What dramas are you currently watching?

junny wrote:...

What j-dramas are you watching?

Still on a C-dramas-stint :sweat: (plus there are the MLB finals - go Rays btw :victory: - and in a coupla weeks NPB playoffs are bound to start - basically, go anybody except Yomiuri :mrgreen: )
They've actually started subbing a few J-dramas I'm really interested in (apart from "Gokushufudo": "Kiken na Venus", "35-sai no Shoujo", "Shichinin no Hisho" and "Toritsu Mizusho!") but after having had my two absolute favorite dorama (speaking of those I was watching / have watched recently) dropped mid-way by the respective subbers who moved on to other projects (in case you're curious, the dorama were "Joshi Kosei no Mudazukai" and "Tantei ga Hayasugiru" imho some of the funniest and wittiest dramas ever), well, I'm not gonna start any other drama unless it's been subbed to completion! :puppydog: :banghead:

pash wrote:
They've actually started subbing a few J-dramas I'm really interested in (apart from "Gokushufudo": "Kiken na Venus", "35-sai no Shoujo", "Shichinin no Hisho" and "Toritsu Mizusho!") but after having had my two absolute favorite dorama (speaking of those I was watching / have watched recently) dropped mid-way by the respective subbers who moved on to other projects (in case you're curious, the dorama were "Joshi Kosei no Mudazukai" and "Tantei ga Hayasugiru" imho some of the funniest and wittiest dramas ever), well, I'm not gonna start any other drama unless it's been subbed to completion! :puppydog: :banghead:

It's a shame about Tantei ga Hayasugiru - I wasn't watching, but I've not seen HPriest drop a drama in the middle of subbing, so this was a bit surprising. Maybe HPriest will pick it up again. I will KIV Kiken na Venus, I don't feel up for another Yoshitaka Yuriko drama so soon after Shiranakute Ii Koto (and I watched that one mostly for Sasaki Kuranosuke).

Blitz and Monchi are subbing Gokushufudou, and I think it's safe to start since they generally finish the projects they start. Anyway, episode 2 was hilarious as well.

The subber for Shichinin no Hisho is a Kimura Fumino fan, so she'll see the project to the end too.

I'm interested in trying out a taiga while I wait for Kirin ga Kuru to finish, but am still weighing my options. Suggestions are welcome.

junny wrote:

It's a shame about Tantei ga Hayasugiru - I wasn't watching, but I've not seen HPriest drop a drama in the middle of subbing, so this was a bit surprising.

...and by Murphy's Law of course it happened with one I was so much interested in, LOL :bonk:

Maybe HPriest will pick it up again.

Hopefully so! :puppydog:
I must confess not knowing much about subbers...I used to download (as it would be better, I know) directly from subbers when I started watching dorama, but over the years I've gotten lazy and now I get everything from streaming sites (I know, I know, shame on me... :beaten: )
BTW, if anybody knows of subbers who take requests, could you please tell me? I have this thing engrained in me from the old times that requesting subs is a big no-no, but maybe things have changed meanwhile? :sweat:

I will KIV Kiken na Venus, I don't feel up for another Yoshitaka Yuriko drama so soon after Shiranakute Ii Koto (and I watched that one mostly for Sasaki Kuranosuke).

Yoshitaka-wise, I still have to finish "Watashi, Teiji de Kaerimasu" (which was such a big let-down as far as I'm concerned) and I haven't watched "Shiranakute Ii koto" yet...was it any good btw?

I'm interested in trying out a taiga while I wait for Kirin ga Kuru to finish, but am still weighing my options. Suggestions are welcome.

I wish I could help you there, but the magnificent world of taiga dorama is one I still have to discover.... :sweat:
(I know it's not a taiga, but the setting being quite similar, I must say I'm pretty curious about "Hissatsu Shigotonin", considering the huge success it's had...the original, 84-eps. long series is nowhere to be found though, only the mostly subbed sequel dorama from 2009 and the following, almost yearly SPs - in that case, alas, mostly unsubbed, I think...has anybody here watched any of it? Is it good?)

Finished "Zekkyou": https://asianwiki.com/The_Voice_Calling_Your_Name

Another one of those short, dark dramas that WOWOW specializes in. Machiko Ono excellent as usual.

Watched "Tokyo Tarareba Musume 2020" and imho this SP episode is...nothing special... :beaten:
p.s.
Finished "Konna Mirai wa Kiitenai" and it's plainly terrible... :bleh:

Finished "Furo Girl" and honestly, the only reason why I kept watching it was that every now and then they'd give some interesting info on "home ec" stuff like how to make inexpensive and environmentally-friendly cleaning products with baking soda and citric acid and so on...honestly, I should've watched some tutorial on YT and left this lousy drama alone. 4/10

Talking about crappy stuff, I dropped "Youkai Sharehouse"...I'm honestly tired of productions depicting all us middle-aged straight men as shitty people... :grumble:
(I think I'll drop "Watashi, Teiji de Kaerimasu" for the same reason) 3/10

On a totally different note, I've started the 3rd season of "Furuhata Ninzaburo" and the "Japanese Columbo" is always great instead! :victory:

Oh, I finished also "Cheat" and that was so-and-so (7/10); if you like the genre like I do, you'll probably still like it, like I did. But don't expect it to be as good as the "Ocean's" trilogy or, to stay in Japan, as "The Confidence Man JP". The directing, photography, editing and music are perfect indeed, but neither the script nor the cast are: the former is ok on the cons' plots, which are intriguing, but lacks on characters development (they're bidimensional) and on comic relief (wishing to be funny and ending up being ridiculous instead); the latter is not up to par: Fukuhara Haruka and Kaneko Daichi are both very good, but Honda Tsubasa and Kazama Shunsuke are both plainly terrible (the former, as I already wrote, bringing the not so fine art of overacting to reach new depths; and the latter constantly acting as if he were God's sexy gift to humanity - I so much wanted to shout at him: "No offense, dude, but you're three feet tall and you have crossed eyes...come off it, will ya?"...^__^;;;...)

(Honda's and Kazama's fans will start a "fatwa" now, LOL....but what I can I say, I honestly think they were really, really terrible in this...I haven't watched a lot of stuff with them - actually, only two more titles which I don't even remember well - so it could totally be that they're actually decent actors and the fault here lies solely with the script...so, peace! :victory: )

LOL Pash, your comments are always amusing to read :mrgreen: As for Yoshitaka Yuriko, I watched her latest movie with Yokohama Ryusei, and she's still the same old, same old. If you aren't enjoying Watashi, Teiji de Kaerimasu, then I suggest you drop it. That said, I enjoyed Shiranakute Ii Koto, but not for her - it was really the magazine setting that sucked me in, and Sasaki Kuranosuke. I do recommend it if you like that kind of story. Pity about Youkai Sharehouse though, I have that on my to-watch list and heard it was good.

Re the subbers... I think generally a direct request/demand is probably still not advisable, but you could always suggest. Some subbers are more amenable to requests, and there are a few who post on twitter the dramas they think they'd like to sub every season and people would respond. So have a look on twitter.

I'm five episodes into Suits 2 and quite enjoying it. Kai is in big trouble this season and poor Tamai is getting flak too. I'm invested enough to want to see how things turn out for them.

Four episodes into Gokushufudou and it's still stupidly funny, but I admit a large part of my enjoyment is really just watching Tamaki Hiroshi be funny to the max.

Finished the Kinou nani Tabeta SP, and it's still as good as ever. A great follow-up to the drama, which was already awesome, and all the feels came back with the SP and more. Shirou and Kenji are couple goals!

Thinking of starting MIU404 one of these days, and have to finish up the last two episodes of Yami no Bansosha season 2.

junny wrote:LOL Pash, your comments are always amusing to read :mrgreen:

Thanks junny, much appreciated! :mrgreen:

As for Yoshitaka Yuriko, I watched her latest movie with Yokohama Ryusei, and she's still the same old, same old.

You mean "Kimi no Me ga Toikakete Iru"? (btw, ain't that title a homage to my beloved "Kimi no Te ga Sasayaite Iru"? :sweat: )
Might I ask you where you found it? Many TIA! :bow: :victory:

If you aren't enjoying Watashi, Teiji de Kaerimasu, then I suggest you drop it.

I have it on hold atm...then again, I only have three episodes left, so maybe I'll finish it sooner or later... :sweat:

That said, I enjoyed Shiranakute Ii Koto, but not for her - it was really the magazine setting that sucked me in, and Sasaki Kuranosuke. I do recommend it if you like that kind of story.

Thanks for the tip! I must confess the setting isn't so appealing to poor old me (I dislike journos, LOL :mrgreen: ) but sooner or later I tend to watch everything with my faves (including stuff I know beforehand I'm gonna hate - like "Kakafukaka", for example, or a coupla other titles with my beloved Moririn :bonk: )

Pity about Youkai Sharehouse though, I have that on my to-watch list and heard it was good.

Tastes, just like sensitivity on specific matters, are always a very personal thing, so the fact that I disliked it doesn't mean anything...let's say I objectively found it tremendously repetitive (basically, in every episode I've watched the plot was: some straight male mistreats women, and the youkai punish him); now, subjectively I found that approach offensive (how about portraying a woman mistreating other women as well? Or a gay male as the villain, for once? I've met some IRL who straight out *hated* women and were not shy to say it out loud, btw, so I don't think that would be unrealistic), but I'm sure many others will love it precisely for that instead...

Re the subbers... I think generally a direct request/demand is probably still not advisable, but you could always suggest. Some subbers are more amenable to requests, and there are a few who post on twitter the dramas they think they'd like to sub every season and people would respond. So have a look on twitter.

Thanks a lot for the tips! :woot:

Thinking of starting MIU404 one of these days...

A friend of mine watched it, I remember him being a lil' skeptical at first, but he eventually reviewed it very positively... :woot:

Kono Koi Atatamemasuka.

Mori Nana is fun to watch. I like the conbini family too. It had a slow start but I really enjoyed the last few episodes.

Neechan no Koibito episode 1

It takes a little bit getting used to but I like it by the end. They included covid and there seemed to be quite a bit of nuances and foreshadowing. The first thing that I noticed was how much the main cast members aged though.

Caught up to episode 3. I am surprised by how much I enjoyed both dramas. It's been more than a year since I watched jdoramas seriously.

Episode 4 just flew by. So good. I love Okada Yoshikazu's writing.

xploring wrote: (...) I love Okada Yoshikazu's writing.

Also one of my faves! :victory:

From one of my favorite writers to another: I've started "Gomen ne Seishun!" and so far I'm liking it...typical Kudo Kankuro (an over-the-top comedy, sometimes even outrageous, which actually contains many deep, spiritual messages :woot: )

Just finished watching "Kono Koi wa Tsumi na no ka!?" - a short but sweet series. Would have been better if it was longer than 4 eps.

pash wrote:
From one of my favorite writers to another: I've started "Gomen ne Seishun!" and so far I'm liking it...typical Kudo Kankuro (an over-the-top comedy, sometimes even outrageous, which actually contains many deep, spiritual messages :woot: )

Even though it didn't receive many good reviews, I really like this one. The trip to theme park in episode 4 was so funny. lol :D

pash wrote:You mean "Kimi no Me ga Toikakete Iru"? (btw, ain't that title a homage to my beloved "Kimi no Te ga Sasayaite Iru"? Sweat )
Might I ask you where you found it? Many TIA!

I watched it in the cinema, so I don't think it's out for upload yet.

In addition to the dramas I'm watching, I started 30-sai made Doutei dato Mahoutsukai ni narerurashii. Only watched the first episode so far, but seems to be quite cute!

Finished "Gomen ne Seishun!" and I actually ended up not liking it - the main storyline with the ML was nice, but everything else imho wasn't... :grumble:

Watched the SP "Ichiban Densha ga Hashitta" with Abe Hiroshi and my latest crush Kuroshima Yuina, and that was simply perfect instead! Wholeheartedly suggested! :victory:

Just watched Neechan no Koibito episode 6. Even though it's only episode 6, I feel confident in recommending this drama already. All the characters are really likeable and the balance between romance, friendship and family is just right, and all the interactions feel natural too. The dialogue are thoughtful and sincere, sure it's probably too good to be true in real life but with the world in this atmosphere right now, this drama kind of hit the sweet spot of being hopeful and optimistic. All the comments I read (both Chinese and English) from other viewers are really positive too and everyone are eagerly awaiting the next episode every week. ^__^

xploring wrote:Just watched Neechan no Koibito episode 6. Even though it's only episode 6, I feel confident in recommending this drama already. All the characters are really likeable and the balance between romance, friendship and family is just right, and all the interactions feel natural too. The dialogue are thoughtful and sincere, sure it's probably too good to be true in real life but with the world in this atmosphere right now, this drama kind of hit the sweet spot of being hopeful and optimistic. All the comments I read (both Chinese and English) from other viewers are really positive too and everyone are eagerly awaiting the next episode every week. ^__^

Besides, they had me at "Koike Eiko" and "Wakui Emi"... :mrgreen: :victory:

Started Shichinin no Hisho, decent opener that doesn't seem to be very serious. Also started Alice in Borderland - looks to be quite well made, but not hooked yet. Netflix recently announced a season 2.

Edit: two episodes into Kono Koi Atatamemasu ka, which is pretty cute and sweet.

Finally finished Neechan no Koibito. Despite the title, it's actually very well balanced drama. The second half didn't have many surprises but it cheered up the audience. Heartwarming and hopeful, I enjoyed this very much.

Also finished Kono Koi Atatamemasu ka. Liked it mainly for Mori Nana, it's structured a bit like Korean drama.

xploring wrote:...
Also finished Kono Koi Atatamemasu ka. Liked it mainly for Mori Nana, it's structured a bit like Korean drama.

Pardon my ignorance, but I only watch Japanese and Chinese drama...what did you mean? :sweat: Thanks in advance! :woot:

pash wrote:

Pardon my ignorance, but I only watch Japanese and Chinese drama...what did you mean? :sweat: Thanks in advance! :woot:

It has a love triangle (or quadrangle) and misunderstandings that are very typical of k-dramas.

I am about 6 episodes in and quite enjoying it. Mori Nana is quite engaging, and I am surprisingly liking Nakamura Tomoya more than I thought, he is very charming in this. I also love the theme song by Sekai no Owari.