JDrama Recommendations

Spider wrote:What did you think? My wife absolutely loved it, and I quite enjoyed it. :woot:

Loved it. 9/10 from me :)

Re. Anego: I have it but haven't watched it yet. But considering Shinohara Ryoko is in it, I think I will enjoy it :)

Spider wrote:
I guess our favorites are Hotaru No Hikari, Unmarried Man, At Home Dad, Nodame Cantabile, and Dignity of the temporary Staff. If anyway can recommend more like these that would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any and all recommendations!

I would recommend Koi no Chikara http://jdorama.com/drama.674.htm

Fukatsu Eri's performance was really special and there's something about the script as well.

I thought Tiger and Dragon was pretty funny, so you may like to check it out.
And of course, Ohsama no resutoran, a drama that would please anybody, I think. It's really funny at times. :hehe:

Spider wrote:Sorry, I should have posted here.

Hello, new to this site and fairly new to JDoramas. A bit about myself, I'm married to a Japanese girl who of course knows JDoramas and loves them. We live in Canada and watch these JDoramas together but me being Asian CAD I don't get the humor as you would expect as much as she does. For instance we just finished watching Nodame Cantabile, and my wife was laughing out loud at some parts while I didn't get it. At first she didn't like this drama but midway through she got hooked and loved it. I enjoyed it as well.

What I'm looking for is something light, romantic, with some fun. My wife doesn't want to see any more highschool dramas as we're both more into the adult ones with adult themes. Here's list of what we have and what we watched:

1. Kui-Tan 1&2 (we both enjoyed this series alot, my wife really enjoyed it - 9/10).
2. Hotaru No Hikari (both our favorite so far, and would love to see more like this - 10/10).
3. First Kiss (I really enjoyed it and loved the theme song. I found this series touching as well. My wife enjoyed it abit but didn't like the lead actress. My wife would give this series a 5/10 whereas I would give it a 7.5/10).
4. Ushi Ni Negai Wo (Love & Farm). I enjoyed this one and my wife not so much. Wife 6/10, me 7/10.
5. Yamada Taro Monogatari (I realy enjoyed this one as well, and my wife liked it too. I found it very touching. (me 8/10, wife 7.5/10).
6. Magister Negi Magi - Purchased on the advice of the store lady, but we didn't make it through the first episode. Found it too silly. Should we give it another chance?
7. Rondo - Have it but haven't watched it yet. Any good?
8. Liar Game - Same as above. Any good?
9. Gokusen 1-3. Watched Season 1 and it was good. My wife laughed out loud many times. Good message as I find most JDoramas have a message. Started season 2 and about half way through, then switched to Nodame Cantabile.
10. Kekkon Dekinai Otaka - Unmarried Man. We both loved this one and would love to see more like this. 10/10 and our favorite along with Hotaru No Hikari.
11. At Home Dad. Another favorite that we both enjoyed. 9.5/10 for both of us... very touching.
12. Dignity of the Temporary Staff. Sorry don't know the Japanese name, but this one my wife really enjoyed 9/10 and I quite liked as well 8/10.

I guess our favorites are Hotaru No Hikari, Unmarried Man, At Home Dad, Nodame Cantabile, and Dignity of the temporary Staff. If anyway can recommend more like these that would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any and all recommendations!

Similar to Kuitan (funny mystery dramas)-
Trick 1-3 (also a special and two movies), stars Abe Hiroshi
Puzzle- I just thought it was okay
Kimi Hannin janai yo ne
Jikou Keisatsu 1-2

Romantic comedy-
Long Vacation
Celeb to Binbo Taro (just airing this season but it's also very similar to Yamada Taro Monogatari)
Orange Days (well, not really a comedy but good)

Rondo was okay but got pretty melodramatic. Cop dramas I would recommend instead:
Unfair (Shinohara Ryoko from Haken no Hinkaku)
Gonzo (my favorite drama from this summer)
Odoru Daisousasen

Liar Game got pretty boring and repetetive, I think. I wouldn't bother with it. Other dark shows that I enjoyed:
Ikebukuro West Gate Park- dark comedy
Maou- Revenge show
Ashita no Kita Yoshio- weird suspense, psychological, some comedy

Similar to Kekkon Dekinai Otoko-
Muri na Renai (also has Natsukawa Yui in it, character-driven)

Anego was okay but I wasn't that impressed.

Spider wrote:Forgot to mention that I just bought Anego but haven't watched it yet. Recommended by the sales guy atthe store I go to to buy the DVD's with english subtitles. Did you guys enjoy Anego?

Ryoko Shinohara was brilliant in it. Since you love Hotaru no Hikari, I think Anego would suit your taste as well.

5. Yamada Taro Monogatari (I realy enjoyed this one as well, and my wife liked it too. I found it very touching. (me 8/10, wife 7.5/10).

My score for that one was 7 but it gained .5 points after re-watching it with a friend. Its a fun drama to watch especially accompanied with love ones. I would love to recommend you Haikei Chichiuesama by Ninomiya Kazunari (Yamada Taro). Its one of my favorites and I don't even know how to describe it more favorably and do justice to the drama :sweat:
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Haikei%2C_Chichiue-sama
http://jdorama.com/drama_1049.htm

Long Vacation is also a good choice for a mature romantic comedy.
For something dark and entertaining do try MAOU

xploring wrote:Just want to recommend Ame to Yume no atoni

http://jdorama.com/drama.953.htm

Definitely one of the best family drama I've seen. There are no stars, and the description/classification is a bit misleading, but it really is very well-acted and moving. It has inspired me to treasure my family and friends more, probably like no other series had before.

This drama made me bawl. Seriously.

well there is a lot of dramas i would recommend but i cant name them all.
just look at my dramas and they're all there!!

i'm currently watching this new drama called koizora. its not as bad as i thought it would be. if your into romance dramas, then you'll like it.
:woot:

Where's the best place for torrents? Many of these don't show up on Mininova, and the ones that do usually don't have anyone seeding.

Right now, I'm seeding the first episodes of Arenbo Mama and Koshonin, and trying to get episode 2 of Koshonin. Right now I'm at 19%, with an ETA of 2 days.

WhiteHawk wrote:Where's the best place for torrents? Many of these don't show up on Mininova, and the ones that do usually don't have anyone seeding.

Right now, I'm seeding the first episodes of Arenbo Mama and Koshonin, and trying to get episode 2 of Koshonin. Right now I'm at 19%, with an ETA of 2 days.

Have you tried d-addicts ( http://d-addicts.com/forum/ )?

If you need seeding for Koshonin at d-addicts, lemme know... I can seed it when I get home. :)

That would be great, thanks! And thanks for the site tip!

WhiteHawk wrote:That would be great, thanks! And thanks for the site tip!

Be forewarned: I only have the raws in 704x396 resolution. :sweat:

Oof! It's been years since I've used my Japanese. :shamefulcry:

Thanks again everyone for your recommendations. Very much appreciated! I will go through the recommendations listed in all your replies, read the plot lines and then add which ones I want to see to my growing list! :woot:

As mentioned, I saw the movie "Train Man", and the sales guy at the store I go to recommends the JDorama to see even through I already saw the movie. Do you guys recommend for me to see the drama even though I already saw the movie? Is it better and different?

Thanks in advance again for all your help... this is a great site! :dancing:

Spider wrote:Thanks again everyone for your recommendations. Very much appreciated! I will go through the recommendations listed in all your replies, read the plot lines and then add which ones I want to see to my growing list! :woot:

As mentioned, I saw the movie "Train Man", and the sales guy at the store I go to recommends the JDorama to see even through I already saw the movie. Do you guys recommend for me to see the drama even though I already saw the movie? Is it better and different?

Thanks in advance again for all your help... this is a great site! :dancing:

General consensus is that the series is much better than the movie. I haven't seen the movie though, so I can't comment on that myself.

Anime Dad wrote:

General consensus is that the series is much better than the movie. I haven't seen the movie though, so I can't comment on that myself.

I agree with the general consensus. :)

I've got the movie on DVD (picked it up at Kinokuniya on one of my trips to New York), but have never seen the series. Sounds like I'll have to check it out.

Koshonin ep02 finished downloading last night! Great episode. I'm getting ep03 now. Enough s&p's that it should finish tonight.

In the meantime, I'm seeding ep01 & ep02, and the first episodes of Bara no nai Hanaya, Abarenbo Mama, Hataru no Hikari, and Liar Game (which I haven't seen yet).

WhiteHawk wrote:I've got the movie on DVD (picked it up at Kinokuniya on one of my trips to New York), but have never seen the series. Sounds like I'll have to check it out.

Before you go to the store to buy anything in the future, you might wanna check out Asian DVD Club ( http://asiandvdclub.org/ )... Lotsa great stuff to download via torrent, if you have the speed. :victory:

Thanks again! I found an old favorite, Kira Kira Hikaru, on D-Addicts. It has Chinese subtitles, but I remember the show well enough to get the gist of things, along with the remaining scraps of my Japanese. I had forgotten that the detective drove a Rover in the show! A rare treat for an American car enthusiast. I think it's an 827, though I only had a glance at the rear badging in the first episode. I still have some of the episodes with English subtitles on VHS, unlabeled, somewhere among the many boxes of stuff in storage.

A friend of mine and his wife are from Beijing, and I once gave them a DVD set of Taiho Shichauzo I bought on eBay. I thought I was buying a factory set, but what I got was a bootleg from China... with Chinese subtitles. No biggie, it was cheap enough that I just gave it to my friend. His wife loved it. He insisted on reimbursing me, but all I'd allow was buying me lunch. So once I've downloaded all of the Kira Kira Hikaru out there, I'll put it on DVD's for them.

Edited to add: Now if I can just find someone to seed the episodes...

So which of the fall '08 dramas are worth watching? I haven't seen anything yet, from from the synopses alone, Bloody Monday, SCANDAL, Kaze no Garden, Nanase Futatabi, and possibly Giragira sound good, but are there any others that I'm missing? Or should I avoid any of the ones I mentioned?

sadacori wrote:So which of the fall '08 dramas are worth watching? I haven't seen anything yet, from from the synopses alone, Bloody Monday, SCANDAL, Kaze no Garden, Nanase Futatabi, and possibly Giragira sound good, but are there any others that I'm missing? Or should I avoid any of the ones I mentioned?

You like Nino, right? Then you'll probably like Ryusei no Kizuna. It took some getting used to but I'm enjoying it now. I also think Innocent Love is so bad it's good!

marspeach wrote:

You like Nino, right? Then you'll probably like Ryusei no Kizuna. It took some getting used to but I'm enjoying it now. I also think Innocent Love is so bad it's good!

Nino's ok, but Terajima Susumu's in it, so that's reason enough for me to check it out. :) And Innocent Love is one of those "so bad that it's good" type of dramas? I might take a look at that one just to ridicule it. :hehe: