The Vacation Principle

Manben: Behind the Scenes of Manga with Urasawa Naoki

Urasawa Naoki no Manben (Naoki Urasawa's Manga Exertions) is a TV Documentary airing on NHK Educational TV. It follows acclaimed mangaka Naoki Urasawa (creator of 20th Century Boys and Monster) as he sets out to break new ground for manga even further than he already has. In an attempt to educate viewers about manga and preserve the intricate craftsmanship and process of Japanese artists on video for future generations, he invites a manga artist to have their workplace filmed for a couple of days, so as to display them in the process of crafting chapters for their current serializations. After the footage has been shot, Urasawa meets with the artist and they discuss the footage, talking about the artist's workplace and workflow, the difficulties involved in the mangaka lifestyle, their reasons for drawing manga in the first place, and their perspective on the current industry and their own work.

Tokyo Tarareba Girls

30-year-old Kamata Rinko is single and a struggling scriptwriter. She has no boyfriend and keeps having night outs at drinking spots with her girlfriends Kaori and Koyuki. “If I become beautiful, a better guy will appear!” “If we grow to like each other, we can get married!” They will not stop talking about these hypothetical questions. Then a younger, handsome, golden-haired guy suddenly utters, “These “what if” women!” and the trio have to face the harsh reality that they are no longer girls. Rinko enters her 30s while still immature, seeking happiness and struggling with romance and work.

A Rose and A Tulip

An acclaimed painter travels to Japan for an exhibition where he takes advantage of his free time to enjoy a Japanese bath or onsen. However, there is more to it than that. He is told that the owner of the bath has a false work of his. He meets a look-alike at the bath and the situation lends itself to what comes next

Princess Jellyfish

Amamizukan is an apartment complex where no boys are allowed. Tsukimi, a girl who adores jellyfish, lives there happily with her friends who all have nerdy obsessions of their own. Their peaceful lives gradually start to change when a beautiful woman helps Tsukimi out of a pinch. She stays overnight at the apartments—but it turns out "she" is really a "he".

Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey

High schooler Akiko has big plans to become a popular mangaka before she even graduates, but she needs to get much better at drawing if she ever wants to reach her goal. Looking for an easy fix, she signs up for an art class, thinking all her problems will soon be solved. She's in for a surprise: her new instructor is a sword-wielding taskmaster who doesn't care about manga one bit. But maybe this unconventional art teacher is just what she needs to realize her dreams!

Princess Jellyfish

Plain, timid and obsessed with jellyfish, Tsukimi is a far cry from her idea of a princess. Her tepid life as a jobless illustrator comes complete with roommates who harbor diehard hobbies that solidify their status as hopeless social rejects. These wallflowers run a tight, nun-like ship, but their no-men-allowed-not-no-one-not-no-how bubble is unwittingly burst after Tsukimi brings home a rescued sea jelly and a beauty queen... who's actually a guy. When the threat of losing their cozy convent inspires this glamour boy to turn the neurotic entourage into a portrait of success, will Tsukimi take her chance to bloom, or will she end up a hot mess?

Gourmet Detective Goro Akechi

Detective Goro Akechi has a passion for fine dining. Good-looking but incredibly quirky, he solves food-related crimes by using, well, food. He treats Ichigo Kobayashi like his assistant and drags her into all sorts of cases, even though she's perfectly happy just running her food truck.

Comedy Island: Japan

A new genre of visual entertainment has finally come to life! What would happen if comedians are transferred to a parallel universe which is created by five popular Japanese writers? The comedians are not given any script or lines but given unexpected and unreasonable challenges. They have to survive by pure ad-libbing.

Healer

A star reporter, a second-rate journalist and a man by the code name "Healer" are brought together by a long-buried incident that hides dark truths.

Felicity

Felicity Porter, a sensitive and intelligent girl from the San Francisco Bay Area, decides to give up a slot at Stanford University's pre-med program to follow her long time crush to college in New York City. Things get even more complicated when she meets her dorm's resident advisor and they fall in love.

When Calls the Heart

Elizabeth Thatcher, a young school teacher from a wealthy Eastern family, migrates from the big city to teach school in a small coal mining town in the west.

Hyde, Jekyll, Me

A chaebol executive with a split personality spars with a circus leader determined to save her troupe, which he’s trying to eject from his theme park.

Hasta el fin del mundo

After their father's death, Sofía Ripoll, the oldest of three sisters, takes over the family's fictional successful chocolate factory. Though she is engaged to a man who uses her for money, she quickly falls in love with Salvador Cruz, a former racecar driver who takes a job as her chauffeur.

Your Lie in April

Kousei Arima was a genius pianist until his mother's sudden death took away his ability to play. Each day was dull for Kousei. But, then he meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono who has an eccentric playing style. Can the heartfelt sounds of the girl's violin lead the boy to play the piano again?