Drama Prime Time Report – 05/13~05/16

'Sennyu Tantei Tokage' (TBS)

'Sennyu Tantei Tokage' (TBS)

The two most popular dramas of this season have already made headlines this week.

‘Galileo‘ (Fuji TV) finally showed it’s true strength stripped off all of the bonuses with its fifth episode, which recorded a plummet of 3.0%. There wasn’t any other program that was particularly strong that day, so you can’t put the blame on the …


Drama Prime Time Report – 05/06~05/09

'Kazoku Game' (Fuji TV)

'Kazoku Game' (Fuji TV)

Not many noteworthy changes were recorded in the ratings department for the first half of this week.

Among the positive developments were ‘Kamo, Kyoto e Iku.‘ (Fuji TV) with a gain of 1.7% and ‘Kazoku Game‘ (Fuji TV) with a gain of 1.1%. The former also improved its season-average a bit, just like ‘Last Cinderella‘ (Fuji TV), …


Drama Prime Time Report – 04/29~05/01

'Kasuka na Kanojo' (Fuji TV)

'Kasuka na Kanojo' (Fuji TV)

The Golden Week is difficult for dramas since they often have to compete against all kinds of special shows that serve as viewer magnets for the respective networks.

Let’s take a look at the positive trends first. The winners in terms of weekly improvement are ‘Iryu Sousa 3‘ (TV Asahi), ‘Kasuka na Kanojo‘ (Fuji TV), and …


Drama Prime Time Report – 04/22~04/25

'Last Cinderella' (Fuji TV)

'Last Cinderella' (Fuji TV)

One more prime time drama and a couple of late-night dramas have premiered this week.

The new Thursday drama ‘Keiji 110 Kilo‘ (TV Asahi) starring Ishizuka Hidehiko recorded a very nice start with a rating of 14.1%. The new late-night dramas include ‘Hokago Groove‘ (TBS) starring Takanashi Rin, ‘Monsieur!‘ (TBS) starring EXILE’s KEIJI, and ‘Tank Top Fighter‘ …


Drama Prime Time Report – 04/15~04/18

'Galileo' (Fuji TV)

'Galileo' (Fuji TV)

A total of 8 new dramas premiered from Monday to Thursday this week.

Fuji TV’s Monday drama ‘Galileo‘ (season 2) – starring heartthrob Fukuyama Masaharu and a new heroine played by Yoshitaka Yuriko – attracted the most viewers with a great rating of 22.6%. Many viewers also swooned over the male duo Ito Hideaki and Sakaguchi Kenji in …


Drama Prime Time Report – 04/08~04/14

'35 Sai no Koukousei' (NTV)

'35 Sai no Koukousei' (NTV)

More than a handful of spring dramas have premiered last week.

Fuji TV unveiled both of their Tuesday prime time dramas on the same date and both of them began with a mediocre start. Neither ‘Kamo, Kyoto e Iku.‘ – starring Matsushita Nao – nor ‘Kasuka na Kanojo‘ – starring Katori Shingo, were able to impress …


Prime Time Drama Preview – Spring 2013

The upcoming spring season for dramas is just around the corner. During the break between the seasons it is time for the networks to promote their upcoming dramas as much as they can in order to attract as many viewers as possible for their season premieres.

What happens after that depends on how viewers experience the framework consisting of …


SMAP to provide the theme song for Katori Shingo’s new drama

SMAP’s new song, “Joy!!“, has been chosen as the theme song for Katori Shingo’s new drama, ‘Kasuka na Kanojo‘. This song was written and composed by Akai Kouen’s Tsuno Maisa.

‘Kasuka na Kanojo’ is a love comedy that is set at a junior high school. Katori plays a junior high school teacher, who regains his passion for teaching after …


Maeda Atsuko to appear in Katori Shingo’s new drama ‘Kasuka na Kanojo’

On February 16th, Fuji TV announced that the former AKB48 member Maeda Atsuko will be appearing in their upcoming spring drama ‘Kasuka na Kanojo‘ starring SMAP’s Katori Shingo.

This drama is going to mark Maeda’s first participation in a drama since her graduation from AKB48 and her first role as a teacher. It’s also her first time to appear in a …


Katori Shingo & Anne to co-star in a new drama ‘Kasuka na Kanojo’

It was announced that SMAP’s Katori Shingo will be starring in a new drama “Kasuka na Kanojo” (tentative title) that will start airing in April. In the drama, Katori will play a junior high school teacher “Koyama Akira” who has an ability to sense ghosts, and Anne will co-star with him as a ghost named “Akane” who used to be …