Nanairo no Suisou

"Himawari" is a comedy that focuses on the main character, Akiko, who works in the same company as her father, Kenichi No.1 and wants to become a manga artist. Akiko's love interest is Kenichi No.2.

Kasumi Aiko is a high school girl who is the star player in the basketball club. Aiko has a short, blonde hair and looks masculine. One day, she works part time at her brother's maid cafe and wears a long-hair wig. She then caught the eyes of Amano Reo, who is the handsome ace of the basketball club and Aiko's rival. Aiko was flustered and called herself "Mai". Reo on the other hand, fell in love with "Mai" and confessed.

Old apartment complexes, rented houses in the suburbs, and cabs running through the cities. These scenes may look ordinary but each has a different story to tell. A daughter who works part-time to support her disabled mother; a woman who has been cut off from her family and continues to work as a cab driver; a granddaughter who lives in a rented house and works at a factory with her grandmother. This is the story of three women, who live far apart from each other and do not know each other's existence until a fateful encounter through a radio program.

A quirky romance blossoms between a dashing meat-eating man and a culinary-minded woman who has sworn off love.

Unable to live or die due to certain circumstances, Koda Sumomo visits Auberge Gilda which is a five-minute walk from Cape Shide, a famous suicide spot. She listens to its owner Shiraishi Yuko and ends up working with the employee Koreeda Ibuki and chef Omori Zen for three months. Guests with all sorts of circumstances come to this auberge at the farthest reaches, including an actress being criticized for reports of an affair, and a man faced with divorce on the day he reached the mandatory retirement age. Through their stay at Auberge Gilda, they become aware of life and are revitalized. Seeing this with her own eyes, Sumomo also has a change of heart. However, she learns about Yuko’s secret.

Hitotsubashi Kiriko is sinking into a pit of sorrow when her one and only best friend whom she lived with for three years, dies of illness. Living on a pension and working part-time is not easy, and the thought of having solitary death terrifies her. One day, she was fascinated by the statement of an arrested person she saw on TV which inspires her to commit crime so she could live in prison. And so, Kiriko's "Life in Prison" plan began. As Kiriko proceeds with her crime plan, she finds new experiences and encounters.

During the war-torn feudal wars of Japan, the Awa clan faced certain extinction from a rival clan backed by demonic forces. However, a careless promise by their lord leads to both salvation and disgrace when their family dog brings back the head of the enemy warlord and insists upon marrying the lord's daughter! Their unnatural union bears fruit, but when they are both killed, the eight unborn pups are reincarnated as the eight Dog Warriors - the Hakkenden. Slowly they find each other and come together as a group. These eight warriors, who represent the eight separate aspects of the Bushido, engage in bloody battles with demonic entitles and evil samurai in the final attempt to redeem their clan!

“Who is the last person you would like to see？” When junior high school teacher Sakuraba Ayako wakes up, she sees a man standing there. Calling himself a guide of this mysterious place that extends in front of them, he tells her that this is “goodbye’s other side”. As his words sink in, Ayako recalls that she has died. She lets slip that she had never thought she would die in this manner. Visitors to this other side can meet people of this world one last time within a 24-hour time period. Ayako immediately thinks of her son Yuta and husband Hirotaka. However, the guide says the ones she can meet are only those who still do not know about her death. Ayako goes to the house of her former teacher Ishibashi Nobuyoshi. She is greeted by his daughter Megumi, but Nobuyoshi passed away about two years ago…

It tells the story of love and growth between a serious-love otaku and an idol who should never meet. What will they choose: love or dreams?

This seven-episode anthology features a cast of leading actors and depicts various forms of "love," such as love almost forgotten, love between sons and mothers, and love that transcends borders.

Peter Barakan is a broadcaster and a 45-year resident of Japan. In this series, he discovers how Japan is changing.