Fuji TV Opens Yuji Oda 'Odoru Daisousasen' Film Marathon With 1998 Original on August 15

On Saturday, August 15, 2026, Fuji TV kicked off a prime-time marathon of the entire Odoru Daisousasen (Bayside Shakedown) film franchise starring Yuji Oda, opening with the 1998 theatrical original “Odoru Daisousasen THE MOVIE” at 9:00 p.m. JST on the network’s Saturday Premium slot. The nine-title run — eight feature films plus one special drama — airs in 4K remastered editions through October 10, building toward the September 18 nationwide release of the first new Aoshima-centered film in 14 years: “Odoru Daisousasen N.E.W. Metoropolis wo Kakenukero!”

Editor’s note: This article draws on Fuji TV program announcements, the official Odoru Daisousasen N.E.W. website, and coverage from Eiga.com and Cinema Cafe, August 2–15, 2026.

What Fuji TV is airing

Fuji TV announced the retrospective to mark the upcoming theatrical release of N.E.W. — short for Next, Evolution, World — in which Yuji Oda returns as detective Shunsaku Aoshima, now assigned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigation Division rather than the fictional Wangan Police Station (“vacant-lot precinct”) that defined the original 1997 drama.

Detail	Information
Total titles	8 theatrical films + 1 special TV drama
Format	4K remastered versions
Time slot	Golden-time Saturday Premium (mostly 9:00 p.m. JST)
Run dates	August 15 – October 10, 2026
New film release	September 18, 2026 (Toho distribution)

Two spin-off features — “Muroi Shinji: Never Give Up” and “Muroi Shinji: Lives On” — will receive their first terrestrial television broadcasts as part of the marathon, Fuji TV said.

August 15 opener: ‘THE MOVIE’ (1998)

The August 15 broadcast reintroduced audiences to the franchise’s first big-screen chapter. Directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro from a script by Ryoichi Kimizuka, the film follows Wangan detectives Aoshima and Sumire Onda (Eri Fukatsu) as a river drowning morphs into a bizarre homicide — a teddy bear found in the victim’s stomach — while a wave of thefts and a case that rattles the National Police Agency unfold in parallel.

The cast that anchored the series for decades appears throughout: Toshirō Yanagiba as Shinji Muroi, Miki Mizuno as Yukino Kashiwagi, and veteran comic Chosuke Ikariya as Heihachiro Waku. The 1998 film helped turn Odoru Daisousasen from a hit Fuji TV drama into Japan’s highest-grossing live-action film franchise of its era.

Full broadcast schedule

Date	Time (JST)	Title
Aug. 15 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	Odoru Daisousasen THE MOVIE (1998)
Aug. 22 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	THE MOVIE 2: Lock Down the Rainbow Bridge! (2003)
Sep. 5 (Sat)	8:00 p.m.	THE MOVIE 3: Set Them Free! (2010)
Sep. 12 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	Special drama THE LAST: Salaryman Detective and the Final Case
Sep. 19 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	THE FINAL: New Hope (2012)
Sep. 26 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	Negotiator Makishima Masayoshi (2008)
Oct. 1 (Thu)	9:00 p.m.	Suspect Muroi Shinji (2004)
Oct. 3 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	Muroi Shinji: Never Give Up (2022) ※ terrestrial premiere
Oct. 10 (Sat)	9:00 p.m.	Muroi Shinji: Lives On (2023) ※ terrestrial premiere

The schedule places THE FINAL on the Saturday immediately after N.E.W. opens in cinemas, bookending the classic run with the franchise’s most recent Aoshima-led theatrical chapter before the new installment takes center stage.

Why the franchise still matters

Odoru Daisousasen began as a January 1997 Fuji TV drama about a former salaryman who quit his desk job to join the police — a premise that broke from the stoic detective archetype and openly satirized Japan’s rigid police hierarchy. The show became a national phenomenon, and its eight theatrical releases have drawn a combined 38.63 million admissions and roughly ¥52.41 billion in box-office revenue, according to the official N.E.W. production materials.

THE MOVIE 2 (2003) alone earned ¥17.35 billion, a figure that turned the series into a cultural touchstone. The last Aoshima-centered theatrical entry, THE FINAL: New Hope, arrived in 2012; spin-offs then shifted focus to Muroi, played by Yanagiba, before Oda and the core creative team — director Motohiro, writer Kimizuka, and producer Chihiro Kameyama — reunited for N.E.W.

What ‘N.E.W.’ brings back

The September 18 release relocates Aoshima to the Metropolitan Police as Tokyo faces a kidnapping codenamed the “225 case,” a string of murders tied to 3D-printed handguns, and a threat to release a stolen toxic virus across the city. Trailers and synopses also highlight a police force increasingly steered by AI-driven case prioritization — a contemporary wrinkle on the series’ longstanding critique of bureaucracy.

Returning cast members include Miki Mizuno, Masatoshi Nagase, Junichi Ito, and Soichiro Kitamura, alongside newcomers such as Shuri, Hayato Isomura, and Takahisa Masuda. Composer Akihiko Matsumoto returns, and Oda reprises his series theme “Love Somebody” in a cinema version.

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Discussion

Fourteen years is a long gap between theatrical chapters — long enough that some viewers watching on August 15 may have been children when THE FINAL played in cinemas.

1. Does a 4K TV marathon replace the big-screen experience for a franchise built on theatrical spectacle?

Odoru Daisousasen films were engineered for communal cinema crowds — especially the Rainbow Bridge set pieces. For fans who cannot reach theaters in September, does golden-time Fuji TV feel like a worthy prelude or a consolation prize?

2. After spin-offs centered on Muroi, what does Aoshima’s return to the Metropolitan Police signal about where the story goes next?

The Wangan precinct was the series’ emotional home. Moving Aoshima upstairs could refresh the formula — or distance the character from what made the original drama feel subversive. Which outcome are longtime viewers hoping for?

If you grew up with the 1997 drama, caught the films in 2003, or are discovering the franchise through this marathon, which entry still defines Odoru Daisousasen for you?

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