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Season 1 – Asura

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – Asura Jan 2025 Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
100% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 94% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
In 1979 Tokyo, four distinct sisters uncover their aging father's affair, causing their happy facades and bottled-up emotions to slowly unravel.
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Asura — Season 1

Asura — Season 1

What to Know

Critics Consensus

A richly realized period piece guided along by writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda's characteristic empathy, Asura mines terrific drama from the joy and strife of family ties.

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Critics Reviews

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Moira MacDonald Seattle Times 06/10/2025
Watching “Asura is a gentle and often transformative experience — like Kore-eda’s movies but even more immersive. Go to Full Review
Judy Berman TIME Magazine 03/04/2025
Kore-eda takes a refreshingly humanistic approach. Go to Full Review
Wenlei Ma The Nightly (AU) 02/19/2025
Hopefully, audiences in 2025 haven’t been trained out of character-driven storytelling. Asura makes a persuasive case why it’s so rewarding. Go to Full Review
Jan Lee The Straits Times (Singapore) Aug 14
4/5
The cast is stellar, with major roles filled by household names in Japan. Everyone does a good job of giving his or her character depth and preventing him or her from becoming a stereotype in a very old-fashioned story of family conflict and infidelity. Go to Full Review
Rachel Ho Exclaim! 05/14/2025
Tender, funny, raw — everything that makes television a transformative experience. Go to Full Review
Ernesto Diezmartinez Letras Libres 04/30/2025
3/4
At first glance, the miniseries directed by Hirokazu Koreeda brings together trivial moments in the lives of four sisters. But the Japanese director reveals the complexity of his characters in every gesture and every word.[Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Twila P @Twi125 3d I give it a 7/10. Its watchable but not an amazing series. It is a slow-moving series , 7 episodes. See more Ron G @RT48342791 Jun 21 First. I saw the english overdubbed version. So right away you lose the inflections and acting that goes along with the original voices. After that is is a slow dysfunctional family drama that moves so slowly you want to give up. If you just want to watch something about people living their everyday lives, saying everyday things. Then this is for you. Its equivalent to watching a mediocre reality TV show See more Clara T @RT88608422 05/12/2025 A hidden gem. Thank you Netflix Japan for always saving my year subscription 🙏 See more Karen L @RT71438520 02/15/2025 The best series I've seen all year. Very insightful and refreshing. A wonderful view of Japenese culture, especially the food. See more Paukl S @RT90953827 02/09/2025 Apart from the flawless performances of the cast - from the sisters, their parents and their partners - all the minor roles are cast and perform with conviction. However, strangely, neither professional reviewers nor public ones identify the central role that food and tea - and their sharing - play symbolically and practically not just in every episode but in almost every key scene. I can think of no other movie (nor culture) where food and drinks play such a fascinating and prominent symbolic and illustrative commentary on social mores). In addition the series offers a powerful critique of a male dominated society in which women and men (albeit in apparently opposite ways) are victims of restrictive and constraining gendered conventions that isolate and separate them each from the other - “like flies in aspic” From beginning to end there is a wonderful restrained depth to this movie and it will stay with me for a very long time - not least, perhaps’ because there is no forced conclusion - neither a conventional Hollywood happy ending nor a dark and superficial dramatic intervention of a malign deus ex machina. The characters will live on in my mind and my heart forever struggling with the tangled complexities that make the “meeting of true minds” an almost and sad impossibility as we live out each of our lives in an unfulfilled and ultimately unfulfilling solipsistic universe. Pablo See more Louise L @RT70793021 01/23/2025 This is an absorbing story that brings you right into the intimacy of family life. See more Read all reviews
Asura — Season 1

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Jan 9, 2025 One wintry morning, the usually reserved Takiko calls her three sisters for a meeting, sharing news about their father's affair. Details Episode 2 Aired Jan 9, 2025 Troubled by the news, Makiko has an ominous dream; the sisters find a letter about the affair in the local newspaper, but who could have written it? Details Episode 3 Aired Jan 9, 2025 Sakiko deals with a painful betrayal; Takiko falls in love; Tsunako's affair takes a dangerous turn; Makiko catches their mother somewhere surprising. Details Episode 4 Aired Jan 9, 2025 When Kotaro accidentally starts a fire, the sisters return to their childhood home to manage the aftermath with plenty of bickering and laughter. Details Episode 5 Aired Jan 9, 2025 Chaos erupts and egos flare as Kotaro takes a lodger; Tsunako meets her son's fiancée; Makiko confronts suspicions; the family gathers for a wedding. Details Episode 6 Aired Jan 9, 2025 While Sakiko struggles with Hide's erratic behavior, Makiko tries to distract herself by arranging a marriage partner for the reluctant Tsunako. Details Episode 7 Aired Jan 9, 2025 As unexpected situations spiral out of control, can the Takezawa sisters put aside their differences and long-standing tensions to support each other? Details
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Season Info

Director
Hirokazu Koreeda
Network
Netflix
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date
Jan 9, 2025