Airing Jdrama - sell me on it!

[dangermousie]

OK, I am currently watching one currently airing kdrama (Chuno), one currently airing twdrama (Down with Love), and one currently airing jdrama (Yamato Nadeshiko).

But Yamato Nadeshiko is ending this weekend and I do like my parity. So I want another airing jdrama to watch - and I am clueless what's on now, unlike with kdramas and twdramas. So help a girl out!

Little guide to help about my tastes:

LIKES

* Romance - the more the better
* Office Dramas (as long as it doesn't go into business side too much)
* Nagase Tomoya
* Parents with children
* Competent heroes and heroines

DISLIKES

* School stories - especially if they have delinquents and inspirational teachers
* Ikemen dramas - too many scrawny boys with slapstick comedy and one heroine living out a harem fantasy - no thanks
* Yamapi and Jin
* Episodic, procedural type stories (like the recent spate of medical and cop shows)
* Loud spazzy weird heroines that act like they need medication

Comments

[ifruity.livejournal.com]

Last Friends. I remember you saying that it seems very dark, and it is. But it's so good. It has Eita, Ueno Juri, Ryo Nishikido, Nagasawa Masami, and Mizukawa Asami. I really love all these people (but not really Nagasawa Masami, only because she hasn't wowed me). Eita is so nice and sweet, Mizukawa Asami's voice is so soothing, Ueno Juri ... is cool (I didn't her character much, she was too angsty), and Ryo Nishikido is amazing. I felt terror every time he showed up, and even though he was obviously a horrid person, I wanted him to be happy. The ending is iffy, but the rest of the drama makes up for it. I think you'd like it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Wolfie scared me off this drama for life :) plus, I really dislike dark jdramas, otherwise yes.

Any good airing ones? I can follow easier if it's an ep a week.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Wolfie scared me off this drama for life :) plus, I really dislike dark jdramas, otherwise yes.

Any good airing ones? I can follow easier if it's an ep a week.

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

Lolololol Yamapi and Jin. XD I thought you liked Yamapi somewhat?

Hmmm, I'm not watching any currently airing dramas (blasphemy, I know!) but a few that I've heard are good is Massugu na Otoko and Magerarenai Onna. There's also Naka nai to Kimeta Hi (which stars Eikura Nana of the Mei-chan drama, btw) and Tokujo Kabachi!!. Idk enough about any four to know if they're what you'd like, but none of them fall under any of the dislike section... I think. ._.;;

As for next season, there's Sunao ni Narenakute, which is about a group of five people who meet and become friends through Twitter. The cast is nice (although a KPop boybander is in it) and it doesn't sound too bad. I'm gonna be watching that, Yankee-kun to Megane-chan and Tumbling, but I wouldn't suggest those because the first is a school story with delinquents (but a kickass heroine~~) while the second is an ikemen drama (with a lack of a central heroine, surprisingly. There's a girl, she's just not a main character). I might check out TROUBLEMAN too, only because my favorite Johnny's stars in it and it sounds interesting. :'D (Here's descriptions of most of next season's dramas. :3)

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

any of the four*

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I used to like him but he's been getting worse and worse and more and more monotone with every drama.

[cranberrysheep.livejournal.com]

I'm not much help since I'm not watching any current jdramas at the moment. And nothing in the upcoming season is all that appealing though I may give that twitter drama, Sunao ni Narenakute, a try since I like Eita and Ueno Juri.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

A lot of people want to check out the twitter drama - I am getting curious about it.

[valkyriesailor.livejournal.com]

Do you know about Yanpapa? It's a jdrama with Nagase Tomoya, where he marries an older woman (a famous mangaka), only to loose her in an accident, and so he begins living with her children, wanting to be a good dad, while beginning a mangaka carrier himself. I specially love the short animations in it. ^^ ... though that's a jdrama from 2002, and not airing now.
If you ask me, Yankee-kun to Megane-chan sounds good, though that'll only began airing middle April, with Narimiya Hiroki... and surely with him playing a delinquent. ^^"

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yanpapa sounds perfect, thank you!

Y-ktM-c - I want! I adore Narimiya Hiroki to bits!

[itshelene.livejournal.com]

Wow, Yamapi made it to your dislike list now. LOL. That's actually funny. I used to really really like him - loved Kurosagi back when it aired, but I have not seen his latest two dramas.

I am also looking for a good jdrama and none of the current ones are tickling my fancy - unlike the myriad of kdramas currently airing!!! (I will finish Yamade though) - not good for my Japanese language studies. *sigh*

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I used to adore him - Kurosagi is still a huge favorite. But he's been getting worse and worse - blander and blander and more and more wooden. Oh well.

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

* Yamapi and Jin
Lolol ilu

I'm only watching Massugu na Otoko and I love it. It's got great characters and the story's a bit reminiscent of My Girl where the heroine is very different from the hero and his friends and lives her life in a way the hero initially disapproves of but in the end he learns something from her and stuff. It also has Mei from Love Shuffle. The wait for subs is really long though :(

L'oiseau Bleu - older jdrama but it's got everything you like (angst, forbidden love, beautiful scenery and colours).

Magerarenai Onna - office drama + romance. I watched a bit of the first ep and I found the heroine and her female friend pretty polarizing but I'm pretty sure everyone else likes the characters.

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko - BEST DRAMA EVER fun breezy drama with great characters, romance, a bit of office drama, some really strong & competent female characters and Abe Hiroshi.

re: Magerarenai

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

Actually in the second ep she quits her job and doesn't look back. And her annoying BFF becomes one of the most sympathetic characters of the drama. ♥ It's really really awesome if you ever feel like giving it a second chance!

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

MAGERARENAI ONNA. Three grownups form an unlikely friendship and shake off the pressures of work/society/in-laws to find their own happiness. It's wonderful and funny and heartbreaking, and there's a great ship too. :D

[scanky-chops.livejournal.com]

I SECOND THIS WITH ALL MY HEART. ♥♥♥

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Were it not a procedural, BOSS (yes, it is officially all caps) would be perfect. No idea about currently airing dramas, though.

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

BOSS is sooo good. I love Eriko so much. And her totally platonic and awesome friendship with Nodate-kun was so great.

[scanky-chops.livejournal.com]

I did rec you Seikei Bijin with Yonekura Ryoko as the swap drama for me watching Bali so i'd rec that again - but Yonekura's character is sort of loud and spazzy. HOWEVER, i think it's a really good foil to the hero's cold, snobbish ikebana heir so i'd say go for it.

Also, even though the ending was a bit ;___________; i'd totally say Hoshi no Kinka 'cos it's got romance, guy who was JIN in... JIN, deaf and mute female lead, troubled Takenouchi Yutaka and evil secondary characters aplenty. Oh and lots of angst. And doctors.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am staying far far away from Hoshi no Kinka - I am as spoiled as spoiled can be for it and if I want those levels of angst, I'll just jump into a kdrama :P

(It was remade, with some changes, into a kdrama btw, Spring Day. I like it a lot).

I am going to see if SB is available streaming. I am so bad and behind...

[fma245.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if you like these recommedations:
Hidarime tantei Eye: just ended and it's a dark jdrama
The Quiz show season 1 and 2: dark jdrama
Yukan Club: school drama; based from a manga, really random

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[prismatic-star.livejournal.com]

Sunao ni Narenakute has potential. I'm hands down for Ueno Juri and Eita. Their performances are great. Jaejoong I guess is a plus but I dunno much about his acting. Oops, it's not airing but it's worth a mention..

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Is that the twitter drama? I am kinda allergic to twitter but if flisties like the drama, I may check it out.

[boginje.livejournal.com]

Magerarenai Onna IS AWSOME . PERIOD.
And if you haven`t watched ROOKIES(http://wiki.d-addicts.com/ROOKIES), you definitely should. ROOKIES is a sports drama which was so amazing that no one was surprised when it was pronounced the winner in the best drama category on the 58th Television Drama Academy Awards and on the annual Tokyo Drama Awards.
It does feature a couple of thing you usually dislike(it features delinquents and inspirational teachers and 90% of the cast is male but no one is from johnny`s ). Ichihara Hayato reminds me of Nagase and he is an amazing actor ( he started acting 10 yoears ago and has been cast in leading or important supporting roles in more than 25 projects). Koide Keisuke is probably the best Japanese actor of his generation. Nakao Akiyoshi was born in 1988 and has more than 20 projects under his belt. Well they are all young but great actors with tons of previous experience in movies and dramas.
valkyriesailor suggested Yanpapa (Nagase in a leading role)- I can second that suggestion
Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (spring 2010 drama with Narimiya Hiroki and Naka Riisa as leads) seems interesting- I am going to watch it

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am staying far far away from Rookies - it has delinquents, and students, and inspirational teachers - it's like a combo of everything I hate the most in one drama :)

!

[quaggy]

I'm so not up on what's currently airing in Japan. The best I can do is ask my friend who's living in Japan what she's watching or what she's think might be interesting, but her tastes are a little random so that might now be that much of a help. (What I need is a Japanese-drama blog that's as good as Dramabeans. Seriously, Javabeans might have ruined me for anything less.)

For what's it's worth, Galileo is probably my favorite Japanese drama ever, with Nobuta No Produce, Orange Days and Hana Kimi all fighting for second place depending on my mood. Sexyvoice and Robo too when I'm in the right mood. (Yeah, my tastes are random too.)

After following three shows concurrently (five hours a week), I think probably going to do a rewatch rather than follow another ongoing show, but I'll be interested to see what decide on! Or maybe I should just finish Kurosagi. I've been meaning to do that for more than a year now. :-P

Re: !

[stillingfleet.livejournal.com]

OH MY WORD GALILEO, NOBUTA AND ORANGE DAYS. they be among my favourite jdramas too! =D

are you on aramatheydidnt? they have pretty regular news on upcoming jdramas if i'm not wrong.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I'm tentatively looking forward to Rinjo 2, because the first one was surprisingly interesting :D Focusing on coroners is a bit unusual. It's episodic, though - typical medical/cop jazz.

Everyone seems to be looking forward to Sunao ni Narenakute, so maybe it'll be good :O Eita and Ueno Juri is always win. And LOL despite Jaejoong not being able to act his way out of a paperbag, I have an eternal soft spot for him, so if I end up watching this I'll probably just mute his parts, stare at the eyecandy and pretend I'm not wincing.

Other than that, I don't think I've watched and enjoyed a jdrama since early 2009 - Liar Game 2 was okay, but wasn't great. Too many manga adaptations these days and they're not my thing :/ Yankee-kun to Megane-chan looks terrible.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

despite Jaejoong not being able to act his way out of a paperbag, I have an eternal soft spot for him,

Did you hear he is doing an An-An photoshoot and his fangirls are freaking out? I loled so hard when I read that.

YktMc - I am so tempted because I like the male lead but I know I'll regret it.

[jennyhime.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, well try Kisarazu cat's eye. It's a older drama but seriously funny.
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kisarazu_Cat%27s_Eye

JIN was my big favorite of the autumn doramas, great cast(Osawa Takao, Nakatani Miki etc)
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Jin

Other good doramas, some older are :
Yasashii Jikan
Haikei, Chichiue-sama
Triangle
Atsuhime(historical dorama, lot's of strong female characters)
Utahime with Nagase

Those are just some that fit your categories ^^
Hope you find something to watch

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I loved Jin. So good!

[biases.livejournal.com]

I watched Ohitorisama recently and it wasn't too bad - heroine is a happy-enough single woman who works as a teacher, and has to mentor Teppei when he becomes a replacement teacher at her school. It's the one with the zucchini trauma (ZUCCHINI TRAUMAAAAAAA!) and was a pleasant enough watch - while she wants marriage/romantic fulfillment it's not actually number one on her priorities.

I really enjoyed Untouchable, as well - I don't think it's your usual cup of tea but to be honest, it's not mine either, and yet I loved it. Engrossing mystery, Nakame Yukie, only nine eps. Definitely worth checking out!

Of the older dramas, I can never pass up an opportunity to recommend Garasu no Kamen, which is set in the world of acting and follows a young girl as she matures into an amazing actress, all the while watched and supported (secretly!) from the sidelines by a never-better Tanabe Seiichi. It has lots of angst and the romance is quite delicious.

If you haven't seen it already, Hotaru no Hikari is excellent, One Pound Gospel is great for some laughs and Kame's face, Tokyo Wankei is a lesser-known Nakama Yukie drama that has her as a half-Korean woman who falls in love with a Japanese man, and Utahime was great for the delicious Nagase (as well as the wonderful story).

Good luck!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love Utahime (my second fave jdrama ever). I am going to check out Tokyo Wankei.

[er-mused.livejournal.com]

Hmm, you should just save your energy for Kimura's upcoming drama!! From the synopsis, it looks like a romantic one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ridiculously excited! He hasn't done a romance in AGES!!!!!!! We are due a crazily romantic drama from Kimura-sama!

Why don't you like Jin? I find Jin strangely attractive....despite being a young, scawny Johnny....hahahaha........okay, so he can't act, and Yukan Club was beyond awful, but I loved him in Anego...man, I really really like Anego. It was such a good jdrama. Crap, I have a thing for the younger guy-older woman trope, seeing as how I loved Samsoon to distraction....as well as this awesome twdrama from last year called My Queen....(have you seen it???)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Jin - can't act, not my type lookwise :)

[algelic.livejournal.com]

"Airing" jdrama? Right now there's nothing good to watch!

It's a pity that you won't watch "1 Litre of Tears". No matter what, it was an awesome drama. Other than that, I can recommend you "Tayou no Uta" (the drama, not the movie)!

Also, I made a post thinking of YOU! It might make you want to watch it:
http://algelic.livejournal.com/3974.html

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

1Litre - no way. Not even if it was the last drama left on earth. A drama all about terminal illness is my idea of suicide-inducing :)

Ooooh, thanks for the link, will check it out!

[moonbyrd.livejournal.com]

Take a look at TricK. It's a really interesting take on mystery dramas, with Abe Hiroshi (whom I utterly adore) playing a quirky scaredy-cat professor and Nakama Yukie acting as his begrudging, smart and snarky street-magician partner. Together they fight crime investigate claims of spiritual and supernatural happenings and have a lot of really bizarre habits.

It's one of my all-time favorite television shows. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I have discs for it somewhere will dig it out.

[prettierdanpink.livejournal.com]

I thought you like Pi! O_o Haha.

I've been watching medical jdramas recently--Voice and Code Blue. I think they're good, but it becomes episodic after a while. And I'm not sure if you like those kinds of jdramas XD

Oh, have you watched Mr. Brain? :D It has KimuTaku and Ayase Haruka in it! :P

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I used to but he's been getting more and more wooden.

Mr Brain is a mystery-solving procedural so not my thing ::)

[prettierdanpink.livejournal.com]

I'd like to recommend Orange Days too! :D And if you like Sorimachi Takashi, maybe you'd be interested in Cheap Love (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Cheap_Love). It's pretty old though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank you!