Acting
Saka no Ue no Kumo is an NHK 21st Century special drama which was aired over three years starting from November 29, 2009. The series runs 13 episodes at 90 minutes each. The first series, with 5 episodes, was broadcast in 2009, while series two and three, each with 4 episodes, were broadcast in late 2010 and 2011. While most episodes were shot in Japan, one of the episodes in series two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the novel Saka no ue no kumo by Ryōtarō Shiba and adopted by Hisashi Nozawa. The theme song of the drama series is titled "Stand Alone". It was composed by Joe Hisaishi, written by Kundo Koyama and performed by British soprano singer Sarah Brightman.
Takashi Ten is called to a mahjong club one night to play against Igawa Hiroyuki, a young mahjong player. Having just robbed Ten's friends blind at mahjong, Ten arrives to take back his winnings. Ten's mahjong style becomes more apparent as the game progresses... amateurish! Ten cheats in the last round, using a move called the Tsubame Gaeshi and winning with a Tenhou hand. Hiroyuki is angered once Ten admits he cheated after the game. Will he come to understand Ten's "Way of Tenhou", where Ten willingly cheats and gets beat up in response for his friends? Will Ten unlock his true mahjong potential or cheat forever?
Young Mabel West is the daughter of mystery writer Raymond West, who wants her to lead a normal life. Rebelling against this, Mabel wants to be a great detective, and sets out for London to become assistant to none other than Hercule Poirot, the great Belgian detective who resides there. She finally wins the reluctant approval of her father, and embarks on an exciting life of mystery and suspense - his only demand being that she occasionally spend some time with her great-aunt, Jane Marple, in the small village of St. Mary Mead.
Drama series based on manga H2 by Adachi Mitsuru about two rival high school baseball games. The stars of each team, Hideo and Hiro, happen to be childhood friends.
Rika Inaba is a beautiful and strong-headed director at the Teito Television Broadcasting Company. Ever since she was young, she had dreamed of becoming the best news reporter in the business, but on into her fifth year with the TV station, she finds to her dismay she's been transferred to a lighter fare, information program where she is assigned to report on the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Meanwhile, Daisuke Sorai had just reached his long-sought goal of becoming an aerobatics pilot only to injure his leg, crushing his chances at ever becoming a member of the elite Blue Impulse flying team. He gets assigned to the force's public relations desk and subsequently finds himself attached to Rika in the role of attendant. Sorai and Rika differ on just about everything; their views, their mindset. But they share one thing: their childhood dreams have been shattered and they've hit a wall in life. From there, a mutual understanding begins to germinate, drawing them toward each other and toward the discovery of a new dream.
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.
The 41st NHK Taiga Drama is Toshiie to Matsu. During the turbulent Warring States Era, one man's life and career intertwined with the three great generals of Japanese history-Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. With political savvy and the support of his fiercely loyal wife, Maeda Toshiie rose to second in power in the shogunate and built up a fiefdom that encompassed Echizen, Noto and Kaga.
Kyoko's, a wheelchair-bound librarian, first meeting with her hairdresser leads to more encounters as Kyoko starts to like him because he treats her normally despite her condition.
After a major conflict, Kazuma Washio (Hitoshi Ozawa) becomes the 6th boss of Tendokai, Kanto’s largest yakuza group. Wakagashira Date (Hideo Nakano) and Kurata (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi) secure casino rights from the government, but top officials are soon murdered, and Date is framed. The trail leads to Sanko-kai, a Kansai syndicate forming ties with a Korean underworld led by Myojin Akinari (Noboru Kaneko), brother of Washio’s old rival. Sanko-kai’s boss Onizuka (Hiroshi Fuse), who holds a grudge against Washio, launches a political and violent offensive. As Tendokai fights back to reclaim the casino rights, tragedy strikes—Okita (Yasukaze Motomiya) is targeted. Japan’s largest underworld war erupts again—what awaits at the end?
Stand Up!! is a Japanese television drama which ran weekly for three months in 2003. The drama, which stars Kazunari Ninomiya of Arashi and Tomohisa Yamashita of NEWS, centers around the lives of the last four virgins left in their highschool as they struggle to lose their virginity over their final high school summer vacation. A 6-DVD Box Set featuring all eleven episodes, as well as six individual volumes were released in Japan on December 18, 2003.
The story is about an unlikely friendship between two women. This intimate look at two lives chronicles their struggle with love, loyalty, and fulfillment. Two women with seemingly different outlooks on life come together against all odds in a fragile attempt to seek out the best of what they have to offer each other and themselves. Can their unexpected friendship survive affairs of the heart? An honest tale of two women unfolds with an end as uncertain as the friendship which drew them together.
In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.
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The Mikasa district of Hamasaki City, Kanagawa's largest entertainment hub, is controlled by the Gensei-kai, led by the old-school yakuza Shirakawa (Koji Matoba), assistant vice-chairman. However, tension rises as the upstart Otomo-gumi enters the district, pushing the situation to the brink of war. Meanwhile, Hagiwara (Yasukaze Motomiya), a detective from the Prefectural Police's Organized Crime Control Division, makes contact with Shirakawa. The Otomo-gumi has also allied with a security company run by former police officers in a bid to seize control of the area. Now, a three-way clash of interests is on the verge of breaking out…
The fifth 'YOKOHAMA BLACK' film.
A new chapter in Oda Seiji's saga
Third son Raizo is a good man, but when another organization targets his father and his family business, it awakens his violent side.
Following the lives of three college rugby players drafted to serve in the military during WWII. Though they believe their service will help to benefit their loved ones back home, they are unprepared for the hardships of war. Through their shared trials and sacrifices, they grow closer as friends, and hope to return together to better days. This movie was released in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII.
This entertaining drama follows the fun-filled adventures of three prep-school students. Struggling with studies has become a thing of the past for these three young men, and they are ready to make the best of their free time in a world where they are no longer looked down on as fools.
