GEM, the home of great Japanese entertainment in the Philippines, brings an exciting line up of the best Japanese drama and variety shows this month.
Weakest Beast
Weakest Beast stars Yui Aragaki as Akira Shinkai and Ryuhei Matsuda as Kosei Nemoto in their fourth collaboration as an on-screen couple. Written by Akiko Nogi, the show follows the story of Akira Shinkai who wants to be free to be herself and lose her perfect-girl image, and of the cynical, street-smart ladies’ man she meets, Kosei Nemoto. Guarded strangers to each other, they need to learn to let their feelings lead the way.
Matsuda, who is best known for his role of Japanese gangster in the sequel of The Raid, called Berandal, is expanding his acting portfolio by adding romance to his genres. “This role is going to be fun and I am looking forward to it. It would be great if there were twists to the fabric of relationships between men and women. I hope to portray the role of Kosei Nemoto based on my intuitive feelings of the character; a character that will speak whatever that comes to his mind,” said Matsuda.
Aragaki, on the other hand, is excited to be working with Matsuda again after a long time. “It has been 11 years since Matsuda and I last starred together in a movie; I am elated to work with him again and it is a treasured opportunity for me. Back then, I was still a high school kid. This time, I will do my best to showcase a different set of acting skills and not to be a burden to him,” said Aragaki.
Weakest Beast airs every Saturday at 7.30pm, same week as Japan.
Ninosan
Featuring Kazunari Ninomiya of popular Japanese boyband ARASHI, NINOSAN first premiered on Nippon TV in April 2013 starting out as a short ‘experimental’ program. It has since morphed into a talk show, a quiz show, a game show, an animal act, or food program, with Nino working with different directors to produce different segments every week. In his role as host, Nino brings his point of view and guides the audience through different topics with his witty comments.
NINOSAN airs every Friday at 8.30pm.
Cops ‘N Robbers
Novice detective, Tsutomu Madarame, grows disillusioned with his job in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department that investigates thefts until legendary master thief, Kemuri Garasu (Smoky Crow), starts meddling with Madarame at every opportunity and even helps him solve cases.
Cops’n Robbers airs every Wednesday at 9pm, same week as Japan.
Way Too Kawaii!
The golden boy of a large publishing company, Yoshitaka Niimi, is unexpectedly transferred from a literary editorial department to Pipin, a Harajuku-style fashion magazine. A resentful Niimi soon realizes that the job is not simple and superficial after witnessing the professionalism of the various hardworking people who create kawaii culture. He decides to be professional about his work and begins to understand the passion that fuels the job and its people.
Way Too Kawaii! airs every Monday at 9.00pm, same week as Japan.
TOKYO alien BROS.
In the year 2020, a creature from outer space appears before white-haired university student, Fuyunosuke. Realizing that this creature is his brother, he names him Natsutaro, to fit into his surroundings of Tokyo. The alien brothers are on a surveillance mission to find out if their species could survive on another planet. While on Earth, the brothers must learn about humans and the only way is to interact with them.
TOKYO alien BROS. airs every Monday at 9.35pm.
GEM is the glittering jewel of Japanese entertainment. A joint venture between Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks and Nippon Television Network Corporation, GEM enjoys access to exclusive Japanese content from Nippon TV. The channel features first-run and exclusive dramas, comedies and variety entertainment shows from Japan, which include selected prime-time dramas airing same time and within the same week of their broadcast in Japan.
Catch the shows on GEM on SKYcable ch 116.
Show details and images provided by GEM in a recent press release.
Disclosure: I work for SKY and part of my job is promoting its products and services, especially the content it provides to its subscribers. I consider being able to share my love for TV shows and movies and the experience of watching and talking about them with like-minded people some of the biggest perks of my job.
Jellybeans in the City 