Shin Chuuka Ichiban! - Recommendations

• TV (39 eps)
• 1992 - 1993

• Other

Izumi Inaba is a high school girl who has cooking skills rivaling professionals. A bizarre incident leads her to accidentally travel back in time to Japan's Bakumatsu period in the middle of the 19th century. There, she meets Hijikata Toshizou, a famous commander of the shogunate's shinsengumi police, and her top class cooking skills impress Hijikata enough for him to induct Izumi into the shinsengumi.

• TV (26 eps)
• 2007

During the mid 19th century, the people of Edo were banned from experiencing a luxury lifestyle (including dealings with fireworks, inventions, and performances). Regardless, Seikichi Tamaya, fireworks artisan, can’t live without creating bigger and better fireworks. One day, the monotony was broken by the arrival of two powerful beasts; and while one was defeated, the other escaped due to the distraction caused by Seikichi’s fireworks. Subsequently, a beautiful and mysterious girl soon appeared and asked Seikichi to create fireworks that can reach the moon! Now, while trying to discover the truth behind the girl and the beasts, can Seikichi succeed at creating fireworks that can fly into the depths of the sky?

• DVD Special (7 eps)
• 2011 - 2012

• Movie (1 ep)
• 1980

Eight-year-old Remi lives in a quiet village with his mother. His father, Jerome Barbarin, lives in Paris and provides the family with money to stay afloat; but soon they receive word that Jerome has been in a terrible accident and cannot support them further. After struggling through a tough winter, Remi and his mother are soon elated to see that their father has returned home - but he is not the man that he used to be. Cold and distant, Jerome soon secretly sells Remi to a traveling entertainer; and thus Remi's hardships begin. Moving from place to place, Remi experiences tragedy on a large scale. Friends come, go, and die; newfound families are torn apart; and otherwise Remi is abused, abandoned, and mistreated. Can Remi ever find his place in the world?

• DVD Special (3 eps)
• 1997

• Movie (1 ep)
• 1984

Oshin comes from a family of poor rice farmers. Her father and brother must work in the fields and her grandmother and mother, who is expecting another child, barely have enough to eat. In order to make ends meet for her family, 7-year-old Oshin gives up school and decides to become a servant in the household of a wealthy family, where she faces trials and tribulation beyond her worst fears.

• DVD Special (6 eps)
• 2011 - 2012

• Movie (1 ep)
• 1997

During the Bakumatsu Period, death filled Japan as people fought for what was in their hearts. A young man took up the sword to fight for the Meiji government: he was known as Hitokiri Battousai. It is now the 12th year of the Meiji Period, and Hitokiri Battousai is now known as Himura Kenshin; he atones for his sins by carrying a reversed-blade sword that will never kill again. During a trip to Yokohama, Kenshin meets a samurai named Takimi Shigure who lost a close friend, Takatsuki Gentatsu, during the conflicts in the past. Takimi blames himself foolishly for his friend’s death, and vows to take revenge upon this corrupt Meiji government who wasted Gentatsu's sacrifice. As swords weave blood from their masters' enemies upon the bloody ground, one thing is certain: revenge will bring only suffering and regret is a miserable feeling.

• Movie (1 ep)
• 2003