An article that appeared in December in the Yomiuri Shimbun weighed the prospects for the 2016 edition of NHK's year-long historical taiga drama series, which premiered Jan. 10. "Sanada Maru" is the title of the 55th marathon show, and the name of a fortification added on to Osaka Castle to protect it from a planned siege in 1615, 12 years after the Tokugawa shogunate started unifying Japan under its rule. The Yomiuri says this particular period in time is "obviously NHK's favorite," since so many taiga dramas are set around the Warring States Period (in the 15th and 16th centuries). Big events and players from the period have been dramatized multiple times over the years in these series.