Japanese dramas, Q1 2025: the quarter in review

NHK's 64th taiga drama aired 48 episodes on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. from January 5 to December 14. Set in Edo in the late 18th century, a period without major wars, it follows publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo (Ryusei Yokohama) as he changes the world through publishing; it is the first taiga drama to depict this era. Ken Watanabe plays Tanuma Okitsugu and Shota Sometani plays Kitagawa Utamaro, with Ai Hashimoto also in the cast. It is an original script by Yoshiko Morishita.

Its 12.6% premiere was the series high; the final episode drew 9.5% and the run averaged 9.5%. Sankei Sports reported that average as the second-lowest ever for a taiga drama. Unlike its ratings, its reviews were strong: it won an Award for Excellence in the serial drama category at the Tokyo Drama Awards 2025, and Best Screenplay (Yoshiko Morishita) and Best Supporting Actor (Shota Sometani) at the 126th Television Drama Academy Awards.

NHK's 112th asadora (morning drama) aired 130 episodes from Monday to Friday at 8 a.m. from March 31 to September 26. A work of fiction modeled on Takashi Yanase, creator of Anpanman, and his wife Nobu Komatsu, it depicts a couple who lived through the turbulent Showa era together. Mio Imada plays Nobu Asada and Takumi Kitamura plays Takashi Yanai, with Yuumi Kawai, Nanako Matsushima and Kazunari Ninomiya co-starring. It is an original script by Miho Nakazono.

It opened at 15.4% and hit its series high of 18.1% with the final episode, averaging 16.1% over its run. It won the 34th Hashida Award and topped the drama category of the Yahoo! Search Awards 2025.

It aired 10 episodes in TBS's Sunday Theater slot from January 19 to March 23. In this original script by Roba Shimori, Takashi Mikami (Tori Matsuzaka), an elite bureaucrat at the Ministry of Education, is effectively demoted to a private high school, where he becomes homeroom teacher to a third-year class. Riho Yoshioka, Daiken Okudaira, Aju Makita and Masaki Okada co-star.

Its 12.2% premiere was the series high; the final episode drew 11.8%, and its 10.7% average was the highest among the winter season's commercial-network serials. At the 123rd Television Drama Academy Awards it won Best Drama, Best Actor (Tori Matsuzaka) and Best Director, and at the Tokyo Drama Awards 2025 it also won an Award for Excellence in the serial drama category, Best Actor and Best Screenplay.

This Nippon TV Sunday drama aired 10 episodes on Sunday nights at 10:30 p.m. from January 12 to March 16. In this sci-fi comedy, an original script by Bakarhythm, an "alien" co-worker intrudes on the ordinary life of Kiyomi Endo (Mikako Ichikawa), a single mother who works the front desk of a business hotel in Yamanashi. It is Mikako Ichikawa's first lead role in a commercial-network serial, with Akihiro Kakuta, Anne Suzuki and Kami Hiraiwa co-starring.

Its ratings were 5.6% for the premiere, a high of 6.7% (episode 9) and a 5.8% average, but it spent 11 weeks in Netflix's Top 10 for TV in Japan, from the week of January 19 to the week of March 30, three of them at No. 1. It won Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay at the 123rd Television Drama Academy Awards, as well as the top prize in the TV drama category at FILMARKS AWARDS 2025 and an Award for Excellence in the TV drama category at the Hoso Bunka Foundation Awards.

This TBS Friday drama aired 10 episodes from January 24 to March 28. After losing her father, a former police officer, in an arson case, college student Komugi Yamashita (Suzu Hirose) pursues the truth using the letter he left behind as a clue. It is based on Rito Asami's manga of the same name, serialized in Kodansha's Kiss, with Kenichi Matsuyama, Lily Franky and Hayato Isomura co-starring.

Its 7.8% premiere was the series high; the final episode drew 7.0% and it averaged 6.6%. It spent 11 weeks in Netflix's Top 10 for TV in Japan, from the week of January 26 to the week of April 6, peaking at No. 2. It won an Award for Excellence in the TV drama category at FILMARKS AWARDS 2025.

It aired 11 episodes (12 including a special edition) in Fuji TV's Monday 9 p.m. "Getsuku" slot from January 13 to March 31. This workplace drama, an original script by Natsu Hashimoto and Keigo Koyanagi, depicts the dispatchers who take emergency calls at the 119 command center of the Yokohama City Fire Bureau. Nana Seino plays the lead, Yuki Kasuhara, with Koji Seto, Ai Mikami and Koichi Sato co-starring.

It opened at 7.3%, reached its series high of 9.0% with episode 10, and drew 8.0% for the final episode, averaging 7.6%. A sequel special aired on January 3, 2026.

All seven episodes were released on Netflix on January 9. Based on the 1979 NHK drama written by Kuniko Mukoda, it was directed, adapted and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda. In this family drama, suspicion that their father is having an affair brings the hidden conflicts of four sisters to the surface. Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi and Suzu Hirose play the four sisters, with Jun Kunimura and Masahiro Motoki co-starring.

It spent two weeks in Netflix's Top 10 for TV in Japan, peaking at No. 4. On Rotten Tomatoes, all 12 critics gave it positive reviews (as of October 7, 2026), and it won an Award for Excellence in the streaming drama category at FILMARKS AWARDS 2025.