2024 Manga Adaptations (January - June)
Japanese dramas aka Doramas are usually very short with an average length of 11 episodes. You might have noticed that nowadays they have been producing even shorter dramas of 4-8 episodes, probably to fit the budget. That is why when compared to K-dramas which air two times per week, a dorama would occupy only one slot in a week. The exception would be asadora ("morning") dramas such as Warotenka which air almost every day. Let's take a look at doramas which are airing this fall!
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*Note: the sequels and already finished dramas have been excluded on purpose. The synopses were taken from MDL. This article does not guarantee accuracy since information regarding these dramas can change in the future.
MONDAY
TV Asahi: Totto-chan!
The story begins four years before Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (an internationally famous Japanese actress) was born, when her mother Chou, an aspiring opera singer who had been attending music school, met her father Moritsuna, a talented violinist. (historical, life, biography) *(Mon-Fri)
NHK: Warotenka
The story follows Ten, a cheerful girl born in Kyoto in the late Meiji period, who finds great joy in a life filled with laughter. After getting married, she and her husband launch a storytellers' hall management in Osaka, leading her to become the first woman to bring comedy into business in Japan. (historical, business, romance, life, drama, family) *(Mon-Sat)
Fuji TV: Minshu no Teki (The Public Enemy)
Sato Tomoko leads an ordinary life with her husband and young child. One day, she defies the rules at the company where she works part-time to supplement the household income and is fired. Tomoko is in her 40s, a high school dropout and has no qualifications. How is she to get a job? She happens to find out about the huge pay and high winning rate of members of the city, town and village councils through a TV programme. (comedy, political, drama, family)
MBS: Love in Hong Kong
Yamada Kenta is a director who chases after a Japanese talent Elie in Hong Kong. However, while they are filming, Elie gets spirited away by a local called Daniel. Amid the chaos, Kenta meets Maki. Maki has come from Japan to meet a man whom she had been communicating with on a Hong Kong matchmaking website although they still have not seen each other. Meanwhile, Daniel realises that he has mistaken Elie for his girlfriend. (romance, drama)
dTV: Flower and the Beast
A love story between the new girl Kumi and the school's playboy Hyo. (school, romance)
TUESDAY
Fuji TV: Ashita no Yakusoku (Tomorrow's Promise)
Aizawa Hinata is a high school counsellor who provides support to students with school and family problems. One day, a male student who has not been attending school confesses that he likes her. However, he dies mysteriously the next day. Hinata takes action to determine the cause of his death and learns that the boy suffered insidious bullying at school and excessive meddling by his mother. (drama, school, life)
TBS: Kangoku no Ohimesama (Prison's Princess)
A handsome company president of a large corporation is kidnapped by five women. Their motive is not immediately clear but it is gradually revealed that he murdered his lover. This plot is to expose the truth and clear the name of the previous company president’s daughter who is still in prison. However, their revenge does not go according to plan and some developments cause occasional panic. (comedy, revenge, friendship)
WEDNESDAY
NTV: Okusama wa, Tori Atsukai Chui (Wife, Handle with Care)
Isayama Nami, in order to start her life over and to find happiness, married the man she fell in love with at first sight during a blind date and moved to a quiet high-end residential area. Nami isn't really good with domestic chores in general, including cooking or cleaning, but she has a very strong sense of justice and it would be very ill-advised to make her angry. She makes friends with other housewives and sometimes even saves them from trouble. (comedy, family, drama)
THURSDAY
NTV: Burakku Ribenji (Black Revenge)
Imamiya Saori’s husband was a politician with a bright future, but a fabricated scandal ruined his career. Her husband then killed himself and she had a miscarriage due to the stress. To take revenge, she takes a job at a weekly magazine as a contract writer. (revenge, business, drama)
Fuji TV:Keiji Yugami (DetectiveYugami)
Yugami Yukimasa is a detective who chases after facts in his cases. He will resort to illegal investigations and he uses his unique reasoning powers. His partner is a rookie detective Hanyu Torao. (detective, crime, investigation)
FRIDAY
TV Tokyo: Universal Kokokusha: Advertising Agency
Sugiyama used to be the most popular copywriter at the largest advertising agency. He quit his job there to open up his own advertising agency, but his company doesn't do very well. (business, drama, comedy)
BS Premium: Akahige (Red Beard)
Niidekyo Jo is in charge of Koishikawa Yojosho, a hospital located in Koishikawa, Edo. He treats patients there and cares about their personal problems. He is also referred to as "Red Beard." Yasumoto Noboru is a young doctor who often clashes with Niidekyo. (historical, medical, drama)
NHK: Machikouba no Oona (Town Factory's Woman)
Arimoto Hikari is a 32-year-old housewife. She has a husband and a son. One day, she visits her father Taizo who recently collapsed from overworking. Hikari Arimoto learns from a doctor that her father has 4 days left to live. Her father raised Hikari to one day run his company, instead of his now-deceased son, but Hikari rebelled against her father and chose to become a housewife. Hikari now decides to run her father's company and becomes a CEO. (drama, family, business)
NHK: Kono Koe wo Kimi ni (This Voice Is For You)
Honami Takashi is a 46-year-old professor teaching mathematics at a university but lacks speaking skills, so he is not very popular with his students. His wife Nao is fed up with him and leaves home with their child. He is told by the faculty dean to attend a speaking class where he gets into an argument with the lecturer Ezaki Kyoko as he thinks that she is haughty and not capable of teaching him anything. (comedy, romance, drama)
TV Asahi: Juuyou Sankounin Tantei (Important Witness Private Detective)
Maneki Kei works as a model. He has bad luck with murder cases taking place when he works. Maneki Kei becomes an important witness in these murder cases. To clear his name, Maneki Kei and his model friends Suo Itsuki and Shimon Toma attempt to solve the murder cases. (crime, comedy, mystery, investigation, detective)
TV Tokyo: Shinjuku Seven
Nanase runs a pawnshop in the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. He is a genius appraiser able to distinguish fakes from originals. He gets pretty much everything at his pawn shop. When clients come to his shop, Nanase appraises their items and also tries to solve their worries. (business, drama, life)
TV Tokyo:
Setoutsumi
The story revolves around Kansai-area high school boys Seto and Utsumi, particularly their completely normal but comedic chats after school. (school, friendship, comedy, bromance)
Amazon Prime: I Tried Running Slowly In Japan
Yamamoto Koji quits his job and travels around Japan on a motorbike in order to become a stronger person, so he can gather the courage to confess his love to Eri. (life, adventure, romance)
Amazon Prime: Final Life
Kawakubo Ryo and Song Shi-On have nothing in common but work together on a special team formed by a secret organization of police officers. They try to solve difficult cases. (crime, detective, thriller, mystery)
SATURDAY
NHK: Ashi Girl
Hayakawa Yui is a 16-year-old girl whose only strong point is her ability to run fast. She accidentally goes back in time to the Warring States era where she makes use of her ability on the battlefield to protect her beloved young prince. (historical, romance, time travel, comedy)
NTV: Saki ni Umareta Dake no Boku (My High School Business)
A 35-year-old former elite business employee becomes a principal who manages a private high school facing poor management. (school, drama, life)
WOWOW: Kataomoi (Unrequited Love)
Hiura Mizuki is the former female manager of the American football club members in university days who has a gender identity disorder and now lives as a man. He suddenly shows up in front of the ace quarterback Nishiwaki Tetsuro and his buddies who are on their way back from a reunion of American football club members and makes a shocking confession to them, “I killed a person.” (drama, transgender, mystery, psychological)
TV Asahi: Otona Koukou (Adult High School)
To solve the country's low birthrate problem, the Japanese government set up Otona Koukou (Adult High School). Adults over 30 and have no sexual experience are forcibly enrolled into Otona Koukou by the government. Hideto Arakawa is a 30-year-old single man. He graduated from a prestigious university and works at a bank. He has received recognition for his work there. He is also physically attractive, but he has never had sex. One day, he receives an entrance guide to Otona Koukou. (comedy, mature, romance, dystopia)
Fuji TV: Sakura no Oyakodon (Sakura's Oyakodon)
52-year-old Tsukumo Sakura owns Tsukumodo, a secondhand bookstore which stands alone in the Ota district of Tokyo. People of all generations visit this shop which revolves around manga. At the back of the bookstore is a room called Tamariba. It is a place where people with nowhere to go seemingly gather out of nowhere. (life, business, drama)
BS Japan: Prison Hotel
Hanazawa Kazuma has worked for the Crown Hotel Group, Japan’s leading hotel chain, for 25 years. The hotel’s owner Kido Nakazo is a big-shot yakuza. Even the guests are yakuza. Then it hits Hanazawa; the hotel is being run by Nakazo’s henchmen, and they are unable to enjoy the large communal baths along with other people due to the attention their tattoos attract. In fact, people call this place “Prison Hotel”. (comedy, mafia, business)
SUNDAY
TBS: Rikuo
Koichi Miyazawa (Koji Yakusho) runs a small but longstanding company which makes tabi (traditional Japanese socks). Due to a decrease in demand for tabi, the company is struggling to keep afloat. For the company's survival, Koichi Miyazawa begins to develop running shoes using their accumulated knowledge for making tabi. (business, life, drama)
BS Premium: Zenryoku Shissou (Disappearing With All My Might)
Isoyama Takeshi, who is a contractual employee at a company, gets informed by his employer that he will be on a perpetual contract and he has no hope of being converted to a permanent employee. At home, he is belittled by his wife Seiko and his 12-year-old daughter Nanami. When he meets a mysterious old woman, he gets the idea to make himself "disappear" for 7 years so that he can be declared legally dead and restart his life. (family, drama, comedy)
WOWOW: Chinmoku Hotel (Silent Court)
In Akabane, Tokyo, an old person who lived alone is found dead. The elderly person was strangled to death. Detectives from the Akabane Police Station investigate the case. According to the victim's neighbours, a woman sometimes came in and out of the victim's home. That woman is Miki Yamamoto. What is the truth behind the cases? (mystery, crime, investigation)
WOWOW: Ishii Tribute
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ secret fund is discovered in a scandal which rocks the government and bureaucracy. Detective Kizaki from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Second Investigative Division fights off the organization and proceeds to dig up the truth of this case. What are the shocking crimes of the foreign ministry bureaucrats called the “three villains”? (politics, drama, business)
NTV: May I Blackmail You?
Handsome Senkawa Kanji is a dangerous intimidator who will solve cases which the police and investigators are unable to by finding people’s weaknesses and manipulating them with threatening words. Kanesaka Mio, a good, nice girl who grew up in a wealthy family, attends the department of education at a university. Senkawa and Mio are completely incompatible and should not meet but they get caught in all sorts of cases from bank transfer scams to kidnappings.(crime, investigation, thriller)
Fuji TV: Ayamachi Scramble (Mistake Scramble)
Risa has always been interested in her colleague, but she suddenly starts to imagine how it would be if he had an affair with a married woman who she just met the day before even though there is nothing like that happening in reality. Her wild imagination gets her into serious trouble as she keeps making mistakes due to her exaggerated fantasy. (comedy, romance)
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