"Drama Shower" (ドラマシャワー) was an MBS time slot specialized in BL drama productions. The project was launched in April 2022 and it was originally a one-year limited project, but due to its success and popularity, MBS decided to renew it for another year. In March 2024 it was announced that My Strawberry Film would be the last installment of the time slot and that, as of April 2024, Drama Shower would be replaced by a new time slot called "Drama Fill". Drama Fill is a more generic time slot that includes non-BL series, as well (the first installment of Drama Fill is in fact the non-BL psychological thriller Ubawareta Bokutachi).
Drama Shower was a collaboration between MBS — the same broadcasting company as My Beautiful Man — and Tunku (トゥンク) — a new drama label established by KADOKAWA, which has many hit BL manga and novels under its belt. In Japanese "tunku" is an onomatopoeic word that suggests the sound of a pounding heart. The hope is that these BLs will take their viewers on an exciting journey, making their hearts beat.
List of Drama Shower series
(chronological order)
1. Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss! (finished airing)
2. Senpai, This Can't be Love! (finished airing)
3. Takara-kun & Amagi-kun (finished airing)
4. Eternal Yesterday (finished airing)
5. Candy Color Paradox (finished airing)
6. Jack o' Frost (finished airing)
7. Tokyo in April Is... (finished airing)
8. My Personal Weatherman (finished airing)
9. One Room Angel (finished airing)
10. Mr. Sahara & Toki-kun (finished airing)
11. My Strawberry Film (finished airing)
Where to watch the series:
All the Drama Shower series can be watched on Viki and/or GagaOOLala.
Mr. Sahara & Toki-kun can also be watched on iQIYI.
You can watch the behind the scenes on Niconico Channel (the first part of the clips is free to watch, but unlocking the full footage requires a subscription plan).
Official drama websites:
- Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss: https://www.mbs.jp/fukoukun
- Senpai, This Can't be Love: https://www.mbs.jp/sepakoi
- Takara-kun & Amagi-kun: https://www.mbs.jp/takaten
- Eternal Yesterday: https://www.mbs.jp/eien
- Candy Color Paradox: https://www.mbs.jp/amepara
- Jack o' Frost: https://www.mbs.jp/jackfrost
- Tokyo in April Is...: https://www.mbs.jp/shigatsu
- My Personal Weatherman: https://www.mbs.jp/taikan
- One Room Angel: https://www.mbs.jp/oneroomangel
- Mr. Sahara & Toki-kun: https://www.mbs.jp/sahatoki
- My Strawberry Film: https://www.mbs.jp/mystrawberryfilm
Social media accounts:
- Twitter (Drama Shower): https://twitter.com/tunku_shower
- Instagram (Drama Shower): https://www.instagram.com/tunku_shower
- TikTok (MBS Drama): https://www.tiktok.com/@drama_mbs
Some of the dramas have separate social media accounts:
- Takara-kun & Amagi-kun:
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/takaten_drama
> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takaten_drama
> TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@takaten_drama - One Room Angel:
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/one_an_drama - My Strawberry Film:
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/drama_msf
> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mystrawberryfilm
Other sources:
- Project announcement (English translation):
https://twitter.com/motivateanger/status/1500486125474832384 - Wikipedia (Drama Shower page in Japanese and English):
> https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ドラマシャワー
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama_Shower - Project introduction (on the website of Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss):
https://www.mbs.jp/fukoukun/intro.shtml - Screen Online's articles (introduction to the project and the series):
1. https://screenonline.jp/SCREEN_Plus/17522734
2. https://screenonline.jp/SCREEN_Plus/17540983
3. https://screenonline.jp/SCREEN_Plus/17555878
4. https://screenonline.jp/SCREEN_Plus/17569165 - Project renewal: https://www.mbs.jp/eien/intro.shtml
- End of the project: https://www.mbs.jp/ubawareta_bokutachi
[The credits of the pictures used in this post go to GagaOOLala and MBS.]
girlfan62:
Anyone know if it did well enough in Japan that MBS thinks this experiment with BL series was a success? I’d love if they did it again and keep those BL’a coming!
It's so hard to say because MBS doesn't release audience ratings, so there's no data to work with. Plus one would need to account all the viewership from the streaming sites (both international and Japanese ones) as well. There's no way to know unless MBS releases a report regarding it.
If I had to rank them in terms of obvious popularity from what I've seen when checking the streaming sites, it would probably be Takara-kun>Ameiro (might rank lower as it progresses)>Fukou-kun>Senpai>Eien. Eien was regularly in top 10/5 on HULU as it aired and it was quite successful in its midnight slot.
Foreigner:
They are going to rebroadcast Fukou-kun in January! https://twitter.com/tunku_shower/status/1608404140568477703
Hopefully that's a sign that the shows are popular in Japan ^^
Not just Fukou-kun. Senpai and Eien are also going to be rebroadcast. I wonder why Takara-kun isn't even though it aired before Eien. I guess my ranking may be true XD
Nicksden:
