ways and cannot be done in an one-sided manner.

- Those who watched "Come Come Everybody" would be keen to see the reunion of Kamishiraishi and Matsumura. I thought that the relationship between their characters was very engaging and pleasing to watch because you could see how their care and concern for each other while not coming across as something very forced and unnatural, really came across as something that made their lives a lot more bearable. At the same time, since their relationship was a bit hard to define - definitely not romance, not really friendship, a bit more than colleagues -, the difficulty of portraying this fine balance was handled very well. In particular, Kamishiraishi's portrayals of the outbursts and emotional downs caused by PMS were so convincing vs. the usual demure and gentle demeanour of Fujisawa. Those who have been through PMS would likely be nodding their heads in approval at how she managed to nail this so well.

Disliked: 

- Nothing in particular.