An interesting winter season and end/start of the year for jdrama! The ones I'm interested in are Kyojo 2, Jinsei Saiko no Okurimono, Kakenai!?, Tengoku to Jigoku and Oh! My Boss!
Thank you for this list! I love 90s jdramas and there's a lot from this list that I haven't watched yet, so I'll definitely be coming back here for inspiration for what dramas to watch next :)
Thank you for writing this tribute. Such a talented actress, she will be missed... Pride is one of my favorite dramas... but I guess from now on it will always be harder to rewatch it :( May she rest in peace.
I agree with your thoughts on japanese drama. I particularly feel the "focus on raw emotions", and the way it leads us to do a self-reflection, as well as the "appreciation for our life’s journey", when it comes to 90s and some early-to-mid 2000s japanese dramas, especially in the 90s jdramas (such as Long Vacation (1996), Love Generation (1997), Beach Boys (1997)...) are all about those "raw emotions", with more realistic characters overall.
I do have to say that I feel that more recent jdramas (from the 2010s-nowadays) have been missing those raw feelings, but I think the point made by the author of this post — the "connection" to the characters and the message we take from the stories — are still present in most of the current jdramas, since even the dream-like/goofier ones tend to have life lessons behind them.
I love realistic stories, but also don't mind the more dream-like ones. After all, most of us love watching series because they're a temporary escape from reality, right? At least with jdramas, we can escape while taking an inspiring life lesson from them :)
(sorry for the long reply, I just love talking about jdramas ^^´´)
Great actor! He is in so many great dramas. My favorite role of his might be his character in Manhattan Love Story (2003). Really recommend that drama by the way!
Thank you for the list! The ones I really want to watch are Ore no Hanashi wa Nagai (really miss watching a drama with Ikuta Toma) and Grand Maison Tokyo (same thing, already miss watching Kimura on a drama, even though his last one was in 2018).
I do have to say that I feel that more recent jdramas (from the 2010s-nowadays) have been missing those raw feelings, but I think the point made by the author of this post — the "connection" to the characters and the message we take from the stories — are still present in most of the current jdramas, since even the dream-like/goofier ones tend to have life lessons behind them.
I love realistic stories, but also don't mind the more dream-like ones. After all, most of us love watching series because they're a temporary escape from reality, right? At least with jdramas, we can escape while taking an inspiring life lesson from them :)
(sorry for the long reply, I just love talking about jdramas ^^´´)