Masahiro Komoto

Acting

Masahiro Komoto

Born

1965-06-26 (61)

Place of birth

Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

100 titles

Known for

The Files of the Young Kindaichi poster
7.6

A young man who showed little promise while a high school student becomes a master detective, just like his grandfather.

The Files of the Young Kindaichi

1995

The Woman of S.R.I. poster
7.3

Mariko is a forensic scientist working at the Kyoto PD Crime Lab. Her credo is “science never lies” and she delves into the truth of the case with her colleagues with their specialized skills and knowledge in forensic medicine, physics, chemistry etc. Mariko’s steadfast belief in science makes her stand against conventional institutional ethics of the police department, diehard detectives averse to scientific investigation and sometimes even with her own colleagues, but she stays faithful to her belief in science and continues to pursue the truth.

The Woman of S.R.I.

1999

Perfect Days poster
7.8

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

Perfect Days

2023

Kaiji poster
8.1

Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing loiterer who spends his days drinking beer and stealing hubcaps—that is, until he ends up being tricked by his former co-worker. Unable to suddenly repay his friend's huge debt all by himself, Kaiji is offered a shady deal to participate in an illegal underground gamble on a cruise ship. This turns out to be nothing more than the beginning of his new life of hell—thrown headlong into a life-threatening roller coaster of mind games, cheating, and deceit.

Kaiji

2007

CSI: Crime Scene Talks poster
7.2

Satoshi Itomura is an assistant police investigator who belongs to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Scientific Investigation Team. Reenactments, fingerprint and voice data collections, profiling... His team collects scientific evidence and pieces together fragments of information in order to help build evidences. However, Itomura often does not care about the scientific approach and instead pays a great deal of attention to the things that the victims always carried with them or treasured. And he focuses on these things because they usually carry the victim’s dying wishes, understanding that last message not only helps solve the cases but also brings closure to the depressed family of victims.

CSI: Crime Scene Talks

2011

Gokusen poster
8.0

Newly graduate Yamaguchi Kumiko an idealistic teacher who entered Shirokin High to be a math teacher. Having high hopes for her students, her world turned up side down when she finds out that she'll be teaching the class 3-D the hardest class to take care of. Class 3-D is a bunch of students who looks more like delinquents and trouble makers. The students show no respect to teachers nor a little kindness. Each and every student doesn't like teacher for almost everyone has no good memories of them. The leader of the class is Sawada Shin. He is well respected for there are rumors that he beat a teacher to death. The students try there hardest to bully and make fun of her so she'll quit but all there efforts went to waste because Yamaguchi ain't an ordinary Teacher. Yamaguchi Kumiko is actually the 4th generation heir to Oedo group, a yakuza clan. Even though everyone in there clan wants her to the next leader, she made up her mind and so everyone accepted it.

Gokusen

2002

Film credits

2020s · 5 titles

Perfect Days poster
7.8

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

Perfect Days

2023

Let Me Hear It Barefoot poster
7.0

Student dropout Naomi befriends happy-go-lucky Maki, who lives with his blind adoptive mother Midori. When Midori becomes seriously ill and is hospitalized, Naomi and Maki send her tapes from an imaginary trip around the world. Their relationship grows while recording, but they only dare engage in rough, painful horseplay.

Let Me Hear It Barefoot

2021

The Supporting Actors in Byplaywood poster
6.7

In a studio at the foot of Mt. Fuji, Gaku Hamada is struggling to shoot a movie with a dog in the lead role. Enter a huge cast of veteran actors who get involved in misadventures while on set.

The Supporting Actors in Byplaywood

2021

Restart After Coming Back Home poster
7.2

Mitsuomi Kozuka quits his job due to his boss. He decides to return to his hometown for the first time in 10 years. The town is located in the countryside. There, Mitsuomi Kozuka meets Yamato Kumai. Yamato Kumai is the stepson of old man Kumai. The old man runs a farm near the home of Mitsuomi Kozuka's parents.

Restart After Coming Back Home

2020

Muroi Shinji: Not Defeated poster
5.3

Muroi, who retired from the police early, took in the children affected by the incident and moved to Tohoku. Although he was told cold words from those around him, he lived quietly while protecting his children. However, the body of the perpetrator of the special fraud and robbery was found deep in the mountains, and the village fell into chaos.

Muroi Shinji: Not Defeated

2024

2010s · 27 titles

Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose poster
5.0

After Detective Shunsaku Aoshima is promoted to section chief he has the daunting task of dealing with eight cases at the same time, which includes a murder case, bomb threat, and a bus hijacking. Complications also arise between Detective Aoshima and his juniors.

Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose

2010

Sadako vs. Kayako poster
5.6

A girl, Yūri Kurahashi, after watching a cursed videotape together with her friend in a haunted house, becomes trapped in a conflict between the two murderous ghosts: Sadako Yamamura and Kayako Saeki.

Sadako vs. Kayako

2016

March Comes In Like a Lion poster
7.0

Rei Kiriyama is a 17-years-old shogi (Japanese chess) player. He debuted as a professional shogi player when he was in middle school. He lives by himself in Tokyo, because his parents and younger sister died in an traffic accident when he was little. One day, Rei Kiriyama meets three sisters who are his neighbors. The three sisters are Akari Kawamoto, Hinata Kawamoto and Momo Kawamoto. This is his first meeting with someone outside of the shogi world in many years. Having meals with the Kawamoto family brings warm feelings to Rei Kiriyama. As Rei Kiriyama continues his shogi career, his interactions with his neighbors allows him to grow as a shogi player and as a person.

March Comes In Like a Lion

2017

Section Chief Aoshima Shunsuke THE MOBILE: Cases happening in the Interrogation Room! poster
NR

Special drama consisting of 12 episodes about events that happen before the 3rd Oduru movie. Available via mobile network only.

Section Chief Aoshima Shunsuke THE MOBILE: Cases happening in the Interrogation Room!

2010

March Goes out Like a Lamb poster
7.1

The time spent between professional Shogi player Kiriyama and his three stories helps to heal his wounds. As he prepares to secure another win in an upcoming tournament, the father who left the three sisters appears and disturbs the peace.

March Goes out Like a Lamb

2017

One Week Friends poster
6.7

High school student Yuki Hase wants to become close with classmate Kaori Fujimiya who is alway by herself. Kaori Fujimiya refuses to become close with Yuki Hase, because she forgets her friends every new Monday. Even though Kaori tells Yuki why she doesn't want to become friends, Yuki still wants to become close to her.

One Week Friends

2017

Bayside Shakedown THE FINAL: The New Hope poster
5.8

Set 2 years after prior film "Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose," a major case occurs that has the potential to take down the entire police organization. For the next 3 days, Shunsaku Aoshima and his colleagues struggle to unravel the case...

Bayside Shakedown THE FINAL: The New Hope

2012

What's for Dinner, Mom? poster
6.9

Two sisters Tae and Yo come back to their old house which is soon to be torn down. Clearing up the family mementos, Tae finds a red box full of recipes and letters written by their mother who died 20 years ago. In these recipes and letters, she finds out how her mother had struggled in her life due to relocation from Japan to Taiwan, the death of her Taiwanese husband, and a battle with cancer. Tae travels to Taiwan to trace her mother's past, reminiscing about the dishes she made for the family.

What's for Dinner, Mom?

2017

Tatara Samurai poster
6.7

In 16th century Japan, a young man has to choose between becoming a master steel maker like his father and grandfather before him, or becoming a samurai so that he can help protect his village from attacks by the various clans which want the high-quality steel made there.

Tatara Samurai

2017

Your Lie in April poster
7.0

Arima Kousei won numerous piano competitions while under the strict watch of his mother. He was known as the human metronome during that time. Since the death of his mother, Kousei has been unable to hear the sound of his piano. He then meets Miyazono Kaori through childhood friend Sawabe Tsubaki. Kaori plays the violin and has a free sprit. Since meeting her, Kousei is able to face the piano again. Meanwhile, Kaori holds a secret.

Your Lie in April

2016

The Brain Man poster
6.2

A seemingly random series of bombings in a provincial city. The latest target is a public bus route. Detective Chaya chased terrorists and arrested a mysterious man with keen intelligence and physical power. The psychologist in charge of evaluating him is Dr. Mariko. After the psychiatric examination, she puts toward a hypothesis – “Is it possible he was born without emotions?”

The Brain Man

2013

The After-Dinner Mysteries poster
5.9

Kageyama (Sho Sakurai) works as the butler for rich heiress Reiko Hosho (Keiko Kitagawa). Reiko happens to be a novice detective but lacks certain deductive skills needed by detectives. Because of this Reiko relies on Kageyamaa to help her solve cases. Meanwhile, Kageyama isn't afraid to mince words and often calls out Reiko with his sharp tongue!

The After-Dinner Mysteries

2013

The Takatsu River poster
NR

Set along the river basin of Shimane Prefeture's Takatsu River, a government-protected river, this drama portrays various people living in an area burdened by decreasing population as they carry on the tradition of "Kagura" Shinto music and dance which is said to be the roots of Kabuki. Directing from his own screenplay is Nishikori Yoshinari of Railways. Saito Manabu (Komoto Masahiro) operates a ranch on a mountain and worries his son Tatsuya (Ishikawa Raizo) has been making a habit of skipping Kagura practice. Then Manabu learns his alma mater elementary school will be closed down.

The Takatsu River

2019

Everest: The Summit of the Gods poster
6.0

Makoto Fukamachi is a Japanese cameraman. He finds an old camera on a backstreet of Nepal. The camera might possibly solve the mystery of whether George Mallory became the first person to successfully climb Mount Everest on June 8, 1924 or not. Pursuing the old camera's past, Makoto Fukamachi meets legendary Alpinist Joji Habu. Joji Habu is isolated from other people because of his reckless and thoughtless personality.

Everest: The Summit of the Gods

2016

Love Stoppage Time poster
7.3

Aspiring university student is studying in order to try again for the university examination. One midday time seems to stand still for everyone and everything around him. Moreover, this phenomenon repeats daily. Yet, he is not the only one who is aware of the situation. There is an explanation and there is someone who holds the key to that explanation.

Love Stoppage Time

2019

War of Lie poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

War of Lie

2017

Wasao poster
6.8

Wasao, an Akita dog in Aomori Prefecture that became famous as an ugly-yet-cute dog from a traveller's blog. Heartwarming drama starring Wasao himself turns part of the life of this former stray into an original story. Setsuko, who runs a grilled-squid shop in a fishing village at the foot of the Shirakami mountains, decides to take in a large dog with a long, unruly fur that has shown up in town. She names the dog Wasao and showers it with affection, but Wasao at that time doesn't take to Setsuko.

Wasao

2011

Perfect Blue poster
7.7

A murder occurs of a promising high school baseball player. His younger brother Shinya becomes the prime suspect. Private detective Koichiro is hired by their father, Saburo Moroka. To prove Shinya's innocence, Saburo, Koichiro, and Koichiro's pet dog Masa work to uncover the real killer's identity. At the same time, there is a case at a giant drug company named Mitsutomo Pharmaceuticals. Yuki bears a grudge against the company for prior inspection methods used over newly developed drugs. Yukie then threatens the company. Company president Kouta orders Kihara to resolve the problem discreetly. The more Kihara learns of the situation, the more hesitant he becomes about how to handle the situation. Finally, these two seemingly disparate cases cross paths, and a shocking truth emerges...

Perfect Blue

2010

係長 青島俊作2 事件はまたまた取調室で起きている! poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

係長 青島俊作2 事件はまたまた取調室で起きている!

2012

Fantastic Girls poster
6.0

In 1980, Ayuko is a new transfer student in Okayama from Tokyo. She doesn't have any friends and relies on her boyfriend Hideo who is a college student. Ayuko likes to draw a romance manga of herself and her boyfriend. Ayuko's classmate, Takemi, becomes a huge fan of Ayuko's manga and they become close friends. Due to an incident though, they drift apart. 30 years later, Ayuko is now a manga artist and comes back to Okayama to give a lecture at her former high school. There, Ayuko meets Takemi who is now a teacher.

Fantastic Girls

2015

Bayside Shakedown the Last TV: Salaryman Cop and the Last Tough Case poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Bayside Shakedown the Last TV: Salaryman Cop and the Last Tough Case

2012

The Tale of Genji: A Thousand Year Enigma poster
6.6

"Genji Monogatari" focuses on the love and hate relationships surrounding Genji Hakaru. Lady Fujitsubo is Genji's first love. Ryokuzono Miyasutokoro is obsessed with Genji and eventually becomes a spirit. Yu Kao, who is from the lower class, give comfort to Genji's emotional wounds. Writer Murasaki Shikibu is jealous of Genji and is eventually ordered by Seime Abe to write a work ...

The Tale of Genji: A Thousand Year Enigma

2011

Hospitality Department poster
5.7

The hospitality division in Kochi Prefecture can't promote the beautiful nature in the area due to a strict rule by the prefecture government. Popular writer and Kochi area native Kyosuke Yoshikado is appointed as a special envoy for tourism in the area. He then receives a recommendation to meet Seien, a former employee of Kochi Prefecture, who once hatched an unusual idea to promote tourism. Seien pushed forward a project to import pandas into the area, but lost his job because of that project. Meanwhile, hospitality division employees Fumitaka and Taki visits the tourist house which is run by Seien and his daughter. When they arrive, the daughter throws a bucket of water at them, still angry for the way her father was dismissed from his job. From there, a plan for the hospitality division is born.

Hospitality Department

2013

Princess Toyotomi poster
5.7

National Audit Bureau member Hajime Matsudaira (Shinichi Tsutsumi), Tadako Torii (Haruka Ayase) & Asahi Gainsbourg (Masaki Okada) travel from their homebase of Tokyo to the city of Osaka. Their mission is to discover any financial irregularities & to ensure the correct use of federal money in the Osaka city government. Their initial audits go smoothly, but things turn more interesting once they enter the Karahori shopping district - the area with a long history reaching back to the Meiji era.

Princess Toyotomi

2011

Cat Taxi poster
5.8

No synopsis available yet.

Cat Taxi

2010

Airport 2013 poster
6.4

When there's a transfer flight delay, a put-upon ground staff worker at a small town airport has to deal with a family that has plenty of problems of their own. Shot in a single take, "Airport" focuses on familial and romantic relationships and the secrets that often hold them together.

Airport 2013

2014

Wandering Home poster
6.4

War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

Wandering Home

2010

2000s · 21 titles

Memories of Matsuko poster
7.8

While combing through the belongings of his recently deceased aunt, Matsuko, nephew Sho pieces together the crucial events that sank Matsuko's life into a despairing tragedy.

Memories of Matsuko

2006

Linda Linda Linda poster
7.6

Only three days before the school festival, a newly formed high school band rushes to put together a set for their big show — including a hit single by '80s by the Japanese punk rock band The Blue Hearts.

Linda Linda Linda

2005

Bayside Shakedown 2 poster
6.1

The movie takes place again in the fictional Wangan Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department the once empty space within Wangan's jurisdiction has become a popular tourist attraction. When a string of murders of company execs begins taking place, Aoshima jumps at the opportunity to pursue something other than his current case, which he finds less than inspiring. However the powers that be have other ideas, and Wangan again plays host to a special investigation team from headquarters. Aoshima's friend Superintendent Shinji Muroi, assigned by headquarters to assist Okita, is again powerless to help the local officers as decisions are made by the higher ups.

Bayside Shakedown 2

2003

The Magic Hour poster
7.5

A hustler who gets in trouble with a gang boss in the port town of Sukago agrees to make good with the don by putting him in contact with a mysterious hitman — an assassin the hustler has no idea how to contact. Instead, he hires an actor to play the role, though the thespian has no idea what he's getting into.

The Magic Hour

2008

The Choice of Hercules poster
7.2

When radicals from Japan's Red Army took a woman hostage in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano in 1972, Officer Atsuyuki Sassa was put in charge of diffusing the situation. But the task had its challenges. Upon arriving in mountainous Nagano, Sassa had to compete with freezing winter temperatures, conflicting opinions between the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the Nagano Prefectural Police, as well as public opinion to gain entrance to the lodge that held the single woman captive.

The Choice of Hercules

2002

Negotiator poster
7.0

In this movie, Japan's top negotiator confronts a formidable foe threatening Tokyo's subways. As high-stakes tension brews, Mashita must outsmart an adversary with a personal vendetta, testing his skills like never before.

Negotiator

2005

Pika**nchi Life Is Hard Dakara Happy poster
4.5

Sequel to the 2002 film Pika*nchi Life Is Hard Dakedo Happy, starring members of boy band Arashi.

Pika**nchi Life Is Hard Dakara Happy

2004

The Last Princess poster
5.9

After the Akizuku clan fall in defeat to rival clan Yamana, Princess Yuki and General Rokurota take cover in a hidden fortress, along with their clan and gold treasury. Fortuitously stumbling into the hideaways, brash young miner Takezo and his bumbling sidekick Shinhachi hatch a daring plan to help transport the gold out of enemy terrain – in exchange for a share of the stash, of course. With assassins hot in pursuit, Yuki disguises as a male and ventures into the real world with Rukurota and her peasant companions, getting her first taste of danger, toil, and budding romance with the strong-minded and willful Takezo.

The Last Princess

2008

Go Find a Psychic! poster
6.0

Once a year, on Christmas Eve, Cafe Telekinesis holds a real psychic party. At the party, psychics gather together to show off their abilities while for the rest of the year they hide their abilities. Yone Sakurai is a program director for a psychic variety TV show called "Asunaro Psychic". She is stressed out and tired from her work, but proud of what she is doing. Yone actually believes in psychic abilities. By an audience request a new plan is set out for the program, a plan which requires the show to uncover real psychics or psychic events.

Go Find a Psychic!

2009

Tales of the Unusual poster
6.8

A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertantly caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.

Tales of the Unusual

2000

1 Litre Of Tears SP poster
6.0

The Story of the 1 Litre of Tears special takes place after the events in the main drama. The Special takes the view of Asou Haruto who is remembering life the way it used to be before the events of the last episode of the series.

1 Litre Of Tears SP

2007

Space Travelers poster
6.1

Three bank robbers, who declare themselves to be Space Travelers, take six persons as hostages when they are surrounded by the police. Among the hostages, there is a terrorist with a hidden bomb. In order to escape, the robbers ask the hostages to pretend to be part of the gang. Surprisingly, the hostages soon enjoy doing so. On that strange day, the bank becomes a tropical paradise...

Space Travelers

2000

Boku to Mama No Kiiroi Jitensha poster
NR

Taishi lives with his father Kazushi. His mother left home when Taishi was very young and he barely has any memories of her. He believes that his mother left home to study in Paris. His favorite moments come once a week when he receives a letter from his mother. But one day, during Taishi's summer vacation, he learns that his mother isn't in Paris but in Shodoshima, Japan. Taishi then decides to take his pet dog with him and bicycle from his hometown of Yokohama all the way to Shodoshima. On his 500 kilometers trip to Shodoshima, Taishi meets various peoples and touches their hearts, while leaving behind small miracles. What Taishi doesn't know about his mother is that she suffers from memory loss and that's why she lives apart from her family. Taishi's father Kazushi soon learns that his son has left for Shodoshima and he sets out to find his son.

Boku to Mama No Kiiroi Jitensha

2009

Cop Festival: New Beginning poster
NR

Fourth installment in Deka Matsuri omnibus series. 8 films.

Cop Festival: New Beginning

2003

Prodigy poster
7.4

Naruse Uta is a "unique" 13 year old child. She possessed the talent to read sheet music even before she could speak, but has now come to the point where she hates playing the piano. Her father was also a piano virtuoso, but mysteriously disappeared from her life at a young age. Because of her father's disappearance Uta's mother had to move out of their posh home and into a far modest working class neighborhood. In this working class neighborhood there is a local grocer. The grocer's son Kikuna Oto happens to be a budding musician, but lacks the drive to truly succeed. That is until Uta Naruse comes into his life...

Prodigy

2007

Furuhata Chugakusei poster
7.0

Young Furuhata, a 3rd-year junior high student from Tokyo, transferred to a school in the countryside due to family circumstances. He doesn't fit in at first, but he eventually gains a reputation as a detective and opens his own detective agency. One day, he hears about the town's legend of buried treasure, and he immediately begins unraveling the mystery.

Furuhata Chugakusei

2008

The Red Thread poster
5.0

Mei has been in love with Yuya all her life. They've grown up together. But when they reach their second year of middle school, Yuya suddenly professes his love for her older sister, Haruna.

The Red Thread

2008

Backdancers! poster
6.0

A cadre of backup dancers is left astray when their star singer moves on with her life and marriage. They each had their own ambition and hope, which subconsciously rested on the star power of the singer. When plan A does not work, they cling to plan B. When that does not work, in an act of desperation, they are assigned to plan C by their agency. A fight and unprofessionalism seems to put the Backdancers on permanent ice.

Backdancers!

2006

A Boy's Summer in 1945 poster
5.8

In the final days of World War II, a 15-year-old boy grappling with survivor's guilt watches a rural Japanese community quietly fracture under the heavy emotional tolls of war.

A Boy's Summer in 1945

2002

Gumi. Chocolate. Pine. poster
NR

Kenzo and his high school friends live in anguish, believing that there is something that sets them apart from everybody else.

Gumi. Chocolate. Pine.

2007

The Taste of Fish poster
7.0

It may sound cliché, but Japanese people really do love their fish. If Japan has the best and freshest fish in the world, then Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market is where you're most likely to find them. It's the home of Japan's biggest daily fish auction, and it's a place of fierce competition between fish merchants that have been in the business for generations. Based on a comic series, The Taste of Fish follows businessman Shuntaro, who has a successful career in a trading company and is in a steady relationship with girlfriend Asuka. One day, Shuntaro has to help out at the fish wholesaler store run by Asuka's father, and he immediately falls in love with the world of Tsukiji Fish Market. Soon, Shuntaro quits his job and devotes all of his time to running the business while learning about the market's fascinating set of long-standing traditions. However, he must first also learn to distinguish the tastes of different fishes before he can survive in the competitive world of Tsukiji.

The Taste of Fish

2008

1990s · 7 titles

Bayside Shakedown poster
6.5

Aoshima, a police detective working in the Bayside Precinct, is continually frustrated by the hierarchy and red tape that plague the system. His friend Muroi is climbing the ladder of the police bureaucracy. Muroi has made a pact with Aoshima that while Aoshima looks after the streets, Muroi would make life easier for the cops on the beat. One day in Bayside, a series of events turns the small station upside down.

Bayside Shakedown

1998

Hypnosis poster
6.7

Three apparently unrelated suicides occur on the same day in Tokyo. One involves a young athlete, one a groom at his wedding reception, and the third an elderly man celebrating his wife's birthday. A middle aged detective investigating one of the cases begins to suspect a connection between the three when he discovers that each person mentioned a "green monkey" before they died. With the help of a young psychiatrist he formulates the theory that hypnosis is somehow involved. In the mean time other bizarre "suicides" are reported and the mystery intensifies. Who will be next? What is the truth? Can more deaths be prevented?

Hypnosis

1999

The Show Must Go On poster
NR

Recorded on 15th April 1994 at Kinokuniya Hall, Tokyo. This play is what brought media fame to Koki Mitani back in 1991, performed by his theatre group Tokyo Sunshine Boys. It was adapted into a television special in 1992 and then in 1994 (the run the released DVD recording captures) they did another run. It was broadcast on NHK-BS2 on 26th May 1994, identical to the TV release but with differences in music. It is Mitani's typical farcical comedy where the characters follow only one rule: 'No matter what happens. Once that curtain rises. It must not be lowered until we finish our performance.' Koki Mitani said of the play 'They are outrageous people, but deep down, there is a firm principle running through their veins: "Once the curtain rises, no matter what happens, there is an ironclad rule." For stage performers, the phrase "the show must go on" essentially means you can't take the show off.'

The Show Must Go On

1994

Bayside Shakedown: Autumn Campaign for Crime Eradication poster
8.7

No synopsis available yet.

Bayside Shakedown: Autumn Campaign for Crime Eradication

1998

Bayside Shakedown SP: Year-End Special Alert poster
7.3

No synopsis available yet.

Bayside Shakedown SP: Year-End Special Alert

1997

Lie Lie Lie poster
8.0

Hatano is living as an insomniac freelance typesetter alone in his bayside apartment. One day, Aikawa, a high school classmate he hasn’t seen in over ten years, shows up on his doorstep bearing a bag of clams. Though he claims to be the director of a fast-growing trading company, Aikawa crashes on Hatano’s couch for days on end. When the sleeping pills he was offered produce a strange side effect, Hatano is slowly dragged into Aikawa’s con-artist lifestyle. Soon afterward, they cross paths with the representative of a big-name publishing company and Aikawa’s ultimate scam begins to unfold.

Lie Lie Lie

1997

Snow falls on a southern island poster
NR

Remake of the 1961 Japanese war-comedy film Snow in the South Seas (Minami no Shima ni Yuki ga Furu).

Snow falls on a southern island

1995

Series credits

The Files of the Young Kindaichi poster
7.6

A young man who showed little promise while a high school student becomes a master detective, just like his grandfather.

The Files of the Young Kindaichi

1995

The Woman of S.R.I. poster
7.3

Mariko is a forensic scientist working at the Kyoto PD Crime Lab. Her credo is “science never lies” and she delves into the truth of the case with her colleagues with their specialized skills and knowledge in forensic medicine, physics, chemistry etc. Mariko’s steadfast belief in science makes her stand against conventional institutional ethics of the police department, diehard detectives averse to scientific investigation and sometimes even with her own colleagues, but she stays faithful to her belief in science and continues to pursue the truth.

The Woman of S.R.I.

1999

Kaiji poster
8.1

Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing loiterer who spends his days drinking beer and stealing hubcaps—that is, until he ends up being tricked by his former co-worker. Unable to suddenly repay his friend's huge debt all by himself, Kaiji is offered a shady deal to participate in an illegal underground gamble on a cruise ship. This turns out to be nothing more than the beginning of his new life of hell—thrown headlong into a life-threatening roller coaster of mind games, cheating, and deceit.

Kaiji

2007

CSI: Crime Scene Talks poster
7.2

Satoshi Itomura is an assistant police investigator who belongs to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Scientific Investigation Team. Reenactments, fingerprint and voice data collections, profiling... His team collects scientific evidence and pieces together fragments of information in order to help build evidences. However, Itomura often does not care about the scientific approach and instead pays a great deal of attention to the things that the victims always carried with them or treasured. And he focuses on these things because they usually carry the victim’s dying wishes, understanding that last message not only helps solve the cases but also brings closure to the depressed family of victims.

CSI: Crime Scene Talks

2011

Gokusen poster
8.0

Newly graduate Yamaguchi Kumiko an idealistic teacher who entered Shirokin High to be a math teacher. Having high hopes for her students, her world turned up side down when she finds out that she'll be teaching the class 3-D the hardest class to take care of. Class 3-D is a bunch of students who looks more like delinquents and trouble makers. The students show no respect to teachers nor a little kindness. Each and every student doesn't like teacher for almost everyone has no good memories of them. The leader of the class is Sawada Shin. He is well respected for there are rumors that he beat a teacher to death. The students try there hardest to bully and make fun of her so she'll quit but all there efforts went to waste because Yamaguchi ain't an ordinary Teacher. Yamaguchi Kumiko is actually the 4th generation heir to Oedo group, a yakuza clan. Even though everyone in there clan wants her to the next leader, she made up her mind and so everyone accepted it.

Gokusen

2002

Galileo poster
8.2

Narrates the events and cases encountered by Kaoru Utsumi, a rookie detective, and Manabu Yukawa, a university associate professor, while the two pair up to solve many mysterious cases.

Galileo

2007

Kumokiri Nizaemon poster
9.0

During the Kyoho period in the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, there is a gang of thieves active not just in Edo but also the Tokaido and the Nakasendo, and all across the Kansai region, stealing large sums of money with skillful techniques. They only target the very wealthy and never kill or injure people. They appear with the clouds and disappear like the mist. On the night that the beautiful Ochiyo is to become the bride of a dry goods dealer, a large amount of money hidden inside the shop is stolen. The gang disappears without injuring anyone. It was a two-year plan to marry Ochiyo off so that she could bring them in. The leader of this gang is Kumokiri Nizaemon, the greatest bandit of all time. He keeps a rein on his highly-skilled and notorious followers Nanabake no Ochiyo, Kinezumi no Kichigoro, Subashiri no Kumagoro, Ingakozo Rokunosuke and others.

Kumokiri Nizaemon

2013

Carnation poster
8.2

Carnation is a Japanese television drama that aired in the Asadora slot on NHK from 3 October 2011 to 31 March 2012. It is the 85th Asadora. It is based on the life of the fashion designer Ayako Koshino in Kishiwada, Osaka. Ayako was the mother of the internationally famous designers Hiroko Koshino, Junko Koshino, and Michiko Koshino.

Carnation

2011

Cold Case: Door of Truth poster
8.2

Yuri Ishikawa and her team try to crack unresolved cold cases in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Cold Case: Door of Truth

2016

99.9 Criminal Lawyer poster
6.9

Hiroto Miyama is an unconventional young lawyer who dances to his own tune and gets a little obsessive. For one thing, he’s only interested in criminal cases, and he will never give up in his pursuit of the truth even if offers only a 0.1% chance of being discovered. Japan’s 99.9% criminal case conviction rate leads the world, attesting to a “highly reliable” judicial system. In other words, once a crime suspect is indicted, prosecutor arguments tend to be accepted hook, line and sinker. In the face of those 99.9% odds, there’s no money in being a defense lawyer specializing in criminal cases, but for Miyama, that’s where the interest and kernels of truth lie. From unexpected places, the mold-breaking Miyama stakes his reputation on a prayer of a chance as he clashes with hotshot lawyers who’ll go to any lengths to win in this gloriously fun, legal mystery.

99.9 Criminal Lawyer

2016

Midnight Diner poster
8.2

Set in a small restaurant in the corner of a shopping district. The unusual eatery is only open after midnight, and its standard menu consists of just a single choice. However, the customers still come for the amusing chatter and the proprietor's willingness to cook any dish that they request. This drama depicts the lives of the restaurant's patrons, including a yakuza, an unsuccessful actor, a group of office ladies, a newspaper delivery boy, and a stripper.

Midnight Diner

2009

Come Come Everybody poster
8.3

Come Come Everybody is a Japanese television drama series and the 105th NHK Asadora series, following Okaeri Mone.. It depicts the lives of three generations of women who have close links to the English lessons on radio which began in 1925.

Come Come Everybody

2021

What Will You Do, Ieyasu? poster
7.9

He lost his land, his father, and was torn from his mother. Lonely and wounded, young Takechiyo thought he'd live out his days quietly as a hostage. But fate had other plans. Inspired by Mikawa warriors, he becomes a minor lord and dives into a war-torn world ruled by monsters like Nobunaga and Shingen.Life-or-death moments, miscalculations, and no time to breathe—what will you do, Ieyasu?

What Will You Do, Ieyasu?

2023

Bayside Shakedown poster
8.1

A rookie detective learns that life in law enforcement may not be as glamorous as he thought it would be.

Bayside Shakedown

1997

Divorce Lawyer poster
6.0

Takako Mamiya is a lawyer who quits her job at a prestigious law firm and establishes her own office. She confidently sets out to build her business, but soon her former firm is putting up obstacles and interfering, causing Takako's employees and clients to drift away. She finally puts together a new staff consisting of a college student who knows little about the law, a girl who applied for the job in hopes of meeting a rich guy, a hard-nosed lawyer, and a paralegal who hasn't passed the bar exam yet. Takako reluctantly handles divorce cases with her incompetent crew. For an elite lawyer like her, divorce cases are the most boring and unrewarding cases that exist. Through clashing with her employees and clients, Takako soon becomes a very mature and tough lawyer. "Divorce Lawyer" also tells the story of how difficult it is to judge love and relationships in legal terms.

Divorce Lawyer

2004

Hanasaki Mai Speaks Out poster
6.7

Hanasaki Mai is but an ordinary employee of a bank, with zero diplomacy. She doesn't think twice about pointing out her boss' mistakes. Her job is to investigate any wrongdoings in the bank branches. She is the voice of the suppressed staff who are unable to go against their bosses. Her partner is the veteran staff, Soma Ken, whose career with the bank had reached a dead end, no promotions in sight. Together, they resolve all the non-compliance issues at the bank.

Hanasaki Mai Speaks Out

2014

The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk poster
8.8

The series depicts "Kyoto as Kyoto people love it" in dramas and documentaries.

The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk

2015

Signal poster
6.8

Two detectives communicate through a walkie-talkie to solve a cold case. One detective exists in the present day, and the other detective exists 15 years in the past.

Signal

2018

The Snitch's Serenade: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Case File poster
8.4

After a junior detective dies in the line of duty during an active investigation, Detective Masaki Sara of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police First Investigation Division is transferred to Section 1 of the Personnel Division, the internal affairs unit that investigates officers suspected of misconduct. Still traumatized by his past, Masaki is forced to carry out his duties as a lonely outcast as his colleagues shun him as a snitch. One day, a message arrives. It's a tipoff that Saiko Minaguchi, Masaki's former colleague in the First Investigation Division, is leaking confidential information. Although Masaki is reluctant to investigate someone he used to work with, he obeys his boss and starts looking into Saiko. He soon discovers a link to an unresolved murder and some buried facts about the death of his junior detective Saito. What shocking truth awaits Masaki beyond his suspicions and inner conflict?

The Snitch's Serenade: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Case File

2021

PICU: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit poster
7.0

Takeshiro Shikota is a 27-year-old pediatrician in Hokkaido, Japan. He was born and raised in Hokkaido. One day, Takeshiro is transferred to the newly established PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). The unit is for children under the age of 15 who require advance and intensive treatment. There, he meets Dr. Hajime Ueno. Hajime is a pioneer in his field and hopes to establish PICU all over Japan. His goal is to bring sick children to PICU as quickly as possible and accept them under any circumstances. Meeting with Hajim, changes Takeshiro life as a pediatrician.

PICU: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

2022

Beauty or Beast poster
7.2

This drama pits two protagonists against each other. On the one hand there's Makoto, a woman who believes that the TV program is a product and that viewer ratings are the proceeds, and who believes any method is fair in getting those ratings. On the other hand there's Hiromi, a flashy sort of guy who claims that life is to enjoy and boasts that the program is simply a tool in that process. He loves wine, women and gambling. Such a pair is bound to mix like oil and water, but following a fateful reunion, they come to understand each other in the midst of confrontation.

Beauty or Beast

2003

Spiritual Teacher, Kyoko Odagiri poster
5.7

Kyoko Odagiri is a beautiful and charismatic clairvoyant. She is also popular and admired by her fans. Today, Kyoko appears on a popular tv show and display her psychic abilities alongside a popular actor. Her performance goes off splendidly with the audience applauding her performance enthusiastically.

Spiritual Teacher, Kyoko Odagiri

2010

He Is Always There poster
8.0

This is a story of two physicians who are complete opposites. Although he's a skilled surgeon, Dr. Shiba does not believe that every life is worth saving, but is willing to perform any surgery for the right price. On the other hand, Dr. Ishikawa is an idealist who believes that doctors should treat all patients equally and fight to protect every person's right to live. Therefore, Ishikawa quickly becomes liked by hospital staff while Shiba continues to make enemies.

He Is Always There

1993

One Missed Call poster
6.9

Yumi, a writer of a science magazine, witnesses a mysterious death of a high school girl who received a "one missed call" from her own cell phone, two weeks in the future. The disturbing message on the cell phone turns out to be the screams of the victim.

One Missed Call

2005

Stove League poster
8.0

The professional baseball team “Dreams” has long been stuck in last place. Factional disputes within the team, players repeatedly making defensive errors—the organization is on the verge of collapse. Entrusted with rebuilding the Dreams is Sakurazaki Jun, a general manager with no experience playing baseball. Although he lacks competitive experience, he is known as a “championship contractor” who has led multiple sports teams to victory. In order to address the root of the problems, Sakurazaki clashes with players and front office staff while introducing a series of unconventional reforms that defy common sense. And the first decision he makes is trading the star player, who is considered the symbol of the franchise. What is victory? What is a team? Not only the players, but also the club staff are drawn into confronting these questions.

Stove League

2026

Never Let Me Go poster
4.5

30-year-old Kyoko has a "job". The story starts with her looking back 20 years to her boarding school of Yoko Gakuen in the mountains. Tomohiko, Miwa, and Kyoko are all in the same grade. Inspired by the educational philosophy of the principal - Emiko, teacher Tatsuko joins the boarding school staff, but soon finds the school rather strange...

Never Let Me Go

2016

Say Hello to Black Jack poster
NR

Eijiro Saito is a graduate of the prestigious Eidai Medical School and is sent to Eidai Hospital as a trainee doctor. There, under the supervision of Dr. Shiratori at the surgery department, Eijiro trains hard with Dekune and Munekata. But all they seem to do is take care of menial work for low hours and low pay. So low in fact bad that they have to do part-time work at other hospitals just to make ends meet. Eijiro picks Seido Hospital, run by Dr. Hattori, for his part-time job. The surgery is like a battleground. Eijiro is very impressed by his senior Dr. Ushida and the nurse Kaori. But one night, when he is on duty, Eijiro runs from the surgery leaving a badly injured patient behind! It is the story of an intern doctor and the various problems and contradictions of the medical industry. -- TBS

Say Hello to Black Jack

2003

Smile poster
7.8

Smile is a Japanese television drama series, shown on TBS started last April 17, 2009. Jun Matsumoto plays the lead role of Vito, a half-Filipino, half-Japanese man who always smiles despite all of the problems and difficulties he faces. The series focus on foreigners and mixed-race children who suffered from racism

Smile

2009

Guest in Room 0 poster
NR

Set in a city hotel called Point, where there is a strange "Room 0" that can reveal one's "grade" as a human being. Various guests with different circumstances visit the room, hoping to determine their own worth.

Guest in Room 0

2009

War of Lies poster
7.0

When Koichi was 9-years-old, Koichi's father was accused of killing his wife and youngest child. He was also accused of committing suicide. In reality, Koichi's father was framed for the murders and Koichi saw the person who killed his family. He told a cop that his father didn't kill anyone and he saw the killer, but nobody believed him. Afterwards, his relatives called him a liar and he grew up with the nickname of Liar. Koichi eventually moved overseas and changed his name. He became a swindler.

War of Lies

2017

Angels with Broken Wings poster
4.8

A miniseries starring famous actresses, based on the short story collection "Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi" by the author Yoshi. This dark drama has a different story for each episode, as the name of the series "Angels With Broken Wings" hints, the common theme is women who have lost their way in life. The series touches subjects like prostitution, peer pressure, gambling, theft and isolation.

Angels with Broken Wings

2006

Mistress poster
3.1

Shibasaki Kaori is a doctor. Her patient that she was having an affair with dies. Kaori is suspicious of the patient's son Kido Takashi about the death. Noguchi Tomomi is a single mother. She is excited in experiencing love for the first time in 7 years. Harada Saeko is in conflict with her husband Harada Satoshi about having a child. Mizushima Juri insists on having freewheeling romance. She feels excitement with meeting a woman. These four women's lives connect and an unexpected story begins.

Mistress

2019

愛の流刑地 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

愛の流刑地

2007

The Wall of the Eye poster
8.7

In 1990, Hagizaki Tatsuo, the accounting department chief of Ukishima Electric Works, was busy negotiating on getting a loan together with Sekino, the company's general manager. However, just as they were about to get the funds, Sekino was involved in a 200 million yen fraud and he later disappeared with the loan. The company decides to cover up the incident to protect its image, but Hagizaki wants to get to the bottom of the matter with the help of his newspaper reporter friend, Muraki. Hagizaki later notices that the case becomes darker and darker as he continues to investigate. He then meets a beautiful woman, Uezaki Etsuko, whom he believes hold the key to the entire incident.

The Wall of the Eye

2022

Garden of the Wind poster
NR

The lead, Dr. Sadami Shiratori worked in the operating room at a famous Tokyo hospital was around death on a daily basis. His own father, Teizo Shiratori is also a doctor, called Grandfather as he raised the estranged children of his wayward son, he practiced medicine in a small town on Hokkaido, Japan’s most northern island. His practice was limited only to terminal patients…in their own homes. He cared for them and helped both them and their families prepare for the ‘final journey’.

Garden of the Wind

2008

Carry On! Hara-chan! poster
6.8

Echizen, who is a modest woman, works at a fish cake plant. Instead of keeping a diary, she draws cartoons of "Nakuna, Harachan" on her notebook about her daily life. The main character in her comic, Hara then appears in the real world.

Carry On! Hara-chan!

2013

Kao poster
6.5

A drama set in a police department depicts how a woman grows and matures as a human being as she suffers from the gap between reality and ideals in an environment where women are looked down upon. Mizuho Hirano, a woman police officer whose work consists of drawing composite sketches of criminal suspects, has the unique ability to look deep into people's hearts.

Kao

2003

The Confession of the Sirens poster
7.5

Asakura Takami is a reporter working for news programme "Afternoon JAPAN" which is currently in danger due to continous scandals. To recover the honor of "Afternoon JAPAN", Takami decides to follow senior reporter Satoya Taichi to cover the abduction case of a high school girl. Through interviewing a classmate, Takami found out that the girl was bullied. However, another girl who is suspected to be the culprit actually suffered from a rape incident 6 years ago.

The Confession of the Sirens

2020

In Lilac Bloom, The Path to a Veterinarian poster
NR

Set in the vast wilderness of Hokkaido, this awkward yet endearing coming-of-age story follows a girl who used to be socially withdrawn as she strives to become a veterinarian while facing the reality of life and death.

In Lilac Bloom, The Path to a Veterinarian

2025

Tokyo Tower poster
6.0

Forbidden romance blooms after a bored medical school student falls for a married architect twenty years his senior.

Tokyo Tower

2024