Where Does the Sea Begin

About this title

A family drama about a man who learns that the daughter his late college girlfriend raised alone is his own child, and about how he grows into being a father. It is an original work that reunites silent's screenwriter Miku Ubukata, director Hiroki Kazama and producer Ken Murase.

It aired from July to September 2024 in Fuji TV's Monday 9 p.m. drama slot, running 12 main episodes and one special. The official tagline was "When, and how, does a person become a 'father' or a 'mother'?" Murase said he asked early on for a 12-episode run because there was so much to depict. When lead actor Ren Meguro's hiatus pushed Episode 9 back a week, a newly shot special depicting Mizuki and Tsuno's past, "The End of Love," aired in its place. The series was directed by Hiroki Kazama, Mai Takano, Jung Eun-hee and Kazuyuki Yamagishi.

Ren Meguro plays the protagonist, Natsu Tsukioka, who works at a printing company; Kotone Furukawa plays Mizuki Minamikumo, his college girlfriend, who raised their daughter alone before her death; and Rana Izutani plays the daughter, Umi. Kasumi Arimura plays Yayoi Momose, Natsu's current girlfriend; Sosuke Ikematsu plays Haruaki Tsuno, Mizuki's coworker who had helped raise Umi; and Shinobu Otake plays Umi's maternal grandmother. Umi was cast through a nationwide audition, and Izutani had previously appeared as a child actor in the same writer's My Beloved Flower. It is Meguro's first lead in the Monday 9 p.m. slot.

Household ratings in the Kanto region ranged from 6.1% to 9.5% (the finale was the highest). On streaming, Episode 1 drew 4.62 million plays in its first eight days on TVer, surpassing silent's first episode (4.43 million) on the same basis and setting the TVer record for a drama's first episode. It was the most-played of all programs on TVer during its July-September 2024 run, and it won the drama grand prize at the TVer Award 2024. The theme song, back number's "Atarashii Koibitotachi ni" ("To the New Lovers"), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.

Choices such as the finale's return to the opening scene of Episode 1 drew attention, but the series also faced complaints that the story was heavy and dark, as well as criticism of its depiction of abortion and of its ending. Murase acknowledged that he had received harsh feedback on the abortion scenes, while stating that he does not at all believe that abortion is wrong and that giving birth is the right choice. Ren Meguro won Best Actor at The Television Drama Academy Awards for the series, and the drama won the Grand Prix in the Japanese drama category of the MIPCOM Buyers' Award.

See alsoSilent 2022My Beloved Flower 2023

Drama Lineup editors · Fact-checked against: digitalpr.jp, thetv.jp, Japanese Wikipedia, mdpr.jp, Official site, billboard-japan.com, oricon.co.jp, prtimes.jp, nikkansports.com · 2026-10-09