The spring dramas airing in April are steadily reaching their climaxes. While the spring dramas generally had a tougher start compared to the previous season, has the situation changed now that they've passed the halfway point? We've compiled a list based on the number of favorites registered on TVer, one of the barometers of popularity.
Looking at the top-ranking shows, while they are steadily increasing their subscriber counts, none of them have seen an increase of more than 100,000. Comparing the figures for May 2nd and 31st, Season 11 of "Kodoku no Gourmet" (Sundays at 9 PM) went from 638,000 to 692,000, and "Takusari Brothers" (TBS, Fridays at 10 PM) went from 628,000 to 680,000. Except for "Kodoku no Gourmet," which has a large and loyal fanbase in Season 11, all of these shows have increased their subscriber counts by around 50,000 per month, which is not a huge breakthrough, but still represents an increase in subscribers.
Incidentally, the drama that saw the biggest increase in subscribers in a single month among the spring dramas was "Galaxy Vote" (Kansai TV/Fuji TV, Mondays at 10 PM), starring Haru Kuroki and co-starring Kayo Noro. On May 2nd, shortly after its broadcast began, it had 434,000 subscribers, but it increased by 74,000 to 508,000, surpassing the 100,000 mark. The drama's well-paced storyline, which deals with the political topic of the Tokyo gubernatorial election while gradually gaining allies, seems to be attracting support.
Also worth mentioning as a dark horse is the rise of "The Cheated Husband with 3 Months to Live" (TV Asahi, Fridays at 11:15 PM). Starring Jin Shirasu and Hinako Sakurai, this revenge drama about infidelity has garnered attention for Sakurai's outstanding and bizarre performance as the cheating wife. The number of subscribers, which was 194,000 as of May 2nd, has reached 261,000 as of May 31st, a dramatic increase of over 34%. In the late-night slot, TV Tokyo's familiar melodramatic suspense dramas, such as "Is It Wrong for Women Not to Give Birth? DINKs' Ten Months and Ten Days" starring Emma Miyazawa(Mondays at 11:06 PM) and "The Revenge of the Betrayed - Wives Who Formed an Alliance" starring Ayame Mizusaki, Mariko Shinoda, and Nako Yabuki(Wednesdays at 1:00 AM), also saw an increase in subscribers, rising from 425,000 to 453,000 and from 389,000 to 408,000 respectively.
This spring drama season is considered tough, lacking any easily recognizable hits, but there are 10 shows that have surpassed the passing mark of 500,000 favorites. The previous season saw 11 shows with over 1 million favorites, including "Reboot" (TBS) and "Reunion ~Silent Truth~" (TV Asahi), so looking at the overall number of shows, there isn't much difference, suggesting that the number of core drama fans hasn't decreased. All of these shows are now approaching their climax, so we can look forward to a strong final push. (MANTANWEB/Natsuyuki Tateyama)
