Upcoming JDramas

smap_gal wrote:It is just announced that SMAP is going to do a drama special together. They proposed the idea as they wanted to bring happiness to the audience since there had been many natural disasters and bad news in 2004. This drama special will be on air on Christmas night, 25 December 2004. :love_eyes: :love_eyes: cant wait to watch them!!!! :good:

Courtesy of Japan Times

All five members of SMAP will celebrate Christmas with their own original two-hour fantasy on Christmas night with "The Tiger, the Lion and the Five Men" (Fuji, 9 p.m.).

Two young brothers, Leo and Toranosuke, arrive in a strange town on Christmas Eve. The first person they meet is the local policeman (Masahiro Nakai) who is patrolling the town and trying to catch two thieves who work as a team, Aji (Takuya Kimura) and Oto (Shingo Katori). They also meet the president of the town's department store, Junior (Goro Inagaki), as well as a famous curry chef (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi).

The "heartwarming program" will feature singing and dancing, as well as cameo appearances by famous musicians and actors. However, there has been no indication so far as to whether or not SMAP will use the special show to debut their new single, which reportedly was written by Eric Clapton.

More updates, this time courtesy of Yomiuri.

Jan. 2: Hoshino Senichi Monogatari (9:00-11:24 p.m., the TBS network). Focuses on the family life of the former Hanshin Tigers manager and his love for his late wife. Stars Takaaki Ishibashi of the Tunnels as Hoshino and Hitomi Kuroki as his wife.

Jan. 3: Taika no Kaishin (7:30-10:15 p.m., NHK-G). Junichi Okada, Yoshino Kimura stars in this historical drama set in Asuka-period Japan.

Jan. 4: Nanako Matsushima and Yosuke Eguchi return in a 138-minute Kyumei Byoto Niju-yoji special (9:00-11:18 p.m. on the Fuji network).

Jan. 5: Natsume-kei no Shokutaku (9:00-10:54 p.m., the TBS network). Masahiro Motoki plays Natsume Soseki, and Rie Miyazawa stars as his wife, Kyoko, in this look at the famed author through his family's eyes.

also runenrs high. :fingerscrossed: can some one give me some info on the dorama casue i have looked everywere :puppydog: :fingerscrossed:

Winter Drama (starting in January 2005 in Japan) - complete list

FujiTV

Fukigenna Gene
- Takeuchi Yuko, Uchino Massaki, Kobayashi Satomi, Odagiri Joe, Yamada Yu
http://wwwc.fujitv.co.jp/gene/index2.html

Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji
- Eguchi Yousuke, Matsushima Nanako, Nakamura Toru, Kagawa Teruyuki, Kyono Kotomi, Oguri Shun, Megumi, Ishiguro Ken
http://wwwc.fujitv.co.jp/kyumei24/index2.html

Minna Mukashi wa Kodomo datta
- Kuninaka Ryoko, Jinnai Takanori, Eita, Shiraishi Miho
http://www.ktv.co.jp/minakodo/

Yasashii Jikan
- Terao Satoshi, Ninomiya Kazunari, Nagasawa Masami, Tokita Saburo, Ootake Shinobu
http://wwwc.fujitv.co.jp/yasashii/index2.html


TBS

H2
- Yamada Takayuki, Ishihara Satomi, Ichikawa Yui, Ishigaki Yuma, Nakao Akiyoshi
http://www.tbs.co.jp/H2/

M no Higeki
- Inagaki Goro, Hasegawa Kyoko, Narimiya Hiroki, Okamoto Aya, Kashiwabara Shuji
http://www.tbs.co.jp/m-higeki/

NTV

Gokusen
- Nakama Yukie, Kaneko Ken, Akanishi Hitoshi, Hayamizu Mokomichi, Tanihara Shousuke
http://www.ntv.co.jp/gokusen/

87%- Watashi no 5 nen Seizon Ritsu
[Natsukawa Yui, Motoki Masahiro, Sakai Wakana, Kashiwabara Shuji, Furuta Shinta
http://www.ntv.co.jp/87/

Asahi TV

Fugo Keiji
- Fukada Kyoko, Yamashita Shinji
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/fugoh/

Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano Hitoshi
- Takahashi Katsunori, Sakurai Junko
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/tadanohitoshi/

NHK

Hachiro
- Karasawa Toshiaki, Matsumoto Akiko, Tsuruta Mayu

Hanaoka Aoshuu no Tsuma
- Wakui Emi, Tanihara Shousuke

Winter Drama (starting in January 2005 )

87%- Watashi no 5 nen Seizon Ritsu
[Natsukawa Yui, Motoki Masahiro, Sakai Wakana, Kashiwabara Shuji, Furuta Shinta
http://www.ntv.co.jp/87/

[image][image]
Yui Natsukawa & Masahiro Motoki

Yui Natsukawa played a single mother with her 6 years old son. She diagnosed with breast cancer and then she meets the town doctor played by Masahiro Motoki. This doctor also lost her wife because of breast cancer. The similarity of life destiny has made them fighting this illness together.
"87%" itself is the survival percentage that Yui Natsukawa has in the next five years after her diagnose.

Spring Drama (starting April 2005)

TV Asahi

Title (not fixed yet): "Attack No.1"

Starring : Aya Ueto

[image][image]

I think TV Asahi is trying to gain the same success like the one that Ace! did.
This upcoming dorama stars Aya Ueto (from the Ace! fame) and based on popular comic about volleyball. (Ace! was also coming from popular sport theme comic, right?!)

I'm dying to see Gokusen again! Also Yasashii Jikan because it kinda relates toi me..? Not really because my dad is alive after the car accident! But he survived in 10% chance! Don't forget that Kamenashi kun is also on Gokusen....Fukakyon is gonna be on a new drama? I wanna check her out! I love her acting! I love Karasawa san's acting too..I wanna watch all of these~

just curious but didn't they already do a Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 staring Eguchi Yosuke & Matsuyuki Yasuko this season...hmm..so what's up with the upcoming Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji for 2005.Well I never got around to seeing the the 1st Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji with Matsushima Nanako, but after seeing the 2nd one I was under the assumption that Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 was the sequel to the 1st one, then what is the upcoming one..is it a prequel or 3rd sequal????????:banghead: ..can someone shed some light into that..its making my mind go :crazy: .1st one you got Matsushima Nanako, 2nd you got Matsuyuki Yasuko & upcoming 2005 one Matsushima Nanako again..what's going on..sigh

hmm..just an observation but Eguchi Yosuke plays a doctor a lot..lol...guess that's what he was destined to play I guess..hehehe

blackstarjr wrote:just curious but didn't they already do a Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 staring Eguchi Yosuke & Matsuyuki Yasuko this season...hmm..so what's up with the upcoming Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji for 2005.Well I never got around to seeing the the 1st Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji with Matsushima Nanako, but after seeing the 2nd one I was under the assumption that Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 was the sequel to the 1st one, then what is the upcoming one..is it a prequel or 3rd sequal????????:banghead: ..can someone shed some light into that..its making my mind go :crazy: .1st one you got Matsushima Nanako, 2nd you got Matsuyuki Yasuko & upcoming 2005 one Matsushima Nanako again..what's going on..sigh

hmm..just an observation but Eguchi Yosuke plays a doctor a lot..lol...guess that's what he was destined to play I guess..hehehe

hmmmm... Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 was aired in Japan in Summer 2001..
Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 3 will be a sequel .. with the return of Nanako's character... while everyone else is new :sweat:
the focus of the script this time will be on how Kyumei Byoto deal with major disaster, this time being the big Tokyo earthquake...

nikyy wrote:

hmmmm... Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 was aired in Japan in Summer 2001..
Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 3 will be a sequel .. with the return of Nanako's character... while everyone else is new :sweat:
the focus of the script this time will be on how Kyumei Byoto deal with major disaster, this time being the big Tokyo earthquake...

Cool! I am really looking forward to this!
So does that mean eguchi is playing a entirely new character but someone who looks like the character in Kyumei Byoto1 & 2?


:woot:

my guess...he plays the same character (Shindo sensei) who somehow get transferred to another hospital, where he meets a whole new hospital staff plus his old aquaintance Matsushima Nanako's character.

spoiler spoiler if no one has seen the 2nd sequal

hmm..but I wished it just ended at Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 since it kinda implied Shindo sensei and Kosaka sensei (Matsuyuki Yasyko) had some kinda romantic relationship going on and something might have begun between them..just hoping (big Matsuyuki Yasuko fan :woot:) (though she was saying she was off to new york for few months again at the end) my guess 3rd sequal happens somewhere when Kosaka's character is in new york or I could be completely wrong.Well guess have to wait till Jan 2005 to find out what gonna happen..lol..

blackstarjr wrote:my guess...he plays the same character (Shindo sensei) who somehow get transferred to another hospital, where he meets a whole new hospital staff plus his old aquaintance Matsushima Nanako's character.

spoiler spoiler if no one has seen the 2nd sequal

hmm..but I wished it just ended at Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 since it kinda implied Shindo sensei and Kosaka sensei (Matsuyuki Yasyko) had some kinda romantic relationship going on and something might have begun between them..just hoping (big Matsuyuki Yasuko fan :woot:) (though she was saying she was off to new york for few months again at the end) my guess 3rd sequal happens somewhere when Kosaka's character is in new york or I could be completely wrong.Well guess have to wait till Jan 2005 to find out what gonna happen..lol..

Yeah blackstarjr, same sentiments! Wish they'd leave it at Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 2 'cos I really loved the chemistry between Shindo sensei and Kosaka sensei...and am totally disappointed that Matsuyuki Yasuko isn't in this 3rd installation!!!

nikyy wrote:Winter Drama (starting in January 2005 )....

these are the lists coming to south cali right??
man i hope so.. i wanna see gokusen again.. :fingerscrossed:

enau wrote:Spring Drama (starting April 2005)

TV Asahi

Title (not fixed yet): "Attack No.1"

Starring : Aya Ueto

[image][image]

I think TV Asahi is trying to gain the same success like the one that Ace! did.
This upcoming dorama stars Aya Ueto (from the Ace! fame) and based on popular comic about volleyball. (Ace! was also coming from popular sport theme comic, right?!)

All right! New Aya drama! Ok I guess this gives me like 4 months to recruit a translator for this Aya drama. Anyone interested :hehe: :hehe:

eltinator wrote:

All right! New Aya drama! Ok I guess this gives me like 4 months to recruit a translator for this Aya drama. Anyone interested :hehe: :hehe:

oohhh, another anime-turned-live-action series. cool!

nikyy wrote:Winter Drama (starting in January 2005 in Japan)

FujiTV

Yasashii Jikan
- Terao Satoshi, Ninomiya Kazunari, Nagasawa Masami, Tokita Saburo, Ootake Shinobu
http://wwwc.fujitv.co.jp/yasashii/index2.html

Synopsis (extracted from Daily Yomiuri, Wm Penn's article) -

The main character Yukichi (Akira Terao) returns from New York to open
a coffee shop in his wife's hometown of Furano. His wife, Megumi, has
been killed in a car accident in which their son was the driver. Father and
son now seem to be estranged but Megumi's sister tries to counsel both.

The son is studying ceramics in the nearby town of Biei and will soon
become romantically involved with a girl who just happens to work in the
coffee shop.

Small-town Japan is full of such intersecting lines. Will the father
and son reestablish contact? Will life in scenic Furano get them both through their grief?

nikyy wrote:Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji
- Eguchi Yousuke, Matsushima Nanako, Nakamura Toru, Kagawa Teruyuki, Kyono Kotomi, Oguri Shun, Megumi, Ishiguro Ken
http://wwwc.fujitv.co.jp/kyumei24/index2.html

Synopsis (extracted from Daily Yomiuri, Wm Penn's article)-

Episode 1 begins with super doc Shindo-sensei (Yosuke Eguchi, who has
further polished his medical skills on Shiroi Kyoto) returning to Japan
from a tough stint as part of a medical-relief team serving in refugee camps in Africa. He is reunited with Dr. Kojima (Nanako Matsushima) at a medical conference on emergency preparedness. She is still an emergency room doc but is contemplating marriage and a move to Seattle. Also on the scene is Toru Nakamura, who has in my opinion become one of the top five actors in Japan. He plays a Diet man with big ambitions.

The series will show how medical personnel cope with disaster and how
Shindo, with his overseas experience, tries to pull the disaster team
into shape despite the resistance of the warmhearted but rather ineffectual Dr.Kuroki, the head of the emergency medical center.

nikyy wrote:TBS

M no Higeki
- Inagaki Goro, Hasegawa Kyoko, Narimiya Hiroki, Okamoto Aya, Kashiwabara Shuji
http://www.tbs.co.jp/m-higeki/

Synopsis (extracted from Daily Yomiuri, Wm Penn's article)-

It is a mystery about a security company employee whose world suddenly begins to crumble around him when a certain woman enters his life.

I'm looking forward to Attack No. 1 and Gokusen 2 most of all...

Yasashii Jikan sounds nice too...

nikyy wrote:

Also on the scene is Toru Nakamura, who has in my opinion become one of the top five actors in Japan. He plays a Diet man with big ambitions.

[image]
Viva La Toru-san :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

Spring Drama (starting April 2005)

Title : Rikon Bengoshi 2 / Divorce Lawyer 2

Fuji TV

Starring :

[image]
Yuki Amami

Televiews / New 2005 TV drama gets serious
Wm. Penn / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Get real. That seems to be the message of the new 2005 drama lineup in which
breast cancer and earthquakes are the featured players. But will such topics
draw more folks back to their TV sets this winter?

As the South Korean drama boom has shown, what viewers really seem to want
are some serious romances with dashing leading men. Instead we get a reality
trip and the surreal Gokusen II, an utterly perfect clone of Gokusen I.

Kyumei Byoto Nijuyo-ji (Mondays, 9 p.m. Fuji network) did get off to an
excellent start Jan. 11 providing a realistic portrayal of the initial chaos
a big quake could inflict on the ER unit, with equipment, drugs and staff
flung in all directions. Four stars if it can maintain this pace.

But it was TV Asahi network's Jan. 15 earthquake special that provided the
most shocking reality check of the week. It was the first time I can recall
such a program pinpointing a concrete timeline for a quake. One expert
predicted a major Kanto quake for 2005, plus or minus five years.

And it would be hard to get more real than Episode 1 of 87 percent: Watashi
no Go-nen Seizonritsu (My Chances of Surviving for 5 Years are 87 percent)
(Wednesdays, 10 p.m., NTV network). In this, Akiko (Yui Natsukawa) undergoes
all the major tests for breast cancer--procedures shown in great detail--and
waits apprehensively for Dr. Yohei Kuroki (Masahiro Motoki) to report his
findings.

Despite the depressing subject matter, these two competent actors have
managed to make the drama watchable. Kaoru Sugita is excellent as Akiko's
best friend, Yumiko--it's good to see her back in a drama series, and maybe
now she can wean herself off those horrid variety shows she has been
appearing on recently. (The big wide show news this past week was
40-year-old Kaoru's Cinderella tale. On Jan. 11, she announced she had wed a
rich businessman from an influential family.)

In 87 percent, Akiko and Yumiko are hapless insurance salesladies. Akiko,
the single mother of a 9-year-old, also seems to have neglected to take out
a cancer insurance policy. Her own parents died of cancer, and she was
raised by relatives who did not really want her. That her son may face the
same fate adds to her worries.

Dr. Kuroki, who does not underestimate the dangers of her condition, has
some problems too. He is still traumatized by his own wife's death from
breast cancer and his failure to diagnose her illness in time. Akiko is
smart enough to go for second and third opinions. Those doctors all agree it
is stage 1 cancer, their cheery optimism and matter-of-fact bedside manner
doing little to help her.

As Episode 1 ends, she is headed back to Dr. Kuroki. It looks like doctor
and patient will face their struggles together, and the best medicine just
might be love. Some good acting here should keep viewers tuned in to what
may be the only real romance out there this quarter. At least three stars.

Minna Mukashi wa Kodomo Datta (Tuesdays, 10 p.m. Fuji network) is more
familiar territory. It is the old "sanson nyugaku" (educating city kids in
depopulated school districts in the countryside) standard scenario. The
urban problem kids show up and the beauty of nature and the straightforward
country characters successfully "reeducate" them.

In this one, however, dedicated teacher Aiko (Ryoko Kuninaka) sees nothing
wrong with letting her third-grade charge keep the girlie magazines he finds
at the dump. Basically a harmless, heartwarming waste of time.

Breast cancer popped up again Jan. 13 in the first episode of So Kuramoto's
Yasashii Jikan (Fuji network, Thursdays, 10 p.m.), a series that is
well-written but so slow-moving I might have nodded right off had I not
zipped over to Hodo Station just in time to discover a new scandal brewing
at NHK.

The corporation is reeling again after revelations that a decision to air
only 40 minutes of an originally 44-minute-long 2001 NHK program on WWII sex
slaves might have been influenced by top Liberal Democratic Party
politicians.

Now it does not take a degree in rocket science or even advanced Japanese
linguistics to figure out that NHK has always pretty much taken the status
quo line in its reporting and programming. A viewer seeking the closest
approximation of real news has always been better served looking to TV
Asahi, TBS, or even, on occasion, Fuji or NTV.

But now for the first time we have an NHK whistleblower coming forward to
name specific dates, people and programs, although there is still a
secondhand nature to the revelations that will probably allow the
politicians plenty of wiggle room. With NHK's internal struggles growing
more complicated and dangerously bubbling over into the political world and
user fees fading fast, NHK 2005 will continue to be the most fascinating
reality show on TV.

The only person who might possibly be experiencing a worse start to their
year is Shinsuke Shimada, who had been doing a time-out for attacking a
female Yoshimoto Kogyo staffer.

The staffer continues to pursue the case in a civil suit, but Shimada
returned to the small screen on Jan. 2 to host the New Year special of his
legal variety show on NTV network, which had actually done quite well
without him.

The vernacular press has been reporting NTV was deluged with calls after his
return, about 60 percent saying it was too early for him to come back.

Life in the entertainment world resembles nothing more than the game of
Chutes and Ladders. No matter how far up the ladder one climbs, it can be a
quick slide back down again at any time.

I'm no Shimada fan but one can't blame him for wanting to get back into the
game before everyone forgets his name.

On the Box: What to Watch

Hanaoka Seishu no Tsuma, yet another tale about breast cancer, this one set
in the Edo Period (1603-1868), starts on Jan. 21, on NHK, 9:15-9:58 p.m. For
Emi Wakui fans.

Hachiro--Haha no shi, Chichi no Shi (NHK, Mondays, 9:15-9:58 p.m.): Toshiaki
Karasawa stars in the story of Hachiro Sato, the man who wrote many famous
children's poems.

____
FW from Jent ML