When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.
In 1964, Momoko came by herself to Tokyo from her hometown. She met Shūzō and married him. They raised two children together, but Shūzō suddenly passes away. Momoko is dumbfounded by being alone again. She begins to go to the library and borrows books. This changes her life.
Newlyweds Nana and Shota move into an apartment. Two situations, different from the drama series, take place: "What if Shota attends the resident's meeting and not Nana?" and "What if exchange murder game doesn't begin?"
An aphasic young boy living in South Korea meets, on one of his regular paths, a “Koguryo Beauty” who shows him how to trace his heritage.
Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to the lands of his ancestors, encountering the beautiful but enigmatic Hilda as his journey leads to a series of adventures.
Hosted by veteran comedian Tamori, "Bizarre Tales 2004 Spring Special" presents five tales. 1. Koroshiya desu no yo (It's a Hitman, You Know) - starring Mizuki Alisa. 2. Jibun-counsellor (Self-counsellor) - starring Inohara Yoshihiko. 3. Be Silent - starring Watabe Atsuro. 4. Sasoimizu (Pump-priming) - starring Harada Taizo. 5. Saigo no Hitotoki (The Last Moment) - starring Nagasaku Hiromi.
A popular poet, Goku, becomes depressed when his editor jokingly suggests that he is a sell-out.
A young man reaches adolescence and escapes the nunnery where he survived a tortured upbringing; the world outside suddenly seems even more frightening than before.
On the Hokkaido frontier, a war veteran and Ainu girl race against misfits and military renegades to find treasure mapped out on tattooed outlaws.
In a Japan of the near future, the government program Plan 75 encourages senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanized to remedy a super-aged society. An elderly woman whose means of survival are vanishing, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman, and a young Filipino laborer face choices of life and death.
Three patients of different backgrounds, illnesses and stages are being treated at a psychiatric clinic in Nagano Prefecture. Their cases range from the criminal to merely asocial. That should be that, but soon matters take a darker turn when a corpse turns up and a murder has occurred. The culprit fingered is one of the patients.
Looks back 20 years into the past of an elderly woman who died of heatstroke and paints a picture of a solitary woman's genuine despair.
While police investigate a woman found dead in a derelict love hotel, a romance novelist's wife lives a life that seems simply a daily repetition without romance. To escape the loveless monotony, she follows her desires and becomes a nude model. Soon, she meets a mentor and begins selling her body to strangers, while at home, she hides behind the façade of the doting wife.
Ichiko works as a private nurse for a family she almost became a part of. While Ichiko cares for the grandmother, she is also a confidant to Motoko, the eldest sister. But one day, Motoko’s younger sister disappears. And the media soon reveal the kidnapper to be Ichiko’s own nephew.
This mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers.
The Eternal Founntain was broadcast as the Saturday Drama Special on NHK. Laywer Akio Yamauchi takes over the court-appointed attorney for Yoji Kuramoto who confesses to murdering his wife. While following Kuramoto's action in Yamanaka and being sure of his innocence, Yamauchi remembers his wife who passed away 12 years earlier.
Based on the novel of the same name by Azusa Katsume.
Sachi Hamano's Yurisai (Lily Festival) is about a man (Mickey Curtis) in his seventies who comes to live in an apartment building that also houses seven elderly women. The film examines the ladies' sexual desires as the man proceeds to woo each of them. Kazuko Yoshiyuki portrays one of the female residents. The film was adapted from a novel by Houko Momotani and was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Two women are flat-mates and friends in Tokyo. One is an event manager and the other works in the world of fashion marketing. The result shows that one is pregnant one day. The woman decides to give birth out of wedlock. It is a major decision, which is the harbinger of not just a change in their lives, but also their relationship.
In a city where unmarried people are drafted to solve the declining birthrate, 44-year-old unmarried Yoshiko tries to find a marriage partner in order to escape from recruitment.
A film dealing with the trials and tribulations of a primary school before and after the Pacific War, set in Fukashima Prefecture.
A 20 something girl Yoshiko is having sex with her boyfriend when a shocking telephone call arrives - grandpa has passed away. The lightning from clear sky doesnt derail only the life of Yoshiko but summons the rest of the dysfunctional Haruno family to the ancenstral country house to pay their respects to the deceased - and unleash their quarrels between themselves and with the world at large.
As each group pursues their mission, a fierce battle unfolds over the tattooed prisoners. Who is friend, and who is foe? The fight leads them all to Abashiri Prison, where Noppera-bo, the man who holds all the answers, is locked away...
Genji, the son of the emperor, is the talk of the Kyoto nobility for his charm and good looks, yet he cannot stop himself from pursuing an unobtainable object of desire: his father's young and beautiful bride. Following the tragic consequences of his obsession, Genji wanders from one affair to another, always seeking some sort of completion to his life.
Years after moving to Tokyo with her parents, Hinako returns to her hometown in rural Shikoku. She soon learns that her childhood friend, Sayori, died several years ago and that Sayori's mother, who used to perform seances and exorcisms, has gone almost insane with grief. After seeing Sayori's ghost several times during the night, Hinako consults with some local experts on the paranormal and discovers that Sayori's mother has something planned for her daughter...
In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro, joins forces with heavy-hitting gangster Buppa of Buppa Town. With Buppa's support, Merra aims to initiate a gang war between the Wu-Ronz and the Musashino Saru, and in a confrontation between the two attempts to kill Kai of the Musashino Saru. The inadvertent murder of Kai's friend Tera (a Musashino Saru member beloved by all Tribes since before their formation) leads to the joining of forces between all of the Tribes in an all-out war against Merra and Buppa.
Dark Tales of Japan is a collection of five short horror films that are directed by five notable Japanese film directors, which are told by a mysterious old lady in kimono on a late-night bus traveling on a long isolated mountain road.
The 1923 Kanto earthquake sparks fears of a Korean uprising in Japan. Many anti-colonial and leftist activists are arrested, including Fumiko and her partner Yeol. Accused of a plot to assassinate the Crown Prince, they are sentenced to death, later reduced to life in prison.
When Mikio Natsuno obtains a residency certificate, he is stunned to find the name of a woman he has never met listed as his wife. Apparently, he has been "married" for six months without knowing it. Who on earth is the stranger who decided to become his wife? After a frantic search, Mikio finally discovers her—an eccentric young woman with a striking personality who simply says, "I thought I could keep myself together if I were at least married," offering no further explanation. And so, their uneven, unpredictable relationship slowly begins to take shape.