The Best TV Shows on NHK G

Every NHK G Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Check out the most acclaimed shows on NHK G, with a catalog of over 20 series updated for July 2026. With its programming history stretching from 1968 to 2026, NHK G offers an impressive lineup of over 20 shows. For top-tier entertainment, NHK G delivered Ashita Koso and The Mysterious Cities of Gold in 1968 and 1982.

  • Bura Tamori
    Bura Tamori (2009)10.0

    Bura Tamori (ブラタモリ, sometimes stylized as "BURATAMORI"))is a Japanese weekly geological TV series broadcast domestically on NHK General Television and internationally on NHK World Premium hosted by Tamori. It was launched in 2008. In the program, Tamori, accompanied by NHK's female broadcaster, strolls Japan's city or area with professional or amateur geologists, local historians or curators, and explores the place's terrain features and geological changes, as well as its history, culture and civil engineering.

  • Chiisana Tabi
    Chiisana Tabi (1983)9.0

  • Dear Radiance
    Dear Radiance (2024)8.9

    Murasaki Shikibu (Yoshitaka Yuriko), the heroine of this story, wrote the bestseller 'The Tale of Genji,' transcending a thousand years during the Heian period. She weaves the story of Hikaru Genji, fueled by her love for Fujiwara no Michinaga (Emoto Tasuku), with her hidden passion and incomparable imagination. It is a tale of a woman who lived with unchanging love in an ever-changing world. (From TV JAPAN)

  • MAO
    MAO (2026)8.9

    Eight years ago, Nanoka Kiba was saved from the wreckage of a fatal accident at Gogyō Town Shopping Center. Drawn to the abandoned passage of storefronts on her walk home from school in present day, she becomes inexplicably transported to Japan's Taishō period where she meets the mysterious Mao, a fellow traveler whose arrival at a ghost-inhabited village is simultaneous with hers. Together, they investigate the bizarre events that begin to occur around them, and Nanoka soon pieces together her broken memories of the accident and how she and Mao may have something more sinister in common.

  • Document 72 Hours
    Document 72 Hours (2006)8.7

    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.

  • Attack on Titan
    Attack on Titan (2013)8.7

    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!

  • Massan
    Massan (2014)8.3

    Massan is based on the lives of Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan, a Scotswoman Taketsuru met while studying abroad.

  • To Your Eternity
    To Your Eternity (2021)8.2

    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.

  • March Comes In Like a Lion
    March Comes In Like a Lion (2016)8.0

    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...

  • Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
    Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (2024)8.0

    After learning heretical teachings about the Earth and the Sun, a child prodigy searches for his master's hidden research while evading the Inquisition.

  • Mare
    Mare (2015)7.9

    Mare is an elementary school student. She lives with her family in the city, but, right before her father goes bankrupt, they run away and settle down at a fishing village in Noto. The family rents a couple's home who run a salt pond. Mare's father starts a new business, but it also fails. Her mother supports the family by working at the salt pond. 8 years later, Mare, about to graduate from high school, decides to work for the Wajima local government. She wants to have a steady job, unlike her father. Her job is to support people who move to Noto.

  • The Mysterious Cities of Gold
    The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982)7.8

    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.

  • Kingdom
    Kingdom (2012)7.7

    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.

  • Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
    Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990)7.5

    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.

  • Kimi no na wa
    Kimi no na wa (1991)7.5

    A story of a man and a woman who meet amid the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945.

  • Yowamushi Pedal
    Yowamushi Pedal (2013)7.2

    A timid, anime-loving teen gets drawn into a school cycling club, where his new friends help him face tough challenges to develop his racing talent.

  • The Piano Forest
    The Piano Forest (2018)6.5

    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.

  • Ashita Koso
    Ashita Koso (1968)N/A

    The 8th NHK Asadora. Starring Yumiko Fujita in a family drama. The first Asadora filmed in color.

  • Jūkyūsai
    Jūkyūsai (1989)N/A

    Daisuke dropped out of high school, and his motorcycle was the only thing that helped him cope with his loneliness. His parents find a new high school where he can ride his motorcycle to school, but he is forced to live in a dormitory. The students in the dormitory are all young people with bitter memories of dropping out of high school. The prefect of the dormitory is a teacher who is passionate about their physical education. The drama depicts the fierce clash between a nineteen-year-old rebellious high school student, who is torn between being an adult and a child, and the adults around him. This is Oda Yuji's first lead role in a TV drama.

  • Haru yo koi
    Haru yo koi (1994)N/A

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