is a 2022 Japanese anthology

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

series based on

Mitsuru Adachi is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with ''Kieta Bakuon'', based on a manga originally crea ...

's manga collection with the same name starring members of boy band

JO1 is a Japanese boy band formed through the reality competition show '' Produce 101 Japan''. The group is composed of eleven members: Issei Mamehara, Ren Kawashiri, Takumi Kawanishi, Shosei Ohira, Shion Tsurubo, Ruki Shiroiwa, Keigo Sato, Syoya Ki ...

as the male protagonists. The series is produced by Atmovie Inc. and

Lapone Entertainment is a Japanese management and entertainment company, established in May 2019 as a joint venture between South Korean CJ ENM and Japanese Yoshimoto Kogyo. The company operates as a talent agency, entertainment company, and record label under Yoshi ...

, with

Yoshimoto Kogyo is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate. It was founded in 1912, Osaka, as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai (comedy) talent, produci ...

as the distributor. It was premiered on Amazon Prime Video in Japan on March 1, 2022. "Dreamer" by JO1 served as the ending theme for the series.

Premise

''Short Program'' follows eleven members of boy band

alternately playing the male protagonist in each episode, based on the short stories on youth and romance from

's manga collection with the same name. Each story centers on different theme or activity, such as sports, music, or detective story. The series concluded with an original story written by Yusuke Moriguchi, featuring all male protagonists from the previous episodes.

Cast and characters

Main

* Takumi Kawanishi as Ichirō Imai * Shion Tsurubo as Kenji Uehara * Shosei Ohira as Kōhei Shinjō * Ren Kawashiri as Kazuhiko Sugii * Sho Yonashiro as Haruhiko Takechi * Sukai Kinjo as Misaki Tadokoro * Syoya Kimata as Keiichi Kataoka * Keigo Sato as Shōhei Tahara * Ruki Shiroiwa as Seiya Toda * Issei Mamehara as Hajime Toshino * Junki Kono as Wataru Matsumura Female protagonists *

Natsumi Okamoto is a Japanese actress and fashion model. She is represented with Ever Green Entertainment. Okamoto won the Grand Prix in the audition for the magazine ''Love Berry'' in 2011, became an exclusive model later on until 2012, and later became an ex ...

as Chisato Ichinose * as Tomomi Sakamoto *

Honoka Yahagi , formerly known as Honoka Miki, is a Japanese actress, fashion model and voice actress. Yahagi is best known for her role as Kotoko Aihara in '' Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo'' and its sequel ''Mischievous Kiss 2: Love in Okinawa'' as Kotoko I ...

as Nao Tanimura * Asuka Kijima as Asako Takazawa * Nashiko Momotsuki as Misato Yamane * as Wakaba Moriyama *

Fumika Baba ''Weekly Playboy'', January 22, 2014 is a Japanese actress and model. She was scouted on a local street when she was in high school, and started working as a model for the local free newspaper, ''Niigata Bishōjo Zukan''. Baba was also part of a ...

as Michiko * as Naomi Morimura * as Satomi Nishijima * as Manami Nonomura * Sakurako Konishi as Keiko Komiya *

Marika Itō is a Japanese actress, artist, and model. She is a former member of the Japanese idol group Nogizaka46. She has played lead roles in the 2015 film ''Eyes'' and the 2021 film '' It's a Summer Film'', and supporting roles in the films ''Asahinagu ...

as Miho

Supporting

* as Sugimoto *

Itsuji Itao , is a Japanese comedian and actor. He is a member of the comedy duo 130R and former cast member of one of Downtown's previous shows. He usually appears in their batsu games. Filmography (actor) Movies *2001 ''Desert Moon'' ... Interviewer * ...

as Ichirō's father * Takurō Osada as Haruki Kitayama * as Sayaka *

Junya Ikeda , also known as is a Japanese actor, screenwriter and stage director. Filmography Film *''Dive!!'' (2008) - Hiroya Sakai *''Randy's'' (2009) - Masami *''Inu no Kubiwa to Korokke to'' (2011) *''Gakudori'' (2011) *''Ninja Kids!!!'' (2011) - Shioe ...

as Tomio Akahori * as waitress. She accompanied Kōhei finishing his script. * Koji Abe as shopkeeper. He received posters from Kōhei and Nao. * as Toshio Higashi * as Hinata, Kazuhiko's girlfriend * as Mr. Yamane, Misato's older brother * as Katsuaki Sugiyama * as Yuki * as Detective Moriyama *

Noboru Kaneko is a Japanese actor who is affiliated with Oscar Promotion. He graduated from the Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science University High School and then from the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering of the Nagasaki Institute of ...

as Mr. Komiyama, Wakaba's boss * as Shin * Ami Inoha as Akane * as Mr. Ōba, Seiya and Ken's boss * as Haruko Tsuyama * as Ken Takasugi *

Katsuya is both a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Possible writings *克也, "gram, to be" *勝也, "win, to be" *勝矢, "win, arrow" *勝哉, "win, how" *勝夜, "win, night" *活耶, "active, father" *活弥, "active, extensive, ...

as Mr. Tanabe, lodge owner * Louis Kurihara as an actor, who claims to be an alien. * Tomoki Hirose as Kakimoto, who claims to be a

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

. * as a detective *

Mariko Tsutsui is a Japanese actress. Personal life Tsutsui graduated from Kōfu Daiichi High School in Yamanashi Prefecture. She dropped out of Aoyama Gakuin University. She later graduated from the Waseda University School of Social Sciences. As well as a ...

as Mayumi, Keiko's aunt and boss * as a police * as a beach house visitor *

Zen Kajihara ,
(in Japanese) is a Japanese theatre actor. Originally a member of the Midnight Swan is a 2020 Japanese drama film directed by Eiji Uchida, who also wrote the screenplay. It received nine nominations at the 44th Japan Academy Film Prize, including Director of the Year and Screenplay of the Year, winning for Picture of the Ye ...

'' and the 2020 remake of ''

Tokyo Love Story is a Japanese manga written by Fumi Saimon. It was published by Shogakukan in ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1989 to 1990 and collected into 4 ''tankōbon'' volumes. ''Tokyo Love Story'' was adapted into a Japanese television drama in 1991 which ...

'', was announced as one of the producers. The production companies involved in the series were Atmovie Inc. and

, while

acted as the distributor. Ryohei Watanabe, Takeo Kikuchi, Naho Kamimura, Tetsuhiko Tsuchiya, Takashi Masuyama, and Takeshi Moriya were appointed to direct the episodes. Each director and scriptwriter decided which episode they would take based on what they had discussed together. The

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

took place from Summer to Fall 2021.

Casting

With nearly all members of JO1 being inexperienced in acting, the production was preceded by a series of acting workshops before the directors decided roles for each member. On February 14, 2022, the list of leading roles and titles of each episode was announced.

, Sakurako Konishi and others were announced to play the female protagonists the next day.

and other supporting casts were announced on February 22. Former member of

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshimotozaka46, a ...

was announced to play the female protagonist of the surprise last episode released on March 14, 2022.

Music

The opening theme song is composed by Yoshitaka Fujimoto. The ending theme song for the series titled "Dreamer" by JO1 was released digitally on February 14, 2022. Its music video featuring scenes from the series was released the next day.

Release

The first three episodes of ''Short Program'' were released on Amazon Prime Video in Japan on March 1, 2022, at 5 p.m

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to ...

( UTC+09:00). The premiere was accompanied by the release of ''

Produce 101 Japan ''Produce 101 Japan'' is a 2019 Japanese reality competition show and a spin-off of the South Korean television series ''Produce 101''. The show followed 101 trainees with the intention of producing an 11-member boy band. The members, group name ...

'' director's cut version. The subsequent episodes were released within 2–3 days interval with the final two episodes released on March 9, 2022. A surprise 12th episode was later announced on March 14, 2022 and released on the same date at 5 p.m JST.

Reception

Critical response

Entertainment writers Akino Shin, Ayaka Sakai, and Kana Yoshida wrote a series of reviews on the series for , and praised several members of

for their first attempt in acting. Shin, in particular, was impressed by Shion Tsurubo's ability in "creating an atmosphere" in "Spring Passes", stating "although the slight intonation of the Kansai dialect remained in his voice, it did not bother him as his facial expressions spoke more than his words". Sakai called Ren Kawashiri's casting in "The Current State of Affairs" as "apt" since he was "able to transfer the sharpness he had acquired through dancing into his acting, and to carry Sugii's feelings in each of his move." Yoshida praised Keigo Sato's performance in "Blowing Any Which Way" and felt that "even though Sato is playing the opposite of himself, he is able to give a performance that will move the hearts of those who are watching". Meanwhile, Sakai applauded Syoya Kimata for using his personality in "What's Going On!?" by saying "while some actors tend to erase their own personalities and get into their roles, Kimata is the type of actor who does the opposite. In this episode, he used his own charm in his performance and 'possessed' the character even more". Shin later praised Mamehara Issei's expressive eyes in "Memory Off", saying "his large eyes clearly reflect a wide range of emotions: dismay, interest, worry, relief, determination, hesitation, and so on". The writers also commented on the production side of the series. Yoshida praised "the bold rearrangement" the production team took with "At the Intersection" and wrote "the episode also shows the excitement, confusion, and fantasy of the person Haruhiko sees every day, as well as the feelings from the female protagonist's side, making us want to root for them even more. In such a short period of time, each character is portrayed well". Sakai praised the direction by Takashi Masuyama in "What's Going On!?" despite "the rapidly changing circumstances" in the episode. She also praised "the nostalgic and dramatic feel" created by the combination of images and the music score by Yoshitaka Fujimoto in "A Stop on the Way".

References

External links

Official website
(in Japanese) * {{Amazon Video original series 2022 Japanese television series debuts 2020s high school television series 2020s teen drama television series Amazon Prime Video original programming Japanese anthology television series Japanese drama television series Japanese high school television series Japanese romance television series Japanese television dramas based on manga Television shows filmed in Japan JO1