The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Lion no kakurega
3) Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

2) Sora wataru kyoushitsu

3) Lion no kakurega

4) Hikaru kimi e

5) Houkago Karute

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Lion no kakurega
3) Sora wataru kyoushitsu

4) Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

5) Hikaru kimi e

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Lion no kakurega

2) 3000 man

Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

5) Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Leading Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

2) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega

3) Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega
3) Kubota Masataka - Sora wataru kyoushitsu
4) Matsushita Kouhei - Houkago Karute
5) Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega
3) Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu
4) Kubota Masataka - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

5) Matsushita Kouhei - Houkago Karute

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega
2) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

3) Kubota Masataka - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

5) Matsushita Kouhei - Houkago Karute

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

2) Miyamoto Nobuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
3) Hirose Arisu - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Ito Aoi - Sora wataru kyoushitsu
3) Kuroki Haru - Hikaru kimi e
4) Tsuchiya Tao - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
5) Ono Machiko - Lion no kakurega

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Tsuchiya Tao - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

3) Hirose Arisu - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

4) Miyamoto Nobuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
5) Ito Aoi - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Morita Kokoro - 3000 man

Ito Aoi - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

4) Miyamoto Nobuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

5) Hirose Arisu - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)

2) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)

3) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)
2) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)
3) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)
4) Donna chiisana - wacci (Houkago Karute)
5) Ashita - Noda Emi (Watashi no takaramono)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)

2) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)

3) Ashita - Noda Emi (Watashi no takaramono)
4) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)
5) Uta wo okurou - Takeuchi Mariya (Subarashiki Kana, Sensei)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)

2) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)

3) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)

4) FOREVER - Chanmina (Monster)

5) Endless - TOMOO (Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu)

Source: The Television

Highlights from the interview of Kuroiwa Tsutomu (Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu) - Best Script for the 122nd The Drama Academy Awards

The Television conducted an interview with Kuroiwa Tsutomu who won the best script category in the 122nd The Drama Academy Awards for "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu". Here are some highlights from his interview which includes behind-the-scenes trivia about the production of this drama:

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD!

• To Kuroiwa, this drama was a brand new challenge for him as well since he had never attempted something like this in his career so far. In addition, since he made his debut as a scriptwriter in FujiTV, writing this drama felt like coming full circle back to his roots so he wanted to do something unlike the norm.

• As to why he decided to make this drama based on the theme of Japanese gods, he revealed that he had visited Ise Shrine several years ago and heard an introduction of Sarutahiko Shrine from his taxi driver at that time. He then learnt of the Sarume Shrine which honours Amenouzume no Mikoto (Hirose Arisu's character) and felt that there is a lot of interesting and deep stuff to uncover in Japanese mythology. As such, this was what led to the development of this drama.

• He commented that while many people would have heard of various Japanese gods' names, they probably wouldn't have known much beyond that. After discussing with the producer, they felt that this was an interesting topic to explore in this drama.

• As to the choice of gods to feature in the story, the first thing that was decided was to feature Sarutahiko no Kami (Sakoda Takaya's character) and Amenouzume no Mikoto as a married couple. With regard to Okitama no Kami (Fujiwara Tatsuya's character), this was because he is an enshrined deity in the inner hall of Ise Shrine and said to be considered as the same as Sarutahiko no Kami. This piqued Kuroiwa's interest and fitted the character setting of Okitama no Kami hiding his identity in the story. While thinking of the other characters, he decided to choose those who most people are familar with. As for viewer feedback that the gods had the Avengers vibe when they gathered together, Kuroiwa felt that it was good that his choices worked out well.

• Kuroiwa wrote the script with Fujiwara Tatsuya in mind as Okitama no Kami right from the start. He felt that there was nobody else besides Fujiwara who could play the role of a god and without him, this story wouldn't have been possible. He also cited how Fujiwara said the line "Boku mo kami desu" (I am also God) as simply terrific and felt that Fujiwara was so convincing in his portrayal of Okitama.

• With regard to the huge amount of lines for Okitama, Kuroiwa said that generally, he tries not to write more than three rows of lines for each character per round in his dialogues but he felt that since it was Fujiwara, he thought that longer lines would be of no issue for the latter. While Kuroiwa did feel somewhat apologetic to Fujiwara for giving him so many lines this time, he was also very impressed with how the actor was able to say his lines so effortlessly, clearly and smoothly.

• As for Hirose, he praised her for being such a cool and talented younger generation actress and wished that they can work together again in future. He cited the scene in the end when there was a confrontation between Koyume (Hirose) and Naobi Yoshimichi (Kakizawa Hayato) where she had to say the line "Detekoi" (Come out here) to him. Since this is a strong word which typically sounds awkward if said by a woman, there was a discussion with the producer as to whether they should opt for a softer-toned word to replace this. However, they decided to stick with what was in the script and felt that the effect with which Hirose delivered this was better than expected.

• The story took a sudden change in genre and direction at the end of Episode 5 when it was revealed that this was not just a police drama investigating supernatural phenomenon and that the members of Zenketsu were all gods. This was a calculated move from the start and considering that the drama consisted of 10 episodes, that was an appropriate timing for the turning point. However, the surprise would only work if viewers stayed on until Ep 5 so they had to leave various clues on a trial-and-error basis to see what worked in holding the viewers' attention and interest. He remarked that this approach probably succeeded in part due to the fact that viewers could go back to watching the drama on-demand when armed with the knowledge of later developments and could derive new joy in re-watching earlier episodes to uncover clues which they had missed previously. Unfortunately, even though Kuroiwa had told his mother to hold on until Ep 5, she actually gave up watching his drama before that so he jokingly said it was such a pity. 

• Ultimately, this drama was a mystery story packaged as a police detective story until Ep 5 and revealed to be about Japanese gods from Ep 6 onwards. To prevent this from being a stale and old-fashioned mystery drama, he had to make sure that the script was in line with the times. He also felt that although there were some words of advice for mankind towards the end, that didn't feel like preaching thanks to the fact that it was the gods who said those lines, not human beings.

• In order to make the scenes where Okitama explained to Koyume about Japanese mythology and various gods more understandable and interesting to viewers,  it was decided to make flash animations primarily based on ink paintings and supplemented with old articles and pages from the Nihon Shogi (The Chronicles of Japan - the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history). This was intended to make the viewers curious about Japanese mythology as they watched this drama.

• As for the deduction theories on social media after the broadcast, Kuroiwa was a bit concerned that some had mentioned about the characters' names incorporating that of Japanese gods right from Ep 1 but also didn't want the link to the real theme to be totally unnoticeable by viewers. It was thus hard to find the right balance along the way. 

• Since there are some parts which haven't been fully depicted in the drama, he deliberately left those to the viewers' imagination and hoped to be able to cover these if there is ever going to be a sequel.

• Kuroiwa confirmed that Okitama had not erased Koyume's memory so she retained the memories of her 3 months spent in Zenketsu. However, her memories of her days as a god were still gone.

Over-reliance on the unusual? - A look at FujiTV's perceived dependence on dramas featuring characters with special or supernatural powers

Amid the media frenzy surrounding FujiTV's troubles from the Nakai Masahiro incident, this article from FLASH caught my attention for highlighting an interesting observation about their dramas of late.

Apparently, FujiTV has been dishing out quite a number of primetime dramas featuring characters with special or supernatural powers and/or the use of special technology to the extent that there is concern expressed over their over-reliance on this genre and the supposed lack of creativity. In particular, the concentration of such dramas in the Winter 2025 season was highlighted as too coincidental to be true i.e. 3 out of 5 primetime offerings:

• "Aishii ~ Shunkan kioku sousa Hiiragi han ~" - the lead character played by Haru has the "camera eye" ability which allows her to make use of her photographic memory i.e. remember everything she sees to solve cases.
• "119 Emergency Call" - the lead character played by Seino Nana has the ability to remember everything she hears and uses it for her work as a command centre officer in the fire department.
• "Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~" - a special MRI technology is used to create images of the deceased's brains while they were still alive.

In addition, the previous season i.e. Autumn 2024 featured two dramas of a similar nature:

• "Usotoki Rhetoric" - the lead character played by Matsumoto Honoka has the ability to differentiate lies from the truth based on what people are saying.
• "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu" - the gods make use of their special powers to solve cases related to strange phenomenon.

In view of these examples, this has led to comments wondering about FujiTV's dependence on this "fantastical or deviating from reality" genre and its tendency to portray women as those who can't get ahead in life unless they have a special power. To be fair though, we should also consider if the dramas are original productions or adaptations from existing material in other formats. In the case of "Himitsu" and "Usotoki Rhetoric", they are adaptations while the others are original stories. As such, this trend may have been due to one or a combination of two factors i.e. deliberately creating originals in similar formats and/or consciously picking original material with such elements. 

One reason cited in the article to explain this tendency of FujiTV was said to be the use of directors who have been in the industry for a long time and them relying on tried-and-tested formulas to play safe. For example, the director for "Aishii" is said to have about 30 years' experience since being active from the 1990s. Even with creative input from the younger staff members on the production sets, the overall direction of the work still depends on the directors so the likelihood of duplicated themes and styles is assumed to be higher. In contrast, FLASH quoted the example of TBS' highly-praised Sunday dramas and noted that the directors tend to be different people thus resulting in varying directing styles and a more refreshing slate of content offerings.

Although it does look like FujiTV has a higher concentration of dramas featuring special or supernatural abilities of late, that's not to say that other TV stations are not serving up dramas of a similar nature. Fairly recent examples which I can think of include:

• "Eye Love You" (TBS - Winter 2024) - the lead character can hear people's real thoughts.
• "Gifted" (FujiTV & WOWOW - Summer & Autumn 2023) - A senior high school student who can see whether someone is a murderer and teams up with a police detective to solve cases.
• "Okutou ~ Kanjou sousakan Shinno Akari ~ Season 2" (NTV - Autumn 2024) - A police detective can see the colours of emotions in people and uses this to help her solve cases.
• "Oichi Fushigi gatari" (NHK - Summer 2024) - The lead character in this period drama can see how the deceased looked just by hearing their voices.
• "30-sai made doutei dato mahoutsukai ni narerurashii" (TV Tokyo - Autumn 2020) - A salaryman acquires the ability to read people's thoughts just by touching them when he turns 30 years old.
• "Kishibe Rohan wa ugokanai" (NHK - 2020 onwards) - The lead character has the ability to read people's thoughts and life history through a book

And of course, there are the oldtime classics like the "SPEC" series (TBS), "BORDER" (TV Asahi) or "Psychometrer Eiji" (NTV).

While I think that the argument about the recent concentration of this genre in FujiTV's dramas may be true to a certain extent, to say that the competitors aren't doing it at all is also not entirely correct. However, if such stories can be spread out more evenly across the seasons, it might reduce the perception of over-reliance on super powers in the dramas.

On a personal note, I am not really a fan of stories featuring people with extraordinary powers especially if the story setting doesn't really call for it. For example, the overall settings in "SPEC" and "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu" do warrant having lots of characters with special powers so I'm generally fine with these. If not, my acceptance of such stories is comparatively higher when we are talking about more "believable" powers such as people's five senses being more sensitive than others or that they are just more observant. That being said, things which border on exaggeration can turn me off.

As for the point regarding how "normal" people or even women cannot get ahead in life without such special powers, I think it reflects how real life is like to a certain extent. You do have to display something different from the rest in order to distinguish yourself from the competition which is especially evident in "Aishii" because of the male-dominated environment which the lead character is in. However, having special powers that seem way too good to be true does reduce how realistic a story comes across and can alienate viewers to a certain extent if it's too far-fetched. How to strike a balance between logic and fiction is not an easy task at all.

In relation to this point about over-reliance on a single genre or story setting in dramas, one other thing which actually annoys me more these days is the overuse of the term "genius". It does seem like in order to make a character more appealing or charismatic, the person has to deviate from the norm by being much smarter than everyone else or achieve things beyond the usual person in the same age group. And every time I see the term "genius-XXX", it gets on my nerves so much because the over-concentration of geniuses in Japanese dramas and movies makes it feel as if ordinary people have become the rarity in dramaland. Especially if the description of how genius-like the person is gets too ridiculous, I tend to avoid such stories from the onset. It makes me wonder - most of us do not encounter that many geniuses in real life at such a high frequency so why does the J-dramaland feel like it's overflowing with so many of them?

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 ~

Quick Review #85: Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu - Autumn 2024

Title: Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu / 全領域異常解決室

Rating: 9.5 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who like mystery + suspense + humanity stories with a SPEC-vibe and Japanese mythology elements and/or are fans of the cast especially Fujiwara Tatsuya and Hirose Arisu

SPOILERS AHEAD, PROCEED WITH CAUTION~

Liked:

- As noted in my first impression post about this drama, it was hard to tell where the story was headed to other than the fact that it had the SPEC vibe, minus the wackiness but still retained some humour. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns in the story and how the hints and clues leading to the truth scattered throughout the drama were tied up really nicely at the end. The incorporation of Japanese mythology and gods as a key component of the story was totally unexpected but very intriguing even though my knowledge of this area is quite limited. With regard to the humanity aspect, the theme might be a bit heavy and serious at times but it was neither preachy nor presented in an unnatural manner. Instead, I felt that the messages conveyed to the viewers were really thought-provoking and meaningful.

It's been a while since I felt so satisfied with a drama's plot especially since I wasn't expecting too much and had picked up this title just because of the leads and my impression that this was going to be yet another mystery-suspense story. I'm glad that this drama proved me wrong.

Given how this drama ended, it looks likely that there will be a sequel in the future, hopefully soon.

- The cast especially Fujiwara and Hirose were excellent in bringing out the best in their roles. In particular, I like the relationship development of, revelations surrounding Okitama (Fujiwara) and Koyume (Hirose) and the wonderful chemistry showed by both actors. A number of scenes in the last 15 minutes or so were so bittersweet and heart-wrenching. Even the last-minute cameo by Mizobata Junpei was so interesting to watch (buying Tokyo Banana back to Kyoto after a business trip???) that it would be great to see him return if there is ever going to be a sequel.

Disliked: 

- The only thing which bothered me a bit was the names of the gods. As the names were in Kanji and sometimes quite difficult to pronounce and read at one go, it was a tad challenging to follow the story whenever a new god was introduced. Especially when Okitama and his gang was talking about the supernatural beings in Japanese mythology over the first few episodes and later introducing the various gods who appeared or got mentioned, it can get really mind-boggling and disruptive. For those familiar with Japanese mythology and the gods, this wouldn't have been much of a challenge though.

Preview of "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu" - Autumn 2024

Title: Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu / 全領域異常解決室

Official website: here

Official Instagram: here

Official TikTok: here

Official X: here

O.A. Start Date: 9 October 2024

Timeslot: Wednesdays at 10pm

Broadcast by: FujiTV

Opening theme song: "TipTap" by Shimizu Miisa

Ending theme song: "Endless" by TOMOO

Cast: Fujiwara Tatsuya, Hirose Arisu, Kakizawa Hayato, Fukumoto Riko, Komiya Rio, Narumi Riko, Sakota Takaya, Yusuke Santa-Maria & Kohinata Fumiyo