The Best TV Shows on NHK BS Premium

Every NHK BS Premium Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Boasting a rich catalog, NHK BS Premium features more than 20 shows, with broadcasting dates ranging from 1998 to 2023. Icons of NHK BS Premium, Cardcaptor Sakura and Carnation made their debut in 1998 and 2011, setting industry standards. Explore our list of the top rated shows up to date from June 2025 that includes over 20 unique series.

  • Hyouge Mono
    Hyouge Mono (2011)9.0

    Sasuke Furuta is a vassal of the great warlord Nobunaga Oda and a man obsessed with tea ceremony and material desires in his pursuit of a fortuitous life. Having learned from Nobunaga and the legendary tea master Soueki Senne, Sasuke walks the way of the Hyouge Mono.

  • Ginga e Kickoff!!
    Ginga e Kickoff!! (2012)9.0

    The story follows a boy who was in a soccer team, but it was disbanded due to not enough players. However, after the boy meets a female professional soccer player, he aims to bring his soccer team back.

  • Cardcaptor Sakura
    Cardcaptor Sakura (1998)8.6

    Sakura Kinomoto, an elementary school student who discovers that she possesses magical powers after accidentally freeing a set of magical cards from the book they had been sealed in for years. She is then tasked with retrieving those cards in order to avoid an unknown catastrophe from befalling the world.

  • Kumokiri Nizaemon
    Kumokiri Nizaemon (2013)8.5

    During the Kyoho period in the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, there is a gang of thieves active not just in Edo but also the Tokaido and the Nakasendo, and all across the Kansai region, stealing large sums of money with skillful techniques. They only target the very wealthy and never kill or injure people. They appear with the clouds and disappear like the mist. On the night that the beautiful Ochiyo is to become the bride of a dry goods dealer, a large amount of money hidden inside the shop is stolen. The gang disappears without injuring anyone. It was a two-year plan to marry Ochiyo off so that she could bring them in. The leader of this gang is Kumokiri Nizaemon, the greatest bandit of all time. He keeps a rein on his highly-skilled and notorious followers Nanabake no Ochiyo, Kinezumi no Kichigoro, Subashiri no Kumagoro, Ingakozo Rokunosuke and others.

  • Hotarugusa
    Hotarugusa (2019)8.5

    Nana is a servant of the Kazahaya family, She is from a samurai family. Her father was about to reveal wrongdoings within the domain but had to commit ritual suicide for a crime he hadn't done. Ichinoshin tries to correct the wrongdoings, but end up being a target himself. After finding out her father's enemy is the man behind it all, Nana decides to protect Ichinoshin and his children, as she had promised Sachi, Ichinoshin's late wife.

  • Amachan
    Amachan (2013)8.3

    Aki Amano, a high-school girl from Tokyo moves to the Sanriku Coast in the Tohoku region to become a female diver. She becomes a local idol, then returns to Tokyo to try to become a real idol, and finally returns to Tohoku to help revitalize the area after the Great East Japan earthquake.

  • The 13 Lords of the Shogun
    The 13 Lords of the Shogun (2022)8.3

    Following the ascension to power of Taira no Kiyomori, the Minamoto clan is exiled. Minamoto no Yoritomo meets Masako, the sister of Hōjō Yoshitoki and later marries her. Following this marriage, the gears of Yoshitoki's destiny begin to turn.

  • Carnation
    Carnation (2011)8.2

    Carnation is a Japanese television drama that aired in the Asadora slot on NHK from 3 October 2011 to 31 March 2012. It is the 85th Asadora. It is based on the life of the fashion designer Ayako Koshino in Kishiwada, Osaka. Ayako was the mother of the internationally famous designers Hiroko Koshino, Junko Koshino, and Michiko Koshino.

  • Bushimeshi!--The Samurai Cook
    Bushimeshi!--The Samurai Cook (2017)8.0

    Set during the Bakumatsu (final years of the Edo period). Sakai Banshiro is a lower-class samurai. Leaving his family behind, he works at the lord’s castle. He consoles and solves worries of the people by making food from recipes sent from his wife.

  • Yae's Sakura
    Yae's Sakura (2013)7.9

    Yae no Sakura is a 2013 Japanese television series. It is the 52nd NHK taiga drama. The story focuses on Niijima Yae, who is portrayed by Haruka Ayase.

  • Kingdom
    Kingdom (2012)7.8

    In the Warring States Period of ancient China (475–221 BCE), Shin and Hyou are war-orphans in the kingdom of Qin. They dream of one day proving themselves on the battlefield. One day, however, Hyou is taken to the palace by a minister. Winding up on the losing side of a power-struggle, Hyou manages to return to the village, barely alive. Shin then meets a boy who closely resembles Hyou, Ei Sei. For now he is the king of Qin; later he will become the emperor Shi Huangdi.

  • Grace's History
    Grace's History (2023)7.7

    In her beloved car, "Grace", a wife is on her way to Narita. Following a bus accident that kills her, her husband, Kikuo, gets access to her GPS which contains the history of all the places she travelled to without his knowledge. Suspecting infidelity, Kikuo embarks on a journey to trace the history of the car's GPS in order to solve the mystery.

  • Reach Beyond the Blue Sky
    Reach Beyond the Blue Sky (2021)7.3

    Shibusawa Eiichi was born in 1840 to a farmer’s family. He grew up helping his family with work, which was to manufacture and sell indigo production and also silk farming. He left his hometown at the age of 23 and began working for the government. He later traveled to Paris and learned about banking. Upon his return to Japan, he helped build up the first modern bank in Japan. He eventually became a founder or supporter to about 500 companies and was involved with about 600 public services, including education for women.

  • Otona Joshi no Anime Time
    Otona Joshi no Anime Time (2013)7.0

    A series of animations based on prize-winning short stories for women.

  • Ooka Echizen
    Ooka Echizen (2013)7.0

    The reign of the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune in the Edo period, was notable for the “Ooka Sabaki” which supported the Kyoho Reforms that Yoshimune advanced. Yoshimune goes beyond status and the position he has been thrust in, to join with Edo magistrate Ooka Tadasuke and the Western medicine doctor Sakakibara Iori in order to promote the creation of a world for the common people of Edo. These three men deepen exchanges with the magistrate’s office and the townsfolk, uphold justice and struggle to keep order in Edo…

  • Time Spiral
    Time Spiral (2014)7.0

    When Natsuki Aizawa was a child, she was kidnapped which left her traumatized. Natsuki grew up relying on her friend Kentaro Yuki. She now studies physics at a university. One day, she meets newly appointed professor Shuya Tatsumi. Afterwards, mysterious events continually happen around Natsuki Aizawa. Shuya is time traveller who travels between the future and the past.

  • Iyana onna
    Iyana onna (2016)7.0

  • Ronja the Robber's Daughter
    Ronja the Robber's Daughter (2014)6.6

    Ronja is the only daughter of Mattis, a bandit leader who lives in a castle in the middle of a large forest. When Ronja grows old enough, she ventures into the forest to interact the strange and magical creatures that live there. She learns to live in the forest through her own strength, with the occasional rescue from her parents. Ronja's life begins to change, however, when she happens upon a boy her own age named Birk.

  • Naruto Hichou
    Naruto Hichou (2018)5.0

    Norizuki Gennojo, a commander of the Shogunate’s troops, sets out on a journey to train in swordplay. In that time, Koka Yoami, the father of his betrothed Chie, receives a special mission and goes to Awa Tokushima to search for the secret records of Naruto in which a pledge to overthrow the shogunate is sealed with blood. He is never heard of again. 10 years later, Gennojo returns to Edo as a wandering monk and in despair about his swordsmanship. He is slashed by Sekiya Magobei but survives because of the quick wits of a female pickpocket Mikaeri Otsuna. Gennojo gets entangled in conflict surrounding the secret records of Naruto. He and Otsuna try to infiltrate Awa Tokushima in order to obtain the secret records and face continuous attacks by assassins on the way there.

  • Shinsengumi Keppūroku
    Shinsengumi Keppūroku (2011)N/A

    There were men who were passionate about being samurai. The men became samurai warriors at the forefront of the fierce battle that affected the future of Japan as part of the Shinsengumi...