Shitamachi Rocket 2015

Drama: Downtown Rocket (English & literal title)
Romaji: Shitamachi Rocket
Japanese: 下町ロケット
Director: Katsuo Fukuzawa
Writer: Jun Ikeido (novel), Hiroyuki Yatsu
Network: TBS
Episodes: 10
Release Date: October 18 – December 20, 2015
Runtime: Sundays 21:00
TV Ratings: 18.5%
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Ryohei Tsukuda (Hiroshi Abe) worked as a researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. He now runs a family-owned factory that manufactures small engines. His daughter Rina (Tao Tsuchiya) is a high school student. He doesn’t get along well with his daughter, but the family owned business is improving. Ryohei attempts to develop a rocket engine, which is a lifelong dream for him, but it causes his factory to suffer.

One day, an important client stops ordering from Ryohei’s company. He tries to borrow money from the bank, but the bank declines his loan application. To make matters worse, a rival factory sues Ryohei’s company for patent infringement. Ryohei and his employees face a dire situation.

At this time, a large company offers a deal to Ryohei. The company wants to buy their patent for 2 billion yen. Ryohei must decide whether to sell the company’s patent or follow his dream.

Notes

Based on two novels in the “Shitamachi Rocket” novel series by Jun Ikeido: “Shitamachi Rocket” (published from April 18, 2008 to May 22, 2009 in weekly magazine Weekly Post) and “Shitamachi Rocket 2 Gaudi keikaku” (published November 5, 2015 by Shogakukan).
Novel “Shitamachi Rocket” won the 145th Naoki Prize in 2011.
Related titles (drama series):
1. Downtown Rocket | Shitamachi Rocket (TBS / 2015)
2. Downtown Rocket 2 | Shitamachi Rocket (TBS / 2018)

Cast



Hiroshi Abe	Tao Tsuchiya	Danshun Tatekawa	Ken Yasuda	Soko Wada
Ryohei Tsukuda	Rina Tsukuda	Naohiro Tonomura	Mitsuhiko Yamazaki	Haruki Ebara



Hiroki Konno	Ikusaburo Yamazaki	Ken Nakamoto	Ayumi Tanida	Tomoya Nakamura
Shigeru Sakota	Kensaku Mano	Kaoru Tsuno	Atsushi Karakida	Shohei Asaki



Shinnosuke Abe	Ryoma Takeuchi	Gaku Sano	Miki Maya	Hirofumi Arai
Kosuke Yason	Yosuke Tachibana	Koji Kawamoto	Saya Izumi	Keji Tomiyama



Houka Kinoshita	Satoshi Hashimoto	Shota Shunputei	Hideo Higashikokubaru	Shinnosuke Ikehata
Shigeharu Suibara	Kimiyasu Mita	Tetsuji Yanai	Setsuo Negi	Kyoichi Nakagawa