J-dramas

Non-anime/manga-related TV, movies, books, and comics, especially but not limited to pre-2000 titles
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greg
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J-dramas

Post by greg »

So Kndy gave me an idea to start a topic on J-dramas.

The first one I ever encountered was the first episode of a drama called "Long Vacation" (I could be wrong about the title, but I believe it had an English title). It was big in 1996, and there was a summer where my family hosted a high school exchange student from Himeji (the town where I eventually worked later) named Ikuko. I took her to the local Japanese market in Phoenix and she wanted to rent the video to the drama because it was her favorite and she wanted to share it with me. At the time I could hardly speak any Japanese at all, but it was interesting to see.

I never really watched any the first time I lived in Japan, but when my wife and I moved to Phoenix after my job in Himeji ended, we rented a show called "Anata ga Zutto Suki Datta" or something to that effect (I have always loved you). This pretty chick gives up on this guy she's been dating for a while because he seemed fearful of committment (I think there was some peer pressure to hurry up and get married from her friends, too), so she ends up doing an omiai (arranged marriage) with a rather pitiful young man with a mazacon (mother complex). He would do anything his mom told him, but he was too afraid to even talk to his new wife, let alone do other things with her. The bossy mother in law would come over and tell her that her son had complained to her that she wasn't making miso soup the way he liked it, bossed her around about the apartment, etc. She finally blows up at her husband and tells him off, all the while he's sitting on the sofa, playing Final Fantsy (or was it Dragon Quest?) on his Super Famicom, crying his eyes out. It all worked out for her in the end, but true to J-drama form, there was some convenient plot twist at the end to make you feel sorry for the twit.

Then of course there is Densha Otoko, which I bet most of you guys have already seen. Love it or hate it, the good thing is that the show portrayed otaku as actual people, since up until then, the whole Tsutomu Miyazaki style "scary freak" stigma for otaku was foremost on people's minds, it seems.
Last edited by greg on Sat Dec 08, 2012 4:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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kndy
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Re: J-dramas

Post by kndy »

greg wrote:So Kndy gave me an idea to start a topic on J-dramas.

The first one I ever encountered was the first episode of a drama called "Long Vacation" (I could be wrong about the title, but I believe it had an English title). It was big in 1996, and there was a summer where my family hosted a high school exchange student from Himeji (the town where I eventually worked later) named Ikuko. I took her to the local Japanese market in Phoenix and she wanted to rent the video to the drama because it was her favorite and she wanted to share it with me. At the time I could hardly speak any Japanese at all, but it was interesting to see.

AWESOME TOPIC!!! I absolutely love "LONG VACATION" and I think for many Americans, it was one of the first dramas to have near simultaneous release on the internationals channels. So, I was renting it and watching it in Japanese and then watching the subtitled version on television. I love that drama!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... _YV3InyFoo
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Re: J-dramas

Post by xsquid »

One of the most wonderful things about living in Hawaii was the media: American soil, yet one can experience all the Japanese one wants with little effort.
Case in point: KIKU-TV, whose broadcasting is mostly in Japanese, a rich source of TV dramas from Japan, and whose shows are routinely subtitled in English! NHK's famous Taiga Dramas can be seen there, and a number of other dramas old and new. My friends who grew up there recall watching classic anime as well, such as Dai Apollon and Raideen, in the '70s.

One of my favorites was the long-running detective series Tokuso Saizensen (Special Investigations), shown on Sunday mornings. I first saw it in Japan three years earlier, and remembered it because at the climax of the story, the Unit had cornered an international terrorist. Hideaki Nitani, who played the unit's chief, came out of his car and said in perfect English, “Put your hands up.” After 45+ minutes of Japanese dialogue, that was a real shock! (I later learned that Mr. Nitani knows English well enough not only to speak it, but to teach it, and has taught it.) The venerable Abarenbo Shogun and Mito Komon series also ran on that channel.
But I digress.

I saw a number of TV dramas while living in Hawaii, and got to really enjoy them because I actually understood what was being said. The historical ones were good, but the contemporary ones were best. TV made for the domestic market tells you things about a country that you can never learn from books, because it often shows them as they like to see themselves.
One drama I liked (and recorded) was called...well, I don't recall the original title, but it was called “Night Embrace”. It was about a hostess bar—or rather a host bar, since the clientele were all women. It focused on the lives of the men who worked there, and a bit more besides. Another one was a black comedy called “Wife-Bashing” (Kamisan no Warukuchi). No murders, but lots of “if words/looks could kill” kind of stuff.
KIKU also ran a mystery movie routinely on Saturday evenings. I learned that when a Japanese person wants to commit a murder, they tend to do it a long way from home, and often on the trains. It was so common in those movies!

Another channel (no longer extant, alas) ran a police show from the late '70s called Dai Tsui Seki (The Great Chase), about yet another 'special unit' working in Yokohama. It was quite over-the-top, but fun to watch; it's memorable to me because of its theme and BGM, all written by Yuji Ohno, who has been associated with Lupin III for...what, 35 years now?

After 5 years' duty in Japan, I was so happy that I was transferred to Hawaii afterward. I probably would have gone into withdrawal if I'd been sent to, say, Virginia.
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Re: J-dramas

Post by kndy »

xsquid wrote:One of the most wonderful things about living in Hawaii was the media: American soil, yet one can experience all the Japanese one wants with little effort.
Case in point: KIKU-TV, whose broadcasting is mostly in Japanese, a rich source of TV dramas from Japan, and whose shows are routinely subtitled in English! NHK's famous Taiga Dramas can be seen there, and a number of other dramas old and new. My friends who grew up there recall watching classic anime as well, such as Dai Apollon and Raideen, in the '70s.
Back in the '90s, KIKU-TV was wonderful. They would receive dramas subtitled before NY and LA and even "Crayon Shin Chan" would be English subtitled. My friends would send me drama from KIKU-TV and also friends that worked on KZOO would send me J-Pop broadcasts to listen to.
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Re: J-dramas

Post by _D_ »

kndy wrote:
xsquid wrote:One of the most wonderful things about living in Hawaii was the media: American soil, yet one can experience all the Japanese one wants with little effort.
Case in point: KIKU-TV, whose broadcasting is mostly in Japanese, a rich source of TV dramas from Japan, and whose shows are routinely subtitled in English! NHK's famous Taiga Dramas can be seen there, and a number of other dramas old and new. My friends who grew up there recall watching classic anime as well, such as Dai Apollon and Raideen, in the '70s.
Back in the '90s, KIKU-TV was wonderful. They would receive dramas subtitled before NY and LA and even "Crayon Shin Chan" would be English subtitled. My friends would send me drama from KIKU-TV and also friends that worked on KZOO would send me J-Pop broadcasts to listen to.
You too? Got lots of KIKU stuff but it's not live. I did have the run of Kozure Okami though. Glad that is out on disc these days. KIKU got a lot of stuff on Japanese history, etc. in animation. Have never watched most of it. Watched some old Yonimo no Kimyona recently. Not much info on that series, even from their official site so it's hard to ID the episodes after this long.
Last edited by _D_ on Mon Aug 13, 2012 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: J-dramas

Post by davemerrill »

We saw the second episode of KURO ONNA NO KYOUSHI on TV when we were in Tokyo over the summer, and we tracked it down when we got back and just finished watching it all. Really nutty and entertaining in that over-the-top J-drama sort of way.
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Re: J-dramas

Post by Ender424 »

I have only watched two: Great Teacher Onizuka and Densha Otoko. I enjoyed them mainly because of their comical nature but Jdramas in general kind of have a soap opera-ish feel to them which I'm not a fan of. My mom and sisters drove me up the wall with their novelas. (Spanish soap operas.)
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Re: J-dramas

Post by Animusubi »

Ender424 wrote:I have only watched two: Great Teacher Onizuka and Densha Otoko. I enjoyed them mainly because of their comical nature but Jdramas in general kind of have a soap opera-ish feel to them which I'm not a fan of. My mom and sisters drove me up the wall with their novelas. (Spanish soap operas.)
And both of these are two of my favorites as well, and great for first time J-drama watchers. Especially if they are anime fans.

I've seen my share of them. International Channel showed a few series I ended up watching, though I sadly forgot some of the names of them since it's been so long. There was one dealing with friends in a love triangle that was just, incredibly good imo. I wish I could remember what it was called.

I like the romance ones of course, one of my favorites is Friends, a Korean/Japanese collaboration, and fairly short too. It starred Kyoko Fukada, who I loved from Kamikaze Girls.
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Re: J-dramas

Post by greg »

There's actually a new GTO drama these days. I wouldn't know much because I don't have a television, but apparently the actor they got to play Onizuka actually looks like his manga counterpart. The first GTO drama was okay, but it really felt weak compared to the anime. For example, he'd even get into trouble sometimes, while in the manga/anime, something would always rescue him in the end. It's what made the show hilarious. Anyhow, I don't know if the storyline to the new drama is more accurate or not. I've just been told a little bit about it from the students and other teachers at the schools I work at.
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Re: J-dramas

Post by Animusubi »

I just finished the 10 episode drama, Osen. I think it's a good watch for anyone missing the "good old days". A lot of it's theme reminded me of this forum and the love for older anime as well. And the food in the series looked so good. It's basically about a young woman, who is the okami/proprietor of a very old traditional Japanese style restaurant. They do everything like they've done for years, but are under the threat of being "behind the times" or left behind in the new age. The episodes deal with customers or people outside the restaurant that the okami ends up influencing with her cooking and her way of doing things.

Even if it was short, it was very well done. I wish it had been longer though. It's based on a manga also, but the manga is pretty different in terms of pacing, story, and style, than the drama.
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