Takashi Inoue

At 2:46 PM on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant experiences a black out due to the aftermath of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The cooling system fails at the nuclear power plant and the temperature of the nuclear reactor rises. The worst case is coming. Scientists face an unexpected situation and government officials are confused by lack of information. Residents says goodbye to their hometown before evacuating.

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The handymen in an obscure Hokkaido town shut out by the snow are the meddlesome owner Matsui Hideo, the thrice divorced Umemoto Soichi, and the young budding scriptwriter Takeyama Jun who has lost his way. Takeyama had left Tokyo in disgust after an argument with the director on the set over liberties taken with a scene that he had put all his feelings into. He intended to go to Furano where a leading scriptwriter, who dropped out of a drama series midway, lives. However, the bus service has been brought to a standstill by the snowstorm. Takeyama stopped by at a pub in order to fill his stomach. He found himself caught in a great misunderstanding, got drunk and lost both his wallet and mobile phone. Now he has no choice but to stay in this town.

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After being retrenched from his job at a Tokyo securities firm, Tsunezue Riichi decides to return to his hometown to work. He soon lands a job at the company GALAXYZ, a job that his parents highly recommended. GALAXYZ is a newly set up company, with young entrepreneur Kui Yoshiaki at its helm. Unbeknownst to Riichi, the company actually handles AV (adult videos, i.e., pornography) projects. Even the office ladies at the company's premises are actually all aspiring AV actresses. Throughout the entire company, everything is AV-centric, with even filming taking place within the office! Amidst all these, Riichi finds himself fascinated by a sweet, charming girl, Momoko, another OL/AV wannabe…

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After the accidental death of her husband and being deemed ineligible for welfare, Koharu struggles to care for her two children.

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Daimon Michiko is a 37-year-old freelance surgeon who is part of a questionable “doctor placement service” that has her wander from hospital to hospital. The harsh environment at the hospitals led many doctors to retire from their positions, forcing hospitals to make use of said program to fill the empty spots at least temporary. However, Michiko doesn’t look like a doctor at all with her flashy clothes and eccentric attitude. In the first episode she raises objections to a certain operation which is planned to be done by the head of a hospital who hasn’t performed an operation for a very long time. This causes Michiko to incur odium at the hospital, however, everyone becomes frozen when Michiko points out the outdated skills of the director. She also holds a scrupulous compliance when it comes to her working hours, never does any unnecessary chores that don’t require a medical license, and couldn’t care less about the power struggles within the hospitals. Nobody knows how she acquired such a top-level skill that allows her to claim exorbitant sums as reward, but her private life is an even greater mystery to everyone around her. Tanaka plays a rookie surgeon, Uchida an anesthetist, Kishibe the head of the placement service, and Ito the head of the surgical department of this institution.

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In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.

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Denizens of Lux have come to call it "The City" and treat it as a sentient force. Three factions vie for control of the city: the Organo, a strictly professional conglomerate with ties to the criminal underworld in the prosthetics business; the Union, a fanatical populist group interfering with Organo's affairs; and Racan, a marauding group of Texhnolyzed youths.

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A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.

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