TimiZero

This is just my suggestion, but hopefully for this year a new mechanism for nominating dramas should be enforced. People need to have certain number of watched drama before they can nominate in specific category. For example to nominate a thriller drama, a member must have watched 3 thrillers (random number just for the sake of this example) in that year. Or else the nominations wouldn't be counted.

The best drama of the year category shouldn't be nominated but must be picked (by admin/person incharge for polling) among those that made to final list in sub-categories.

However for voting in final poll, no restriction should be enforced. Anybody can vote!

The reason for my suggestion is because of the fact that the final poll listing does not give accurate depiction of how good/bad jdrama of a particular year. Obviously there are many more dramas this year, but people can't vote because it's not even in the poll! I don't give a damn about the results but we should have at least good voting options in the first place.

Never expected this was that good because it's listed as romance and supernatural, which I think a bit misleading.
What I can say about this is that the directing and characterization was really good! After finished watching I even checked the manga, and it looks like the characters in drama are much more real. Surprisingly the protagonist from manga is 32, but for drama it's 38 (I read from somewhere).
Obviously our actor, Arita Teppei is much older than that. But I think director purposely choose him to make it more real. This character don't even have a male friend in his life let alone girlfriend. So it must be tough to chose actor to fit in this image, therefore slightly older and physically non-attractive (obviously because of aging) Arita was the right choice!

Oh, the acting was good too, especially in the last episode, scene between Hasegawa and Kagawa.

Just for the info this isn't written by Ikeido Jun. But it shares same production team (as well as screenwriter) with Hanzawa Naoki, that's why it feels like it. Probably they used HN as inspiration to create new style of police drama.
Anyway, this was an interesting watch with that "TBS Ikeido Jun dramatic style". It was a fresh idea for police drama in my opinion. It's just that the story telling was too complicated in the sense that it was told in a roundabout way. The cases weren't that difficult, but it was nice to see how MC fight for career survival.

I was afraid for the story to suddenly turn it's focus into romance-plot, which did not happen. Thank god for that!

Now this is good. At least better than those listed in best jdrama 2018 nomination!
It's just that...

Is this a review for Unnatural or review for how bad Jdrama compared to Kdrama? ROFL

Your generalization seems unfair because you only watched few jdrama i believe (judging from the sample you wrote above)... As the person who watch mostly jdrama, i do agree that unnatural wasn't the best mystery and while you say it's lighter in terms of the theme, i don't think this was intended for darker theme anyway.

About the production value, it's a subjective matter....people nowadays tend to believe "good production" must be something "shiny and brighty" like kpop music videos (exactly how Taiwan and Chinese productions have evolved these recent years)....but you should check out HK too...they don't bother and just stay loyal with their production style.

When everything looks the same, then every single thing will become "generic" as oppose to "unique". Then there's no reason to look for specific country other than to just hear a different language.

Same thing for acting. When you already get used to certain countries, you might try to impose your "idea of good acting" in another country. I also could say I don't like how Korean actors act, because i tend to feel annoyed with their sighing aigoo and the "sound of like want to spit" they make when they are cursing/angry on something, but then again that's just my preference and wouldn't be fair to be included if i were to write a review of kdrama.

As what we would expect from this kind genre....episodic investigation with couple of good cases....but still there were couple of lame cases too....overall it's entertaining and might be a good starter for new jdrama viewer or for those who would prefer newer drama...

Yes agree with the rush last episode....and the court case settled too easily

Usually i would rate this kind of drama an 8 (my rating on MDL quite high generally)...but because of the hype and the nomination i become more critical when watching it...haha. But it's still entertaining nonetheless!

It gets better after ep5 TBH....it's still a good drama, just that not the best of 2018

Strangely, I never liked him before I watched Gonzo. I saw him in Ace wo Nerae, but always feel uncomfortable with his presence on screen....haha maybe something to do with his hairstyle...
Anyway all the best for your exam!

Didn't realized this has been subbed, so just watched it few weeks ago. If you follow other TBS produced Ikeido series, this one has less over-the-top-acting. But somehow, that made it less intriguing IMO. Still many life and business lessons that can be learned from the drama though, and probably could give inspiration to some viewer too.

Just watched Todome the other day, and all i can say it's just a standard jdrama. Still watchable, but personally i think it's still lacking in many aspects (which i won't explain here). To be fair Dele was much better in terms of dark-theme plus action-wise, and Confidence Man was much better for plot-wise and pace-wise.

For Unnatural, I'm currently at episode 2 so still can't say anything, but it looks like a standard episodic, investigation jdrama to me. My expectation, this is going to be at the same par with Dele at most, but with a much lighter theme.

I'm gonna pass Chugakusei, but don't mind if it wins anymore since it has many viewers who love it.

haha...but for most yonekura's drama, the portrayal always the same. Feel like they're trying to push some sort of "branding" for her; Older but attractive, sexy but you can't see anything, has noble motives behind her wild/sadistic behaviour., don't care for men but all men will fall hard for her (despite there were other hot+younger females in the drama)...oh just remember one more --> onsen scene is a must

To be fair, i could imagine the first 2 might be good, but just wonder if they're good enough for the best drama. I think i might as well watch these when i'm running out of drama. But, i always skeptical with drama that come with certain favorite actor, unless it has really out of the world plot or it's a comedy.

About chugakusei nikki, that's exactly why i said controversy got people interested in it. It's like the "gain loss theory", when people see it as not as controversial as it was rumored or there are something else in it. Then word of mouth bring more people in. Many business module using this technique these recent years especially with the help of social media. I have to admit that it's even made me consider to watch it (but not sure when), despite love theme is not my favorite....haha.

Yeah i'm one of the frustrated fans...haha. I realized i only watched 18 dramas this year, and just managed to catch up with few from Fall Season because i wait for sub to finish. But the most frustrating part is, i couldn't vote because out of 18 dramas only few are on the poll list.

I see many dramas that were not compelling (to me) got through to the final listing. This is truly heartbreaking... I didn't watch Unnatural because of the cliche theme, but i believe it wouldn't be that great as compared to Anone as you said. I watched Anone so i know.

Same with Todome. The plot sounds damn cliche but since i didn't watch it i can't say any more. But knowing jdrama, this type of theme usually has potential to give you WTF kind of ending. Am i wrong?

I haven't decide whether to watch Chuugakusei, but i guess this is the drama most people watched in 2018 (because of the controversy) therefore not surprise if it wins every single thing.

I agree with you about the alternate poll. If someone ever created it, i would love to vote!

Ahhh...thanks. It must be the tracking thing. I will use other browser if i ever want to vote.

Haha...I always wait until sub has finished before watching anything.

Thanks for the reply, but still no effect. It's shown on my other browser though.