99 years ago, a Japanese man emigrated to the vast expanse of America with hopes of survival and dreams of a brighter future. He and those like him were settlers, 1st generation Japanese-Americans. From them were issued a second generation which grew up bearing little knowledge of, nor devotion to, their parents’ homeland. And yet fate was to deliver them all a cruel blow... as war proceeded to tear them apart along national and generational lines. This is a story about Japanese immigrants who endured the horrors and tragedy of war, overcame deep prejudice and attained their dreams in a new land through love and courage.

It is called “The Musical Koshien”, the All-Japan Wind & Brass Band High School Championship. Regional rounds begin across the country every July, gradually narrowing a field of over 3,000 high school bands to just about a dozen for the finals. Amid the event’s long history, one public school is legendary for having risen from complete anonymity to national champion. In 1983, Kanagawa Prefectural Noba High School was a rough and tumble, low-rated school with a music room littered with cigarette butts and an inactive brass band club made up of hopeless slackers. But in the short span of 2 years, one man turned them around and made them national heroes. Based on a true story about a teacher named Nakazawa who spent 10 years guiding students to glory while battling cancer, this inspiring drama depicts two years in the life of a broken down musician (Koichi Hikuma), searching for meaning after suffering an accident that forced him out of a musical career, and the turnaround he orchestrates for himself and for the lives of his problematic students.

Giving birth is not an illness. So naturally, it is not covered by standard medical insurance. People who work in maternity wards don’t treat injuries or cure disease. In fact, a professional doctor, an obstetrician, need not be present at a childbirth. But when complications arise, giving birth can become a life-or-death matter. Sakura Konotori lost his mother at his own birth and, as a result, grew up in an orphanage. Now he works as an obstetrician fueled by a deep love and yearning to “celebrate each and every baby that comes into the world”. But he is also something of a mystery, leading another life as a concert pianist who goes by the nickname “Baby” and plays with a passion that borders on brilliance. A delicate and realistic portrayal about the front lines of childbirth, Storks delivers a heartwarming drama that reflects upon the meaning and miracle of life.

Tokyo metropolitan Omotesando Senior High School is lorded over by a group of popular kids dubbed “the first team.” The rest of the student body either fall into the “second team” or lower, “the outsiders.” One day, a transfer student arrives at the school from the remote countryside as an unlikely heroine who “loves to sing!” The high school used to have one of the country’s best choruses, but is now facing the threat of closure. But the story’s heroine is determined to resuscitate the chorus and sets out to recruit new members. Fighting off a storm of ridicule and booing, she gradually begins to win allies to her cause with single-minded passion and hard work. What begins as a ragtag collection of misfits in a dorky glee club crescendos to a refreshing and bittersweet spring-of-youth drama!

The near future in Japan, in the age officially known as ‘Change for the Better’.
It is a time in which the expression of thought is censored, and the media is tightly controlled. Bearing up under a harsh regimen of instruction under the terrifying Atsushi Dojo, Iku Kasahara is now a full-fledged member of the Library Defense ‘Task Force’, and divides her time between hard physical training and regular library work. Dojo and the rest of the Task Force are ordered to guard a public exhibition featuring ‘The Handbook of Library Law’, a book widely seen as the symbol of freedom, of which there is only one existing copy. The assignment seems easy enough, but this is in fact a trap designed to wipe out and thus disband the Task Force and restore a twisted society to the correct moral path. Can Dojo and his unit defend both an invaluable book and themselves? The members of the Task Force must put their lives on the line in the greatest battle they have ever faced: The Last Mission.

It is a warring period in feudal Japan. The warlord, Nobunaga Oda, is rapidly vanquishing his foes on a quest to pacify and unify the country under his rule. However, there is one domain that he forbids to lay a hand on, that of the Iga ninja, whom even the great Nobunaga fears most. The Iga are known to wield extraordinary and supernatural powers as invincible weapons of war who will assassinate anyone for money, and money only. They don’t think of people as human and are dubbed “the killer clan”. But there is one Iga ninja, Mumon, who while peerless in ability is indolent and taken to task for an inability to earn much of an income. In the fall of the year Tensho 7, Nobunaga’s second son, Nobukatsu Oda, decides to ignore his father’s orders and attack the Iga country, partly encouraged by Taizen Heki, a man who had once turned on his master and was now employed as a vassal of Nobukatsu. Heibe Shimoyama, whose brother had been killed by Mumon also seeks revenge on the 12 Iga ninja core, including Sandayu Momoji and Kai Shimoyama. Amid various colliding interests and schemes, ultimately, a major bloody showdown is coming between Oda’s army and the Iga ninja.

Michiko Shibata is single, unattached and unemployed after her previous employer went bankrupt. Failing to land a job, she leads a destitute life surviving mainly on cabbage but craving meat. And she has tapped out financially after lending all of her savings to a handsome young man she pines after.
Her life reaches an all-time low when she reaches for a can of cat food found on the street, but just then, former supervisor, Kurosawa appears and wonders what she’s doing. ”I’m dying for meat,” she wines. So Kurosawa takes her to a coffee shop he runs called “Himawari” (Sunflower) and offers her a part-time job. Michiko hesitates as she remembers the nightmarish life working under this tyrannical man at the last company. But at Himawari, he seems to show a different side. Maybe the fortunes of this sorry woman is about to change.

This is a unique program that introduces “izakayas” (Japanese-style bars) in downtown Tokyo, where “any adult can drop by alone when ever he feels like it.” One izakaya began as a food stall 80 years ago, another one serves raw pork guts… Every izakaya serves its own unique variety of Japanese sake and dishes, and viewers can enjoy watching the reality of the dramatic lives of its people. The program features the wonderful drinking experiences of illustrator Rui Yoshida and offers an introduction to the humanity of the people of downtown Tokyo.

Reina Misaki is bank worker plagued by self-doubt for constantly bumbling her job. And then one night she attends a social mixer that leads to an interview with a public relations firm and a new job thanks to a whimsical president, despite her having given a very lackluster interview. On her first day at the new job, she is shocked to learn that her direct superior is Kusakabe, the very man who was so exasperated by her at the interview. Still, Reina also immediately earns the jealousy and enmity of fellow female workers who all pine after Kusakabe. But Kusakabe makes life a living hell for Reina, subjecting her to a daily barrage of work place abuse and criticism… until one day at a product meeting where she casually expresses an idea that much to her surprise gets adopted and becomes a major PR coup, drawing enormous media attention. Having transformed into the hottest person in the business, Reina is ecstatic when the company president names her to head up the next big account. It’s all smooth sailing until the day of the big campaign announcement when a host of trouble suddenly threaten to bring the world crashing down upon her. But someone steps in at the last minute with a helping hand: Kusakabe.

Watanuki, a young man who is plagued by spirits which only he can see, literally stumbles into a shop that grants wishes. It is run by a mysterious woman named Yuko who claims to have a means to end his torment. But a price equal to the power required to grant the wish must be paid, and Watanuki soon finds himself in her employ, taking him down a road in life he never dreamed he would take!