JDrama Recommendations

Gloves wrote:Hello, I would love recommendations.

Lately I've enjoyed Freeter Ie wo Kau, Osozaki no Himawari, Good Luck!, Ando Natsu and Ghostwriter.

I'm looking for something with a feel-good atmosphere (not super sad like 1 Litre of Tears and probably not crime or police dramas).

I also enjoy shows that detail an artesan craft or an aspect of Japanese culture that is not so familiar in the west (like the manju-making in Ando Natsu or karuta in Chihayafuru).

Something outside of Tokyo might be interesting too (like in Osozaki no Himawari).

If anyone has any pointers, thank you!

Hi,

I'm happy to provide some recommendations in this vein. Osozaki no Himawari and Freeter are faves of ours. (BTW, does Ando Natsu get a bit less slow as it goes on? We watched one or two eps and found it a bit slow for our taste.)

So, recently we just finished Mother Game, you may recognize the protagonist as an all-grown up Hamura (Kimura Fumino) from Osozaki. She's really blown up in the drama scene the last couple years. Well, the feel good aspect of this drama is mostly down to her and her sweet relationship as a single mom with her son, the show does get heavy at times though, especially in relation to the other moms in the well-to-do preschool setting of the show.

Looking over our list of viewed dramas, a couple jump out at me to recommend as feel good shows. First, priceless. Provided you don't have a Kimutaku aversion, I think this is quite a feel good show. It's a riches to rags story with a stellar cast including Karina and Fujiki Naohito.

Two more feel good shows for you as well. Attention Please, if you haven't seen it, is an Ueto Aya starrer wherein she plays a budding flight attendant and it has charm to spare, plus you get to learn something about the ins and outs of being a flight attendant. Nishikido Ryo is in that one, too. Then, a bit older still, My Little Chef is a fave, very pleasing show with Yada Akiko as the titular cook, Abe as her amusingly semi-stone-faced restaurant manager and then Ueto in a supporting role as well. Hard to believe it's from 2002 as it still holds up excellently!

If you've seen these or if they don't strike your fancy, please let me know and I'll gladly recommend others! Happy watching! :victory:

maxcriden wrote:

Hi,

I'm happy to provide some recommendations in this vein. Osozaki no Himawari and Freeter are faves of ours. (BTW, does Ando Natsu get a bit less slow as it goes on? We watched one or two eps and found it a bit slow for our taste.)

So, recently we just finished Mother Game, you may recognize the protagonist as an all-grown up Hamura (Kimura Fumino) from Osozaki. She's really blown up in the drama scene the last couple years. Well, the feel good aspect of this drama is mostly down to her and her sweet relationship as a single mom with her son, the show does get heavy at times though, especially in relation to the other moms in the well-to-do preschool setting of the show.

Looking over our list of viewed dramas, a couple jump out at me to recommend as feel good shows. First, priceless. Provided you don't have a Kimutaku aversion, I think this is quite a feel good show. It's a riches to rags story with a stellar cast including Karina and Fujiki Naohito.

Two more feel good shows for you as well. Attention Please, if you haven't seen it, is an Ueto Aya starrer wherein she plays a budding flight attendant and it has charm to spare, plus you get to learn something about the ins and outs of being a flight attendant. Nishikido Ryo is in that one, too. Then, a bit older still, My Little Chef is a fave, very pleasing show with Yada Akiko as the titular cook, Abe as her amusingly semi-stone-faced restaurant manager and then Ueto in a supporting role as well. Hard to believe it's from 2002 as it still holds up excellently!

If you've seen these or if they don't strike your fancy, please let me know and I'll gladly recommend others! Happy watching! :victory:

Thank you! I watched the first episode of Priceless and it was entertaining.

I've seen Attention Please before but I'll check out the other recommendations for sure.

Ando Natsu did not pick up speed as it progressed, you are right about that!

Gloves wrote:

Thank you! I watched the first episode of Priceless and it was entertaining.

I've seen Attention Please before but I'll check out the other recommendations for sure.

Ando Natsu did not pick up speed as it progressed, you are right about that!

Thanks for the info!

And, it's my pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed Priceless ep 1. Hope you continue to dig it. Please let me know if you want more recs!

maxcriden wrote:

Thanks for the info!

And, it's my pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed Priceless ep 1. Hope you continue to dig it. Please let me know if you want more recs!

I already finished watching Priceless and I liked it a lot in all its goofiness. Pretty much just what I was looking for. So certainly do throw more recommendations my way if you've got them. Thanks!

Does anyone know if there are dramas about a deaf/mute character beside Hoshi no Kinka and Orange Days?

Smile Again wrote:Does anyone know if there are dramas about a deaf/mute character beside Hoshi no Kinka and Orange Days?

http://jdorama.com/drama.aishiteiru-to-ittekure.19.htm

http://jdorama.com/drama.kimi-no-te-ga-sasayaite-iru.1258.htm

Great! Thank you.

Gloves wrote:
I already finished watching Priceless and I liked it a lot in all its goofiness. Pretty much just what I was looking for. So certainly do throw more recommendations my way if you've got them. Thanks!

Hi Gloves! I'm glad you dug Priceless. I really liked Naohito's character in that one. You've seen him in Hotaru, right? And you've seen Karina in Love Shuffle? Those are two of our all-time faves so in addition to the prior recs of Mother Game, Attention Please (ah, which you mentioned you saw) and My Little Chef, those are two more I would advocate for, unless you are actively disinterested in romance stories. Hotaru stars Haruka Ayase as an office worker who finds herself in an unorthodox living situation, and Love Shuffle is simply brilliant and... best to know as little as possible about that one going in. It's not a traditional drama rom-com at all, though. Very offbeat.

In terms of feel good stories with less focus on romance, though, Marumo no Okite is a favorite. It's about a guy who takes in two young kids. Ashida Mana, the best child actor in Japan, is in the series. There's a talking dog. So definitely check that one out no matter what!

maxcriden wrote:

Hi Gloves! I'm glad you dug Priceless. I really liked Naohito's character in that one. You've seen him in Hotaru, right? And you've seen Karina in Love Shuffle? Those are two of our all-time faves so in addition to the prior recs of Mother Game, Attention Please (ah, which you mentioned you saw) and My Little Chef, those are two more I would advocate for, unless you are actively disinterested in romance stories. Hotaru stars Haruka Ayase as an office worker who finds herself in an unorthodox living situation, and Love Shuffle is simply brilliant and... best to know as little as possible about that one going in. It's not a traditional drama rom-com at all, though. Very offbeat!

For Fujiki Naohito, I also recommend Love Revolution.

I second the rec for Love Shuffle.

maxcriden wrote:

Hi Gloves! I'm glad you dug Priceless. I really liked Naohito's character in that one. You've seen him in Hotaru, right? And you've seen Karina in Love Shuffle? Those are two of our all-time faves so in addition to the prior recs of Mother Game, Attention Please (ah, which you mentioned you saw) and My Little Chef, those are two more I would advocate for, unless you are actively disinterested in romance stories. Hotaru stars Haruka Ayase as an office worker who finds herself in an unorthodox living situation, and Love Shuffle is simply brilliant and... best to know as little as possible about that one going in. It's not a traditional drama rom-com at all, though. Very offbeat.

In terms of feel good stories with less focus on romance, though, Marumo no Okite is a favorite. It's about a guy who takes in two young kids. Ashida Mana, the best child actor in Japan, is in the series. There's a talking dog. So definitely check that one out no matter what!

I am now watching Mother Game, and the protagonist's straightforwardness totally pulled me in after a couple of episodes. I will definitely check out the other recommendations too. ‚¢‚Â‚à‚ ‚肪‚Æ‚¤I

Gloves wrote:

I am now watching Mother Game, and the protagonist's straightforwardness totally pulled me in after a couple of episodes. I will definitely check out the other recommendations too. ‚¢‚Â‚à‚ ‚肪‚Æ‚¤I

Oh, it's my pleasure entirely! :D

Mother Game gets heavier at times, just to warn you. But yeah, it's a great show and offers a diverse array of compelling characters.

is there to avoid from the dramas that have blind people in it or they mention that word? too sad to see them in the dramas. i know one Aquarium Girl yeah, last episode have one. it was some guy's daughter.

that's why i refuse to watch dramas with english subs mention that word.

GaimRider wrote:is there to avoid from the dramas that have blind people in it or they mention that word? too sad to see them in the dramas. i know one Aquarium Girl yeah, last episode have one. it was some guy's daughter.

that's why i refuse to watch dramas with english subs mention that word.

This should be at least a solid partial list, at least in terms of shows with that as their basic premise:

http://jdorama.com/list.php?s=blind&sbutton=Search&w=y&op=and&l=e

IIRC the only one we've seen was (part of) Kiseki no Hito, a pretty touching but also very very hard to watch show inspired by Anne Frank.

maxcriden wrote:

This should be at least a solid partial list, at least in terms of shows with that as their basic premise:

http://jdorama.com/list.php?s=*****&sbutton=Search&w=y&op=and&l=e

IIRC the only one we've seen was (part of) Kiseki no Hito, a pretty touching but also very very hard to watch show inspired by Anne Frank.

thanks, max

but it don't mention Challenged it's a drama from 2009 about a teacher who lose his sight BUT, continue working as a teacher! yes! MyDramaList said so and Naohito and Kanno Miho's 2004 drama. as well Natsumi Abe's drama with a dog

Hi guys,
I am very new here.I am working as a writer.I have many Japanese friends at my office.So, I recently started to watching Japanese movies and drama.The Ja Japanese movies are quite interesting.I already completed watching so many Korean drama and movies.I always love to watch happy ending romantic movies.So please recommend me for some romantic comedy Japanese movies and dramas.I already found some list here.
usawriters.org/

virginialuther12 wrote:Hi guys,
I am very new here.I am working as a writer.I have many Japanese friends at my office.So, I recently started to watching Japanese movies and drama.The Ja Japanese movies are quite interesting.I already completed watching so many Korean drama and movies.I always love to watch happy ending romantic movies.So please recommend me for some romantic comedy Japanese movies and dramas.I already found some list here.
usawriters.org/

Coach is a favorite of mine.

Moving and merging with the Recommendations thread...

I'm new to japanese drama's. My wife and I recently discovered Ima, ai ni yukimasu (Be with you) 2004 (The japanese version) and loved this show!! As I don't know much about japanese dramas yet I'm looking for suggestions of other shows like this to watch. We loved the emotion created by watching this show and the setting (small town, nature). We are just starting another show called Orthros No Inu (have only watched the first episode so far), but we are hoping we can get some suggestions.

Thank you!!

deviance1969 wrote:I'm new to japanese drama's. My wife and I recently discovered Ima, ai ni yukimasu (Be with you) 2004 (The japanese version) and loved this show!! As I don't know much about japanese dramas yet I'm looking for suggestions of other shows like this to watch. We loved the emotion created by watching this show and the setting (small town, nature). We are just starting another show called Orthros No Inu (have only watched the first episode so far), but we are hoping we can get some suggestions.

Thank you!!

I really like that one too.

Quite a few asadora (morning drama) have that small town feel, though not for the entire length of the drama. I haven't watched many but you can try Churasan, Amachan, Chiritotechin, and may be Hanako to Anne. The first 3 are all really funny and moving.

I am interested in this one too but haven't watched it.
http://jdorama.com/drama.osozaki-no-himawari.1773.htm

xploring wrote:
I am interested in this one too but haven't watched it.
http://jdorama.com/drama.osozaki-no-himawari.1773.htm

I watched "Osozaki no Himawari". I liked it. Another drama with a country setting that I would recommend, although it's pretty intense is "Yashii Jikan":http://jdorama.com/drama.yasashii-jikan.855.htm