All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thriller, BL, and many others.
For special occasions, there may be a one or two-episode drama with a specific theme, such as one produced in 2015 for the 70-year anniversary of the end of World War II.
Japanese drama series are broadcast in three-month seasons: winter (January–March), spring (April–June), summer (July–September), and autumn or fall (October–December).
Since they are of a fixed length, dramas have a definite ending, and since they are relatively long, they can explore character, situation, and interesting dialog in a way that is less possible in most movies.
Popular dramas do, however, often give rise to "specials" that are made after the final episode if the show has been a huge success.
[1] Some genres such as jidaigeki, police procedurals, or family dramas, however, feature series that are episodic or that sometimes continue for years on end, with Mito Kōmon, Taiyō ni Hoero!, or Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari being famous examples.
At the time, however, television dramas were regarded as inferior to movies and theater, and top actors hesitated to appear in them.
The Fuji TV series Hero (2001) achieved an average viewership rating of 34.3%, reaffirming Takuya Kimura's immense popularity.
The rise of streaming platforms, led by American companies like Netflix, became increasingly evident, while traditional Japanese television dramas experienced declining viewership ratings.
Amid this downturn, TBS delivered a series of hits such as Naoki Hanzawa (2013), solidifying the "Sunday Theater" (日曜劇場) slot as the pinnacle of commercial TV dramas.
TBS's "Sunday Theater," renowned for its success with Naoki Hanzawa (2013), sought to counter this trend by producing Vivant (2023) with an unprecedented budget.
[3] The "trendy" formula was invented in the late 1980s when screenwriters decided to reach the television audience with themes that covered real-life Japan, at a time when the Japanese were experiencing a bubble economy.
By gambling on harder issues, including teenage violence, child abuse, and modern family life, the trendy drama formula is tweaked to fit the television viewers' changing taste.
Although some people consider Super Sentai and tokusatsu type shows as dramas, they do not fit the "trendy" definition.
Other dramas will have, at the very least, a catchy melody in the beginning, displaying the show's name for a few seconds, and then one to two minutes of ending theme music during the closing credits.
Once the library is put together, the television network will release the original soundtrack compact disc, usually a few weeks after the start of the drama.
For example, in the Fuji TV drama Densha Otoko, the opening song and some of the background music had to be replaced in the release that aired on Hawaii's Nippon Golden Network because they couldn't get the rights to them.
A survey completed in 2000 by NHK, Japan's public broadcasting network, showed that 95% of Japanese people watch television every day.
The ratings focus on the Kanto (Tokyo) and the Kansai (Osaka) areas, which are believed to be a good representation of what most of Japan watches.
If the ratings drawn by the artist's previous work are good, they would be able to receive offers to star in dramas that are better written and produced.
In evening dramas, cast members are carefully selected and tend to be famous actors that audiences are very fond of.
Dorama (ドラマ) is a general term used in Japan to refer to drama series and soap operas, regardless of the country where they were filmed or produced.