Spring is in the air, and a batch of new drama series is being launched this week. Family themes seem to be dominant, but, of course, romance is never far away.

The title of Fuji TV's "Ha-nayome to Papa" (The Bride and Papa; Tuesday, 9 p.m.) sums up its simple idea very neatly. The distinction seems to be the young age of the prospective bride. Aiko (Satomi Ishihara) is 20 years old and has just landed the job of her dreams in the public relations department of a famous apparel maker. She makes friends with Seiji (Junnosuke Taguchi), another freshman employee, and he invites her to dinner one day.

The invitation is a problem because Aiko's father (Saburo Tokito) runs his household by a strict set of rules, one of which is that Aiko must be home from work by 7 p.m. Aiko has always hated these rules, and now that she's entered adulthood, she doesn't understand why she still has to follow them.