5 Amazing J-dramas Coming Out in May 2024!

Life for J-drama fans is a lot more difficult than the life of a K-drama fan, let’s all be honest. J-dramas are usually trickier to find online and we don’t have hundreds of releases every month. Even the best J-dramas take forever to be added to Netflix (believe it or not, “Unnatural” is coming to the Netflix catalogue on May 1st — time for a rewatch? ABSOLUTELY) and even Viki sometimes. Either way, if you’re curious about the upcoming J-drama releases for May, you’re in the right place. Here are 5 new doramas coming to Japanese screens next month:

• Release date: May 5th, 2024
• Network: NHK
• Episodes: 5
• Cast: Ito Shiro (and a supporting cast that includes Maeda Gin, Hiiro Tomoe and Ogura Ichiro)
• Where have I seen these people before? You might have seen Ito in “Ningen Kowai Season 2”.
• Writer: Manabe Katsuhiko, Kojima Kensaku and Oojima Marina (from “Tokyo Stories”)
• Director: Matsuoka Joji (from the “Midnight Dinner” series)
• Watch the trailer here!

Toyama Fukutarou (Ito Shiro) was the president of a board game company. He retires and decides to travel on his own for a while, passing the company down to his daughter’s husband. When he comes back, he decides to return to the company, boasting about his accomplishments and interfering once again in the business. And so it starts: a story on gerontocracy and the conflicts between older and younger generations.

Play

• Release date: May 6th, 2024
• Network: Tokyo MX
• Episodes: 10
• Cast: Mori Kasumi (in the main role, with an ensemble cast that includes Murayama Yuka, Kida Keisuke and Wakabayashi Seita)
• Where have I seen these people before? Mori is fairly new to Japanese TV but you might have seen her in “Highteen Diary” earlier this year.
• Writer: Shizumori Yu

Kato Kyoko is a headstrong homeroom teacher who does her best to teach her troubled students how to face and overcome their problems.

• Release date: May 11th, 2024
• Network: NHK
• Episodes: 4
• Cast: Ito Marika, Wago Yui (with the amazing Okayama Amane as part of the supporting cast)
• Where have I seen these people before? Ito was part of the supporting cast of “Miwa-san Narisumasu” and “Toki wo Kakeruna, Koibitotachi” last year. Wago is fairly new to Japanese TV but had a small role in the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Recently, you might have seen Okayama in Netflix’s “In Love and High Water”, “Kingdom 3” and (my absolute favourite) “Don’t Call It Mystery”.
• Writer: Oike Yoko
• Director: Oojima Keisuke, Oshida Yuta
• Watch the trailer here!

Yoshizawa Miku (Ito Marika) is a TV producer who joins the drama department of local TV station “P-Tele”. As her first project, the network asks her to make the protagonist of her drama proposal a person with disabilities. Yoshizawa embraces the challenge and keeps looking for the perfect actress until she meets high school student Miyajima Haru (Wago Yui), a charming aspiring actress who is wheelchair-bound. Surprisingly enough, Miyajima refuses the offer to join the drama, explaining that she doesn’t want her disability to be exploited. Determined to persuade Miyajima, Yoshizawa visits her theatre company and does her best to create a drama that lives up to her own, Miyajima’s and the audience’s expectations.

• Release date: May 24th, 2024
• Network: WOWOW
• Episodes: 7
• Cast: Nao, Isomura Hayato, Miura Takahiro
• Where have I seen these people before? Nao was in Kansai TV’s “Haru ni Nattara” earlier this year as well as “Seigi no Tenbin Season 2” last year. Isomura was in “Tokyo no Yukiotoko” and “Is Love Sustainable?” (and one of my favourite asadoras of all time, “Hiyokko”).
• Writer & Director: Noguchi Teruo (from the original “Enjiya” and “Secret Love”)

Following 2021’s first season (“Enjiya”), Matsuda Aika (Nao) and Shibasaki Tomoki (Isomura Hayato) continue working as members of the Enjiya troupe (an acting group who pretends to be murdered to get revenge). They end up involved in an incident with a homeless person and decide to cooperate with the police investigation. Shibasaki goes “undercover” as a homeless person and they start a new sting operation to catch the real culprit.

• Release date: May 27th, 2024
• Network: NHK
• Episodes: 32
• Cast: Fujiwara Taiyu, Oono Haruto, Yamaguchi Haruhi and Nagase Yahiro
• Where have I seen these people before? Fujiwara was in this year’s adaptation of “Living-Room Matsunaga-san”, Oono had a small role in “Kamen Rider Saber”, Yamaguchi had a small role in “Kimi ga Kokoro wo Kuretakara”, and Nagase was part of the supporting cast of “0.5 no Otoko”.
• Writer: Arai Shuku (from “Dear Patient – Kizuna no Karute”)
• Director: Seta Natsuki (from “Parks”), Inobe Yohei (from 2017’s “You’re My Pet”), Tamazawa Kyohei (from “I Don’t Love You Yet”), Shunji Kikuchi (from “Is It Ok If We Follow Home?”)

This is the TV adaptation of Fujisawa Shizuki’s renowned manga of the same name (or maybe you’ve seen the anime adaptation last year too?).

Yuzuki Hayato (Fujiwara Taiyu) is the eldest son, out of four children, of the Yuzuki family. After their parents pass away, he shoulders the responsibility of taking care of his younger siblings and, so, at a very young age, he starts juggling work, housework and childcare. One day, he comes home to find that two of his brothers, Minato (Yamaguchi Haruhi) and Gakuto (Nagase Yahiro), have run away from home for different reasons. With the help of Mikoto (Oono Haruto), Hayato rushes to find them. And so a journey of reconnection, physical and emotional, begins for the Yuzuki brothers.

So, which of these upcoming J-dramas are you looking forward to watching? I think NHK’s “Percent” has the potential to be an extraodinary show and I think the universe of WOWOW’s “Enjiya” still has stories to tell. Let’s hope that some of these titles will be released internationally soon — but, meanwhile, share your thoughts in the comments!