世にも奇妙な物語 20周年スペシャル・秋 ~人気作家競演編~
Also Directed by Yûichi Satô
Ohno plays the role of Tarui Shotaro, an ordinary guy who dreamed of becoming a hero when he was a child, but now gets by as a part-time worker. The unexpected story unfolds when one day, the daughter of a yakuza boss asks him to plan a make-believe kidnapping. Sato Ryuta plays Shotaro's co-worker who helps him with the kidnapping. Kanjiya Shihori plays Satsuki, the eldest daughter of the Hanazono yakuza clan, while Narimiya Hiroki plays Satsuki's college senpai who joined the Hanazono clan after graduation. Takahashi Katsumi plays the head of a rival organization who has fallen in love with Satsuki. Kitaoji Kinya plays Satsuki's father and the head of the Hanazono clan.
"Saigo no Yakusoku" is described as a human suspense story involving the hijack of a major building. The members of Arashi play five young men who happen to be inside, and the story depicts their attempt to escape and their interactions with the other people caught up in the incident.
Ishihara plays a new 20-year-old OL working in the apparel company of her dreams. Her father, played by Tokito, loves his daughter excessively to the point that he compels her to follow his house rules: 7:00pm curfew, no socialising with the opposite sex. Nevertheless, she falls in love with her colleague, played by Taguchi, and begins a mission to "graduate" from her father..
After the death of this mother, Masao Oneta (Teppei Koike) decides to leave the comfort of his room after years of self isolation and get a job. He lands a position at a small IT firm but doesn't yet realise this company is one of many 'black companies', known for overworking their employees.
Four Japanese girls, 3 totally inept at the sport, come together to form a curling team in Northern Japan. The town is famous for scallops and curling, and peoples' status in this little fishing village is based on their curling abilities. The girls do little, until a seemingly inept coach teaches them about the game, and about themselves. In the end, they pull it all together to become an adequate team. In the process, they discover the true meaning of friendship, effort, shame and puppy love.
Kida (Takanori Iwata) and Makoto (Mackenyu Arata) have been friends since they were children. They also both don't have parents. The two become friends with transfer student Yocchi, who also doesn't have parents. They spend time together everyday and grow up together. A case takes place when they are 20 years old and it affects their lives tremendously. Years later, Kida works as a negotiator in the criminal world. Makoto works as a trading company CEO in the criminal world. They spent 10 years to take revenge on a world which changed their fate. --asianwiki
Water Boys is a Japanese television drama series aired in Japan on Fuji Television in 2003. There is a fairly large cast due to the amount of members in each team. There were 32 swimmers in this drama who were carefully chosen to fit their roles, but none of them had ever done synchronized swimming before.
Hakuro is single and works as a veterinarian. His father died when Hakuro was a child and his mother later remarried into the wealthy Yagami family. Although Hakuro was brought into the Yagami family through his mother's marriage, he does not feel like part of the Yagami family. Especially, when compared to his younger step-brother who possesses the same blood as his family. After the death of Hakuro's mother, Hakuro dropped Yagami from his name and broke off relations with that family. Hakuro has a strong sense of justice and sincerity in his actions. He is very susceptible to beautiful women. One day, he meets a woman. The woman introduces herself as the wife of his stepbrother and informs him that his stepbrother is missing. As Hakuro and the woman trace his stepbrother's whereabouts, Hakuro becomes involved in the Yagami family's fight over a three billion yen inheritance.
Born in an affluent family, Sakurako is grown beautiful but rather spirited and speaks roughly. As an osteologist, she reconstructs skeletal remains of animals in her atelier at home when receiving job offers from museums. Deeply inspired by the beauty and majesty of bodies, her eccentricity is remarkable. "Dead bodies speak eloquently." says Sakurako, at the events of examining incidents. She observes bodies and the crime scenes very carefully, and reveals the truth one by one. Kujo Sakurako, the beautiful osteologist, resolves the cases with her expertise hearing the "voice" of bones. How does this extraordinary heroine resolve cases?
Rin, Yuu, Koyomi and Keita are friends in high school who live in the same apartment building. Rin and Yuu like each other, but they don’t tell each other, until Kazuma shows up.
Also Directed by Setsurô Wakamatsu
A group of terrorists has taken hold of the largest dam in Japan. They also capture the workers as hostages, and demanded $5 billion yen from the government with a 24 hour deadline in exchange for the lives of the hostages. To make things more complicated, there was a snowstorm and no one can get in or out near the area. Fortunately, the terrorists did not capture Togashi, the dam controller, and he is the only person who can rescue those hostages from the terrorists...
Wagura Yusaku unwillingly broke up with his first love in high school and became a policeman after years of struggle. Ten years later, the suspect of a murder case appeared to be his previous rival, Uryu Akihiko, who peculiarly had became the husband of his first love, Uryu Misako. The detective and the suspect, childhood rivals, carried out the confrontation of fate and are tossed about in destiny, accepting their "fate"...
Youko and Harumi have been friends since youth as their life circumstances were similar. Youko ends up marrying a politician and publishes a successful picture book basen on Harumi's life, when her son suddenly gets abducted.
By chance, Watabe (Goro Kishitani) meets subordinate worker Nakanishi (Kyoko Fukada) at a batting center. A friendship occurs which leads to a heated love affair. Watabe then learns that Nakanishi is the prime suspect of a murder case that occurred 15 years - the murder of her father's ex-lover. The statue of limitations for that murder case is soon to expire ..
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake an tsunami in 2011.
Suzuki is an eccentric at university hospital who has been conducting a research to come up with a miracle drug for cancer on his own. One day, Suzuki finally succeeds in developing a new type of anticancer drug that completely hinders the self-renewal of all cancer stem cells. However, his colleagues do not seem to share his excitement, and he is not even allowed to carry out clinical trial on humans. Suzuki is disheartened and completely at a loss by this but then he comes across a girl, Manami, who is suffering from terminal cancer. With help from her, he successfully carries out clinical trial. Yet, things take an unexpected turn. What will become of Suzuki, Manami and all the others around them? What is the fate of this new drug? Pandora's box released all the evils as soon as it was opened. What is it that is ultimately left inside?
Shinichi Tominaga is a prosecutor, newly appointed to the special investigation division for the Tokyo district prosecutors' office. He is currently busy with a case involving suspicious donations to powerful politician Yohei Tachibana. Shinichi then receives a mysterious message from his friend Samon Kondo. His friend is in charge of space development at The The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The message talks about a scandal related to space development. Samon soon goes missing after sending the message. Shinichi begins to see a connection between the two cases.
Born into a wealthy family, 17-year-old Masato (Emoto Tasuku) has never been deprived of material comforts, but his distant relationship with his parents leaves him empty and rebellious. Telling himself that his real mother is actually a woman who kidnapped him as an infant, Masato takes off to Okinawa to find her. Curious to learn more about her (Matsuyuki Yasuko), he ends up staying to work at her restaurant. As the two grow closer over time, an ambiguous relationship develops, not quite mother and son, not quite lovers.
In 1996, after the collapse of Japan's asset price bubble, Shibasaki Akira works in the loan department for the Yotsubashi branch office of Aoba Bank. One day, he is sent to work at a government-run company, which is a housing financial bond management organization. The company was formed to collect non-performing loans from bankrupt housing loan companies. Workers from different banks, including Akira and ex-employees from housing loan companies, gather at the government-run company. They stand up against vicious debtors and struggle to protect the taxpayers' money.
Also Directed by Masanori Murakami
1 Rittoru no Namida is a Japanese television drama for Fuji Television about a girl who was diagnosed with an incurable degenerative disease at 15, but was able to continue her life until her death at the age of 25.
Hadashi no Gen is a Japanese television special drama. The drama come from the one of the popular manga "Barefoot Gen" written by Keiji Nakazawa, from his real experiences as an atomic bomb survivor. The drama was the third special drama of the Sen no Kaze ni Natte drama special by Fuji Television in 2007.
On a return flight to Japan, cabin attendant Isaka Rei arrests a thief at Narita Airport’s International Terminal, and receives a reward of 1 million yen. However, she is half-forced to resign from her job as a cabin attendant because of this roundup. Furthermore, her younger sister, Akane, has made her a guarantor and disappeared, leaving her 10-year-old daughter, Haru behind. Rei starts to live with a reluctant Haru at ‘Shunkato’, the small eating house that Akane has been running. There is a firsthand account of Akane meeting a ‘Shunkato’ customer on the day she went missing. Rei brings the photograph of the man whom Akane met to Tsukishima Police Precinct, and learns that there is a 1 million yen bounty because he is a wanted criminal. The lack of motivation of the attending detective, Gondo Takeshi of the precinct’s Community Safety Division, spurs her to decide that she has to arrest this criminal who has some sort of connection to her sister. And so, Rei becomes a bounty hunter together with the ladies who gather at ‘Shunkato’.
Also Directed by Yasushi Ueda
A pet groomer at a salon in Shirogane, Nogami Meiko has a lot of celebrity dog-lovers as customers. She cheerfully serves customers with care, and her skills are tried and tested. The salon's owner, Kotomi, has a strong faith in her, and she is admired by her colleagues. Meiko leads a quiet and fulfilling life... however, there is another side to her. She has a plan for revenge that she must accomplish. In truth, when she was 19, she was imprisoned for murder but there was also another side to this case. And just as she's about to execute her plan, she meets a man named Mashima Takuro. She acts mysteriously around him and for some reason, he makes her feel better. Is he the only miscalculation to her? Or a reckoning?
***Fushiawase wo Anata ni (We Bring You Misfortune) A woman sees a company called "Fushiawase wo Anata ni" (we bring you misfortune) promoting a new sales concept: giving its clients misfortune to motivate them to seek greater happiness. ***Kuuhaku no Hito (Blank Person) A woman wakes up in her bed every morning not remembering the events of the past night, and finding that someone has moved around the things in her room. ***Jigoku wa Manin (Hell Is Full) As there is no more room in hell, the evil/sinful find they cannot die. ***Kako kara no Nikki (Diary from the Past) A struggling author chances upon a diary which changes his life. ***Aketekure (Open Up!) A woman's husband dies in a car accident, but that same evening he is heard pounding on the door for someone to let him in.
***Sainou-dama A talentless young musician receives a spam email advertising "Talent Balls"--three lollipops which when eaten will awaken your hidden talents and turn you into a savant. However, what awakens within him turns out to be far from what he expects. ***Virtual Memory A women is understress at her job and goes to a store that offers her a machine that allows her to live other peoples memories. What happens when she starts selling hers? ***Funsadan Kyouiku A new teacher finds that her pay is based off her popularity with the students, so she starts to create problems for herself to solve. ***Gozen 2-ji no Chime A writer gets a call at his front gate every day at 2 am, but no one believes him. And then a murder happens and none of the cameras pick the criminal up. ***Kaisou Densha An old man revisiting memories on the subway.