Kotaro Shiga

An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.

A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.

Takuma knows that his life is shorter than the others and he feels that his demise is getting near. He chose to stay away from the girl that he loves so that she can easily move on. What he didn't know is that he is under-estimating her.

War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

On a cold Monday morning, a group of counselors clock in at an old-fashioned social services office. Their task is to interview the recently deceased, record their personal details, then, over the course of the week, assist them in choosing a single memory to keep for eternity.

A young girl named Kiki must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. She leaves on her broom, but first says goodbye to her friends and family. Kiki then begins her new life with her trusted cat Jiji.

After 5 years in Tokyo, 5 part-time jobs, 5 boyfriends, Sawako's life is going nowhere. When her father gets seriously ill, she has to take over his struggling factory. Gradually she becomes the decider of her own life.

Short films by top CM directors and CG creators: MUSIC POWER GO! GO! ダモン君の巻; BUS PANIC!!!; GAME SHINGO; 治療; Good-bye, cruel world; ROLLING BOMBER SPECIAL; 菅原さん ・コンセント ・トイレ ・のれない ・脱出不可能. Produced for and aired together as TV special of SMAPxSMAP

27-year-old Hatsumi Takimoto is a former teacher and now waitress. She holds a secret. Three years after her boyfriend died, she receives a letter from him. After meeting a former student, Hatsumi Takimoto confesses about her past.

極限推理コロシアム

Saeko and Yukako live together in a small apartment complex in Tokyo. After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, both live in a state of unease. Saeko, who is in a divorce, is worried that her daughter is exposed to radiation. Yukako is also afraid of radiation and tries to convince her husband to move. The two become friends after Yukako tries to save Saeko after a suicide attempt.

The movie is centered around five friends as they end up spending the summer of 1962 shackled up together in a tiny studio apartment in Tokyo. The five friends are Eisuke - the manga artist, Shoichi - the singer, Ryuzo - the novelist, Kei - the painter and Yuji – the 5th wheel (?). The friends spend the summer in pursuit of their own ideals of personal freedom - being able to do what they want. In the process of pursuing their dream they learn firsthand that however ideal it may seem, its not as easy as they think.

After taking the blame for another disastrous advertising campaign, Ota Kiichiro is asked by his arrogant boss Otaki Ichiro to take his place as a judge at the world's biggest advertising competition in Los Angeles.

a japanese love comedy

High school student, Ryoichi, hasn't gone to school since he injured a classmate. He kills time playing videogames alone everyday. One day, Uncle Kiyoshi comes to the house to recover after having tried to kill himself. During the daytime, only Ryoichi and Kiyoshi are in the house. Ryoichi can't stand his uncle’s eccentric behavior; however, he gradually starts to enjoy Kiyoshi's company. From their conversations, Ryoichi learns that perhaps there are second chances in life...

After failing her university entrance exam, Sakuko is invited by her aunt Mikie to spend summer vacation in a beautiful seaside town. Sakuko gets to know the people of the town, including Takashi, a shy relative of her childhood friend.

Katsu (Mitsuko Baisho) is a 73-years-old woman. She often makes trouble with her biting remarks. While raising a daughter alone, Katsu was unable to live the life she wished for. One day, Katsu goes to a photo studio and takes a picture. She leaves the photo studio, but finds that she is now 20-years-old (Mikako Tabe) again. Katsu changes out of her grandmother clothes, picks out a more youthful style and names herself Setsuko Otori. Later, Katsu decides to take part in a singing contest held in a shopping district. Her singing fascinates the audience and she wins the contest. Katsu begins to move closer to her past dream of becoming a singer.

Sachiko is an university student. Her nickname is Buko, because she has been negative about everything since she was young. Sachiko believes someday she will meet a man like in a romance manga. Her university life is boring and she spends her time reading romance manga in her room. One day, on Twitter, she meets a man who uses the user ID of Sparrow. He likes reading manga and looks like Johnny Depp. Sachiko makes a date to meet the man. She tries to change herself, but it's not so easy due to various unexpected incidents.

A high schooler who dreams of leaving her rural town for Tokyo puts out an ad for her job at her family's restaurant. Satoshi Yamaguchi directs.

An entry in a series focused on "love" and "erotica," in which six creators from multiple fields -- from film and TV to direct-to-video and manga -- compete. Director Zeze Takahisa, known for his bold undertakings, including Heaven's Story, presents an unabashed depiction of the tormented heart of a woman who lives in the countryside. Yuko (Ezawa Midori) meets the man (Kawai Ryunosuke) suspected of leaking inappropriate pictures of her younger sister having an affair onto the Internet. She agrees to let him take nude photos of her on the condition that he stays away from her sister.

Haruta is handsome and smart, Chika is bright and naive. When they were children, they were friends until Haruta's family moved away while he was in the 3rd grade. They meet again during a high school entrance ceremony. After all of these years, Chika is eager to join the wind instrument club. Due to an incident, the wind instrument club is about to be disbanded. Chika can't give up the flute so she attracts Haruta to her side and tries to recruit members from the wind instrument club. The group attempts to solve various cases taking place at their school while they plan to take part in a contest.

In 1959, a body of a flight attendant of an international airline is found, strangled. Detective Rokuro Fujisawa takes charge of the investigation with a young detective Ichimura and his investigations lead him to Father Tolbeck as a suspect. But the police are forced to move very discreetly as the time was right after the Second World War, when a sensitive situation that involves Western people and religion is likely to become an international issue. The investigation leads to an unexpected discloser of a shadowy business behind the church that reflects the uncertainty of the time.

In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, a young samurai finds work however he can.

Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one another eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.

With the recession still occurring in Japan and the area of Osaka thought to be hit hardest by the economic downtown, Osaka's gubernatorial election occurs. The surprise winner of the election is Sekai no Nabeatsu (Atsumu Watanabe). Three months into his gubernatorial term and with little help from national government, Sekai no Nabeatsu declares Osaka an independent country and takes office as its first President. The Osaka Police then receives a message warning of an impending assassination attempt on the President of Osaka. Police Detectives Hayakawa (Daisuke Miyagawa) and Banba (Kendo Kobayashi) then set out to search for the criminal group. Can the bumbling detectives protect the president? Will there be a future for the country?

Set in the near future of Japan with the educational system nearing collapse. To rehabilitate the lawlessness at public schools and its troubled students, the government sends Kamen Teacher to designated schools.

'Human Comedy in Tokyo', describes ordinary everyday lives without any significant incidents. Various dialogues are elaborately woven to bring tiny splits in human relationships to light, and through the three episodes the characters have their moments of realizing that they are actually in solitude.

Theatre 1 (Observational Film Series #3) is a feature length documentary, which closely depicts the world of Oriza Hirata, Japan's leading playwright and director, and his theatrical company, Seinendan. By depicting them, the film leads the audience to revisit fundamental but timely questions: What is theatre? Why do human beings act?

Yoneda Katsumi (Nishida Toshiyuki) is a police sergeant who exudes little presence.One day, Yoneda happens to come across an article on a cafe called Kohaku in a booklet at his regular cafe. Then he abruptly takes leave and heads to Kohaku which is located in Uozu, Toyama Prefecture by bullet train. For some reason, he has documents on an unsolved arson cum murder case which took place in Kichijoji 25 years ago.The owner of Kohaku is Arai Toshio (Terao Akira) who has seemingly sad eyes. They spend time together with his only regular customer, Hirai Sachiko (Suzuki Kyoka), a married woman who works at the port’s fisheries cooperative. Their interactions gradually start to deepen even as they sense the darkness in each other. What is the fate that awaits them?

A strange phenomenon takes place. A beautiful flower blooms on a selected woman's body and that flower is called the "Shanidar". When the Shanidar is in full bloom, the flower produces a substance which is then sold at a high cost to develop new drugs. Kenji Otaki works as a researcher at the facility where the Shanidar is grown.

Tales of the Bizarre: 2013 Autumn Special

In this direct continuation of the earlier special, Godai tries to figure out what to do with his life after college while competing with Kyoko's impossibly perfect tennis coach for her affection.

Set 3 years after the drama series. Kitano Yuichiro comes to give a lecture in the town where divorcee Sasamoto Sawa now lives quietly. The two meet again and their love story continue.

Jiro (Jiro Sato) is a 32-year-old man who doesn't have a job. He lives at his parents' house and doesn't go outside or socialise with people. After the death of his father, Jiro's mother runs away and leaves behind a 6 month dog named Ichiro and some clues for Jiro. To find his mother, Jiro has to venture out into the world.

Once a year, on Christmas Eve, Cafe Telekinesis holds a real psychic party. At the party, psychics gather together to show off their abilities while for the rest of the year they hide their abilities. Yone Sakurai is a program director for a psychic variety TV show called "Asunaro Psychic". She is stressed out and tired from her work, but proud of what she is doing. Yone actually believes in psychic abilities. By an audience request a new plan is set out for the program, a plan which requires the show to uncover real psychics or psychic events.

Saori is a high school student at a provincial city. She is a member of playgroup at her school. Yoshioka begins to work at the same high school as a new teacher. Yoshioka performed in plays when she was in college back in Tokyo. Saori, Yukko, Garuru, Nakanishi, Akemi decides to compete in a play competition. Their goal is to make it through the regional competions, but Teacher Yoshioka tells them their aiming low and that they should think about the national competition.

Unfair: Code Breaking

In a quiet farming village in northeastern Japan, there lives an elderly couple. One day, a notice arrives in the mail about an antique camera sale in Tokyo. This triggers the old man's memory of the time when he used to love cameras and he decides he wants to go to Tokyo. Going on this shopping trip is like embarking on an adventure for them and is is full of surprises and unexpected happenings, but through this adventure, the old couple's lives slowly get revealed. Before heading home, the couple stops by Tokyo Station, a place that holds fond memories for them. They take a photo together with the old man's camera and quietly reflect back on the long life that they spent together.

The seventh in a series of sitcoms in which Matsun, Mickey and Jumbo dabble in family restaurants. Mickey receives a warning email! He has to forward it to someone within an hour... What will Mickey do?? Includes 10 complete short stories, including ‘I don't care’.

A family restaurant late at night. The customers visiting the restaurant are faced with a variety of shurahas: marital quarrels, break-ups, love triangles, and so on. In the awkward atmosphere, Parfait Oyaji looks at the seats where life's drama unfolds. And for every parfait, he mumbles one sobering quote.

Jumbo, Matsun and Mickey are still having the same loose, delusional talk in a family restaurant late at night. Tonight, they thought they would be talking nonsense again, but for some reason, they started talking about foreign countries. Do you think they're going to leave the family restaurant?

The three freelancers Mickey, Matsun and Jumbo start dabbling as usual. For some reason, the conversation turns to Sentai Mono. Their fantasies grow as they think that the Famidala Sentai Famiranger will stand up to the evil of the Familess world... (‘The leader is Red, isn't he?’). (The leader is Red, isn't he?).

Suddenly Mickey says, ‘The era is comedy’, and the three start talking about what role they should each play as comedians (‘What should I do?’). [Contents. Mickey's talk is on top form again today. But Jumbo and Matsun look at him... (‘This is now, isn't it?’). (‘This is now, isn't it?’).

A unique film in which three freelancers talk about unimportant things in a family restaurant. The fast-paced talk exchanged in a loose atmosphere is sure to generate strange laughter. Jumbo, Matsun and Mickey are three freelancers who gather at the family restaurant Big Boy at 2am. They come here night after night to catch up on their contentless conversations. The three of them and an old man eating a parfait by himself at another table...

At a young age Kyoung-won knows she wants to become a pilot. When she reaches the right age, she travels to Japan to learn how to fly, and becomes Korea's first female pilot.

Mame Daifuku Monogatari

To commemorate the 35th anniversary of the popular omnibus drama "Tales of the Unusual," in which Tamori serves as the storyteller, "Tales of the Tales of the Unusual 35th Anniversary Special: Legendary Masterpieces One Night Only Revival Edition" will be broadcast on Fuji TV's "Saturday Premium" slot (Saturday 9pm) on May 31st. The program will feature five of Tamori's most famous works from the series' past. The programs that will be broadcast on the 31st are as follows: "BLACK ROOM" (broadcast in 2001, starring Takuya Kimura) "The Night Train Man" (broadcast in 2002, starring Ren Osugi) "Locker" (broadcast in 1990, starring Yuji Oda) "Bijokan" (broadcast in 2005, starring Satoshi Tsumabuki) "Memories of Love, Don't Stop" (broadcast in 2019, starring Yuki Saito)

An unemployed middle-aged man, Shiba Jiro, who has been living at home for 38 years on his parents' back, breaks away from his NEET lifestyle through his mother's strategy. He works at a pet store and lives alone in an apartment with his partner, Ichiro Mameshiba, a dog.

A 1998 performance of Oriza Hirata's play set in a Tokyo museum sheltering paintings evacuated from a European war, where family and friends trade quiet conversations that reveal loneliness, love, and social unease, amid growing tensions.

Introvert Jiro Shiba (Jiro Sato) who came out of his shell a bit with the help of a cute puppy faces a crisis, when he loses his pet due to being accused of exploiting it for economic purposes...

When Hanako Yuino (Mieko Konya) was a young child, her beloved mother, Minazuki (Sachiko Kokubu), suddenly passed away. Too young to understand what had happened, she simply imitated her father Katsuichi’s (Toshikazu Nunokawa) tearful expression; yet, upon seeing the smoke rising from the crematorium chimney, she somehow began to grasp the reality of her mother’s death. Subsequently, Katsuichi abandons Hanako at the children’s home where his late wife had served as director. Watching the marionette show performed by the director, Yasunaga, Hanako is drawn into a world of fantasy and undergoes a dramatic transformation. Then, 18 years later— Hanako, who has grown up retaining her innocent heart, spends her days performing her own puppet shows for the children at the children’s home where she was raised. One day, however, a vague memory of her mother suddenly appears in a dream, and Hanako gradually finds herself tormented by the harsh realities of life.

A no-nonsense detective with a reputation for pushing limits investigates a rash of brutal murders connected by a series of cryptic short stories.

Jiro is a 35-year-old NEET who lives with his parents. The sudden death of his father leaves his family broken. It was then that his mother mysteriously leaves his home. Jiro is confused by this and is left with nothing but a small Shiba puppy. The puppy has a small note attached to it, and Jiro ventures out of his home to solve the mystery.

Shūichirō Kiriyama works at the Limitation Task Force, the place where the cases which have reached the statute of limitations are destroyed. Getting bored of his job, he decides to find a hobby, because it seems important to him to have a hobby. So he decides to puzzle out the unsolved cases on his free time, helped by his coworker Mikazuki, who seems to have a crush on him.

A Japanese bank is being targeted by Horizon, an American financial group that takes advantage of weak and struggling firms. Horizon sends the Japanese financier Masahiko Washizu to do the job with only one instruction: buy them cheap and sell them high.

世にも奇妙な物語特別編

Boku dake no Madonna, sometimes shortened to BokuMado, is a drama series that aired in Japan on Fuji TV in 2003. In English it is often called You are my only Madonna / ...and I Love Her.

Kanade Takakura is an elite detective from the New York Police department. He has a very keen sense of judgement but is cold and inflexible. Kanade lost his father in a murder as a young boy, which drove him to become a detective. Maruo Kudo is a former motorcycle gang member now special detective with the Japanese police department. These two opposite characters team up on a case in which secrets are held by a young lady named Yuki Matsunada.

Toyomi Terajima (Ryoko Yonekura) chose to become a nurse because she had no interest in marriage and wanted an occupation she could do for the rest of her life. Although she doesn't have a lot of aspirations, she does have a vague idea of wanting to work as a nurse overseas, and so she studies English. Outside of that, her life is less than ordinary and she carries out her job as a nurse without any indifference. That is, until one fateful night when she calls on Dr. Toya Shinichi (Takaya Kamikawa), director of the hospital, for help with a patient suffering from a heart attack. It is this chance encounter that brings the two together and sets the wheels in motion.

Satoshi Saigyouji worked in crisis management for General Electric in the USA and the Japanese government. He is known as a legend in crisis management and known as "The God of Risk." To deal with numerous problems and scandals, Sunrise, the largest general trading company, hires him.

Gota Araki begins work at a new high school. He is assigned to the school's notorious 2nd Year, Class C as their homeroom teacher. All of the students in Class C are violent delinquents, who have no respect for authority figures. Gota Araki quickly becomes acclimated with the students during his first day. He is beaten by his students, but he doesn't fight back. Gota Araki wants to breakthrough the student's tough outer shells, but he soon discovers that the students are more wounded than he could ever imagine. Gota Araki then turns to his mask. Will it take power or heart to change his students?

The adventures of the Yorozuya gang and their friends.

Kazuhisa Fukase graduated from a prestigious university, but he leads a boring life. His only strength is making delicious coffee. Whenever he makes coffee, he is reminded of his friend Yoshiki Hirosawa. He was friends with Yoshiki Hirosawa back in their university days, but Yoshiki Hirosawa died on a snowboarding trip 10 years ago. One day, he meets Mihoko Ochi at a coffee shop. He is strongly attracted to her. Kazuhisa Fukase goes to a professor’s retirement celebration at a university. There, he meets Kosuke Asai who went snowboarding with Yoshiki Hirosawa on that fateful trip. Journalist Toshio Ogasawara also appears there. He has been investigating Yoshiki Hirosawa's death.

At the West Tokyo branch office of Pakupaku Confectionery, capable salarymen clinch successive business deals. However, nothing seems to go right for four of the people among the busy staff. Even though they always give it their best, they would fail and get scolded and have to start all over again. There is Yoko Wataru who is the one the other three would like to depend on because he is the most senior, but he is incompetent, has bad timing in everything and falters when he speaks; Miyata Toshiya often gets scolded due to his naivete and inability to read situations; Nikaido Takashi is the athletic sort, very diligent, tends to get extremely close to other people when talking and has a pretty quick temper; and Senga Kento who is stylish and good at his work, but is somewhat blur and oddly harsh towards females but lenient with males. The foursome grapple with the challenges which appear inside and outside the company although they are in danger of being laid off.

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

A CEO struggling to maintain his small sock business risks the company's future with a new challenge — creating a line of running shoes.

Revolving around human cloning, the story is described as a suspense and mystery story set in a metaphorical game of "musical chairs," involving elements such as psychological warfare. Tokyograph

This drama follows the staff of an Italian restaurant and their everyday struggles. “Roccabianca” is a famous and popular Italian restaurant, but their head chef and owner Tatsumi suddenly collapses and the restaurant loses its unique flavor. The number of customers rapidly declines, but the owner’s daughter and deputy manager Saori happens to find another chef named Ezaki through an online job market who learned cooking at the same place her father did. Ezaki becomes the new head chef of this restaurant and while nobody can deny that he is a gifted chef, it’s his extreme rationalism that doesn’t exactly go well with the restaurants attempt to save its traditional flavor.

Set in the 1950's, a Japanese Antarctic research exploration team and 19 dogs that accompanied the team are stationed at the Showa Base in Antarctica. After a year, the exploration team is ordered to withdraw from the Antarctic station due to severe weather conditions. The dogs have to be left behind. The following year, the next team arrives at the Showa Base station and a miraculous reunion occurs between a dog handler accompanying the new tean and two dogs, Taro and Shiro, that are brothers.

This work is a human drama that attorney, Taku Kurokawa challenges reversal play with weapons, passion, and science as a weapon to cause "miracle" to clear false charges. Kurokawa who plays Sakaguchi actively opposes fake crime defense, which is said to be impossible, reproduces the events that occurred on the scene in an experiment and tries to elucidate the incident. In addition, Naoki Fujiki appears as a new American lawyer, Kazuaki Wakakura who is swayed by the pioneer, Haruna Kawaguchi , a scientist who lends power to Taku, Kyoichiro Akiro .

The story is about the daily life of a 30-year-old new wife, Hana, who cooks “Zubora Meshi”, while her husband is on a job transfer away from home. ”Zubora-Meshi” is the corner-cutting and easy cooking people usually cook only for themselves to eat.

Tomio Shiraishi graduated from a prestigious university and now works for foreign securities company. He has a beautiful fiancée, Kozue Aoike, and no complaints with his life. One day, his father kills himself, leaving behind large debts. Tomio Shiraishi is liable for his father's debts. He pays what he can with his savings account, but it is not enough. He is chased by moneylenders. Tomio loses everything. His job, fiancée and savings. He then becomes homeless. Tomio Shiraishi then decides to work for Daisuke Akamatsu, who runs Akamatsu Finance. Akamatsu Finance is the company that drove Tomio Shiraishi to become homeless. The company looks like a normal finance company, but it actually lends money with high interest. Tomio Shiraishi decides to do anything, including illegal acts, to make money.

OLカナのおじさん観察日記。

Lawyer Shiro pours his heart into home-cooked meals for his partner, hairstylist Kenji, as they navigate life as a middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo.

ＮＨＫスペシャル 沸騰都市

Sharply revealing the issue of Japanese construction industry where bid-rigging was a common practice among the giants. After working diligently for three years at a construction site, Heita unwillingly transfers to a sales department where he becomes a part of the illegal collusion -- to limit open competition and obtain high-price public works within the colluding parties. He is torn from conducting unlawful action to save his company, yet deep inside wishing to abide by the law to follow his justice. What will his answer be?

The story is set in an ancient time, when the whole country was covered in thick forests. A mysterious plague breaks out, resulting in countless deaths. A pure young man named Yoshihiko becomes chosen as a hero, and he sets out on a journey in order to save a village. He has two goals – to bring back the legendary plant that can cure the plague, and to rescue his father Teruhiko who left to find the plant but never returned.

Toko (Fukatsu Eri), decides after she turns 30 that she is all but ready to give up on any future career hopes or romance, so she turns to the bottle for comfort. She knows that this isn't the best thing, but can't find the strength right now to do anything except choose the easy way to do things. This causes her to start getting down on herself. Luckily though, she doesn't give up hope completely, and tries to take things as they come. Which proves to help to some degree. Suddenly one day, a guy by the name of Kotaro (Tsutsumi Shinichi) comes along. Like Toko, Kotaro hasn't had much luck at work either. Even so, this is still the same guy that Toko liked when she was younger.

In an otherwise mundane diner open from midnight to 7 a.m., there is no menu – but the chef cooks anything his customers want. Each episode is about different a different customer, as they find simple yet profound connections with one another based on their shared love of a particular dish.