nihon_lover
Member
From: Greece
Registered: 2012-07-21
Posts: 26
Hi minna,
it's been a while since I have posted a topic. I would like to ask you all, is there an alternative to J-dramas to use for immersion? I watched a comedy the other day and it sucked!!! This was not the idea I had for Japan or Japanese people. And yes I know that j-dramas do not represent the Japanese life style, but it was a culture shock for me. So any ideas?
prink
Member
From: Minneapolis
Registered: 2010-11-02
Posts: 200
Was that the only one you've seen? Offhand, I know there's more than one Japanese drama, and some do depict Japanese lifestyle. Maybe try a different kind of show if you're that put off by dramas. Movies? If not, audio dialogues, podcasts, etc, but you won't have any visual cues, which makes a huge difference in my opinion.
nihon_lover
Member
From: Greece
Registered: 2012-07-21
Posts: 26
Thank you all for answering. Well you were right I didn't give much information about myself. Well I am trying to find out if there are good tv-shows in Japan like hmmm... I don't know. In my mind come tv-shows like Supernatural, or Lost, or even Sex and the City. Don't have anything specific. Surely I don't think that there are equivalents in Japan to the above mentioned TV-shows, but I would really love to hear suggestions on good tv-shows if you would...
Last edited by nihon_lover (2012 November 30, 4:15 pm)
Hmm, I'm not into dramas either, maybe if I found a serious one with good acting I would get into it but...anyways, I prefer anime, but some podcasts & radio drama are pretty good.
A lot of Japanese movies have better acting than drama, but I might start with searching for dubbed versions of shows you like. I know LOST and Supernatural have been dubbed, and it's easy to find Hollywood movies dubbed.
chamcham
Member
Registered: 2005-11-11
Posts: 1444
You watch one drama and say they all suck.
That's stupid.
What drama did you watch?
There are many good dramas out there.
It depends on what kind of dramas you like to see.
Like lardycake said, "Bloody Monday" is a good show. Some people called it a Japanese "24".
Both seasons are good (I prefer the second season, but the first was really good too).
In any case, if you're expecting to find a ton of Japanese equivalents of American TV shows, you'll probably be disappointed.
Right now, I'm watching:
Mirai Nikki
Omoni Naitemasu
Legal High
Sprout
A lot of dramas are based on Japanese novels. For example, "Nanase Futatabi" is a story by one of Japan's most well-known sci-fi authors. I really liked the 2008 version of the drama (it was remade into a drama 3 other times previously). As far as supernatural is concerned, don't expect the Japanese idea of supernatural to be similar to the west, especially when it comes to ghosts.
Another older drama i liked was "Triangle". It's about a murder investigation of a little girl after the statute of limitations has passed.
Another favorite drama is "Karei Naru Ichizoku", which is a political/finance drama.
"Fumo Chitai" is a good serious drama. The first episode is a 2 hour movie that is mostly military drama. The rest of the drama is about the character's move into the financial world amid certain pivotal historical events.
There are lots of good shows. Sometimes, you have to find them on your own.
There's no guarantee that you'll like the same shows that I do.
Last edited by chamcham (2012 November 30, 6:34 pm)
Realism
Member
Registered: 2011-05-01
Posts: 206
nihon_lover wrote:
Hi minna,
it's been a while since I have posted a topic. I would like to ask you all, is there an alternative to J-dramas to use for immersion? I watched a comedy the other day and it sucked!!! This was not the idea I had for Japan or Japanese people. And yes I know that j-dramas do not represent the Japanese life style, but it was a culture shock for me. So any ideas?
Watch movies, they're better.
I find the acting in Dramas to be extremely....weird....almost amateurish at times. Of course during the important scenes they'll act really well but otherwise they seem to kinda slack it off.
In movies most of the acting is pretty professional.
And btw what did you mean that it's not YOUR idea of Japan or Japanese people....I mean what the heck does that mean?? How are Japanese people supposed to be?? They're people just like anyone else....
nihon_lover wrote:
In my mind come tv-shows like Supernatural, or Lost, or even Sex and the City.
Supernatural the anime, it's exactly the same as the American show, except they all speak Japanese this time around.
I'm sure there is an anime or manga like Lost, but I can't think of it off the top of my head.
Last edited by Realism (2012 November 30, 6:51 pm)
tashippy
Member
From: New York
Registered: 2011-06-18
Posts: 566
i second the movies ryuudou suggested. i'll add a few:
Ping Pong
Taste of Tea
Bird People of China
Audition
Marebito
Hana and Alice
Air Doll
I prefer eiga as well. find a director you like and check out a few of his/her flicks. i'm trying to get into dorama because there is more dialog; you hear the same or related words repeated a lot because the show format usually sticks with one theme for the series. and yeah, GTO is a popular first drama. it's based on a manga, so be prepared for acting that is deliberately cartoony at times. onizuka is such a baddass 
Last edited by tashippy (2012 November 30, 8:51 pm)
thistime
Member
Registered: 2008-11-04
Posts: 223
Yeah, I'm also kind of curious what this culture shock was. I don't watch dramas because, like others here, I can't stand the acting, but I can't think of a single drama that doesn't represent real life to a large extent with just a bit of mmm...drama 
tossed in. So chances are what you saw was largely what Japan is really like.
Re: ドラマ, I don't watch much myself. But I like Sprout, Hageshino Keigo Mysteries, and, lately, 悪夢ちゃん.
Most of the rest of my TV viewing is news or anime. Re: anime, BTOOOM! and 貧乏神が！ are both recent favorites. BTOOOM! is a "Most Dangerous Game"/Hunger Games-type tale, and is fairly dark. 貧乏神が！is just plain hilarious. I also recently got into K-On!, which is great.
There's a world of stuff out there. More than you could ever hope to watch. Hunt around for a while until you find something that really grabs you. If you don't like it, don't watch it.
Last edited by gaiaslastlaugh (2012 November 30, 11:46 pm)
Daichi
Member
From: Washington
Registered: 2009-02-04
Posts: 450
nihon_lover wrote:
is there an alternative to J-dramas to use for immersion?
nihon_lover wrote:
This was not the idea I had for Japan or Japanese people.
I suppose you could try the news, or educational programming like what they show on NHK-E. Other people have suggested movies, which is probably a good idea since they are a smaller time investment then a series would be.
nihon_lover wrote:
In my mind come tv-shows like Supernatural, or Lost, or even Sex and the City.
Some of these might have Japanese Dubs, I know Lost has a Japanese dub, as well as other shows like 24, Star Trek and Doctor Who.
Last edited by Daichi (2012 December 01, 12:51 am)
Fadeway
Member
From: Sofia Bulgaria
Registered: 2012-01-01
Posts: 90
How about anime? There's tons of that, and it's really good. Even if you aren't interested, you could probably find a couple you'd like among MAL's top: http://myanimelist.net/topanime.php (be careful with the 50+ episode ones, as well as any sequels, their rating tends to be skewed a bit; not that they aren't great). A few of the movies mentioned above have anime versions (I think the movies adapt the anime, while the anime adapts the manga, most often) - for example GTO, whose live-action I haven't watched, but the anime is one of my favorite comedies (http://myanimelist.net/anime/245/Great_Teacher_Onizuka).
The same question has popped up in my head theoretically when thinking about starting Korean or Chinese. I'm not a big fan of live-action in general, and I'm even less drawn by the eastern versions. Guess I'll deal with it when the time comes.
Last edited by Fadeway (2012 December 01, 1:39 am)
shinsen
Member
Registered: 2009-02-18
Posts: 181
Japan is a weird country and there's a lot of stuff that's shocking if you're not used to it. They like to take it to the max, the comedy can be really outrageous but the violence and sex can also go overboard.
Most movies I happened to see dealt with suicide, perversion, crime (lots of yakuza shows) and history (samurai stuff). It seems Japanese movies are generally on the "dark side" of their psyche. Doramas seem to lean towards the lighter side of the spectrum and they often don't take themselves too seriously so acting can be amateurish. Anime covers the entire spectrum but the volume is so huge it can be very frustrating to select shows that fit your niche.
With dorama, like other media, there's often an intended target audience for the show. If the show's main character is a girl surrounded by lots of pretty rich boys (like Hana Yori Dango) then it's a typical harem scenario intended for girls. It can still be well executed and watchable if you're a dude but you're not really who the show is targeting.
Foraging for Japanese media is an acquired skill and you'll have to know your preferences and learn to quickly judge the target audience from plot summaries. The most important thing is to move on if you're not really enjoying the show. It doesn't matter if it's popular and everyone's loving it. I used to torture myself trying to watch anime everyone was raging about. Just move on, Japan produces so much media.
. All the bright young people here will be glad to help with only a bit more information.
