dramalover123

I agree with you. About everything you said. And ofc I watched bloody Monday properly. How could I resist not watching the sequel!! I rewatched S1 about a hundred times now. And Season 2 ep1's ending was a shocker. I thought it was a plot twist or something. Lol. I was in denial. I really enjoyed the Bloody Monday series... Falcon, Hornet Otoya and J. All this time and I remember these characters. Especially baby Kamiki... Ah he is a splendid actor!

Lol, i'm glad i've never experienced this. I watched Hana Kimi japan, then Hana Kimi Taiwan and then You're Beautiful. So my first 3 dramas were from Japan, Taiwan and Korea. I didnt have any bias at the time. My bias formed after watching several TV shows from each country. I think each country has their strengths and weaknesses. Japan's biggest strength is diversity in every way. Korea's dramas are more glamorous and have a very strong superficial beauty about them. Sometimes it annoys me that they have this fixation, especially the fact that they are always talking about looks, colour/shade of skin and financial situation. Whereas Japanese dramas rarely refer to superficial things and outward appearance like shade of skin or the latest fashion and tend to focus on the more emotional aspects of a person. I'm not saying Japan doesnt have this... oh yes they do. Just look at their high school live actions and all they talk about is the Ikemen most popular guy. At the end of the day, what I'm trying to say is there's variety and its not all superficial.

Just my 2 cents.

I checked out your list and i'm currently watching Osozaki. Shimanto is so beautiful. One day i want to go to Japan and it's countryside!

Yamapi is one of my fav actors because of Proposal Daisakusen (i dont care what people say about his 'fish eyes' and so on... i think he's more than proven himself in both Proposal, Kurosagi and Code Blue). as for Bloody Monday... i remember back then i watched some of it without subs because i was new to dramas and i didnt know anything about downloading so i relied on online streaming sources. unfourtunately back then the online sources werent as good as today.
I haven't seen Last Friends and One Litre of Tears. But i really loved Atashinchi and Koizora. Atashinchi is sooo cute!!
To this day just saying Koizora hurts my heart. I loved the movie version and the drama version! both have a special place in my heart!

haha, *high five* sister XDD

kura2ninja is correct. The last one is 'Kurosagi'.

Your essay gets a grade A+.

Srsly that excuse of jdrama actors not being handsome enough is so ridiculous I don't even acknowledge it. Like... So you don't watch the Big Bang Theory coz Sheldon isn't a Hunk? Or you've never watched Mr Bean because he's not attractive. OR even better... You don't watch Asian drama coz they speak chinese... How do you understand it? The subtitles are too fast you can't watch THAT!

Love the skewed moral compass. I watch all sorts of Heros/Anti-heros (Zeni Geba)... Just not Adulterers. I especially hate the way it's a hot topic in Asian drama... Some even glamorising it. It's ridiculous.

I really loved From 5 to 9 BUT I didn't put it on the list despite it being hilarious, original and adorable. Why? Because of Takane's behaviour at the beginning. If I didnt love Yamapi and Ishihara I swear it would've been the first drama I dropped. Thankfully I love Yamapi/Ishihara and I didn't drop it coz it became soooo good. I truly truly enjoyed that drama. I especially liked the theme and settings... The private institute and their home and the monastery. The OST was so beautiful and the side characters were so friggin adorable.

I really couldn't have said it better. That drama is a real gem!

Preach it.

I agree 100000%. I would be so lost without MDL! I'm so glad to know you exist out there too. The love is real XD THANK YOU!!!

I never noticed it... But you're right. Even when privately recommending I always take into consideration generic taste + their own personal taste. Haha, you taught me something new about myself!

Everything you've said I agree with. And although I've subconsciously acknowledged this... I've never thought about it properly. Messy characters should have messy clothes! Lol. I never looked that deep into it. Although I notice it when it's screaming out to you... Like the samsung phones... -.- Samsung TVs... -.-

I haven't watched Soredemo Ikite Yuku. I will surely add it to my list one I've checked it out! Subtitles... I feel your pain T___T

OMG! Same. I hope and pray for a second season... Or special... Or movie... Whatever. It can't end like that. Well it's an awesome ending but... But...

Funnily enough I've never recommended SPEC to anyone. I don't know why? But if it works... You'd bet I will. You see I have a good reputation when it comes to recommendations. I'm quite strong in that department... Not to brag or anything ;))

As much I as I LOVE Miura Haruma... And I mean I LOVE him soooo much... AoT was so bad. Nothing can change that. Not even Haruma. He did a good job tho with Eren. On the other hand Rurouni Kenshin was so perfect I got my friends and family watching the whole movie series. Such perfection and Sato Takeru was the embodiment of Kenshin. I was so impressed. Lupin was entertaining. The cast was fun.

I 100% agree with your over the top acting point. Tbh... On average over the top acting is not my thing. But from time to time if it fits the plot and atmosphere it's actually fun. Otherwise I'm more into slice of life. I've never watched gore type but I know I don't want to. Well maybe I have if Azumi counts.. Lol. Never again tho.

Haha, what a coincidence! Tbh, I used to have this problem too. Not being able to find good dramas to watch. But I used this method of finding the actor/actress that caught my eye the most in the drama I was watching... Then looking through the synopsis of all their dramas and choosing one I think I would enjoy... That's how I created my own personal network of dramas to watch!
At the time I would never have imagined I would be the one making a recommendation article...I'm glad I could be of help thru this article tho XDD

I have the same habits. Watch Kdramas as they are airing and watch Jdramas after airing because of subs. The only difference is I don't drop my Jdramas but I do get lost on the way with Kdramas. I always end up behind the airing episodes and usually have about 4 eps left after the drama finished airing... Sometimes 8. Kdramas start to drag towards the end... So I take it slow. And watch it at the pace it deserves. Mind you, some Kdramas are mind blowing and I finish them ontime! Lol.

Lately I've been watching me some idol driven dramas; Like EXILE's High and Low and Arashi/Kis My Ft2 members dramas. I don't know if you know about Johnny's ent (Japan's most famous male idol entertainment company)... But their idols + solo actor Ikuta Toma are practically in every drama season. BUT as you said it's a collaboration of actors... It's not just Idols. Funnily enough most idol driven Jdramas flop ratings wise... Except Kimura Takuyas dramas!! Lol I'm just rambling... Ignore me XD

I was soooo close to adding Ouroboros... But it got cut out. One of the reasons was too much Oguri Shun in my list. Also the popularity is pretty high for Ouroboros so I replaced it with Keizoku 2: SPEC which is harder to come across. But how I LOVED Ouroboros!! Another Oguri Shun drama that almost made the list was Border. That drama was phenomenal. I have no words to describe it. The way morality was played... Phew...Only Japan.

I watched all Hana Kimi versions. It was actually because Hana Kimi didn't have an anime that I watched the drama and so my drama addiction started from there. The first version of Hana Kimi was beyond perfection and just too funny and the second version of Hana Kimi followed the manga closely which I appreciated. Nobuta is just adorable. Kon-Kon. Akira Shock.

Yes you are 100% correct.

I completely avoided those ones on my list because I feel they come under the same category of comedy and the more anime-ish dramas. They are the most popular and most watched Jdramas and that's exactly where the common misconception that Jdramas are all animes turned live action... Actors are just re-enacting the anime/manga with over the top acting...

AND these dramas are so popular they don't need advertising. Lol. But I had to include at least one... And I chose my number 1 which is HYD... Then Hana Kimi is not far behind. It was my first drama ever so it will forever have a special place in my heart!

haha, i deffo agree!!

This drama was perfect.

Can you pls flag your comment as spoiler; thankfully I've seen the drama but I'm sure if I hadn't I wouldn't have appreciated you ruining the ending for me :) Thank you