Popcxqueen

Have you ever seen a "realistic" hacker show, from any country? Just curious.

Spoiler??!

I loved this....a lot. I'm going to take time to write a review, but for now I'll say that I would really like to see a second season. There are more stories to tell with these characters.

20 stars out of 10 for those fight scenes. This movie is what introduced me to Sato Takeru and it's still my favorite live-action manga adaptation. The fight scenes alone take your breath away but I also loved the wide range of quirky and interesting characters.

I was just going to post the same thing!! I grew up watching soap operas and we got quite used to new actors taking over with no notice! LOL!

This drama might not have been able to back up their claims plot-wise yet, and the concept of a very specific"criminal gene" has not been isolated yet, but there has been research done in the real world on psychopathic brains. There was significant difference shown from non-psychopathic brains specifically in the areas that modulate fear and anxiety (the amygdala) and the areas that produce empathy and guilt (the prefrontal cortex) - those two areas of the brain don't communicate with each other like they should.
Psychopaths are "born" (whereas sociopaths are "made" from childhood abuse or neglect), and while I would agree that psychopathy is not 100% synonymous with violence, there has been other research that hypothesizes that at least 40 percent of all serial killers are psychopaths. That's not a small amount.

Here's a good article that describes the difference between the two:
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/sociopath-psychopath-difference

Psychopath brains are actually different than non-psychopath brains, and they are unable to show empathy or remorse, have no regard for laws, and tend toward premeditated and highly planned violence. I absolutely disagree that psychopaths are necessary for a society since we don't need any more powerful people who have no conscience and couldn't care less about other people's pain. We've had plenty of those people in power and it's been disastrous.

Sociopaths, on the other hand, have some conscience and are able to feel some empathy for people and care somewhat about following established laws. They're less likely to carry out premeditated acts of violence and are more likely to be the surgeons and lawyers you mentioned. (Frankly we don't need either psychopaths or sociopaths carrying weapons and given lots of chances to use them...)

It's obviously a show that tends toward the dystopian, and not a typical police procedural, which allows for more imagination on the writers' part....

I’m actually trying to see as many of his dramas as possible too! Which ones have been your favorites so far? Does he have any other romantic ones?

This isn't necessarily true. The diagnostic term is actually "antisocial personality disorder" and both psychopaths and sociopaths fit underneath this term. Psychopaths and sociopaths share a number of characteristics, including a lack of remorse or empathy for others, a lack of guilt or ability to take responsibility for their actions, a disregard for laws, and an inclination to violence. Psychopaths generally have no conscience and cannot feel empathy for people. They plan their crimes/actions out very carefully. Sociopaths have some conscience, but it's very weak. Their crimes are usually more "crimes of passion", or in the moment.
Psychopaths are generally "born", (nature), and sociopaths are generally "made" (nurture) by neglect and/or abuse. Many serial killers in the US are/were psychopaths, but there are indeed many others who have ended up as CEOs and presidents.

You should watch him in Switch Girl!

Omg, YES!!! I wrote this as a long comment on another recent article here....it's such a problem anymore.

This movie was brilliant and just deeply profound on many levels. There's a plot-twist that makes the whole thing swing around in the middle and go a completely different direction, and because the writing, direction, and acting were all absolutely first-rate, it all works. Is it all spelled out for everyone and tied up at the end in a neat little bow? No, because that's not how life works. This film has a lot to say about trauma, (inter-generational and one's own), fame, identity, art, shame, and hidden thoughts that we might not want to talk about out loud, but they end up emerging anyway. (If you've ever lost anyone to suicide, the very ending scene will make so much sense.)
Suda Masaki was flawless, as usual, and I was very pleasantly surprised by Nakajima Yuto.
I had no expectations going into this film, but it will go on my 'best of' list now. Really well done.

This drama is BONKERS, (both seasons), but honestly the two leads are such good actors, they totally pull it off. It's been said that comedy is harder to play than drama, and it actually takes real acting skill to be as specific as Nika's character requires. Nishiuchi Mariya, for all of the crazy, is an excellent comedic actor, and Kiriyama Renn is wonderful as usual. Plus Nika and Arata are just so darn cute together, like squishy cute together, and I wish there was a third season! :-)

This was just beautiful, and Takahashi Issei continues to prove why he's one of the best actors in Japan. This is totally worth your time.

I haven't tried dramacool yet because I'm worried about computer viruses, but I did just break down and start using kissasian and am watching Todome no Kiss, which is amazing (that's your profile pic, right?)

Million Yen Women was SO GOOD. I’ll check out the rest - thanks! Where do you watch mostly?

Romance, thrillers (not not horror), police procedurals (now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen a single police J-dorama?) Contract marriage is often fun, and I like time travel. I've seen a bunch of doramas already but I'm always looking for recommendations. I don't like high school or middle school scenarios, and I don't love the Japanese version of makjangs, but most other things are fair game.

Thanks for your comment - I actually agree with you that if we're TOO selective we'll miss out! I have lots of examples of this in my own viewing, so I definitely resonate with this point. But I think there's a medium ground here which allows for patience and perseverance to see how a drama will turn out, and starting one that we're just not sure we'll like. For me it's often a recommendation from a trusted source - someone who knows what I like.

Funny enough, I also have a "2nd chance project!" I don't call it that per se, but that's what it is. I keep a list of every drama I'm watching and its progress (I keep it on a Google Doc and not necessarily on MDL), and I often go back and review the dramas I've missed to see if I'm in the mood to finish them. I label these dramas "In Progress" if I think there's a snowball's chance that I could finish them one day.
For instance, I dropped Matrimonial Chaos but labeled it "In Progress" because I feel like I could finish it if I would ever be in the mood for another marriage drama. Same with Meow, the Secret Boy. But I labeled Do You Like Brahms? as Dropped because I know that I won't go back to it.

What was the drama you dropped that you ended up loving?

I have a different opinion than most of the posters here. Many dramas take awhile to get rolling - that's the way they're written. Classic storytelling unfolds over a period of time. Characters aren't fleshed out immediately, plotlines aren't laid out perfectly immediately, and the endgame isn't apparent immediately - a viewer has to be patient and actually watch to the end to see how things are going to turn out. So many comments on dramas revolve around how pissed off everyone is about how everything isn't already revealed and explained by the third episode, or they're threatening to quit the drama altogether because they don't understand a particular character's actions by the second episode. Character development is often meant to stretch out over the length of the drama, and it honestly it can be very irritating to many of us who are perfectly fine with the "ride" of the drama. And if we as viewers can find the ability to sit with the unknown for a while, we're often rewarded with a masterpiece (Stranger is a huge example of this, and Someday or One Day is an even bigger example!)
I do agree with a few of the commenters here about being more selective about what kind of drama I'll start in the first place and doing a little research ahead of time. For example, I know by now that I don't enjoy high school dramas anymore, so I don't even start them. And I also know that I need to be in a certain mood for a certain kind of drama, and I watch accordingly. Like if I'm in the mood for a romance because I'm feeling anxious in my real life, I don't start a serial killer drama. Obvs.
So while I respect your opinions about dropping dramas (and I've dropped my fair share too for some of the same trope-like reasons - Love 020 I'm looking at you), I've also learned over the years that I would have missed out on some really good dramas if I had dropped them within the first few episodes.
Oh, and one last thing...I agree that spoilers ruin everything, and I still see way too many spoilers on here without a spoiler tag!!

Anyway, thanks for your article.