Dramas featuring up and coming young actors

A plethora of new dramas are about to begin this autumn. From the many dramas attracting attention, Oricon announced the most highly anticipated dramas among viewers.
According to the survey titled ‘Autumn Drama Series Expectations Ranking', the most highly anticipated drama is ‘ライアーゲーム シーズン2 / Liar Game Season 2', starring Toda Erika and Matsuda Shota. The first season broadcast in the spring of 2007 received rave reviews and became a big hit. Since ‘Liar Game Season 2' is the direct sequel to the popular season 1, viewers are expecting a lot from the upcoming drama.

‘東京DOGS / Tokyo DOGS' came in at No.2. Oguri Shun and Mizushima Hiro, who are easily the most popular of all young actors, will play the main characters. Yoshitaka Mariko will become the heroine. ‘Tokyo DOGS' also stoked interest by becoming the first serious detective drama to be broadcast from 9 o'clock in the evening on Mondays, which is usually the time that the most popular dramas are broadcast. Viewers are looking forward to seeing the popular actors in action.
The abovementioned two dramas practically dominated the charts, with the two titles becoming the most popular among both male and female viewers, and also people in their teens, 20s and 30s.

‘不毛地帯 / Fumo Chitai [lit. Barren Land]' took the No.3 spot. The drama has a gorgeous cast with Karasawa Toshiaki playing the lead role alongside a team of accomplished actors. The large scale drama's filming was conducted overseas for an extended period of time. It perked the interest of people in their 20s or above, and was No.3 among viewers in their 20s and 30s, and No.1 for people in their 40s. The viewers are especially excited about the deliberate, serious storyline.

For No.4, the 8th installment of the popular drama series ‘相棒 season8 / Aibo [Partner] season8' ranked in. ‘Aibo' was followed by two other sequels, ‘オトメン(乙男) ～秋～ / Otomen ～Autumn～' and ‘交渉人 THE NEGOTIATOR'. Arashi member Aiba Masaki will star in his first lead role for ‘マイガール / My Girl', popular young actor Miura Haruma changes into a samurai in ‘サムライ・ハイスクール / Samurai High School', and the list goes on.

As a whole, dramas featuring up and coming young actors and sequels of popular series ranked high. On the other hand, dramas gearing toward a more mature audience are equally popular. ‘Fumo Chitai' and ‘Aibo season8' are cases in point. They deal with social issues and other realistic issues concerning life. Recently in Japan dramas referred to as ‘real dramas' are in high demand. They depict the bonds shared between people and portray complex human relationships. Today's ranking reflected those trends.