Japanese dramas, Q3 2024: the quarter in review

All seven episodes were released on Netflix on July 25. A ring of jimenshi, swindlers who pose as landowners to sell off other people's real estate, targets a massive land deal. It is based on Ko Shinjo's novel, with Hitoshi One as director and screenwriter. Go Ayano plays Takumi Tsujimoto, Etsushi Toyokawa plays Harrison Yamanaka, Pierre Taki plays Yoshio Goto and Eiko Koike plays Reiko Inaba.

It held No. 1 in Netflix's Top 10 for TV in Japan for six consecutive weeks, from the week of July 28 to the week of September 1. It spent five weeks in the global Top 10 for non-English TV; its biggest week was the week of August 4, with 1.9 million views (No. 3), and it reached its peak position of No. 2 in the week of August 18. It won the top prize in the streaming drama category at FILMARKS AWARDS 2024, and its line "Mō ee deshō" ("That's enough now, isn't it?") made the top 10 of the 2024 New Words and Buzzwords Awards. The series also renewed interest in the real-life Sekisui House land fraud case.

All five episodes were released on Netflix on September 19. It follows an ordinary girl, Kaoru Matsumoto, as she becomes the legendary heel "Dump Matsumoto" in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling during the 1980s. Yuriyan Retriever plays Dump Matsumoto, Erika Karata plays Chigusa Nagayo and Ayame Goriki plays Lioness Asuka. Osamu Suzuki handled the planning and script, with Junya Ikegami also writing; Kazuya Shiraishi directed episodes 1–3 and Katsuhito Motegi directed episodes 4–5.

It held No. 1 in Netflix's Top 10 for TV in Japan for three weeks, from the week of September 22 to the week of October 6, and ranked No. 7 in the week of October 13. It did not enter the global Top 10 for non-English TV. It won an Award of Encouragement in the drama category at the 51st Hoso Bunka Foundation Awards, and Yuriyan Retriever won Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 8th Asian Academy Creative Awards in December 2025.

It aired 10 episodes in TBS's Sunday Theater slot from July 7 to September 15. Yukihiko Amagi, a genius heart surgeon who looks exactly like the protagonist of Season 1, appears at Tojo University Hospital and challenges the conventions of the medical world. Kazunari Ninomiya, who played Seishiro Tokai in Season 1, now plays Amagi, taking on a dual role, and Ryoma Takeuchi plays Masashi Sera. It is based on Takeru Kaido's novels Blaze Mes 1990 and Cerisier Center 1991.

It opened at 11.8%, reached its series high of 12.0% with the final episode, and averaged 11.3%.

It aired 12 episodes and a special edition in Fuji TV's Monday 9 p.m. "Getsuku" slot from July 1 to September 23. At the funeral of his college girlfriend, a young man learns that he has a daughter and confronts what it means to become a parent. Miku Ubukata wrote the original script, with Ren Meguro as Natsu Tsukioka, Kasumi Arimura as Yayoi Momose, Sena Izumiya as Umi Nagumo and Kotone Furukawa as Mizuki Nagumo.

It opened at 8.0%, fell to a low of 6.1%, then hit its series high of 9.5% with the final episode, averaging 7.6%. It won Best Actor (Ren Meguro) at the 121st Television Drama Academy Awards and the Drama Grand Prize at the TVer Awards 2024, and ranked No. 3 in the drama category of the Yahoo! Search Awards 2024.

This TBS Tuesday drama aired 11 episodes from July 9 to September 17. Itsuki Saionji (Wakana Matsumoto), a 38-year-old office worker who has decided not to do housework, ends up living as a "fake family" with her subordinate Toshinao Kusumi (Hokuto Matsumura), a single father, and his daughter Ruka (Ema Kurata). It is based on Satoru Hiura's manga.

Its 7.3% premiere was the series high, with a low of 5.4%, 6.5% for the final episode and a 6.6% average. At the 121st Television Drama Academy Awards it won Best Drama and Best Supporting Actor (Hokuto Matsumura).

It aired 11 episodes on Fuji TV on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. from July 3 to September 11. At a small hospital in Kabukicho, a former U.S. military doctor and a cosmetic dermatologist throw themselves into emergency medicine. Following Extremely Inappropriate! in the first quarter, it is another original script by Kankuro Kudo, with Eiko Koike as Yoko Nishi Freeman, Taiga Nakano as Toru Takamine and Ai Hashimoto as Mai Minami.

Its 7.9% premiere was the series high, with a low of 5.5%, 6.9% for the final episode and a 6.4% average. It won the Galaxy Award's monthly prize for September 2024.

NHK's 111th asadora (morning drama) aired 125 episodes from Monday to Friday at 8 a.m. from September 30 to March 28, 2025. Because it premiered at the end of September it is covered here as a third-quarter title, but most of its run fell in the fourth quarter and later. Yui Yoneda (Kanna Hashimoto), born in the first year of the Heisei era, encounters gyaru culture in Itoshima, Fukuoka, and goes on to bring people together as a nutritionist. Nonji Nemoto wrote the original script, with Hayato Sano, Riisa Naka and Yukiya Kitamura co-starring.

Its 16.8% premiere topped that of its predecessor The Tiger and Her Wings (16.4%), but its best weekly average was 16.1% in its first week, and it averaged 13.1% over its run. Nikkan Sports reported that average as the lowest ever for a morning drama at the time the series ended.

It aired three episodes in NHK General TV's Saturday Drama slot on Saturday nights at 10 p.m. from August 31 to September 14, and it was also broadcast on NHK BS Premium 4K. Psychiatrist Konosuke Yowai (Tomoya Nakamura), who runs a small psychiatric clinic in Shinjuku, and nurse Yuri Amamiya (Tao Tsuchiya) work with their patients, and each episode was subtitled with a condition: panic disorder, bipolar disorder and personality disorder. It is based on the manga written by Jin Nanami and drawn by Tsukiko, with a script by Junko Oyama and direction by Kazuhito Nakae. In episode 1, Kaho appears as a single mother with panic disorder.