The Best TV Shows on NHK G

Every NHK G Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Peruse our comprehensive roster of NHK G’s top shows, encompassing over 20 distinct series as of January 2026. A broadcaster of distinction, NHK G has aired more than 20 shows between 1978 and 2025. Premiering in 1978 and 1982, Future Boy Conan and The Mysterious Cities of Gold are among NHK G’s most celebrated shows.

  • Unbound
    Unbound (2025)9.2

    In 18th-century Edo, Tsutaya Juzaburo rises from a poor background to become a leading publisher. Despite political changes threatening his career, he works to shape Edo’s cultural scene through innovative books and collaborations with artists.

  • Dear Radiance
    Dear Radiance (2024)9.0

    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)

  • 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. Japanese Broadcast Version

  • 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!

  • Vinland Saga
    Vinland Saga (2019)8.5

    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.

  • Future Boy Conan
    Future Boy Conan (1978)8.4

    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.

  • 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.

  • Massan
    Massan (2014)8.0

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Mare
    Mare (2015)7.7

    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.

  • Kingdom
    Kingdom (2012)7.6

    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.

  • Yell
    Yell (2020)7.5

    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. 

  • Yowamushi Pedal
    Yowamushi Pedal (2013)7.0

    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.

  • Tsurune
    Tsurune (2018)7.0

    After target panic drives him from archery in middle school, Minato decides to return to the sport when his friends join the high school kyudo club.

  • 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.

  • Dondo Hare
    Dondo Hare (2007)N/A

    Natsumi is the 23 years old daughter of a master baker in Yokohama and in training with her father to become a pastry chef. She lives with her parents and younger brother in Yokohama. One day she travels to Iwate Prefecture with her boyfriend Masaki for his grandmother Katsuno's 77th birthday. While they are there, Katsuno, head okami of a famous ryokan in Morioka City, becomes ill and asks Masaki to return to run the ryokan. Natsumi returns to Yokohama and later Masaki visits, asking her to disregard their earlier plans to get married because he will return to Morioka as requested by Katsuno. However, Natsumi surprises him with a vow to become the ryokan's okami. Is Natsumi in for clear skies as suggested by the series name?