Summer Drama Series Lost Across the Board–Surprising Lone Struggle and Why One Wins!

With “Shin Nobunaga Kouki: Classmate is a Warlord of the Warring States” starting on July 24, all the summer dramas have come out. Unfortunately, the situation is nothing less than a dismal failure.

Looking back, this spring, too, drama productions were in the news for their struggles, with some saying that they were “all falling apart”. Even though the stay-home situation caused by the COVID-19 crisis has been lifted, why has there been such a sharp decline in the number of drama productions? To find out, we interviewed a reporter, a writer, and an editor familiar with the drama industry.

Interview writer N. Moto: Drama productions are struggling this season as well. With the exception of the series “Detective 7,” only Go Ayano’s “Old Rookie” and Kentaro Sakaguchi’s “Kanketsu no Kantokujin” are barely breaking double digits in average viewer ratings.

Entertainment editor Fumoto: Not only that, there are many dramas that have dropped below 5%, which used to be considered the censored line. What is going on?

Entertainment reporter, A. TBS Sunday Gekijo, which has a fixed fan base since “Hanzawa Naoki,” can be put aside for the moment. Then, the only drama that can be said to have passed the test this season is “Kanketsu no Keeper” (The Keeper of the Race). This drama is the only drama this season with a fast-paced case-solving story. Looking at this year’s top three Golden season dramas, “DCU” by Hiroshi Abe, “My Family” by Kazuya Ninomiya, and “Not to be Called a Mystery” by Masaki Suda are all fast-paced case-solving dramas.

Struggling romance and work films

Fumoto: Indeed. I have the impression that romance and work projects are generally struggling.

N-Moto: But if we’re talking about case-solving, this season’s “Ishiko to Habu Otoko – Kono Koto de Koto de Sue Desu ka?” -and “Hatsuko no Devil” with Taiga Nakano and Kento Hayashi. I don’t think the tempo is bad at all.

Aida: However, in these two dramas, the emphasis is on human relationships rather than solving crimes. With the recent increase in the number of drama broadcasts, we live in an age in which we can skip over even the most boring scenes. Since the viewers are also becoming impatient, they tend to get bored as soon as the human drama begins to be depicted.

Fumoto: In fact, when I saw the first episode of “Kanketsu no Keeper,” I thought, “It’s not a complete story! I felt it was a bit sluggish. So I didn’t watch the second episode right away, and when I learned that the story was resolved in the third episode, I continued to watch the second and third episodes together. I found it quite interesting.”

N. Maybe everyone wants to see the result rather than the process.

F: But if that is the case, does that mean there is no hope for this season’s dramas?

N. It will be tough to recover. Ryoma Takeuchi’s “Roppongi Class” was originally based on “Itaewon Class,” so at first people wondered how it would be remade. At first, the ratings were good because people were scared of what they might see, but it was still a tough time for them. The way the ratings went down was quite astonishing.

How about Mei Nagano ‘s “Riding on a Unicorn”?　I think it is doing relatively well, with a flat rating in the 8% range.

A: This one seems to be holding its own thanks to the charm of Hidetoshi Nishijima, an Academy Award-winning actor. However, the content of the film is very poor. It depicts the world of a start-up company chasing a dream, but many people say that if it worked that well, everyone would be successful. Well, I think they will manage to maintain the status quo by relying on Nishijima-san.

The example of “Runaway Shame” can also be found at…

N-Moto: Personally, I think that if there is a possibility, it would be “Trako the Tutor” by Ai Hashimoto. The screenplay is by Kazuhiko Youkawa, known for “Mita, the Housekeeper,” and you never know where his work will go. If you get into it right, it can get exciting in the latter half of the film.

Aida Ai Hashimoto is beautiful in a series of costume plays, isn’t she?

N. Yes, that’s another point. I didn’t think the monster drama “Escape is Shameful but Useful” was that interesting at first, and I just thought Gakky (Yui Aragaki) was shining. In the meantime, it became really interesting.

Fumoto: It is common for the story to pick up steam in the latter half, but if the viewers have already left the show by then, it is difficult to recover. It depends on the attractiveness of the lead actor to keep the viewers interested until the climax of the film.

A: Thinking back to “My Family,” the first half was a bit close, but Nino and Tabe-chan (Mikako Tabe) managed to hold it together, didn’t they?

Fumoto: For now, I will continue to watch “The Keeper of the Race” and “Trako the Tutor” this season. Oh, and “Kamakuradono no 13-nin”. In the end, I honestly feel that this is the most interesting.