A sweltering summer evening in 1965, legendary mahjong master (or “janshi”), Shigeru Akagi, challenges Japan’s richest and most powerful underworld kingpin, Iwao Washizu, to a special game of “Washizu rules mahjong” in which Akagi must stake his own blood against the assets of his opponent. A cop dedicated to taking Washizu down and an up-and-coming crime syndicate leader named Ohgi, are hoping Akagi is talented and crazy enough to win. On this night, mahjong history will be made.

Haruki Mizunuma is a workaholic who runs a design office in Tokyo and has left the rearing of his grade school son, Ren, completely to his wife, Kyoko. But she becomes hospitalized for de-terioration health. Treatment fails to work and suddenly, she has departed from this world. Ha-ruki is not ready to be suddenly raising a son by himself, and Ren himself is devastated by his mother’s death and loses the desire to live. And then on the first anniversary of Kyoko’s death, Haruki and Ren pay a visit to her native home in the mountains where the family business of forestry has been maintained for 500 years. Haruki begins to seek the meaning of the “Tree of Happiness”, which Kyoko had written in her day planner. But first he must confront the cold treatment by his father-in-law, Shigeya, who had never approved of their marriage.

The late 1960s. Alone, young man who spends his days brawling and stealing drifts into a Tokyo flophouse district. His name is Joe Yabuki. There, he meets alcoholic former boxer Danpei Tange, who senses a natural born fighting talent in Joe. However, soon after Joe is sent to a reformatory for assault.
Danpei sends Joe a letter while he's incarcerated. Entitled "For Tomorrow," it explains the basic boxing technique of the jab. Even inside, Joe stirs up trouble and gets into fights during which he encounters a powerful, champion-level pro boxer named Rikiishi. After their release from incarceration, Joe and Rikiishi both progress as professional boxers in their respective weight classes. Joe vs. Rikiishi – the ring of the bell sounds their destiny!

The lakeside at Lake Yamanaka is covered with snow. In the vacation house in such a quiet area owned by the chairman of Watsuji Seiyaku, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Japan, the tragedy suddenly breaks out. ”I have killed my granduncle!!” says Mako, who is loved by everybody in the Watsuji family. She has stabbed her granduncle, Yohei, to death. Soon after the domestic homicide, the entire family joining together in an attempt to make it look like a crime committed by somebody outside the family, begins to engage in imitative deception...

Desperately in need of money, Hikari drops out of high school to pay her father’s debts and starts working at a television station as a cleaning lady. There she meets Masako, a television producer suffering from her drama’s low viewer ratings.
Masako soon realizes that Hikari has potential, and decides to hire her as one of her staff members. But things don’t go as planned. Working in the male-dominated corporate culture of the TV station, the two women find themselves alternatively clashing and cooperating to achieve their goals. Despite their ups and downs, one common desire always brings them together and guides them… they just want to be happy!

The Villa Et Alors is a stylish retirement that allows its residents a great amount of freedom in living their lives. Maybe too much freedom! Takafumi Kurusu, a doctor, who has taken over management of the villa following his father’s death, has his hands full fielding the various romantic problems of the residents. The villa’s resident playboy is jumping from woman to woman. A female resident has fallen in love with the villa’s young physiotherapist and when Kurusu tries to dissuade her he suddenly finds himself the object of her affections! Exhausted by his charges, Kurusu grumbles to his longtime girlfriend about the residents at home, but soon finds them influencing his life in more ways than he imagined!

Noriko, who is building her career as a nurse, starts work at a large hospital. Naoe is a skilled doctor but he believes that medical treatment should be handled as a business. Noriko, however, does not agree. Another young doctor has a very good reputation and his more compassionate personality clashes with Naoe’s. Despite Naoe’s strict treatment of Noriko and others, she begins to see a hidden kindness in him. She begins to like him as more than just a colleague, but she senses that he is hiding something. However, she will soon find out that his secret threatens more than she could possibly imagine.

Kintaro Yajima comes to Tokyo and is hired by Yamato Construction Company when he saves the life of the company’s CEO. A former leader of a motorcycle gang, Kintaro is known for his highly principled and forthright way of dealing with matters and is never afraid to tell his superiors exactly what he thinks. This has a tendency of irritating some; but when corruption from within the company begins to surface, he may be the only one who can stand up to it. This story is based on the best-selling comic book of the same title.