Looking for a Japanese miniseries can prove to be quite a challenge. While you can easily find short-form K-dramas online, we have more limited options for a Japanese counterpart. That may be because Japanese series are naturally shorter in duration (they often have 10-11 episodes) so our pool of options isn’t as varied as we’d hope. On Netflix, you can find Yu Yu Hakusho and The Queen of Villains (both with 5 episodes), which are dramatic and intense. But if you’re looking for something a bit more soothing, you could go for The Ingenuity of the Househusband (with 10 5-minute episodes) or HTB’s whimsical Stay Tuned!.
Stay Tuned! (originally ใใฃใณใใซใฏใใฎใพใพ!, “Channel wa Sonomama!”) is a 5-episode series based on Sasaki Noriko’s manga of the same name. The show celebrated Hokkaido Television Broadcasting (HTB)’s 50th anniversary back in March 2019, which explains the short-form run.
In Stay Tuned!, Yukimaru Hanako (perfectly played by Yoshine Kyoko) is a rookie journalist who, alongside five other new hires, joins the Hokkaido Hoshi Television (HHTV) team in Sapporo. If it sounds straightforward, that’s because it is. But there’s something quite special about Stay Tuned! thanks to Yukimaru’s quirky personality.
This review is spoiler-free, but if you’re short on time, why don’t you pin our summary at the bottom?
How Yukimaru’s Quirkiness Creates the Backbone of Stay Tuned!
By “quirky,” I mean a mix of clumsiness, eccentricity, simplicity, and affability. Yukimaru can be an absolute trainwreck โ and an absolute saviour at the same time. She’s as unique as it gets, and even though you spend most of the time wondering how this goofy girl manages to complete a single task successfully, she quickly wins your heart. Her colleagues often call her “baka” (an idiot, a fool) and it’s easy to see why. She struggles to understand instructions, doesn’t seem to know a single thing about journalism, and makes mistakes as a matter of course. However, Yukimaru has some sort of charm about her. She’s childlike in her innocence but incredibly determined. She’s bluntly honest and never lets anything get to her. Most importantly, she’s always genuine in her exchanges, which means that she often warms the hearts of the people she meets.
Slowly but surely, Yukimaru changes her environment, and that causes a ripple effect throughout her community. Yukimaru is an excellent example of a flat character arc: she never changes, but she causes others to change by being part of their lives. Directly or indirectly, she inspires her colleagues to think outside the box, to overcome their fears, and to develop their talents. Stay Tuned! then allows the characters around Yukimaru to sharpen their skills individually while moulding them into appreciating and embracing teamwork.
Even though the main goal of Stay Tuned! is to illustrate and celebrate the work of TV stations in Japan, the series entertains thanks to the heart Yukimaru brings to the narrative. She might drive her colleagues a bit insane at times, but her sincerity and perseverance win them over. Yukimaru’s shenanigans are of the silliest kind of hilarious, and even when they don’t make you laugh out loud, they definitely bring a smile to your face.
Not a Mockumentary but Close: Manga-Like Aesthetics
Stay Tuned! is the kind of story that would be filmed as a mockumentary in the West. Despite the differences with the genre, you could say that the series has a bit of a mockumentary flair to it while holding on to a very “manga-like” visual identity. Stay Tuned! is definitely a product of its source material aesthetics: text comes up on screen to provide information and characters’ inner thoughts, making it indispensable for the construction of its humour. Comedy in Stay Tuned! is fairly absurd, relying on exaggerated expressions and scenarios that take full advantage of its visuals.
Non-Japanese speakers might miss out on some of it, yes. But if you don’t speak Japanese, you can count on two things: one, the most important labels are translated, and two, some of them are easy to understand through context. For Western audiences, the amount of visual information on screen can be a bit overwhelming at times, but it becomes part of the charm of Stay Tuned!. If you’re familiar with Japanese television, you might not mind it as much (we talked about Japanese TV aesthetics when we discussed Netflix’s Lighthouse, remember?). In any case, it’s a pleasure to see a show with such a clear visual identity and use it so well in establishing its characters and comedy.
What Makes the Show Feel Incomplete: Unnecessary Storylines
However, Stay Tuned! slips up on the overall structure of its narrative, adding unnecessary storylines that end up as loose ends. On top of all the challenges Yukimaru and her colleagues face at work, Stay Tuned! introduces a fight between HHTV and Higuma Television, a competitor station that โ in the last couple of episodes โ does its best to “destroy” HHTV. The events that make up this particular storyline raise a million questions: Is someone at HHTV leaking information to Higuma? Why don’t the HHTV staff study the same audience and selling numbers as Higuma? Is there a difference in budget or competence between the two? Nothing is really explained, and besides adding a clichรฉd antagonist to the series, we’re left wondering why Higuma exists in the story at all.
By eliminating Higuma from the script, Stay Tuned! could’ve delivered a tighter narrative that would’ve felt complete. As the idea was to create a one-time miniseries, the script should have been more focused and concise. That could’ve been easily accomplished by limiting the narrative to the characters’ struggles to create more popular programmes, plus the Mr Kanbara (the great Oizumi Yo) storyline. But by introducing (what they make up to be) a main antagonist and leaving it with an open ending, it almost feels like the show never really got to tell its full story.
This is a perfect example of how some narratives work much better without a classic antagonist. An engaging story makes us care about what the characters care about and compels us to keep watching thanks to a combination of conflicts that don’t necessarily require a “villain.” Stay Tuned! doesn’t need the Higuma storyline because it made us invest in HHTV through its characters. Yukimaru and her five rookie colleagues were enough: they had internal and interpersonal conflicts that mattered to them and, consequently, to us. As they fumbled and struggled to succeed, they cared about their work and the TV station, sharing this commitment and concern with us, the audience.
Even though the structure of the series feels a tad frustrating, it’s so enjoyable to see the HHTV employees working together that Stay Tuned! still makes for a light-hearted, amusing watch.
A Final Note on Gender Issues
It’s also important to mention that some viewers might feel uncomfortable that the female protagonist is portrayed as such a klutz. Adding to that, the show does start by stating that Stay Tuned! is a story about a female employee who brings trouble to her male colleagues.
As the story unravels, however, gender becomes less of an issue. Stay Tuned! is realistic in its portrayal of gender in the Japanese workplace: most employees are indeed men. But with every episode, you realise that Yukimaru’s strengths and weaknesses are never connected to her gender. She’s never judged for being a woman, just for being a fool who often fails to do her job properly. Soon, you see several other women excelling at their jobs, while you see men also making silly mistakes. In the end, things balance themselves out and Stay Tuned! provides a combination of characters that work very well together.
Should You Watch Stay Tuned!?
Stay Tuned! is wacky, sweet, and easy to watch. Even though the script could do with some fine-tuning, Stay Tuned! delivers a heartfelt story that emphasises how we can change and embolden each other to become a better version of ourselves every day. Counting on a talented cast and a very authentic aesthetic, this 5-episode series might be the comic relief you need at the end of a long day.
Just keep in mind that Stay Tuned! is very much a product of its culture. The comedy might feel a bit too absurd to some, while the amount of visual information might be overpowering. If you are new to Japanese dramas or anime, you could take some time to get used to it.
You can watch Stay Tuned! on:
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