My Asadora History

• Aired: Apr 4, 1983
• Completed: Jul 18, 2023

TW: Domestic Violence. Review.

• Aired: Apr 1, 1985
• Completed: Aug 4, 2025

TW: Domestic Violence, Antisemitism, Rising Sun Flag. Review.

• Aired: Oct 3, 1988
• Completed: Sep 21, 2025

TW: Blackface/Anti-Black Racism, Attempted Sexual Assault, Violence Against Children. Review.

• Aired: Oct 7, 1996
• Completed: Sep 17, 2025

TW: Domestic Violence. Review.

• Aired: Oct 4, 1999

TW: Violence Against Children

• Aired: Apr 2, 2001
• Completed: Aug 10, 2025

Review.

• Aired: Apr 1, 2002
• Completed: Sep 18, 2025

TW: Violence Against Children. Review.

• Aired: Oct 3, 2005

• Aired: Apr 3, 2006
• Completed: Aug 11, 2025

TW: Rising Sun Flag, Domestic Violence. Review.

• Aired: Apr 2, 2007
• Completed: Sep 20, 2025

A good story self-realization, it's always nice to see a woman come to the conclusion that she should accomplish things for herself and not for a man. I'd have given it an 8, but once Ayaka's storyline wrapped up, the whole thing sorta slowed down to me.

• Aired: Oct 1, 2007 
• Completed: Sep 14, 2024

An infuriating and pathetic female lead meets an equally infuriating and pathetic male lead, creating an unbelievably lackluster romance that only matured way past episode 100. Tiresome and annoying, really the only aspect of the story I liked was that I learned what rakugo was thanks to it, and of course, as an asadora, the fact that it challenged the male dominated area of the art.

• Aired: Mar 31, 2008

• Aired: Sep 29, 2008

• Aired: Mar 30, 2009

• Aired: Sep 28, 2009

• Aired: Mar 29, 2010

• Aired: Sep 27, 2010

• Aired: Apr 4, 2011
• Completed: Unknown

My first asadora, sadly I don't remember when I finished or really anything about it to write a review because it's been so long since I watched it. I gave it a 7, though, which means I enjoyed it.

• Aired: Oct 3, 2011

• Aired: Apr 2, 2012

• Aired: Apr 1, 2013
• Completed: Aug 18, 2024

I understand that trying different things is part of the coming of age story, because it all goes back to figuring out who you are and what life path you want to follow, but that didn't change the fact that I was very frustrated with the female lead's constant change of plans, which the asadora was very much aware of, since her mother pointed it out.

All in all, I have to disagree with Oricon, I don't think Aki is the best Asadora heroine. If you ask me, we should take Aki from the Top 10 and put Kaworu from Mio Tsukushi in her place.

• Aired: Sep 30, 2013
• Completed: Unknown

• Aired: Mar 31, 2014
• Completed: Unknown

• Aired: Sep 29, 2014
• Completed: Unknown

A slow start and a strong ending. As a biracial Afro-Latina it was lovely to see an interracial relationship being portrayed with so much care, and I quite appreciate the casting of the FL, usually non-Asian actors in dramas are terrible, but Charlotte did a wonderful job as the focus point of the story.

• Aired: Mar 30, 2015
• Completed: Unknown

Tao and Kento were born to play husband and wife on screen, it's their fate and I hope they keep blessing us with their chemistry.

• Aired: Sep 28, 2015
• Completed: Unknown

A great drama about an amazing and tenacious woman, where it fails is with the romance. Despite the female lead only getting married once she comes of age, the fact that she was engaged to the male lead since childhood made for an uncomfortable start that never changed because of how much of a disrespectful bum he was. Add that to the lack of chemistry between the actors, and there was nothing to root for except for the female lead to get a divorce.

• Aired: Apr 4, 2016
• Completed: Jun 13, 2022

TW: Rising Sun Flag

I admit that the lack of romance is what made this an unenjoyable watch, so it's more about my own preferences as a viewer than the actual drama.

• Aired: Oct 3, 2016
• Completed: Aug 10, 2025

TW: Domestic Violence

My interest in the story diminished after the male lead was physically violent with the female lead, and never picked up again because I was uninterested by the plots involving their daughter as a teen and as an adult.

• Aired: Apr 3, 2017
• Completed: Apr 29, 2022

The highlight of the story was the mystery surrounding the female lead's father, but the resolution wasn't all that interesting.

• Aired: Apr 2, 2018
• Completed: Jun 15, 2022

The lead couple ruined this drama, there was no chemistry and the romance was poorly written. And I do like Satoh Takeru, but he can't portray teenagers anymore, he is not one of those adults who look youthful enough to pass as a high schooler, that in itself, combined with the age gap between him and Nagano Mei, took the fantasy out of the story for me.

• Aired: Oct 1, 2018

• Aired: Mar 25, 2019
• Completed: Apr 29, 2022

Cute, but unnecessary.

• Aired: Apr 1, 2019
• Completed: Dec 13, 2023

It felt like the romance was very rushed, both the lead couple and the female lead's little sister's marriage happened in such a sudden way, and while I enjoyed them, especially the lead couple, I can't help but think how much more I'd have liked them if they had taken their time to establish these relationships.

• Aired: Mar 30, 2020
• Completed: May 29, 2025

The beginning was very compelling, my rating was an 8 as I loved the romantic storyline between the leads, but somehow it all lost its spark once they were together, which is the complete opposite of what I felt watching Okaeri Mone, Mare and Gochisosan, which only got better as the relationships got serious. Still, a pretty nice asadora.

• Aired: Nov 30, 2020

• Aired: May 17, 2021
• Completed: Feb 2, 2022

I know and understand that the entire point of the drama was to show how distance could not destroy the lead couple's relationship, but when the chemistry is this good, the lack of more romance becomes an issue to me. For that alone, this drama gets a 9 and not a 10 because otherwise I was obsessed with it.

• Aired: Oct 3, 2022

• Aired: Apr 1, 2024