The Best TV Shows on NHK G

An unusual documentary series that delves into human dramas through chance encounters with ordinary people at selected spots. Filmed over 72 hours in a single location, the show captures glimpses into people's lives as they open up and share their stories.

100 years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!

For a thousand years, the Vikings have made quite a name and reputation for themselves as the strongest families with a thirst for violence. Thorfinn, the son of one of the Vikings' greatest warriors, spends his boyhood in a battlefield enhancing his skills in his adventure to redeem his most-desired revenge after his father was murdered.

After the great disaster of 2008, a war that destroyed the planet, the world is now largely ocean with the continents having sunk. Conan lives on a remote island with his grandpa and nature, never having seen another human being. But one day a mysterious girl, Lana, washes up on his beach. The two become quick friends, but she’s soon kidnapped and taken to Industria, a technological remainder from the world before. Conan leaves his island in pursuit, braving new lands and many hardships with new friends and enemies just beyond the horizon.

An immortal being takes on the form of a human boy, wandering the earth and experiencing the pains and joys of life throughout his story without end.

In wartime Japan, spirited Nobu transforms from a militarist schoolgirl into Kochi’s first female reporter, as she and childhood friend Takashi endure personal loss and struggle to find their own truths amid the upheaval of the Showa era.

First-year high schooler Midori Asakusa loves anime so much, she insists that "concept is everything" in animation. While she spends her time doodling endless ideas and settings in her sketchbook, she hasn't taken the first step to creating anime, insisting that she can't do it alone. After Asakusa's money-loving best friend Sayaka Kanamori notices her genius and drive – and when it becomes clear that their classmate and charismatic fashion model Tsubame Mizusaki wants to be an animator – the energetic trio start an animation club. Together, the three aim to realize the "ultimate world" that exists in their minds, as they come to see the power that fiction and imagination have on their lives and the world around them.

This is a gentle tale about people trying to regain something. And it is a tale of battle. Rei Kiriyama had lost his family in an accident when he was young. Now he is a 17-year-old pro shogi player who is burdened with deep loneliness. Rei lives alone in an old town in Tokyo, but after becoming acquainted with three sisters, Akari, Hinata and Momo, he begins to change little by little...

The adventures of a young Spanish boy named Esteban who joins a voyage to the New World in search of the lost Cities of Gold and his father.

Suzume is a girl born to a family running a small restaurant in Gifu Prefecture. She loses her hearing in one ear from a disease. Encouraged by her loving parents and childhood friend, she lives through an eventful life with a tenacious spirit.

In the Warring States period, young orphan Xin vows to aid King Zheng of Qin in his quest to unify China by becoming a general himself.

In mankind's grasp for the future, a sinister foe known only as Gargoyle begins his plans to take over the world. Nadia, with the help of a young inventor, Jean Ratlique, and Captain Nemo of the submarine Nautilus, must fight to save the world from Gargoyle and Neo-Atlantis.

NHK's 102nd morning drama depicts the life of a famous composer. Koyama Yuichi with his wife Oto. They meet each other through music and overcome hardships together. Yuichi composes songs that became "Yells" for people all over Japan in the Showa Era (1926-1989) in which radical changes were going on.　

A tranquil tale about two boys from very different upbringings. On one hand you have Kai, born as the son of a prostitute, who's been playing the abandoned piano in the forest near his home ever since he was young. And on the other you have Syuhei, practically breast-fed by the piano as the son of a family of prestigious pianists. Yet it is their common bond with the piano that eventually intertwines their paths in life.

The 6th NHK Asadora. Starring Fumie Kashiyama as a woman, born in the Meiji era, who raises a family by herself.

The 7th NHK Asadora. Starring Tadashi Yokouchi in a narrative about an employee of the national railroad living through 50 years of modern history with his wife.

The 9th NHK Asadora. Starring Naoko Otani as a young woman living with her grandmother.

Kano is known as a "cocoon child" whose father is an agriculturist. Her mother disappeared when she was little and since then Kano has been wondering why her mother left her thus changing the shape of her life.

A young woman Chiaki whose family runs an old miso company in Nagano Prefecture, the only daughter of old traditional family. For generations, they were making soybean paste for living. Now she needs to take over this business and rebuild it. She lives through the hardships of postwar Japan.

A successful screenwriter looks back on her life when she learns her husband has cancer. A year-long series, starring Narumi Yasuda.