Rinrin wrote:

Just finished Onnatachi no Tokusou Saizensen. Debating on whether to start Otoko Meshi or Last Cop.

Imoto-chan sighting!

Mondai no Aru Restaurant

I watched about half so far. Unfortunately I found the sexual discrimination/harrassment/prejudice too extreme and confronting, so I skipped a lot of it and my interest in the drama waned as a result. It's enjoyable at other times. The cast worked really well together and great performances from the 3 young actresses, Matsuoka Mayu, Nikaido Fumi, and Takehata Mitsuki.

xploring wrote:

Mondai no Aru Restaurant I watched about half so far. Unfortunately I found the sexual discrimination/harrassment/prejudice too extreme and confronting, so I skipped a lot of it and my interest in the drama waned as a result. It's enjoyable at other times. The cast worked really well together and great performances from the 3 young actresses, Matsuoka Mayu, Nikaido Fumi, and Takehata Mitsuki.

I'm trying out Okodawari with Matsuoka in it, but I do want to say a couple months ago we watched Kounodori and it is one of our favorite dramas in years, she is good in that though the star is Ayano Go. Takahata Mitsuki BTW is very good in Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau, she has a significant but not leading role in that drama. Very affecting quiet show from Sakamoto, reminiscent of Woman more than Mother.

maxcriden wrote:

I'm trying out Okodawari with Matsuoka in it, but I do want to say a couple months ago we watched Kounodori and it is one of our favorite dramas in years, she is good in that though the star is Ayano Go. Takahata Mitsuki BTW is very good in Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau, she has a significant but not leading role in that drama. Very affecting quiet show from Sakamoto, reminiscent of Woman more than Mother.

Are you watching it with English subtitles? And where?

Deep into Toshiie To Matsu for the fourth time around. Just gets richer and deeper each time. Hubs and I are loving it best this time.
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Trade or Distro
It's all good!

Check out my drama trade list: http://www.freewebs.com/evendrama/

Five episodes into A LIFE. Not too bad even though it's very cliche, and the cast is solid. Kept wishing Asano Tadanobu was the lead instead of Kimutaku, but ah well.
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I'm halfway through "Kekkon Dekinai Otoko" with Hiroshi Abe and I'm really enjoying it. I'm also watching "Seirei no Moribito" which is also very good.
I wonder what I will choose next:)

Kept this bookmarked for a long long while...and i finally started watching Netflix/Fuji TV's "Atelier". The set lighting brings back the old charm of jdorama in the late 1990s and early millenium. Every episode carries a different theme....now into ep.11.

Will jdorama.com include a new category "web tv drama"?

watching "Quartet 2017" now. It reminds me of "Overtime". It has been a long time that I have encountered another winter jdrama as warm and cosy as "Yasashii Jikan"

Eyeyore wrote:

watching "Quartet 2017" now. It reminds me of "Overtime". It has been a long time that I have encountered another winter jdrama as warm and cosy as "Yasashii Jikan"

Overtime was bittersweet. Wonderful cast and chemistry though.

Finished A LIFE, which was meh. What a waste of Asano Tadanobu. Also watched Quartet, which was quite fun and the leads were great, but the fake playing was really distracting. Now three episodes into Seirei no Moribito season 2, it's pretty solid so far.
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hero season 2
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Enjoyed Seirei no Moribito season 2, love the orchestral theme song! Also liked Suzuki Ryohei's portrayal of Hyugo. He's leading next year's taiga.

Two episodes into Border, pretty solid so far. Happy to see Endo Kenichi in it, though I wish he were more active in solving crimes with Oguri Shun than coming in later on...
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junny wrote:

Enjoyed Seirei no Moribito season 2, love the orchestral theme song! Also liked Suzuki Ryohei's portrayal of Hyugo. He's leading next year's taiga. Two episodes into Border, pretty solid so far. Happy to see Endo Kenichi in it, though I wish he were more active in solving crimes with Oguri Shun than coming in later on...

Just read your review of Seirei, tempted to give it another shot... (I have taken some of your other recommendations and really need to find some time to tell you what I thought of those).

Please keep us posted on Border. That one caught my eye. I'm interested in Reverse from this season also, and the "You're my Destiny" one though that might be less your speed.

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This is a question for everyone. What are some one-off drama SPs you enjoyed, especially in the slice of life or romcom categories?

We recently watched Watashi ni Unmei no Koi Nante Arienaitte Omotteta with Tabe Mikako and Takahashi Issei. Very cute film. It was our first time watching a SP that wasn't a sequel to a drama series and it had the feeling of a charming indie or made for TV movie. It was also cool to see Tabe-san all grown up after watching her as a kid in the supremely under-appreciated [url="http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Shikaotoko_Aoniyoshi"]Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi[/url]!

Anyway, definitely eager for recommendations of one-off SPs, no matter how recent. Thanks all!

maxcriden wrote:

Please keep us posted on Border. That one caught my eye. I'm interested in Reverse from this season also, and the "You're my Destiny" one though that might be less your speed.

I just finished Border. Incredible. A must-watch. Oguri Shun was fantastic and carried the drama (he was so so wasted in Ouroboros). I'll probably write a post on it, but for now, I'm still letting the last episode sink in. That ending!

As for Seirei, if you like season 1, then give season 2 a go. And feel free to drop me an email at your convenience.
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junny wrote:

I just finished Border. Incredible. A must-watch. Oguri Shun was fantastic and carried the drama (he was so so wasted in Ouroboros). I'll probably write a post on it, but for now, I'm still letting the last episode sink in. That ending! As for Seirei, if you like season 1, then give season 2 a go. And feel free to drop me an email at your convenience.

Funnily, I was confusing Border with Crisis, the current Shun drama. That's why I was also mentioning other currently-airing dramas. I'm curious for impressions of Crisis. But I was very glad to hear about Border's quality. I'll have to check it out ASAP. Thank you!

Watching "Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation" aka female Galileo. First episode was such a tired plot with cliche characters. I would have given up had I not persevere to Ep2 and beyond which prudently snipped the drag depicting her idiosyncrasies and zoomed in to solve the criminal cases.

...fingers tapping, waiting for ep.6

Eyeyore wrote:

Watching "Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation" aka female Galileo. First episode was such a tired plot with cliche characters. I would have given up had I not persevere to Ep2 and beyond which prudently snipped the drag depicting her idiosyncrasies and zoomed in to solve the criminal cases. ...fingers tapping, waiting for ep.6

So it's fair to say it got pretty good? All procedural or is there a significant serialized throughline?

They're showing this years taiga "Onna joshu Naotora" on a local channel. Up to episode 11. Next episode she changes her name from Jiro to Naotora and becomes a warlord so it looks like it will start to get interesting now.

That's the problem with taigas. With 49/50 episodes there's a lot of filler and it takes a long time for plots to develop. But of all the taigas with a female lead, going back thru "Atsuhime", "Gou", "Yae no Sakura", and "Hana Moyu", this seems to be the best one. Maybe that's because Kou has that attitude that she could have lived during the Sengoku Jidai and taken care of herself.

Two episodes into Rakuen. Solid so far, but a tad slow. I'm not quite feeling Nakama Yukie's character though.
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'Sup, all. Happy July.

Kaito Yamaneko - Watched...just over 3 eps? Too hammy for us.

Boku no Ita Jikan - touching and thoughtful ALS drama. Haruma was well cast in the role. Tabe Mikako is consistently excellent.

Bonus Mikako role: Watashi ni Unmei no Koi Nante Arienaitte Omotteta SP. Gah, this was so cute. Loved it.

Love the format of SPs. Anyone got some good one-off SPs to recommend?

Border - solid but some cases didn't grab me. Some were well done, though, and the last few eps, especially the finale, were a strong note. The finale in particular has a thought-provoking and compelling ending that makes me very interested in the upcoming sequel SP.

Gomen ne - not a fan of the humor in this one. Dropped partway into ep 1.

Boku Unmei no Hito - pretty solid. Not spectacular. Resolution felt a smidge unsatisfying.

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

We wanted a flash forward.

Gu Ra Me - dropped during the pilot. Too much dry politics focus, too little food/characterization focus. Anyone got some good food shows to recommend, BTW?

Soshite - Lost ID show - identity theft drama. Pretty solid pilot, hasn't grabbed us a ton yet though.

Reverse - 7 eps in. Good storytelling, ok story. Feels like No no Tame Ni lite at times. Same author. Compelling enough to watch, mostly.

Anyone seen Boku no Aruku Michi, Crisis, or Frankenstein no Koi?

maxcriden wrote:

Anyone seen Boku no Aruku Michi?

I would recommend it. The problem with stories dealing with people with disabilities is you have to walk a fine line. You can't make the character so pitiful it's painful to watch, you can't make the "normal" people heartless assholes, but at the same time it has to be realistic.

Kusanagi was just excellent in this as autistic Teruaki. I've said for a long time I think he's every bit as good as Kimtaku and he showed me again here. Supporting cast was good as well, especially Aiko Nagayama as Teruaki's mother.

Another real good drama about a person with disabilities is "Daisuki":http://jdorama.com/drama.daisuki-.1248.htm

Coincidentally, Karina is in both these. In "Daisuki" she is the person with the disability and she did an excellent job.

gaijinmark wrote:

I would recommend it. The problem with stories dealing with people with disabilities is you have to walk a fine line. You can't make the character so pitiful it's painful to watch, you can't make the "normal" people heartless assholes, but at the same time it has to be realistic. Kusanagi was just excellent in this as autistic Teruaki. I've said for a long time I think he's every bit as good as Kimtaku and he showed me again here. Supporting cast was good as well, especially Aiko Nagayama as Teruaki's mother. Another real good drama about a person with disabilities is "Daisuki":http://jdorama.com/drama.daisuki-.1248.htm Coincidentally, Karina is in both these. In "Daisuki" she is the person with the disability and she did an excellent job.

Oh man, both of those sound absolutely wonderful. Thanks for the recommendation. They both sound right up my alley as someone interested in medical conditions (and my wife is a healthcare professional so this sort of thing is always of interest to her also). Thanks Mark!

BTW, I am looking forward to seeing Karina's performances in both of these dramas. I think I've only seen her in Freeter and Love Shuffle (Yay panda!) but I was really impressed with her in both roles.