Summer Drama Ranking of “Really Viewers’ Attention” Surprising No. 2 and No. 3 after No. 1 “VIVANT” are…
Summer dramas are reaching their final stages, and the excitement is mounting. This season has a reputation for being full of good dramas, with some foreshadowing and thought-provoking stories, and some love stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat. In such a situation, the viewer ratings are a source of both joy and sorrow for those involved.
The viewer ratings include household, individual, core, and time-shift ratings, which are all difficult to understand these days. In contrast, REVISIO’s unique “attention span” indicator measures how much of the TV screen is actually watched. The survey equipment equipped with human-recognition technology was installed to measure the viewing posture of the survey participants every second, and the index is “how much attention a person paid to the screen while watching a program.
The magazine introduced this “attention ranking” for dramas in the April season, but here is the ranking for first-run dramas aired in the July season.
No. 1 “VIVANT” (TBS, Sunday night 9:00 p.m., 70.7%)
This drama is the culmination of Katsuo Fukuzawa’s hit TBS Sunday drama series such as “Hanzawa Naoki” and “Shimomachi Rocket”. With its star-studded cast and three months of filming on location in Mongolia, it is as big as a movie and has been the talk of the town this season. It is also the top in terms of viewer ratings and the number of Tver favorite subscribers, but it has also won this “attention ranking. Columnist Tamami Hiyama explains the reason for the “attention” as follows. (All comments below are from Ms. Hiyama.)
The vast desert scene at the beginning of the drama took me by surprise. In an era when even historical dramas make extensive use of computer graphics, the fact that they went to the trouble of shooting that footage on location showed the determination of this drama. But that was only the beginning. There were explosions and vehicles crashing. …… Anyway, I was overwhelmed by the power. The amount of gunpowder in this film was the same as that of Ishihara’s army in “Seibu Keisatsu” (laughs).
I couldn’t take my eyes off the action for even a moment, as it reminded me of the good old days of TV with its outrageous direction and fast-paced action. The use of Mongolian in the conversation may have been a factor in the increased attention. I had to look at the subtitles in order to understand what was being said. In the current trend of “watching with your eyes on the screen while playing with your cell phone”, this film succeeded in destroying that trend.
No. 2 “Trillion Game” TBS Friday night 10:00 pm 69.1
Based on a popular comic that was nominated for the “Manga Grand Prize 2022”. A manipulative bluffer played by Ren Meguro and a timid computer geek played by Yuto Sano aim to start a business from scratch and earn one trillion dollars in this nonstop entertainment.
It is no surprise that the female viewers who are after Ren Meguro are hooked on the screen (laugh), but the drama itself unfolds so quickly that you can’t help but watch the screen to make sure you don’t get swept away. The episodes from the original manga are not stretched out, but rather consumed as they go along, so you never get bored. The drama conveys the energy of young people who are trying to break through the blockage of the times. It is a bit eerie that Haru, played by Meguro, is going ahead with his goal of reaching 10 billion yen as he wishes, even though he thinks it will not work out that well. In the midst of many dark dramas, perhaps due to the stagnant times, we are given power by this drama with a penetrating brightness.
I hope children will watch this kind of drama. In the Showa era, there were sports anime and dramas for boys and girls that made us dream of all kinds of things. School dramas were also “sweat and tears of youth,” and if everyone ran together on the beach, they could get by. Nowadays, however, even teachers are troubled. Adults do not look happy at all. In this drama, Meguro Ren and the other people at Trillion Game are happy. In that sense, this work makes us dream.
No. 3 “CODE: The Price of Wishes” NTV Sunday nights at 10:30 pm 69.0
A detective played by Kentaro Sakaguchi pursues the death of his girlfriend over “CODE,” an app that grants wishes of any kind. A remake of a hit Taiwanese drama, the incidents and betrayals that occur one after another make this a film you can’t take your eyes off. It is rare to see a drama in this slot in the late Sunday night time slot in this kind of ranking.
To be honest, I was surprised that this one came in at No. 3. It started early among this season’s serial dramas, so perhaps many people were interested in trying it out to see what it would be like. There may be a physical problem, as every interaction with the “CODE” app, which grants any wish, appears on the screen of your smartphone, so you have no choice but to look at the screen.
I wonder if people are interested in the unpredictability of the story, such as the fact that Takahiro Miura, a fellow detective who thought he was an ally, is being manipulated by CODE, or that Nao Matsushita, who thought she was on CODE’s side, is actually just being manipulated, or whether she is an ally or an enemy. The fact that the male respondents ranked this film second may be because men tend to like this type of “crime suspense” more than women.
The ranking of the top four was as follows
No. 4 “Cinderella in Midsummer” Fuji TV, Monday night 9:00 p.m. 67.4
No. 5 “Sicko‼~Me and My Dog and the Marshal~” TV Asahi, Tuesday night 9:00 p.m. 65.6% (65.64%)
No.6 “The Lord of the Devil’s Career Change” Fuji TV, Monday night 10:00 p.m. 65.6% (65.58%)
No. 7 “The Best Teacher: 1 Year Later, I Was ■sed by My Students” NTV, Sat. 10:00 p.m., 64.4% (64.64%)
No. 8 “This Wonderful World” Fuji TV, Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. 63.6% (65.58%)
No. 9 “Hayabusa Fire Brigade” TV Asahi, Thursday night 9:00, 62.5%.
No. 10 “Kocchi mu muyo yo mukai kun” NTV, Wednesday nights at 10:00 p.m. 61.1
No. 11 “18/40 – Futari nara yume mo koi mo” TBS, Tuesday night 10:00, 60.2
No. 12 “Barakamon” Fuji TV, Wednesday nights at 10:00 p.m. 58.5
Incidentally, the ranking of average household viewer ratings for the first broadcast is as follows. (Kanto region, according to Video Research)
No. 1 “VIVANT” (11.5%)
No. 2 “Hayabusa Fire Brigade” (10.5%) through 6 episodes
No. 3 “Sicko‼~Me, My Dog and the Marshal~” (9.6%) up to episode 7
No. 4 “Trillion Game” (7.4%)
No. 5 “Cinderella in Midsummer” (6.9%)
No. 6 “18/40 – Futari nara yume mo koi mo” (6.5%)
No. 7 “The Best Teacher: One Year Later, I Was ■sed by a Student” (6.5%)
No. 8 “CODE: The Price of Wishes” (6.1%)
No. 9 “Kocchi o muite yo mukai kun” (6.0%)
No. 10 “Barakamon” (5.9%)
No. 11 “The Devil’s Master Changing Jobs” (5.4%)
No. 11 “This Wonderful World” (5.4%)
No. 4, “Cinderella in Midsummer,” seems to be seen by everyone now as a complete tsukkomi drama. But when I asked some of my acquaintances, it seems that people who are relatively older are watching it as a return of old-fashioned Tsuki 9. The difference in attention between men and women was “18/40″. It’s a Sisterhood of two women starring Fukakyung and Haruka Fukuhara, both of whom are kind of fluffy and full of twists and turns. It ranked ninth among women, but last among men. Well, I guess men aren’t interested in this kind of thing.”
The lowest-ranked “Barakamon” and “Hayabusa Fire Brigade” also have something in common, she said.
Both “Hayabusa” and “Barakamon” are about a writer or calligrapher who moves to the countryside and becomes a bit of a loser. The scenery in “Barakamon” is very relaxing to look at, and the gradual progress of the main character is interesting, but in terms of attention span, it was not as remarkable as “Hayabusa”. Similarly, the first episode of “Hayabusa Fire Brigade” started off in a rather relaxed manner and ended with an incident, so it did not attract much attention in terms of viewer ratings.
People tend to play with their phones while they should be enjoying the relaxing scenery and atmosphere. However, the story of “Hayabusa” has become more exciting since the second episode, and I think it is attracting more attention.
Summer dramas are reaching their climax. What will you be watching for?
PHOTO: Yusuke Kondo and Takero Shigeto (Masato Sakai)