Saka no Ue no Kumo

based on non-fiction novel 'Sakanoue no Kumo'; 
wrote by Shiba Ryotaro (1923-1996).

a famous author.. 
one of the greatest japanese writer in this century.
- based on one of his well known novels .. which described historical events happened in Japan and North-East Asia continent. he also did cultural writings about the link and relationship of Japan with the rest of the world. 
- Saka no Ue no Kumo was wrote and published in year 1969. and it's taking 10 years for the novel to be completed.
- Basically the background story took the set of World War Zero: The Russo-Japanese War period.
 

theme song: 

Stand Alone composed by Joe Hisaishi [vocalised by Sarah Brightman]
written by Kundo Koyama, and recorded with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

broadcast:

NHK took 5 years to transform the novel into TV version with a budget around 60 million yen.
and the filming took
about 2 years .. which Russia and China included as the filming location.

Autumn 2009 [episode 1-episode 5] = 5 weeks
Autumn 2010 [episode 6-episode 9] = 4 weeks
Auumn 2011 [episode 10-episode 13] = 4 weeks

for 2009 broadcast:

29.11.2009
Episode 1 - The Juvenile Land

6.12.2009
Episode 2 - The Blue Clouds

13.12.2009
Episode 3 - The Nation's Rumbling

20.12.2009
Episode 4 - The Start of The Sino-Japanese War

27.12.2009
Episode 5 - The Overseas Student

casts and relationships:

motoki masahiro, abe hiroshi, kanno miho, matsu takako, kagawa teruyuki etc.
if not mistaken, ken watanabe did the narration.

motoki and abe are brothers... miho and kagawa are brother-sister ...
they were born as poor village people. meanwhile, matsu is a lady from a rich family.
abe and matsu will ended up as husband and wife.
while motoki and miho ... we'll see if they gonna re-united again.
coz from what i understand, motoki's wife will be ishihara satomi.

official site:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/matsuyama/sakanoue/