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The Best & Worst Japanese Shows on Netflix
Quick reviews of the Japanese TV and movies available for streaming outside Japan
For many years, only a few Japanese shows other than anime were available overseas. So my wife and I watched them all.
In the past year, we’ve been thrilled by an explosion of Japanese TV shows and films available in the US on Netflix. Some are old, some brand new. Some are great, some are awful, many just okay. But how to know which ones to watch?
For big American shows, there’s plenty of reviews and water cooler chatter. The audience for Japanese shows is niche and the few reviews untrustworthy. For some, it’s hard to even find a description.
So I’ve put together this list of every Japanese show my wife and I have watched with a quick summary.
For context, my wife is Japanese from Kobe. I’m American but speak Japanese.
There are many, many more Japanese shows available inside Japan. This list is limited to shows that can be viewed in the US. All have English subtitles.
5 Stars: The Best of The Best
These are best Japanese shows on Netflix. Don’t miss any of these.
Saving My Stupid Youth (ごめんね青春): 5 stars!
2014, 10 Episodes, high school rom-com
starring Ryo Nishikido (錦戸亮), Hikari Mitsushima (満島ひかり)
A low-achieving boys Buddhist school and an elite all-girls Catholic school are located only 100 meters apart, but the students life in different worlds. Now, due to the declining birthrate, the schools are to be merged into a single co-ed facility. The nuns are not enthused. And neither are the students.
What follows could’ve been the usual comedy of stupid high school boys and studious high school girls coming to appreciate each and falling in love. Instead, this is one of the most innovative, quirky shows ever to grace Japanese tv.
Despite airing 11 years ago, the story feels fresh and lively. One of the boys comes out as transgender, another as gay, provoking a backlash from the politician father that threatens to block the school merger.
The main story is about the teachers who were once students there. The plot is tangled with many small, surprising touches. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had watching Japanese television. And my wife enjoyed it, too. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Extremely Inappropriate! (不適切にもほどがある!): 5 stars!
2024, 10 Episodes, comedy
starring Sadao Abe (阿部サダヲ) and Riisa Naka (仲里依紗)
A high school baseball coach in 1986 takes a bus ride that transports him to 2024. No smoking in public. No bullying students. No pinching women’s butts! What’s the world coming to? How will this Showa-era oji-san survive in the Reiwa-era?
This show was so popular in Japan that the abbreviation of the title — Fute Hodo — was the named the Japanese new word of the year.
The characters move back and forth between the two eras making fun of ridiculous aspects of each. The story is frantic and silly, and has a habit of breaking out in song. This is probably the closest you’ll ever find to Monty Python on Japanese television.
Old Enough! (はじめてのおつかい): 5 stars!
19 episodes, reality tv
Is there anyone who hasn’t watched Old Enough yet? If not, turn it on now.
The Japanese title translates to “My First Errand.” Real children from 3 to 6 years old are sent to pick up groceries or perform other chores for their parents while cameras secretly watch. They have to cross streets, walk through town, or take a train on their own.
Some children complete the mission in triumph, others return home crying. The show is incredibly charming and a lot of fun to watch. It provides a good view of family life in Japan, mostly in the countryside. And the kids are pretty amazing.
The show is incredibly popular on Japanese tv, running continuously since 1991. The very best episodes were selected for Netflix, and were stripped down to short segments.
The Way of Househusband (極主夫道): 5 Stars!
2023, anime/comedy, 2 seasons with 15 total episodes
Okay, I said we don’t watch anime, but The Way of the Househusband is different. It’s adult. And its deadpan humor is hilarious.
A feared yakuza gangster retires from a life of crime and becomes a househusband to support his salarywoman wife. He cooks and cleans to perfection, always wearing a shibu dog apron, irons clothes, does the shopping, prepares cute bento lunches, and takes care of the cat, but still thinks and acts like a gangster, seeing enemies everywhere and prepared to fight.
The show plays off yakuza movie conventions to humorous effect. The best scene is when the ladies of the local community association recruit him, and he treats them like mafia dons.
Adapted from manga, each episode is only 18 minutes, making them fun viewing snacks.
Netflix added a live action version of series called The Ingenuity of the Househusband, but the deadpan humor falls flat. Watch this anime version instead.
The Family (華麗なる一族): 5 stars!
2007, 10 episodes, family drama
starring Takuya Kimura (木村拓哉), Kyōka Suzuki (鈴木京香), Kinya Kitaōji (北大路欣也)
Based on the famous 1973 novel by Toyoko Yamasaki (山崎豊子), the story follows the Manpyo family as the father, Daisuke, attempts to build Hanshin Bank into one of the top banks in the country while his son, Teppei, works to turn Hanshin Steel into a leading steel manufacturer. The story is set in Kobe, Japan in 1967.
This story is amazingly personal to my wife and I. Not only is she from Kobe, where I’ve also lived on and off, but we met while we were both working at Kobe Steel. A TV show about a steel company in Kobe? We couldn’t miss that. And you shouldn’t either.
Steelmaking may be boring, but this complicated family isn’t. The taut drama is full of twists and revelations as father battles against son in a fight that will destroy both of them and be the downfall of the family. Despite it being a TV show, the production showing Showa-era Japan is gorgeous. It feels more like a movie than a typical Japanese TV drama.
Full review here: https://medium.com/japonica-publication/watching-the-family-a-japanese-drama-on-netflix-9f613bf2ce65
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House (舞妓さんちのまかないさん): 5 Stars!
2023, 9 episodes, drama
starring Nana Mori (森七菜), Natsuki Deguchi (出口夏希), Aju Makita (蒔田彩珠)
The Makanai is a quiet, intimate, and unrelentingly charming drama about 2 young girls who move to Kyoto in their dream of becoming geisha.
Geisha are not prostitutes (though there was a period in history when they were) but young women trained in traditional Japanese entertainment of dance, music, and games.
This series was written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan’s greatest living movie director. As you would expect from such a skilled auteur, the filming is exquisite, the plot well thought out, and the acting perfect. The series has the texture of a big budget movie rather than a made-for-TV drama.
Like other Kore-eda dramas, the conflict is severely understated. With little plot and no real conflict, the show could easily be boring. Instead, this behind-the-scenes entre into the hidden world of Gion, the district in Kyoto where young girls train as apprentice geisha, is fascinating.
In a house of 6 apprentice geisha, there’s plenty of storylines to follow. Which ones will succeed to become geisha and which ones will find other purposes in life as they grow from girls into women.
Full review here: https://medium.com/illumination/the-makanai-cooking-for-the-maiko-house-a-review-ca74bc9e974
Story of My Family (俺の家の話) — 5 stars!
2021, 10 episodes, family drama
starring Tomoya Nagase (長瀬智也), Erika Toda (戸田恵梨香)
Juichi Miyama is the son of a famous Noh Drama family. His father is a Living Treasure. But Juichi leaves to become a professional wrestler. When his father grews ill, as the oldest son, Juichi returns home to lead the family and attempts to follow his father as a leading Noh performer.
That’s when things get weird, A young, attractive caregiver comes to take care of her father and he falls in love with her. He intends to marry her and turn over his inheritance to her. The family has to find a way to save their father and their place in the Noh world.
A drama about Noh? How worthy, I thought. And boring. My wife said, Watch it, it’s really good. She was right. This series is great, and the furthest thing from boring.
We have an eminent but dysfunctional family, pro wrestling, and a marriage scammer all mixed together. Not what I expected from the title and Noh imagery. It’s crazy. And it somehow all fits together in a show that’s half drama, half dry comedy, and completely enjoyable to watch.
The Best of the Rest
Here are many of the other Japanese shows on Netflix ranked in order of my recommendation.
Jimmy — the True Story of a True Idiot (Jimmy〜アホみたいなホンマの話〜) — 4.5 stars
2018, 9 episodes, comedy drama
starring Akiyoshi Nakao (中尾明慶), Tetsuji Tamayama (玉山鉄二), Hiroyuki Onoue (尾上寛之)
This series is the true story of the Jimmy Onishi (ジミー大西) who became famous in Japan as a Yoshimoto comedian, the Osaka-based comedy troupe. Jimmy isn’t so smart, but it turns out this makes him a perfect straight man as a foil to the other big stars.
By accident, everyone realizes Jimmy is a talented painter, and he’ll have to choose between his devotion to art and his love of comedy.
The fun, silly story is full of slapstick and Osaka-dialect insults, but underneath has a tender heart. Without a question, this is the best show for learning Osaka-dialect Japanese.
LaGrande Maison Tokyo (グランメゾン東京)— 4.5 stars
2019, 11 episodes, workplace drama
starring Takuya Kimura (木村拓哉), Kyōka Suzuki (鈴木京香)
Rinko wants to open the best French restaurant in Tokyo and get 3 stars from Michelin. She dreams an impossible dream. And she’s dedicated to making her dream come true. Too bad she’s not a great chef.
So she goes to Paris to recruit Obana, the best Japanese chef in France. He headed a top restaurant there before a scandal there led to his disgrace.
Battling against the existing top French restaurant in Tokyo and Obana’s reputation throughout the industry, they struggle to gain financing to build the restaurant and put together a staff capable of reaching 3 stars. Then they have to create unique recipes worthy of Michelins stars.
Obana tries to recruit his former team members from the Paris restaurant, but all have other lives now and are scared of working with the difficult Obana again. One by one he wins them over in a story that borrows from Seven Samurai. But will they be good enough for not 1 but 3 Michelin stars?
It seems like every Japanese show on Netflix stars Takuya Kimura. Much of the detail is not realistic for how restaurants operate, but okay, it’s television. The show is well done and a lot of fun. Enjoy a glass of champagne while watching.
Tokyo Swindlers (地面師たち) — 4.5 stars
2024, 7 episodes, suspense
starring Go Ayano (綾野剛), Etsushi Toyokawa (豊川悦司)
This story is based on the real-world Sekisui House real estate fraud case that occurred in 2017. A gang of con men (and women) sell property that they don’t own to unsuspecting developers.
An Ocean’s 11-style story, the con men put together an all-star team and find the right property and rich target. They have to recruit a fake owner and get the real owner out of the way while the buyers do their diligence.
Inevitably, problems crop up and have to be dealt with before the plans fall apart and the con men are exposed. Meanwhile, the police are closing in.
Tokyo Swindlers is a really well-made suspense story. It was a bit too tense and violent at times for my wife who prefers sweet rom-coms, but even she appreciated it.
Let’s Get Divorced (離婚しようよ) — 4 stars
2023, 9 Episodes, rom-com
starring: Tori Matsuzaka (松坂桃李) and Riisa Naka (仲里依紗)
Taishi Shoji is a member of the Japanese parliament and the young scion of a powerful political family. He’s been married to Yui Kurosawa, an actress, for five years and they’ve come to hate each other. But because he’s a politician and she’s a popular actress well paid for commercials portraying her as a loving housewife, they have to keep up appearances as a happy couple. The only time they talk to each other is during their popular live-streamed podcast.
This is the opposite of a rom-com where the unhappy married couple has to find a way to get divorced. What follows is cheating and schemes to make their partner look like the villain and themself as the hurt party.
The show makes fun of everyone with a twisted, frenetic complicated plot, but underneath, has a warm heart. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
Asura (阿修羅のごとく) — 4 Stars
2025, 7 Episodes, Family drama
starring: Rie Miyazawa (宮沢りえ), Machiko Ono (尾野真千子), Yū Aoi (蒼井優) and Suzu Hirose (広瀬すず)
This drama from Hirokazu Kore-eda set in 1979 Japan follows 4 grown sisters who discover that their elderly father is cheating on their mother with a younger woman and even has a son. The sisters argue over how to deal with the situation. Each sister has her own complicated relationship with husband or lover as well as mixed feelings for their siblings. The story reminded me of the famous Tanizaki novel, The Makioka Sisters.
As you would expect from a Kore-eda project, the storytelling is understated but explosive (in an understated way of nothing actually happening, though there is a small fire) and the filmmaking beautiful. Nearly everyone else I know thinks it’s one of the best shows of the year.
So why didn’t I give it 5 stars? It’s basically 7 hours of four women talking, talking, and talking about what to do with their lives without ever directly confronting their problems or doing anything about them.
2 hours of Kore-eda is brilliant. 7 hours had me wishing they would just do something already.
Is Asura good? Absolutely! Worth watching? No doubt. The best of the best? Sorry, I’d rather watch 3 brilliant Kore-eda movies, so no, not quite. Feel free to disagree and tell me I’m missing the point.
The Journalist (新聞記者) — 4 stars
2022, 6 Episodes, drama
Starring Ryoko Yonekura (米倉涼子)
A remake of a award-winning 2019 movie by the same director, based on the real Moritomo Gakuen government corruption scandal.
A journalist investigates allegations that the Prime Minister Abe’s wife was involved in corrupt land dealings on behalf of a school. One of and as the news starts to leak, government workers are asked to destroy the evidence and falsify documents. One bureaucrat commits suicide.
Despite pressure and threats against her and the newspaper where she works, the journalist continues to search for the truth.
There’s a lot of overlap with the classic Watergate movie, All the Presidents’ Men. The dark and moody show is well done, and exposes how politics really works in Japan with a usually pliant press.
Dr. Storks (コウノドリ) — 4 stars
2015–2017. 2 Seasons. 21 Episodes total, medical drama
Starring Go Ayano (綾野剛), Gen Hoshino (星野源).
Dr. Konotori (the Japanese word for stork) works as an OB-GYN at a large hospital. He’s also a jazz musician known by the name Baby.
In each episode, there is a medical emergency with a birth. Many of the babies need special care by the neonatal team. Some of the problems are medical complications, others with the families.
The stories seem deeply researched and taken from real-world cases. Each episode works as a single medical drama while building up the complex relationships and rivalries among the hospital staff. This is one of the best written shows on Japanese television.
Unlike American medical dramas where the patient is always saved, this show deals with the pain of death of an infant and sense of failure by the doctors. Like real-life, every case is touch and go. To us, this made the show far more meaningful than the usual doctors as superheroes who find a way to save every patient.
Destiny (デスティニー)— 4 stars
2024, 9 episodes, mystery
starring Satomi Ishihara (石原さとみ), Kazuya Kamenashi (亀梨和也)
Nishimura is a female prosecutor. Her father, too, had been a prosecutor, but had committed suicide after being accused of fabricating evidence to convict a politician.
In college, she’d fallen in love with a classmate named Mogi, but he disappeared when another girl their group of friends died in an automobile accident. When he reenters her life 12 years later, the pieces start to come together between her father’s death, an arson at Mogi’s father’s house, and her friend’s automobile accident.
It’s a complicated, twisty plot where family, friends, and lovers are connected across the two deaths and a suspicious fire. The pieces are put together well for suspense while the on-and-off love story between Nishimura and Mogi keeps you guessing.
Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ) — 3.5 Stars
2006, 11 Episodes, rom-com
starring Hiroshi Tamaki (玉木宏) and Juri Ueno (上野樹里)
A live-action rom-com based on a popular manga set at a music college. Chiaki is the star of the school, a talented pianist trained in Europe who dreams of becoming a conductor. He is rich, organized, and precise. His piano classmate and next door neighbor, Megumi Noda (Nodame) is a mess. She has no money, hasn’t cleaned her room in months, and will be lucky just to graduate. She dreams of becoming an elementary school teacher. But like all the other girls in the school, she has a crush on Chiaki.
The mismatched pair become friendly as they plan their lives after graduation. Chiaki pushes Nodame to become a better pianist (and to clean her room). She pushes him to pursue his dreams of returning to Europe to train as a conductor.
The show shows its roots as manga with gratuitous violence as Nodame gets hit or tossed regularly in a way that’s fine in a cartoon but painful to watch in live action. It also shows its age in the story of a college girl willing to give up her dreams to pursue a rich and talented man. The mismatched pair troupe doesn’t work for me — it seems clearly that if they get together, if they make it to marriage, they’ll end up divorced rather than live happily ever after. But rom-coms aren’t written for old guys like me.
Still, there was enough humor to make it interesting to watch, enough will they/won’t they suspense to carry the story through. The music is good, the cast of crazy students at the music school is great fun. I loved the Fart Song Nodame composes. Episode 5 where Nodame dresses up as a mongoose to lead the student orchestra playing Gershwin on a melodica makes the show worth watching.
If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student (妻、小学生になる)— 3.5 stars
2022, 10 episodes, family drama
starring Shinichi Tsutsumi (堤真一), Yoriko Ishida (石田ゆり子), Aju Makita (蒔田彩珠), Nono Maeda (毎田暖乃)
Keisuke has been miserable since his wife died 10 years ago in an accident. One day, a 10-year-old girl named Marika tells him she’s the reincarnation of his wife. Keisuke and his 20-year-old daughter, Mai, who also misses her mother, are skeptical at first, but Marika has memories of their life together that nobody but his wife would know.
Once Keisuke and Mai accept that this 10-year-old is really their wife and mother, the situation gets weird. Suddenly, a middle-aged man is hanging out at an elementary school. Though they’re soulmates, can they overcome the 30 year age difference? What about the woman Keisuke works with who likes him? And though Marika suddenly acts like a 40-year-old, she has to deal with her own mother.
The story is a variation on the body-switching trope, but it’s kind-hearted, sweet, and well done, making for good family entertainment.
The Confidence Man JP (コンフィデンスマンJP) — 3.5 stars
2018, 10 episodes, swindlers
starring Masami Nagasawa (長澤まさみ), Masahiro Higashide (東出昌大), Fumiyo Kohinata (小日向文世)
Dako, Boku-chan, and Richard are partners in crime, swindling money from con men and other bad people who deserve what they get. It’s similar to The Black Swindler in structure, but goofy and silly rather than serious.
In each episode, the 3 partners take on a criminal, swindler, or bad guy (or gal) and use their greed against them to steal money from them and recompense their victims. There is always a trick where something is not as it seems.
The show has zest. While not a comedy, neither the story nor the characters take themselves too seriously. And the trickly, complicated scams they run mostly makes sense. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
Orange Days (オレンジデイズ) — 3.5 stars
2004, 11 episodes, romantic drama
starring Ko Shibaski (柴咲コウ), Satoshi Tsumabuki (妻夫木聡)
College senior Kai is intrigued when he hears a beautiful girl playing the violin on the lawn of the college campus. When he tries to talk to Sae, he realizes she’s deaf.
She becomes part of his group of friends and they learn sign language to communicate with her. A romance starts to bud at the same time as they’re all dealing with their future after college.
Sae is a talented musician, but being deaf is a high hurdle to cross. She considers an experimental surgery which might recover her hearing, but will that change who she is?
Another college romance story, but this one is well done, bittersweet rather than a rom-com. It’s unusual in dealing sympathetically with disability in Japan, as well as questions of identity. We found the stories engaging, and the characters especially sympathetic in spite of their prickliness. They felt more real in their mistakes and vulnerabilities than is typical of TV series.
Stepmom and Daughter Blues (義母と娘のブルース) — 3.5 stars
2018, 10 episodes, family drama
starring Haruka Ayase (綾瀬はるか), Yutaka Takenouchi (竹野内豊), Moka Kamishiraishi (上白石萌歌)
Akiko is the hard-driving and emotionless division chief at a steel company (another steel company drama!) When Akiko’s husband dies, she becomes a single-mother to her young step-daughter, Miyuki, whose mother had died earlier.
Akiko quits her job to become a full-time mother, but she isn’t very good at it. She has unrealistic expectations of everyone including her grieving step-daughter. Her efforts to improve the PTA meet resistance from the other mothers.
Ten years later, as Miyuki prepares for college, Akiko decides to take a job as an example for Miyuki. But instead of running a division of a large industrial company again, she becomes an assistant at a failing local bakery. She tries to teach the young baker how to run a business, but hits o complication after complication. Meanwhile, Miyuki has to decide her future.
My wife enjoyed the family story of Miyuki dedicating her life to the care of her step-daughter. I enjoyed the story of a successful businesswoman taking over a failing bakery. (My wife also worked at a poorly-run bakery for a while as English practice, so that added a personal element.)
The story was hard to believe at times, especially the marriage between Akiko and Miyuki’s father. At times, the caricature is Akiko being brilliant is at business while completely devoid of human feelings is overdone. But the show was heart-warming and enjoyable, and we were sad to see it end.
Unnatural (アンナチュラル)— 3.5 stars
2018, 10 episodes, medical drama
starring Satomi Ishihara (石原さとみ), Arata Iura (井浦新), Masataka Kubota (窪田 正孝)
In Japan, there are very few autopsies. Even for suspicious deaths, autopsies are rare. The Unnatural Death Investigation Laboratory aims to change that as a separate government entity providing autopsy services. Rather than being seen as a valuable service to help solve crime, they’re met with indifference or hostility from the government, police, and families. They struggle to maintain their budget to keep working while solving crimes with forensic science.
The show is mostly about solving murders with forensic science, with a dash of suspense thrown in, while showing some peculiarities of Japanese society. A back story of finding the serial killer who murdered the girlfriend of one of the investigators provides a throughline that leads to a climactic ending.
It’s a well-written and engaging series that combines the detail of forensics with the suspense of a murder mystery.
The Hot Spot (ホットスポット)— 3.5 stars
2025, 10 episodes, comedy
starring Mikako Ichikawa (市川実日子), Akihiro Kakuta (角田晃広)
Kiyomi is a single mother working at a small hot springs hotel near Mt. Fuji. One day, riding her bicycle home from work, she’s nearly hit by a car. But Takahashi, her colleague at the hotel, comes out of nowhere to save her.
He confides in her that he’s an alien. (We find out later, he’s actually half — his father was an alien and his mother human.) He has superhero powers but needs to soak in the hotel’s hot spring regularly to renew his powers.
Kiyomi can’t keep this secret to herself, so she tells her high school friends. And they come to him for assistance to use his superpowers for such tasks as retrieving volleyballs stuck in the school rafters.
The story is told deadpan. Completely deadpan. And that’s the humor of the show. Sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes it’s just flat. Once you get past the funny idea of a coworker being an alien, but just working a regular boring desk job like everyone else, most of the show is sitting around in a coffee shop in a small town talking about work. It’s good, but drags on too long without much happening other than people not being surprised to find out their friend is an alien.
The Full-Time Wife Escapist (逃げるは恥だが役に立つ) — 3.0 stars
2021, 12 episodes, rom-com
starring Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣), Gen Hoshino (星野源)
After losing her office job, Mikuri becomes a housekeeper for the nerdy engineer, Hiramasa, who’s never had a girlfriend.
When Mikuri’s parents move to the countryside, Hiramasa offers to let her stay at his place. But since it wouldn’t be right for a man and woman to live in the same home, they agree to have a fake marriage.
What was supposed to be a simple contract becomes complicated with the usual misunderstandings. Do they wear rings? Can they date other people? Rigid Hiramasa wants to put all the rules into the official employment contract.
Pretty unmarried woman, geeky guy, living together. Will they, won’t they, why not? Standard rom-com stuff. My wife enjoyed it more than me, but even I made it through to the end.
In Love and Deep Water (クレイジークルーズ) — 3 stars
2023, movie, rom-com
starring Ryo Yoshizawa (吉沢亮), Aoi Miyazaki (宮崎あおい)
A rich man is murdered on a cruise of the Mediterranean filled with Japanese passengers. One of the ship’s staff tries to solve the mystery. He finds out that his girlfriend back home is cheating with the boyfriend of a woman on the cruise. The pair meet and work together to solve the mystery while becoming enamored of each other.
The plot is complicated and hard to follow at times. The movie isn’t great, but it’s fun and worth a watch.
Yamato Nadeshiko (やまとなでしこ) — 3 stars
2000, 11 Episodes, Rom-com
starring Nanako Matsushima (松嶋菜々子), Shinichi Tsutsumi (堤真一)
This tv show from 25 years ago suddenly popped up on Netflix. It’s in the old, low-def square format. But its streaming on Netflix has made the series popular in Japan again as well as overseas.
Sakurako is a beautiful flight attendant and a gold digger on the hunt for a rich husband. Every man she meets falls in love with her. She declares regularly that money is more important than love.
At a gokon (a kind of Japanese mixer where a handful of single women and men get together over dinner), she meets Osuke. Though he’s an MIT graduate mathematician, he works as a fishmonger to support his mother’s struggling fish shop. He tells Sakurako he’s a doctor. Confusion and hilarity ensue. He falls in love with her, but as soon as she finds out he’s poor, she dumps him merciless.
The show doesn’t age well, and I’m sure young people will hate it. Sakurako and her flight attendant friends are on a quest to find rich husbands. She’s honest but vile and though Osuke has a heart of gold, he needs to get a life. I find it hard to root for them.
Osuke is a mathematician, but at one point, says that because a horse that never loses has lost 5 in a row, he has an 80% chance of winning the next race. And of course, the horse wins. It’s a minor point, but for me it’s unforgivably bad writing that a mathematician main character doesn’t understand high school-level math.
Still, the show is good for a few laughs along with a lot of cringes. My wife thought it was great and gives it 4 stars. I found it predictable and fell asleep halfway through most episodes, so I give it 2 stars. We’ll call it an uneven 3.
Dragon Sakura (ドラゴン桜) — 3 stars
2021, 10 episodes, high-school drama
starring Hiroshi Abe (阿部 寛), Masami Nagasawa (長澤まさみ)
The show available on Netflix is actually Dragon Sakura 2, the sequel to the original 2005 series which is not available for streaming. So you’re coming into the show in the middle. That makes some of the critical back story unknown. But the main story is easy to follow.
A critical piece of information to understand is that in Japan, graduating from the University of Tokyo is like Harvard x10. With that diploma, you will be in the elite of the country. Most politicians and corporate leaders graduate from TokyoU. And getting accepted to the school is based entirely on an entrance exam. Students prepare for that test obsessively throughout high school. Only the best of the best can pass.
Or can they? Sakuragi, a prickly TokyoU graduate, has a training program that he claims can get ordinary students in. One of his former students, a lawyer named Mizuno who he’d helped pass the TokyoU entrance exam, gets a job rebuilding a failing high school on the condition that she gets 5 students into TokyoU the first year. She brings her disgraced mentor back to help.
First, Mizuno has to get students at the school interested in her special TokyoU prep program. The only students who sign up, though, can barely qualify for any college much less prestigious TokyoU. Then she has to get them to study, and to keep studying despite personal and family programs and scorn from other students. Meanwhile, she has to uncover conspiracy by the chairman of the school to have it sold off once she fails.
The story is mostly predictable and the conspiracy to have Mizuno fail seems ludicrous. The idea that five mediocre students can be taught to pass the TokyoU entrance exams with some basic hacks (the kind that Kaplan teaches for the SAT) that amazingly, nobody has ever thought of before, is inspiring but too unrealistic. And missing the first season which sets up Sakuragi’s disgrace makes the stalker in the background who wants to kill him too random.
Nevertheless, it’s worth watching. The family stories of each of the students, their personal problems and the decisions they have to make as they prepare to graduate high school make the characters engaging.
Rikuoh (陸王) — 3 Stars
2017, 10 episodes, workplace drama
starring: Koji Yakusho (役所広司), Kento Yamazaki (山﨑賢人)
A family company in Saitama that has been making traditional tabi socks for generations is falling on hard times as fewer and fewer customers buy tabi.
The 4th generation CEO decides it’s time for a drastic change. They’re going to use their expertise in comfortable footwear to make running shoes instead. They’ll have to compete with the shoe giants and convince top runners to use and endorse their products. But first, they have to figure out how to manufacture a better product.
The story follows the well-worn pattern: a dying traditional business has to find a way to transform themselves into a successful modern business. This one is about running shoes. Like most stories of this genre, it’s predictable. But it’s reasonably well done and worth watching.
The Black Swindler (クロサギ) — 3 stars
2022, 10 episodes, suspense
starring Sho Hirano (平野紫耀), Yuina Kuroshima (黒島結菜)
Kurosaki is a Robin Hood swindler who effects his scams on other scammers, using their greed against him, recovering money stolen from regular people. One of the first people he helps is the family of his next door neighbor, Tsurara, a college student studying to be a prosecutor.
Though Kurosaki works alone, he’s given targets to go after by a chef tied deep to the underworld. As we learn the back story of why Kurosaki has dedicated his life to destroying swindlers, the scams grow more complicated and the swindlers more dangerous. The police take an interest.
The series is a remake of a 2006 series of the same name (also available on Netflix), updated for the modern scams common in Japan.
The complex story had a good bad guy, the cute girl next door who helps him, the scammers who deserve what they get, the police who aren’t sure whether to arrest him or assist him, and the mysterious chef who might be his ally or might be his worst enemy. The plot is hard to follow at times, and the characters seem too aloof to root for. It’s not bad, but Confidence Man JP is almost the same story while being a whole lot more fun to watch.
After School Doctor (放課後カルテ) — 3 stars
2024, 10 episodes, drama
starring: Kohei Matsushita (松下洸平), Aoi Morikawa (森川葵)
Dr. Makino is a prickly doctor with little empathy for his patients. He’s sent to work at the nurse’s office of a local elementary school to fill in for nurse on maternity leave. He starts on the first day of school by telling all the students not to come to the nurse’s office.
As you would expect, as he comes to learn about the young students, their medical problems, and their families, he comes to see them as people instead of patients and becomes a better doctor.
The setup is a bit implausible and the storyline predictable. Still, the story is heartwarming and well done. It’s good family entertainment so long as you don’t expect too much.
Talentless Takano (無能の鷹) — 3 stars
2024, 8 episodes, workplace comedy
starring: Nanao Arai (荒井菜々緒), Akihisa Shiono (塩野瑛久)
Takano looks smart and beautiful. She aces her job interviews. But when she starts work at an IT company, it turns out, she’s a total airhead. Most clueless employee ever. Can’t even figure out how to use the copy machine. Or even the stapler. Though she tries hard, she screws up every task she’s given. But when she meets customers, her confused answers are taken as words of wisdom and she wins business for the company.
This is without doubt, the most hilarious series we’ve watched. And also the most frustrating. There are so many great little details, like the fact that the company is Talon, her name means hawk and all the other employees have names related to birds and personalities to match. There’s the crazy unwashed computer programmers who work in what looks like a dark underground dungeon. And the intercompany rivalries and romances make an interesting setup.
The first episodes are laugh out loud funny and imaginative. But the series quickly goes downhill, first becoming predictable, then losing steam, and finally petering out into a weird and unsatisfying ending.
The first episodes are 5+, the last episodes are a 1. As a whole, still worth watching, but wish it were more consistent. The joke that Takano seems brilliant but is beyond ditzy works for a while but can’t be sustained for 8 hours.
I also worry how this will be received outside Japan. It’s the story of the dumb blonde, a beautiful woman who’s a total airhead. I’m not one to worry about political correctness, but this made me cringe.
An Incurable Case of Love (恋はつづくよどこまでも)— 2.5 stars
2020, 10 episodes, romance
starring Mone Kamishiraishi (上白石萌音), Takeru Satoh (佐藤健)
When she’s in high school, Sakura Nanase tries to help a woman who has collapsed on the street. Fortunately, Dr. Tendo arrives and saves the woman.
Sakura decides to study to become a nurse so she can work with Dr. Tendo is the cardiology department of a hospital. It turns out, though, that he’s cold, and when Sakura fails to do her job properly, he’s rough on her. Of course, with her hard work and charm, she eventually melts his heart.
Another hospital drama with a love story between the brilliant but cold doctor and the incompetent but well-meaning nurse. Ho-hum. Cliche-ridden and predictable. And Sakura looks like a junior high school girl, so it’s hard to take seriously as a romantic drama. My wife liked it more than me, but I made it through to the end.
No Side Manager (ノーサイド・ゲーム) — 2.5 stars
2019, 10 episodes, workplace drama
starring: Yo Oizumi (大泉洋)
Kimishima is an executive at Tokiwa Motors. After losing a battle with one of his colleagues regarding the takeover of another company, Kimishima is sent to the equivalent of Siberia — made the general manager of a factory in Fuchu. He wants to get back to his rightful place in company management at headquarters, but first he has to prove himself but straightening out the Astros, the factory’s rugby team, which is losing the company millions of dollars.
Kimishima doesn’t know anything about rugby, and in fact hates the sport since a popular rugby player in college stole his girlfriend.
The Astros are a perennial bottom dweller and the obvious solution is to shut it down. But meeting the players and the fan in the town, Kimishima comes to see their value. But how can he make them competitive without spending yet more money?
I worked at Kobe Steel, which was long the top rugby team in Japan. So this show was kind of personal to me. It is interesting idea to combine a generic workplace drama with a generic sports drama. Still, the result is generic and feels written by committee.
Plus, there’s not many shows about rugby, not that there’s really much in the show that’s specific to rugby itself. And it provides a good look at club sports in Japan and the Japanese workplace. But it’s hard to get excited about.
My Housekeeper Nagisa-san (家政夫のナギサさん) — 2.5 stars
2020, 10 episodes, rom-com
starring Mikako Tabe (多部未華子), Nao Omori (大森南朋)
Mei is a top pharmaceutical saleswoman, but the job keeps her too busy for housework. She lives off instant noodles, and her room is a mess. For her birthday, her sister hires Nagisa, a super-housekeeper to clean up her apartment. Mei is startled to find a middle-aged man in her apartment rummaging through her clothes.
Despite her initial reluctance, Mei comes to rely on Nagisa. Despite the age difference, romantic feelings start to develop between them. But next door, her biggest rival, the top salesman from the competing drug company falls in love with her, too. And it turns out Nagisa was once a top pharmaceutical rep, too, before leaving for the more fulfilling job of housekeeper. What’s the odds of that?
The story is sweet and at times, funny. I found the age difference cringy, and the story unrealistic and filled with plot holes. My wife really enjoyed it. There’s better rom-coms on this list, but there’s a lot worse, too.
Burn the House Down (御手洗家、炎上する) — 2.5 stars
2023, 8 episodes, suspense
starring Mei Nagano (永野芽郁), Kyoka Suzuki (鈴木京香)
13 years ago, the Mitarai home burned down. The father, a rich doctor, believed the mother, who seems to have mental problems, caused the fire. He divorced her and soon remarried. The new wife, Makiko, was a poor single mother but is now a glamorous celebrity influencer.
The two young daughters, Anzu and Yuzu, go from a rich household to struggling to survive with a mother in the hospital. Now, Anzu sets out to investigate what really caused the fire by disguising herself and taking a job as a housekeeper to her father’s new family.
This probably works better in manga than live-action drama. My wife couldn’t stand it. I thought it could use more suspense. The plot twists feel forced, like they were struggling to find enough material to fill 8 episodes. Rom-coms are easy to fill out with fights and silliness, but suspense needs a steady and growing burn. Instead, Burn the House Down dragged. Still, it was good enough to watch to the end as clues to the cause of the fire get revealed.
Faceless (正体)— 2 stars
2024, movie, suspense
starring Ryusei Yokohama (横浜流星), Takayuki Yamada (山田孝之)
Kaburagi is arrested and sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a family. He escapes from police custody and goes on the run as a fugitive evading capture for nearly 500 days while he searches for the evidence to prove that he’s innocent.
It’s not giving much away that Kaburagi actually innocent. He’s too nice a guy not to be. In fact, everyone he meets says he’s a nice guy. And we all know nice people can’t be murderers.
The question then is why the police insist he commited the crimes and whether he can find the evidence to prove he’s innocent while the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
The story borrows liberally from The Fugitive. Unfortunately, not liberally enough. It’s a suspense movie without much suspense. Or much plausibility. A mass murderer escaped from prison has a total of 2 policemen hunting for him. And the reason Kaburagi is sent to trial is just stupid. Oh, and a regular person with no special training is able to overpower a group of police holding him and escape.
But okay, it’s drama, so suspend disbelief and enjoy the cat and mouse game of Kaburagi trying to find the evidence he needs while the police hunt for him. Except, nothing much happens. He meets some people, has some conversations, moves again, meets some more people, has some more conversations, and eventually finds the one person who can save him. The police are both corrupt and stupid.
I assume the novel the movie is based on has a lot more detail that adds context and credibility. The movie focuses on atmospherics instead. I gave up after 30 minutes, then tried again. It’s only a 2 hour movie, rather than a 10 hour series, so I forced myself to watch to the end, but it wasn’t worth it.
Could Not Finish
The following shows just didn’t work for us. Perhaps the stories get better in later episodes, but we couldn’t make it past the first episode or two to find out. Some were bad, some boring, some just weren’t interesting enough to want to stick with for 10 hours.
Faceless (正体)— couldn’t finish
2024, 2 hour movie, thriller
starring Ryusei Yokohama (横浜流星)
Fishbowl Wives (金魚妻)— couldn’t finish
2022, 8 episodes, romantic drama
starring Ryoko Shinohara (篠原涼子)
Followers (フォロワーズ) — couldn’t finish
2020, 9 episodes, drama
starring Miki Nakatani (中谷美紀), Elaiza Ikeda (池田依來沙)
Good Luck (グッドラック!!)— couldn’t finish
2003, 10 episodes, workplace drama
starring Takuya Kimura (木村拓哉), Shinichi Tsutsumi (堤真一), Ko Shibasaki (柴咲コウ)
Hell For You (地獄の果てまで連れていく) — couldn’t finish
2025, 9 Episode, thriller
Starring Nagisa Shibuya (渋谷凪咲), Nozomi Sasaki (佐々木希)
I Love You Just a Little Bit (あなたのことはそれほど) — couldn’t finish
2017, 10 episodes, romantic drama
starring: Haru (波瑠), Masahiro Higashide (東出昌大)
Inheritance Detective (相続探偵) — couldn’t finish
2025, 8 Episodes (so far), mystery
Starring Eiji Akaso (赤楚衛二), Hiyori Sakurada (桜田ひより), Yuma Yamato (矢本悠馬)
Invisible (インビジブル)— couldn’t finish
2022, 10 episodes, police drama
starring Issei Takahashi (高橋一生), Ko Shibasaki (柴咲コウ)
Japan’s Number One Jerk Salaryman (日本一の最低男) — couldn’t finish
2025, 5 episodes, family drama
starring Shingo Katori (香取慎吾), Jun Shison (志尊淳)
Jin (JIN-仁-) — couldn’t finish
2011, 2 seasons, 22 episodes total, time travel drama
Starring: Takao Osawa (大沢たかお), Miki Nakatani (中谷美紀), Haruka Ayase (綾瀬はるか)
Kantaro — the Sweet Tooth Salaryman (さぼリーマン甘太朗) — couldn’t finish
2017, 12 episodes, workplace comedy
Starring: Matsuya Onoe (尾上松也)
Love Is a Poison (毒恋～毒もすぎれば恋となる～) — couldn’t finish
2024, 12 episodes, LGBTQ
Starring Shogo Hama (濱正悟), Katsumi Hyodo (兵頭功海)
Nevertheless (わかっていても) — couldn’t finish
2024, 8 episodes, romantic drama
starring Ryusei Yokohama (横浜流星), Sara Minami (南沙良)
Meet Me After School (中学聖日記) — couldn’t finish
2018, 11 Episodes, romance
starring Kasumi Arimura (有村架純), Koshi Mizukami (水上恒司)
MIU404 (ミュウ ヨンマルヨン) — couldn’t finish
2020, 11 Episodes, police drama
Starring: Go Ayano (綾野剛), Gen Hoshino (星野源)
Mogura (警視庁麻薬取締課 MOGURA) — couldn’t finish
2025, 6 episodes, police drama
starring Hannya (般若), Riko Narumi (成海璃子), Mitsuru Fukikoshi (吹越 満)
The Old Dog, New Tricks (オールドルーキー)
2022, 10 episodes, workplace drama
starring Go Ayano (綾野剛), Kyoko Yoshine (芳根京子)
Public Affairs Office in the Sky (空飛ぶ広報室) — couldn’t finish
2013, 11 episodes, workplace rom-com
starring Yui Aragaki, Go Ayano, Miki Mizuno
Quartet (カルテット)— couldn’t finish
2017, 10 episodes, romantic drama
starring Takako Matsu (松たか子), Hikari Mitsushima (満島 ひかり), Issei Takahashi (高橋一生), and Ryuhei Matsuda (松田龍平)
Riding a Unicorn (ユニコーンに乗って) — couldn’t finish
2022, 10 episodes, workplace drama
starring Mei Nagano (永野芽郁), Hidetoshi Nishijima (西島秀俊), Yosuke Sugino (杉野遥亮)
Vivant (ヴィヴァン) — couldn’t finish
2023, 10 episodes, suspense
starring: Masato Sakai (堺雅人), Hiroshi Abe (阿部寛), Fumi Nikaido (二階堂ふみ)
