Fall 2009 Jdrama Previews

A brief preview of the Fall 2009 Dramas (October - December).

Meitantei Asami Mitsuhiko
Time: From 9.00 p.m. Wednesdays, October 2009
Cast: Sawamura Ikki, Kazama Morio, Hara Sachie, Sakuma Yoshiko
Synopsis is to be announced.

Aibou Season 8
Time: From 9.00 p.m. Wednesdays, October 2009
Cast: Mizutani Yutaka, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Masudo Ikue, Kishibe Ittoku, Kawahara Kazuhisa, Otani Ryosuke, Yamanaka Takashi, Rokkaku Seiji, Yamanishi Atsushi, Onoda Ryo, Jinbo Satoshi, Shimizu Masayoshi
Synopsis: Sugishita Kaoru (Mizutani Yutaka) is joined by a new partner, Kanbe Takeru (Oikawa Mitsuhiro). Kanbe graduated from Chuo University and is a non-career officer who has risen to the rank of inspector with unusual speed but finds himself assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department’s deadwood unit, the Special Mission Division, in a “two rank step back” demotion. He has in fact been transferred to the division by the “special orders” of the top brass who feel uncomfortable with Ukyo.

Fumou Chitai
Time: From 10.00 p.m. Thursdays, October 2009 (for two seasons)
Cast: Karasawa Toshiaki, Wakui Emi, Yanagiba Toshiro, Koyuki, Sasaki Kuranosuke, Hashizume Isao, Nakamura Atsuo, Amami Yuki, Takenouchi Yutaka, Ito Shiro, Danta Yasunori, Furuta Arata, Abe Sadayo, Matsushige Yutaka, Kishibe Ittoku, Harada Yoshio
Synopsis: During WWII, Iki Tadashi (Karasawa Toshiaki) was a staff officer at the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Army. After the war, he was captured by Soviet troops and forced to do hard labour for 11 years as a prisoner in a concentration camp in Siberia. Returning to Japan upon his release, he rejects the invitation of the Defence Agency to be a part of their organisation and naturally finds himself without employment. Meanwhile, Daimon Ichizo (Harada Yoshio), the president of an Osaka trading company, Kinki Corporation, which started as a wholesale dealer in textiles, hopes to transform the company from an old industrial conglomerate into a full-fledged integrated company. Painfully aware that the company needs men of talent who make judgments from a broad picture and can run the company in an organised way, Daimon decides to target outstanding staff officers who had been with the Imperial Japanese Army headquarters during WWII … After two years of job hunting, Iki, who has no qualifications but military credentials, plunges into the business world.

My Girl
Time: From 11.15 p.m., Fridays, October 2009
Cast: Aiba Masaki (Arashi)
Synopsis: Kasama Masamune (Aiba Masaki), a good-natured fellow who cannot say no when people make requests, is a camera assistant working at a gallery. He has continued to think of Tsukamoto Yoko, his girlfriend four years his senior, whom he had been dating since high school and who suddenly left him six years ago to study abroad. He kept writing to her for the first three years, even though he never once received a reply … and after three years had passed, he stopped writing. Then one day, he receives news about Yoko’s passing and is unable to accept her death. Furthermore, he learns a shocking fact. Yoko has a 5-year-old daughter. Overwhelmed with surprise, Kasama goes to the library which holds memories of himself with Yoko and encounters a girl nearby. He saves her just as she climbs a tree in an attempt to grab a string telephone stuck up in the tree. That girl is called Koharu and he realises that she is his daughter with Yoko. Kasama cannot believe that she is his child but he eventually starts living together with her, and in doing so discovers family love and his love for the late Yoko.

Challenged
Time: From 9.00 p.m., Saturdays, 10 October 2009
Cast: Sasaki Kuranosuke, Tomita Yasuko, Saigo Teruhiko, Murakawa Eri, Koike Rina, Akimoto Ryutaro
Synopsis is to be announced.

Gaiji Keisatsu
Time:From 9.00 p.m., Saturdays, 11 November 2009
Cast: Watabe Atsuro, Ishida Yuriko, Ono Machiko, Endo Kenichi, Yo Kimiko, Ishibashi Ryo
Synopsis: There exists police that the world doesn’t know of. They are the Fourth Foreign Affairs Section of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Safety Division – a special unit called “Ura” that hides in the streets and works secretly, never showing themselves. They are an elite unit set up in the wake of 911 to counter international terrorism. Trained as spy hunters in Japan which is said to be “Spy Heaven”, what is their actual status?

Jin
Time: From 9.00 p.m. Sundays, October 2009
Cast: Osawa Takao, Nakatani Miki, Ayase Haruka, Uchino Masaaki, Koide Keisuke, Kohinata Fumiyo, Kiritani Kenta, Aso Yumi, Takeda Tetsuya, Taguchi Hiromasa, Musaka Naomasa, Toda Naho
Synopsis: One night, during a struggle with an unidentified patient who is attempting to escape from the hospital, brain surgeon, Minakata Jin (Osawa Takao), somehow ends up going back in time to the last days of the Edo era. Even though he is bewildered by his circumstances, he draws on his spirit as a doctor. Without modern medical equipment and drugs, he has to rely on his own knowledge to save the lives of people…

Saka no Ue no Kumo (Part 1)
Time: From 8.00 p.m. Sundays, 29 November 2009
Cast: Motoki Masahiro, Abe Hiroshi, Kagawa Teruyuki, Ito Shiro, Takeshita Keiko, Matsu Takako, Kanno Miho, Ozawa Yukiyoshi, Nishida Teruyuki, Kunimura Jun, Takahashi Hideki, Tsutsumi Daijiro, Matoba Koji, Watari Tetsuya, Kataoka Tsurutaro
Synopsis: The 260-year old shogunate collapses and Meiji Japan is born as a modern state. The country is a young country surrounded by the mature Western powers at the height of imperialism. There are three men in Iyonomatsuyama, Shikoku. They are the Akiyama brothers, Saneyuki (Motoki Masahiro) and Yoshifuru (Abe Hiroshi) and Masaoka Shiki (Kagawa Teruyuki), who represents modern Japanese literature. Men who will play big roles in Meiji Japan’s greatest crisis, the Russo-Japanese War.

Rumored Dramas for fall:

TBA
Date: October 2009, Saturdays 9.00 pm
Station: NTV
Cast: Miura Haruma, Inoue Mao, Hiraoka Yuta, Kanjiya Shihori, Tsuneyoshi Rie, Yoshizawa Ryo

TBA
Date: October 2009, Fridays 10.00 pm
Station: TBS
Cast: Mizuki Arisa, Koike Teppei

Shoukoujo Sara (CONFIRMED - please refer to this post)
Date: October 2009, Saturdays 8.00 pm
Station: TBS
Cast: Shida Mirai

TBA
Date: October 2009, Mondays 9.00 pm
Station: Fuji TV
Cast: Oguri Shun, Yoshitaka Yuriko

Real Clothes
Date: October 2009, Tuesdays 10.00 pm
Station: Fuji TV
Cast: Karina, Ito Misaki, Kichise Michiko, Kuroki Hitomi

Liar Game Season 2
Date: October 2009, Saturdays 11.00 pm (slot unconfirmed)
Station: Fuji TV
Cast: Toda Erika, Matsuda Shota

Untouchable
Date: October 2009, Fridays 9.00 pm
Station: TV Asahi
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Kaname Jun, Sato Tomohito, Tanaka Tetsushi, Kitamura Kazuki

Sources: Jdrama Weblog, Crunchyroll