Yes, it is. While the theme is sad and dark, the actors' personalities minimize the sad feeling and make you easily root for them.

Susan Lee wrote:

Hello everyone! I have never seen a Japanese Drama before. Are there any good ones with English subtitles? What is the comparison to Korean and Thai dramas? Can anyone send me some titles to look for? Thanks a million!

Welcome... where are you in the US? Depending on where you are, you may be able to get some Japanese subtitled doramas in your TV.

Fuji TV subtitled dramas I have seen on my TV:

News no Onna (Newswoman)
Kirakira Hikaru
Shomuni 1
Sugao no Mamade (Just the Way We Are)

Unfortunately Fuji TV stopped subtitling doramas for broadcast in the US in mid-1998, precisely when I had started watching them. I just hope their arrogance eventually does them in.

Anyway, other material can still be seen in other channels that dedicate spaces to other Japanese networks, such as U. S. Nippon TV in the Northeast and Asahi Homecast in L. A. Some of which I've seen:

TBS:
Mukashi no Otoko (Ex-Lover/To Love Again)
First Love
Big Wing
Koi ga Shitai x3 (Love Love Love/Where is Love?)
Mayonaka no Ame (Midnight Rain)

NTV
Ashita ga Aru sa (We Have Tomorrow)

NHK
(NHK dramas are long, because the state can pay more. They last 50-52 episodes instead of the 9-13 series common to private networks.)
Watashi no Aozora 1
Oshin
Apple Sakura

I would suggest you find one of those VCD dealers on the Internet (most of them are in Taiwan or China) about other English-subtitled material. I don't particularly trust these people because their translating is sometimes sloppy, but you can give them a try.

I would like to recommend 3 dramas that I don't think have been mentioned yet. King's Restaurant (Ohsama no Restaurant) is a well-written, funny 1995 series about two brothers and their employees' attempt to restore a once-great French restaurant to its former glory. Tomoko Yamaguchi, arguably the most popular dorama actress in the first half of the 1990's, heads a wonderful ensemble cast, composed primarily of very recognizable, talented character actors. My second recommendation is Oyaji (Oh, Dad), a 2000 series about a dysfunctionable family whose wackiest member is the father. This series is comedic and dramatic, silly and sentimental. Its strong cast has both popular veterans (Masakazu Tamura, Hitomi Kuroki) and popular younger idols (Ryoko Hirosue, Miki Mizuno, Junichi Okada). My third recommendation is Onsen he Ikou (Women of Onsen), a daytime half-hour drama. It is currently in its fourth season and is about the efforts of a young woman (a very engaging Takako Kato) to try and keep an onsen (hot springs resort) afloat (figuratively speaking). Like my other 2 recommendations, it mixes comedy and drama and is very addictive.

Susan Lee wrote:

Hello everyone! I have never seen a Japanese Drama before. Are there any good ones with English subtitles? What is the comparison to Korean and Thai dramas? Can anyone send me some titles to look for? Thanks a million!

I don't watch enough Thai dramas to give it a fair comparison, but I've watched plenty of Korean dramas to realize that my interest in Korean dramas goes down the hill after such a short period of time. I might just piss off Korean drama fans, but from what I see, Korean dramas tend to be too melodramatic, predictable, similar themes with recycled storyline & plots. J-Doramas have always been more original, unpredictable (sometimes weird), fast-paced, and compared to Korean dramas, the melodramatic parts are usually handled well without being over the top or too cheesy. For me at least, I realized that I don't need to watch the rest of Korean series to know the ending or what's going to happen next, and I lost interest soon after that. Few of Korean dramas exceeded my expectation, but the rest are just too similar. Some Korean dramas tend to copy the storyline from J-Doramas as if it's their own. It's a complete turn-off for me.

Sorry again. Just my 2 (probably worthless) cents.
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Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!

colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ

To add, korean dramas are much longer than jap dramas. Korean dramas have at least 15 episodes while jap dramas only about 11-12 episodes. Korean dramas always begin with superb storylines in the 1st or 2nd episode and after that, it is a drag to watch them. I tried watching a few and I was totally turned off.
I haven't watched thai dramas but judging from the thai movies that I have watched, thai shows should be quite good.

Dont miss Antique!! Its all about cake!!
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hehehe .. my 1st post in this forum..
I just starting to watch japanese dorama last month starting with GTO and Beatiful Life. And now I'm a big fan of the show.
In this month I already watch six or seven jap drama in a row (Good Luck, Hotman, etc..) and still have 2 more ..
still trying to look for summer snow though, can't seem to find it everywhere ..

btw, I've heard about this drama that was called Aishiterru to itte kure/Say you love me with Tokiwa Takako as the female lead .. is this a good one ??

Onibaku wrote:

hehehe .. my 1st post in this forum.. I just starting to watch japanese dorama last month starting with GTO and Beatiful Life. And now I'm a big fan of the show. In this month I already watch six or seven jap drama in a row (Good Luck, Hotman, etc..) and still have 2 more .. still trying to look for summer snow though, can't seem to find it everywhere .. btw, I've heard about this drama that was called Aishiterru to itte kure/Say you love me with Tokiwa Takako as the female lead .. is this a good one ??

Say You Love Me is good! It's touching and moving, makes me want to learn sign language for a while!
_________________

Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!

colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ

Agreed with WD! Some might say it's a tad boring coz the conflicts are more to what real life couple would experience, but i think it's very nice and romantic... Etsushi acted so good and Tokiwa looks prettiest in it! I even get hooked on doramas after this series ^-^
Other doramas I like:
Long Vacation
Love Story (is it just me who like this drama?)
Nadeshiko
Beautiful Life
Innocent Witch
Antique
Virgin Road (the best!!!)
I go crazy over Virgin Road.. anyone knows other drama that has the same heart-warming sweetness like this one??

c_linxi wrote:

Virgin Road (the best!!!) I go crazy over Virgin Road.. anyone knows other drama that has the same heart-warming sweetness like this one??

I really enjoyed watching sorimachi dorama after GTO and Hotman, and still looking for more dorama that put him as the lead.. Virgin Road was played by him too, ne ?? Does anyone has another recomendation ?

My All time favorite is still Yamato Nadeshiko. There are a ton of drama's which I love like Love Generation, Hero, Narita Rikon, Long Vacation, Mukodono, GTO but none have dethroned Yamato Nadeshiko from my number 1 spot yet although they are all excellent drama's.
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c_linxi wrote:

Agreed with WD! Some might say it's a tad boring coz the conflicts are more to what real life couple would experience, but i think it's very nice and romantic... Etsushi acted so good and Tokiwa looks prettiest in it! I even get hooked on doramas after this series ^-^ Other doramas I like: Long Vacation Love Story (is it just me who like this drama?) Nadeshiko Beautiful Life Innocent Witch Antique Virgin Road (the best!!!) I go crazy over Virgin Road.. anyone knows other drama that has the same heart-warming sweetness like this one??

I go crazy over Virgin Road too! I cried a lot watching this, but my no.1 dorama is still Long Vacation!

I like Love Story, but that's maybe because Shingo-kun is in it!
_________________

Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!

colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ

Onibaku wrote:

I really enjoyed watching sorimachi dorama after GTO and Hotman, and still looking for more dorama that put him as the lead.. Virgin Road was played by him too, ne ?? Does anyone has another recomendation ?

Beach Boys was good.

hai,

i just want to know where can i download torrent file for jdorama??

asurax wrote:

hai, i just want to know where can i download torrent file for jdorama??

Hi, fellow Malaysian!

www.d-addicts.com is a good site for J-doramas. Most have English subs too! I'm currently trying to download Shinsengumi files, but no such luck thus far. Will try again.
_________________

Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!

colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ

asurax wrote:

hai, i just want to know where can i download torrent file for jdorama??

aside from d-addicts, you could check uot some links on this thread, although some of the links posted in there are no longer active.
http://www.jdorama.com/viewtopic_841.htm
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Here's something I've been thinking about for months now... I searched up and down the Discussions topics, but couldn't find a topic related to the following matter...

People on JDorama.com know that I've sounded off my opinions on certain people's criteria for evaluating a drama, or deciding whether or not to watch a certain drama. For me, the subject matter is of major importance because, after working eight hours a day, I like to watch Japanese dramas to teach myself important matters in life. Then, I can take these ideas with me to work the next day, and as a result hopefully become a much better person. If I watch too much softy-like dramas with nothing but romance and other mushy stuff, my brain will also start turning to mush. With that, the question is:

Which Japanese dramas do you think are important for people to watch and learn from, in order to improve one's view of people, society in general, and also learn and evaluate about one's self?

For me, I rate social issues as being more important of a plot or subject matter than whether XXX ends up with YYY. Y'know what I mean? My list of important dramas to watch are:

Seija no koushin (When the saints go marching in)
It's interesting to know that the physically challenged have a problem fitting in society, and not just in my home country. This series depicts a somewhat sickening example of how people like Toma are treated. Once I finished watching this series, I'm a lot more conscience about not only the physically challenged, but also my own abilities I totally take for granted.

Konna Koi no Hanashi (A story of love)
Though it is categorized as a love story, it does demonstrate how a person can change when he is faced with only X number of days/months to live. It's very unfortunate, however, that Harashima couldn't figure out what an a-hole he is without knowing that the Grim Reeper is right around the corner. You should always be humble to the people around you, no matter what your social status is.

Please list other Japanese drama titles you find that have storylines that encourage critical thinking. Thanks!

--- groink

Koi ga Shitai (Where is Love?)

It is one of my favourite j-dramas and I usually don't even watch love stories. This drama is often only viewed as a basic romance story with people trying to find their one true love. For me, it's more about soul-searching and for each character to find or develop his/her true self. This drama illustrates how many people gravitate towards each other not on the basis of love but out of pain and necessity. Then they mistakenly believe this is called love only so they can have something to hold onto.

This isn't about social issues - but it does make me reflect about the drama after I finished I watching it.

i always believe that every drama has an important message behind it.. and lots of reflection comes from watching these dramas.. though we might sometimes tend to focus a little more on XXX and YYY, like grionk said..

seishun dramas have lots of messages IMO.. like Gokusen, the importance of friendship, Fireboys, Waterboys .. all great dramas with great depth..

umm i really think GTO.. but there are alot of other dramas..cuz all dramas I watched so far..seem to have a message.. ..maybe Forbidden Love?? ppl know that love is ageless?!