After being a star student in high school, Junko Harumi finds herself in her early thirties having failed at love, college entrance exams and good employment. Working at a cram school as a tutor bereft of hope and motivation, she spends her days believing she’ll be fired at any moment. Then one day, a knuckle-headed, delinquent teen named Kyohei Yuri appears before her. “I want you to get me into the University of Tokyo,” he says. Having herself failed to get into the country’s most prestigious university, Junko refuses thinking it beyond her abilities, but then is overpowered by Kyohei’s strong will and desire, and finally relents. In the process, she is surprised when her handsome cousin, Masashi Yakumo, an elite trade company man, returns from working overseas and suddenly proposes marriage to her. With her life suddenly taking a turn for the better, can Junko get Kyohei into the University of Tokyo from a bottom-feeder high school? And is she destined to find the love to set her life on a new path?

Shinya Ryuzaki plays a pivotal role in the national police force as liaison between the police, Diet politicians, bureaucrats and the mass media. When he learns about the murder of a violent gang member through the newspapers instead of the usual direct reporting to him by media outlets, he is perplexed and seeks answers from an old friend and colleague on the police force, Shuntaro Itami, who is now Chief of Criminal Investigations. A series of ensuing crimes pointing to the same perpetrators begins to uncover links to a major unsolved scandal from the past, stirring up shadowy forces of corruption inside the police department. Ryuzaki forces himself to cast aside protocols of rank and status in favor of taking a thoroughly rational approach to solving the crime, embroiling his friend, Itami, in a lonely battle for justice.

Rika Inaba is a beautiful and strong-headed director at the Teito Television Broadcasting Company. Ever since she was young, she had dreamed of becoming the best news reporter in the business, but on into her fifth year with the TV station, she finds to her dismay she's been transferred to a lighter fare, information program where she is assigned to report on the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Meanwhile, Daisuke Sorai had just reached his long-sought goal of becoming an aerobatics pilot only to injure his leg, crushing his chances at ever becoming a member of the elite Blue Impulse flying team. He gets assigned to the force's public relations desk and subsequently finds himself attached to Rika in the role of attendant. Sorai and Rika differ on just about everything; their views, their mindset. But they share one thing: their childhood dreams have been shattered and they've hit a wall in life. From there, a mutual understanding begins to germinate, drawing them toward each other and toward the discovery of a new dream.

In a distant past, Dr. Hideo Gotoh was once a teeny-bopping idol. Now he's an elite young doctor, having just returned from America after building a reputation as a General Physician working in a leading medical field in the U.S. When he accepts an invitation by an intern he meets on an airplane, he finds himself at the hapless Meiho Hospital, a collecting ground for some of the worst doctors imaginable. Then when a patient with a mysterious ailment is brought before the incompetent and motivationally-challenged GP staff, it is up to Dr. Hideo to begin turning things around.

Usako is an intern who just graduated from medical school. Being clumsy and slow, she is always causing inconvenience to those around her, but her pure and do-it-all-the-way attitude is second to none. This drama sensitively and brightly depicts the process of Usako gaining her experience, from the times when she struggles to simply complete her assigned tasks to the point where she begins to realize she wants to become the kind of doctor to whom patients would say ‘thank you’.

They don’t know when to stop, and live life to the full—meet the never-a-dull-moment Sakurai family, where nobody holds their feelings back. Returning to serial drama for the first time in five years, Misako Tanaka and the three hyperactive sons provide a story with a heartbeat.
Harue Sakurai who has brought up her sons alone after her husband died, is absolutely hopeless at running a household. Her eldest, stickler Tatsuya, does the job in her place while keeping younger brothers Riku, and Junpei firmly in line. The sparks are constantly flying, but that’s the way it goes in this home. Tatsuya, a serious-minded advertising agency worker, and his brothers, an easy-going swimming instructor and rather naïve student, are three good-lookers who, along with their useless live-wire of a mother, keep getting into all sorts of scrapes—in love and at work. This is the Sakurai household, where everything hangs loose and everyone always speaks their mind. Tanaka says she really loves this ‘perfect family.’ They are sure to win your hearts too!

“Mommy will be back in the rainy season.” Mio Aio wrote these words in a picture book just before passing away. Though six-year old Yuji accepts his mother’s death, he still believes the promise his mother made. Then the rainy season comes, and Yuji and his father, Takumi, meet a woman in the downpour that bears an uncanny resemblance to Mio, but has no recollection of who she is. Taking her in, they reacquaint her with her former self and family life returns to normal as memories come flooding back. But their new life together is interrupted by the discovery of Mio’s old diary, which reveals the secrets of her past and how they must say goodbye in six weeks time….

Best-seller comic book author Yui has an assistant, Yusaku, who is secretly attracted to her. Yui also finds herself attracted to Yusaku but she has a big secret. At a book launch party, Yusaku finally blurts out his feelings for Yui, but the response that she has three children is not what he expected! Despite his initial shock, he decides that he still wants to marry Yui even though Yui’s children are hostile and his best friend is against it. In modern times when divorce is common and many people find themselves in untraditional families, this drama portrays the spirit of parental love in a subtle and hope-inspiring manner.

A woman’s young son is kidnapped and the only clue to his disappearance is a note starting with the words “This is a quiz….” What follows is a fast-paced and stylish whodunnit which leads chief investigator Kaoru Kiriko of the Special Investigation Team down a trail of increasingly perplexing riddles that all the while seem to mock the efforts of the police. Street-smart Kaoru may be the kidnapper’s intellectual match, but as she gets closer to her mark, she finds herself becoming the hunted rather than the hunter.

When an eager young man gets an elementary school teaching position as his first job, he finds a school staff and student body stricken with apathy. He vows to find a way to invigorate his students and co-workers, but his tendency to burn a straight path toward his goals, while failing to consider any obstacles in his way, may be his biggest fault. Or it may turn out to be his greatest asset.