Eri Saitou

Based on Kazuo Koike's extensive manga (over 110 volumes), this Edo-period drama follows an unlikely pair of law enforcement officers. One is a serious, skilled investigator, while the other is a witty, unconventional problem-solver, creating a dynamic partnership. The series also features the charmingly unorthodox detective Suruyoshi in a notable period drama debut. A memorable and catchy soundtrack complements the engaging stories brought to life by a large and talented cast.

When her crime boss husband is sent to prison, a woman assumes control of one of the most powerful gangs in Japan.

Having been demoted for failing to prevent the murder of one of his superiors, Mondo is startled by a group of masked thugs who are soon attacked in turn by an unseen force. He begins to suspect the work of assassins, but whose side are they on?

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully accused of murder and in the process discovers love.

Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.