The premiere episode of the Fuji TV drama series "CHANGE" aired on Monday night. It received a respectable 23.8% rating, though it was surely lower than the network had hoped for (especially with a promotional campaign giving away a free car). It failed to beat out NTV's "Gokusen 3" which started out last month at 26.4%. This is the first time since the 1998 drama "Nemureru Mori" that a Takuya Kimura series has not had the highest-rated first episode of the season.

On the other hand, the series can also be seen as a minor triumph in an era of declining ratings, given that it has the highest-rated premiere for an original series in the past 3 years.