mjf314

I agree, there's a lot of variety. Japan does a lot of different genres well.

A lot of the dramas mentioned in the article are original (i.e. not adapted from anything). If you check the tags and none of them say "adapted from..." then the drama is probably original (unless it's missing a tag, which happens occasionally).

Some examples of original J-dramas are Kita no Kuni Kara, Oshin, Amachan, Ryomaden, Long Vacation, Love Generation, Summer Snow, Beautiful Life, Trick, and Unnatural.

Thanks for reminding me of some dramas that I still need to watch.

Do you have any favorites from the 80s?

I hope you enjoy it. I discovered The Great White Tower thanks to Douban where it's the highest rated J-drama (9.7/10).

I mentioned manga several times, and also that manga adaptations became more common after Tokyo Love Story.

I wasn't aware that game adaptations are a big thing. I know that a lot of anime are based on visual novels, but live-action adaptations seem to be much less common.

What are your favorite slice-of-life J-dramas? My favorites are Kita no Kuni Kara and Suika.

Was Oshin popular in your country when it aired in the 80s? I heard that it was popular in a lot of different countries.

You might be interested in one of my favorites, Suika. It's by the same writer as Nobuta wo Produce.

If you're a fan of Yuji Sakamoto, you might be interested in this article: https://kisskh.at/article/a-watcher-s-guide-to-the-series-of-sakamoto-yuji

I considered adding a section about detective dramas, but I was having trouble finding good sources, so I had to leave it out. However, I did briefly mention the detective drama Furuhata Ninzaburo. If you haven't seen it yet, then I recommend it.

As long as the dramas are good, I think it's ok if they don't evolve. I'll be happy if Japan can produce more dramas of the same quality as Long Vacation or Kita no Kuni Kara.

Thanks, I'm glad you find it useful.

It sounds like we have similar taste. Long Vacation, Nodame Cantabile, and Jin are great.

Of the J-dramas made in the last 5 years, I like Konto ga Hajimaru, but I haven't finished it yet, so it's too early to call it a favorite.

I've seen the Erased anime but not the drama. Is the drama as good as the anime?

Long Vacation is one of my favorites too.

Summer Snow was my first J-drama. Even though I didn't list it as one of my favorites, it's pretty good and I would recommend it.

Thanks. I didn't know that there was a compilation. Here's Attack from Space (1965) on Youtube for anyone who's interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iSchmK81Es

On the same Youtube channel they also have Atomic Rulers, Invaders from Space, and Evil Brain from Outer Space. Each one is a compilation of different Super Giant films, and all of them are in English so no subtitles are needed.

Ok, thanks.

I agree. It's unfortunate that so few J-dramas are available to (legally) stream. I think J-dramas would be much more popular if only they tried to market the dramas internationally.

Thanks. If you want to do more reading, you might want to check the references, especially the books by Clements and Iwabuchi which have a lot of interesting information.

Thanks. Does it matter which one I watch first, or can the seasons be watched in any order?

I see that you added Super Giant and Moonlight Mask. Unfortunately, they haven't been subbed (as far as I know). I think Ultra Q and Ultraman from 1966 are the oldest subbed tokusatsu series. If you want to see a good tokusatsu movie from the 1950s then I recommend Gojira (1954).