Kimura Takuya’s “Kimichika Kazama: Kyojo Zero” drama series is not doing that great in the ratings

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For Kimura Takuya, the ’90s and 2000s were golden years for the actor/singer who would achieve drama ratings over 20% that many networks considered as golden (the 1996 drama “Long Vacation” earned 29.5% and the final episode 36.7%). And his drama ratings were still strong in the 2010’s, despite showing dropoff in the ratings.

But in 2022, Kimura faced his first major drama ratings disaster with TV Asahi “Mirai e no 10 Count” which ended with nine episodes and had a single digit percentage rating at 9%. His latest drama “Kimichika Kazama: Kyojo Zero” (a prequel to the popular “Kyoujo” series) is now dwindling from the 12% rating from the first episode and episode 6 dropping to 8.3%.

While media may report that Kimura’s golden touch is wavering, the truth is that times have changed and Kimura Takuya has grown older. The types of dramas that appealed to people were stories of young people in their late teens to 20s, which Kimura Takuya was best known for through the ’90s and early 2000s.

This happens to many actors and actresses worldwide.  They go through these situations but hopefully there is a film or series that will prop that actor back to the top.

Kimura is still a magnificent actor but the romance comedies or tragic romance dramas that he appeared in, are not the type of drama roles he does now. Kimura is wiser, mature and he is taking on roles as such.

“Kimichika Kazama: Kyojo Zero” episode 6 was a major episode as it would reveal how the character he plays, got his prosthetic eye. But perhaps viewers were not ready to see how he lost his eye through an act of violence.

But Japanese dramas as a whole has been losing out in the ratings, with more competition through streaming programming and also through what is offered online.

I know many people want to see the golden ratings of the Kimura of the ’90s and 2000s. But times have changed, and the actor has gotten older. Perhaps media shouldn’t be too overly concerned by how this drama is performing and consider it a sign that Kimura’s popularity is waning (he is still popular but moreso on a different level than the “Long Vacation”, “Love Generation” and “Hero” years), but moreso focus on why Japanese dramas in general, why the ratings are dropping.

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