Hanzawa Naoki is a 2013 Japanese television series by Japanese broadcaster TBS based on the Hanzawa Naoki series of novels by Jun Ikeido. It follows the story of Hanzawa Naoki, a banker working for the largest bank in Japan, Tokyo Chuo Bank. He faces numerous obstacles from upper management as he climbs his way up the ranks. The show received consistently high ratings: the final episode reached 42.2% in the Kanto area, the highest figure for a drama in the Heisei Era. The show's popularity in viewer polls achieved the highest rating in three decades of Japanese television drama. Following its success as the most-watched series in Japan, Hanzawa Naoki made was broadcast overseas in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as Jamaica and the Marshall Islands. It was also distributed by Japan Foundation in some Latin American countries such as Mexico and Paraguay, dubbed in Spanish. A second season was announced in 2019, scheduled for the spring of 2020. Due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, the series broadcast and filming have been postponed.
Cast
Masato Sakai as Naoki Hanzawa, a charismatic banker who works for the Tokyo Central Bank.
Aya Ueto as Hana Hanzawa, the wife of Naoki Hanzawa.
Mitsuhiro Oikawa as Shinobu Tomari, a close friend of Naoki who he met during the induction of the bank.
Kenichi Takito as Naosuke Kondo, a former employee of Tokyo Central Bank and close friend of Naoki and Tomari.
Teruyuki Kagawa as Akira Ohwada, the director of Tokyo Central Bank.
Kin'ya Kitaōji as Ken Nakanowatari, the chairman of Tokyo Central Bank.
Kanji Ishimaru as Tadasu Asano, the branch manager at the Osaka Nishi branch.
Plot
Osaka arc
Naoki Hanzawa joins the Sangyo Chuo Bank and becomes Chief of the Loans Division at the Osaka Nishi branch. He is forced by branch manager Asano to grant an unsecured loan of 500 million yen to Nishi Osaka Steel. However, Nishi Osaka Steel goes bankrupt, and both president Mitsuru Higashida and the 500 million yen loan disappear. Asano shifts the blame to Hanzawa and orders him to recover the amount. Hanzawa joins forces with Kiyohiko Takeshita, whose business was lost as collateral damage from Nishi Osaka Steel's bankruptcy. The two discover that the entire event was a scheme set up by Asano and Higashida. Racing against time and the Taxation Office investigation, Naoki is able to recover the entire 500 million yen for the bank. Hanzawa wishes to expose Asano to the media, but out of sympathy for his wife and family he instead leverages his evidence against Asano, ensuring that his subordinates can be promoted to positions of their choice. Subsequently, Hanzawa is promoted to deputy Manager of the 2nd Operations Department at banks' Tokyo Headquarters.
Tokyo arc
One year later, Hanzawa is placed in charge of investigating Iseshima Hotel, which borrowed 20 billion yen from Tokyo Chuo Bank. The hotel suffered a loss of 12 billion yen, and with an FSA inspection coming up, the bank may potentially have to provide a loan loss provision of 150 billion yen should Iseshima Hotel be labelled bankrupt. Hanzawa discovers that Director Owada was at the forefront of providing the loan to Iseshima Hotel, even though there was substantial evidence showing that the hotel was not in a good financial position. Kondo, a friend of Hanzawa who works at Tamiya Electric, discovers that Owada was also behind an indirect loan to Laffite, a fashion company owned by Owada's wife. Hanzawa puts this evidence against Owada in front of a board of directors meeting, leading to the demise of Director Owada. Seeking personal revenge for his father's death, Hanzawa forces Owada to kneel down before him and apologize for his actions in front of all the board members, despite his supervisor and the Chairman's disapproval. During the final scene, Chairman Nakanowatari is seen giving Owada a small demotion to board member while Hanzawa is "exiled" from the bank to Tokyo Central Securities.
