Climbers High / Kuraimâzu hai (2008)
Drama
A newspaper editor who deals with the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123.
Starring: Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Masato Sakai, Masahiro Takashima, Ken'ichi Endô, Masahiro Takashima, Tomorô Taguchi, Machiko Ono
Director: Masato Harada
Sakura Guardian in the North / Kita no sakuramori (2018)
Drama
In August, 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the area around Sakhalin Island. Tetsu Ezure escaped with her two sons from Sakhalin Island and arrived in Abashiri City, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. What awaited for them was extreme cold weather and famine. They worked very hard. In 1971, Tetsu’s second son Shujiro returns to Japan after finding success in the United States. He visits Abashiri for the first time in 15 years. His mother Tetsu Ezure lives alone there.
Starring: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Masato Sakai, Ryôko Shinohara, Hiroshi Abe, Kôichi Satô, Ittoku Kishibe
Director: Yôjirô Takita
Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura / Destiny: Kamakura Monogatari (2017)
Comedy | Drama | Fantasy
Not only is Kamakura-based Masakazu Isshiki a mystery novelist, but he is also a good detective himself. His wife Akiko and he are acquainted with all manners of creatures and gods who are of, from or passing through the town. Dealing with and tackling his cases means he can use all the help he can get.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Mitsuki Takahata, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Sakura Andô, Min Tanaka, Tamao Nakamura, Jun Kunimura, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Tomokazu Miura
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Golden Slumber / Gôruden suranbâ (2010)
Drama | Thriller
When easy-going Aoyagi meets an old friend for a fishing trip, he ends up drugged, framed for the Prime Minister's assassination, and on the run from corrupt cops. It's only the beginning of what quickly becomes the worst, weirdest day of his life. But he'll get by with a little help from his friends, who include a famous pop diva, a rockabilly deliveryman, a crippled old gangster, and the world's most cheerful serial killer. Among the many puzzles of this twisty, clever film is how Nakamura manages to sneak a genuinely moving tribute to friendship into the madcap procession of perilous events. No matter what befalls Aoyagi, his friends and parents believe in him because of his steadfast, almost irrational pleasantness.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Yûko Takeuchi, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Gekidan Hitori, Shihori Kanjiya, Saki Aibu, Akira Emoto
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura
Key of Life / Kagi-dorobô no mesoddo (2012)
Comedy | Crime | Romance
Sakurai is an aspiring actor who becomes frustrated with his life. Sakurai then decides to kill himself, but before committing suicide Sakurai heads off to a public bathhouse. At the bathhouse, Sakurai then witnesses a man named Kondo collapse and lose his memory in front of Sakurai. On a sudden whim, Sakurai switches locker keys with Kondo and pretends to be Kondo. Sakurai soon finds himself in trouble with the yakuza.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Teruyuki Kagawa, Ryôko Hirosue
Director: Kenji Uchida
Legal High SP 2 / Rigaru Hai Supesharu (2014)
Comedy | Drama
Attorneys Kensuke (Masato Sakai) and Machiko (Yui Aragaki) receive a request from a general hospital. They go up against veteran attorney Kazuma Kuzyo who is trying to extract money from the general hospital by a medical malpractice lawsuit
Starring: Masato Sakai, Yui Aragaki
Director: Junichi Ishikawa
After School / Afutâ sukûru (2008)
Thriller
A middle school teacher, Jinno, is friends with a young couple that is about to have a baby. But on the eve of the birth, the father, Kimura, disappears. A somewhat shady private detective named Shimazaki confronts Jinno with a photo of Jinno with another woman. When they investigate in the seedy underworld of Tokyo, Jinno must confront what he thought he knew about his friend Kimura.
Starring: Yô Ôizumi, Masato Sakai, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Takako Tokiwa, Tomoko Tabata
Director: Kenji Uchida
Buddha: The Great Departure / Tezuka Osamu no budda: Akai sabaku yo! Utsukushiku (2011)
Animation
2005 years ago in India, a boy named Siddhartha Gautama of the kingdom Shakya is born. When Siddhartha was born there was a prophecy that the boy would become a king of all the kingdoms. At that time various kingdoms were continuously raging wars with each other. When the boy attained puberty, he associated with people from the lower class like Migaila a girl who was known as a thief. Siddhartha began to have doubts about the strict class system even though he is raised in luxury as a future king. Later, the powerful kingdom of Kosala attacks the kingdom of Shakya. Both sides fight fiercely. The commander of Kosala's army is the general's son Chapra. He is thought of as the most brave soldier in the kingdom of Kosala. Chapra was actually born into slavery but hid his background. By the general's order he came all the way up into his current position. Chapra wants to make a successful career for himself and Siddhartha abondons his family's wealth to find Tao. These two opposite persons meet in the war and changes the fate of their respective kingdoms…
Starring: Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Masato Sakai, Kiyokazu Kanze, Tomoka Kurotani, Nana Mizuki, Ai Orikasa, Junko Takeuchi
Director: Kôzô Morishita
Legal High / Rigaru Hai (TV Series 2012- )
Comedy
Of all the law related dramas inside and outside of the country, a majority of lawyers are depicted as heroes, either bringing tears to your eyes helping the weak underdog, or trying to advocate justice to the extreme. This has led the general public to view lawyers with eyes of respect and envy. However, the main character of "Legal High!!" stands miles away from that stereotypical identity of a lawyer. Komikado Kensuke is stubborn, abusive in his language, sarcastic, moody, and an extravagant spender. To the contrary, he has never lost a case in his life. A genius at bargaining and building strategy, winning is everything to Kensuke. His love for money, fame, and women obviously collects the dislikes of other professionals in the field. Kensuke loathes the textbook of justice the young lawyers try to brandish. Mayuzumi Machiko is a lawyer who passed her bar exam through hard studies. She is overly earnest in her mission of saving the weak, and rather clumsy and incapable of planning ahead. Her lack of versatility and strong righteousness drives her reckless, without compromise to her convictions. Passionate and determined, she is the complete opposite of Kensuke's character. "Justice is the winner," Kensuke stands by this belief without doubt. Despite the skepticism he receives for his sensational efforts, the people surrounding him begin to see that their view was but a pipe dream. In the courtroom, Kensuke reminds us of the feeling we had all forgotten: To fight with all our energy and to never give up.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Yui Aragaki, Katsuhisa Namase, Eiko Koike, Junnosuke Taguchi, Masato Yano, Kôtarô Satomi
Creator: Ryota Kosawa
Ôoku: Tanjô – Arikoto · Iemitsu-hen / Ooku: The Inner Chamber / Shogun's Harem: Birth (TV Series 2012- )
Drama | Sci-Fi
During the reign of the shogun, Iemitsu, an epidemic causes the population of men to sharply drop, leading to an ooku where the role of men and women are reversed and so "the women become the shogun, served by 3000 handsome men"…and so with that, the unimaginable and grand scale story begins.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Mikako Tabe, Koki Tanaka, Yumi Asô, Takashi Naitô, Yasunori Danda, Toshinori Omi, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Nao Minamisawa
Creator: Yumiko Kamiyama, Fumi Yoshinaga
Hanzawa Naoki (TV Mini-Series 2013)
Drama
Naoki Hanzawa (Masato Sakai) works as a loan manager at the Osaka Nishi branch of Tokyo Central Bank. One day, Naoki makes a loan contract for 500 million yen with Nishi Osaka Steel Company. Naoki didn't want to approve the loan, but he had to due to the branch manager's order. Nishi Osaka Steel Company seems financially stable, but the company actually hides massive amounts of debt through fraudulent accounts. The company is caught. Three months later, Nishi Osaka Steel Company goes bankrupt. The bank's branch manager is Asano. He is an ambitious man and tries to shift the blame to Naoki. Naoki then attends an inquiry about the loan failure at the bank's headquarters in Tokyo. Naoki denies fault and promises to retrieve the 500 million yen loan. He did this because it's the only way for Naoki to survive as a banker.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Aya Ueto, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Ken'ichi Takitô, Ainosuke Kataoka, Kin'ya Kitaôji, Yasuhito Hida, Tsurube Shôfukutei, Teruyuki Kagawa, Motoyo Yamane, Keita Ninomiya, Hidekazu Akai, Mitsu Dan, Kanji Ishimaru, Sayaka Utagawa
Creator: Jun Ikeido, Hiroyuki Yatsu
Legal High SP / Rigaru Hai (2013)
Drama
Kazuhiko Kogure, who is a 2nd grade student in middle school, falls off from one of the school's rooftop. There were other male students on the roof when Kazuhiko Kogure fell off. According to the other students there, Kazuhiko Kogure tried to jump to another school building, but missed. Fortunately, Kazuhiko Kogure only fractured his leg and ribs. According to Kazuhiko Kogure's mother Hidemi, the school insists it was students playing around and did not involve bullying. Hidemi though, doesn't believe it, because Kazuhiko Kogure has a fear of heights. Hidemi goes to see attorney Machiko Mayuzumi (Yui Aragaki) and Machiko decides to take her case, but she asks for fellow attorney Kensuke Komikado's (Masato Sakai) help. Meanwhile, the school hires attorney Teshigahara Isao (Kinya Kitaoji).
Starring: Masato Sakai, Yui Aragaki, Nana Eikura, Ryôko Hirosue, Katsuhisa Namase, Kin'ya Kitaôji
Director: Junichi Ishikawa
Legal High / Rigaru Hai (TV Series 2012- )
Comedy
Of all the law related dramas inside and outside of the country, a majority of lawyers are depicted as heroes, either bringing tears to your eyes helping the weak underdog, or trying to advocate justice to the extreme. This has led the general public to view lawyers with eyes of respect and envy. However, the main character of "Legal High!!" stands miles away from that stereotypical identity of a lawyer. Komikado Kensuke is stubborn, abusive in his language, sarcastic, moody, and an extravagant spender. To the contrary, he has never lost a case in his life. A genius at bargaining and building strategy, winning is everything to Kensuke. His love for money, fame, and women obviously collects the dislikes of other professionals in the field. Kensuke loathes the textbook of justice the young lawyers try to brandish. Mayuzumi Machiko is a lawyer who passed her bar exam through hard studies. She is overly earnest in her mission of saving the weak, and rather clumsy and incapable of planning ahead. Her lack of versatility and strong righteousness drives her reckless, without compromise to her convictions. Passionate and determined, she is the complete opposite of Kensuke's character. "Justice is the winner," Kensuke stands by this belief without doubt. Despite the skepticism he receives for his sensational efforts, the people surrounding him begin to see that their view was but a pipe dream. In the courtroom, Kensuke reminds us of the feeling we had all forgotten: To fight with all our energy and to never give up.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Yui Aragaki, Katsuhisa Namase, Eiko Koike, Junnosuke Taguchi, Masato Yano, Kôtarô Satomi
Creator: Ryota Kosawa
7 Days of Sunflower & Her Puppies / 7 Days of Himawari & Her Puppies / Himawari to koinu no nanokakan (2013)
Drama
Set within an animal shelter, where if the owner of an animal doesn't claim their pet in 7 days, the animal is put to sleep. Himawari, is a female dog and a mother. She tries to desperately save her baby dogs.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Miki Nakatani, Denden, Masayasu Wakabayashi, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Director: Emiko Hiramatsu
Abacus and Sword / Bushi no Kakeibo (2010)
Drama
Set during the Meiji Restoration period of Edo era Japan, Naoyuki (Masato Sakai) belongs to the 8th generation of the Inoyama family, a wealthy family known for finance & accounting. He is also a gifted mathematician and uses the abacus with extreme skills. Naoyuki works under the declining Kaga domain. Because of this, Naoyuki and his wife Koma (Yukie Nakama) suffer hardships as their stature and wealth dissipates.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Yukie Nakama, Keiko Matsuzaka, Masahiko Nishimura, Mitsuko Kusabue, Yuki Ito, Mina Fujii, Kaito Ohyagi, Masatoshi Nakamura
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
The Castle of Crossed Destinies / Ôoku: Eien – Emonnosuke · Tsunayoshi-hen (2012)
Drama | Sci-Fi
In the inner chambers of the Shugun's castle, 3,000 men attempt to vie for the affection of the female shogun.
Starring: Masato Sakai, Miho Kanno, Machiko Ono, Tasuku Emoto, Koki Tanaka, Jun Kaname, Ren Kiriyama
Director: Fuminori Kaneko
