Who else was disappointed by many of them? I watched a majority of the popular ones such as Lucky Seven, Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi, Seinaru Kaibutsutachi, Hungry, etc. I really liked Hungry and Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi as they progressed but was turned off by the finales. Lucky Seven and Seinaru Kaibutsutachi started out interesting but quickly lost my interest despite me continuing to watch them for the sake of seeing where it went. Understandably, both of their finales also disappointed me. None of the dramas I watched wrapped-up well in my opinion. Do you guys feel the same way?

Since we're currently in-between seasons I decided to watch Orange Days, an older drama that I have become hooked on. Any single episode from Orange Days was more enjoyable to me than any entire season of a drama I saw. I've watched 5 episodes in 1 day while commuting to/from school and during gap periods.

Speaking of older dramas, I watched the movie Moteki yesterday. Well it was batshit insane and I loved it for the most part but it was a drama before that I suppose, and has the greatest intro. That's why I'm bringing this up, because I want to show it to the world.

I just couldn't get into this season, although I've been watching 孤独のグルメ a bit, that's kind of fun. (Then again, I work with food so perhaps I have a skewed perspective.)

But, Orange Days is special... it should be mentioned in the same breath with Hotaru no Hikari and Nodame Cantabile, really. It doesn't have as much humor as those two, but it's just as much a classic.

Every once in awhile, I wonder why I can't find 'mother and lover' anywhere, which was a drama from maybe the same time as Orange Days or a few seasons later that had a great piano soundtrack and a cute storyline about a kind of rough-cut mama's boy and the girl he was falling in love with and courting in an amazingly clumsy way. I didn't finish watching it when it was current and never have seen it online. Hmmm.

I wish sometimes they'd produce fewer dramas at higher quality, and more diversity. The same old rehashed love triangles are tiresome. Or maybe it's just what's made available by certain torrent uploaders that's the same-old-thing - the English-language websites about Asian dramas seem to only concern themselves with romance dramas, everything else is beside the point apparently.

I'll look into the two other dramas you mentioned. If you're into older dramas I'd recommend Koi no Chikara, which I learned about from a Japanese girl who told me it was her favorite drama. I liked it although I'm not sure if it's popular.

And yeah I agree about them working harder on these dramas especially considering that almost all of them are a single season. The part that gets me is that you see the same actors so often that it becomes a bit absurd. It really feels that way to me regardless of what medium you're looking at; TV shows, dramas, or movies all use the same actors again and again. It really kills me. And definitely the plots need to be more interesting.

yeah, most of them were rubbish this season... i did watch 早海さんと呼ばれる日 all the way to the end though, that wasn't bad. And 分身 was good, i've got to watch the last couple when i get a chance...

Both of these are different to the average dramas on atm and 分身 particularly seems darker and slightly different style than the average drama, maybe because it's 東野圭吾

I liked 贖罪 and 分身. I also liked デカ黒川鈴木 for its complete stupidity, 本日は大安なり was set in a wedding parlour which I've not seen in a drama before so that in itself was quite interesting. ストロベリーナイト was good although the best episode were the ones that were based on books. Finally 孤独のグルメ! I found it very relaxing to watch

Any other recommendations? (For any season.)

watashitachi no kyokasho -KANNO miho
mop girl- tanihara shousuke

TheVinster Wrote:Any other recommendations? (For any season.)

ヤンキー君とメガネちゃん since you ask is pretty much my all-time favorite (and for learning purposes, it has Japanese and English subtitles available, although I wouldn't model my speech after anyone in it.) It's true the male lead was a little old to carry off the role physically, but he plays it wonderfully. It has elements of a certain kind of putting-aside-the-sword story (or fists in this case), elements of romantic comedy, and elements of coming-of-age story. It's definitely among the classics although I'm not aware of anyone besides me that puts it at #1.

Long-time drama fans put it at the bottom of or just outside of their top ten, I think... but then, it isn't really a love story even though it has a falling-in-love subplot between the title characters (though very few gestures that can be properly described as -romantic-). I think long-time drama fans prefer more romance.

Patissiere Antique... I forget the actual title, but I think that was a popular translation. I enjoyed that one for the ride, but the ending was meh so don't get worked up for it.

ジャンピング was fun and comes to mind because it derives from ヤンキー君 in many ways, but is in any case about a delinquent boy who takes an interest in men's gymnastics. Decisively a coming-of-age story.