Naoki Matayoshi

Spring 1991. Takaki and Akari meet in elementary school and continue to exchange letters even after she moves away. They make a final promise to each other to meet again. It is now 2008. They live their respective lives, paths never crossing. Enduring memories and a premonition of that promised day. Even now, their words from that day drift quietly, transcending time and distance. An ephemeral story of a promised reunion with someone precious.

A man finds himself on the seashore of a deserted island. He finds a copy of the tabloid weekly "Shukan Taishu" next to him. He decides to wait for help while reading the "Shukan Taishu." While reading the tabloid weekly, his mind wanders into delusions. It so happens, that man's greatest skill is the power of his delusions. As time passes, help does not arrive. His mind drifts into his past where he was always waiting.

Hana, a high school student who lost her parents in an accident, does not fit in at school and cannot find any reason to live. Suddenly one day, a man claiming to be from a special government organization visits her and asks her to tell him about a dream she had. Hana is confused and has no idea what is happening, but that night she has a strange dream.

Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, The Great Passage. In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems.

For this 16th Anniversary Special, Inagaki Goro is our host once again for 6 spooky tales based on tales from real people and performed here by an all-star cast. A young man who returns to his family's home after leaving Tokyo finds something else may have followed after him; a young girl dreams of darkness and a small shrine that draws ever closer; a woman with a failed business makes a go at it with a company with a bizarre dormitory, one with a past secret; a police officer receives a call from what appears to be a dead woman who wants his help; a woman taking documents to a food company finds time slipping away without her noticing; a single man who runs a restaurant sees an unusual family living down the hallway from him.

Botchan (Kazunari Ninomiya) has sense of strong justice and does not lie. He is offered a teaching job at a middle in a small village far away from his hometown of Tokyo. Botchan accepts the position and begins to work as a math teacher. The assistant principle there wields absolute power. Botchan has a hard time dealing with his fellow teachers and the students.

An omnibus special comprised of four segments: >> Story 1: "Ato 15 Byo de Shinu" (あと15秒で死ぬ) Pharmacist Mikami Megumi, working late, finds herself frozen in time with a bullet suspended in front of her. >> Story 2: "Sanzunokawa Outlet Park" (三途の川アウトレットパーク) Kimura Takashi wakes up near the Sanzu River, a place where he can earn "virtue" based on his past deeds. >> Story 3: "Deja Vu" (デジャヴ) Hikari experiences repeated déjà vu moments on her birthday, including encounters with a mysterious masked man. >> Story 4: "Naru" (成る) Famous Go player Iwaya Kentaro faces an AI opponent named "Nuisance" that triggers traumatic memories with its moves.

A boy meeting his girlfriend's father for the first time. Visiting a hospitalized high school classmate. The last drink between a failed entertainer and his manager. Combat that ends up in a rap battle. A conversation between sisters at their mother's funeral. An encounter between two random time travelers.

Tokunaga is an unpopular comedian. He meets a senior comedian, Kamiya, who holds a strong faith in comedy. They struggle to move forward as comedians.

This mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers.

Kashiopea no Endo Roru A murder takes place on a luxury overnight train which runs from Sapporo to Ueno, Tokyo. The victim is a film director. The suspects are 4 women. Nokosareta Senritsu After a pianist concludes her best performance to date, she dies mysteriously in the waiting room. The cause of her death is potassium cyanide that was laced in her coffee. Kuroi Pan Teru A man works as a supervisor for a construction company. 30 years ago, he was a popular actor who played a hero character on TV. Now, he has a wife and a 20-year-old daughter. One day, the man learns that his daughter is kidnapped. Daiyamondo Dasuto A cold wave hits Tokyo. Two men, working for the same company, are unable to avoid overtime work that night. The snow storm then causes electrical outages. The two men must face difficult life or death decisions.

A short film by Hiroyuki Ohashi.

Everybody has theories that they personally cling blindly to regardless of proof or scientific validity. In this entertaining information program, a host of celebrities present their cases for pet theories to studio guests by any means be it academic argument or laughably “out there” logic. Can their theories gain acceptance? Or will they be discarded as pop science that only adds confusion to the world? Find out through exhaustive examination including on-location experiments!

Daimon Michiko is a 37-year-old freelance surgeon who is part of a questionable “doctor placement service” that has her wander from hospital to hospital. The harsh environment at the hospitals led many doctors to retire from their positions, forcing hospitals to make use of said program to fill the empty spots at least temporary. However, Michiko doesn’t look like a doctor at all with her flashy clothes and eccentric attitude. In the first episode she raises objections to a certain operation which is planned to be done by the head of a hospital who hasn’t performed an operation for a very long time. This causes Michiko to incur odium at the hospital, however, everyone becomes frozen when Michiko points out the outdated skills of the director. She also holds a scrupulous compliance when it comes to her working hours, never does any unnecessary chores that don’t require a medical license, and couldn’t care less about the power struggles within the hospitals. Nobody knows how she acquired such a top-level skill that allows her to claim exorbitant sums as reward, but her private life is an even greater mystery to everyone around her. Tanaka plays a rookie surgeon, Uchida an anesthetist, Kishibe the head of the placement service, and Ito the head of the surgical department of this institution.

Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture). His simple honesty caught the attention of its charismatic feudal lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira. Nariakira’s assertion that the love of people is what will enrich and strengthen the nation captivated Saigo who took on Nariakira’s secret mission and eventually became a key person for Satsuma. Not a portrait of him survives today and much of his life is a mystery. He is a man who was twice exiled and thrice married. He overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate with exceptional bravery and action. Although he accomplished the restoration, he lost his life in a fight with the new Meiji government.

It follows a group of people who are still living in temporary housing 12 years after a natural disaster called "Nani" destroyed their town.

After watching a friend run away from her own wedding, three former university board-game club friends are forced to confront their tangled love lives and what they really want from relationships.

An omnibus drama depicting the stories of 8 women and 8 unique chairs.

An entertainment show running different types of stories as projects with guest entertainers appearing in them. Stories included ones like Bibari to Rui, Tebrashka ( Тебурашка ) and many others. A lot of the shorter projects directly parodied specific things like shows or movies.