| **EDIT: I decided to add another function to this thread. Thanks kurichan for the idea. Basically, it is suggested if people can also post a help guide to those who wants to read it. That include at least if it has furigana (for manga), idea of what level of japanese they should be on before attempting it and pros and cons. Formatted response would be best for everyone :D. For those who already posted, you don't really need to format it, though it would be nice :D ** Here are the suggestions of Japanese media that you checked and think would be a great source for those who want to experience it RAW (watching, reading, listening, etc.) it. The only criteria is that you experienced it all in raw Japanese without other language interfering (aka subs) for at least once. Completing it would be the best option. Anyway, you can always edit if something changes. Yotsuba &! よつばと！ Level: Easy to natively fluent (because my japanese friend seems to like it a lot) Manga, completed volume "up to most recent online chapter"/"preferably infinite" Furigana: yes, of course. First, I would like to tell you that Yotsuba, the main character, only talks in hiragana/katakana. I think this is the only let down I had with this manga, because I want to know the kanji too (searching for kanji with only kana as clue takes time). Thankfully, what Yotsuba says is most of the time repeated in kanji by the other characters in the story. So here’s all the advantage I got for this manga: One, the atmosphere is friendly. You don’t read any difficult kanji compound. Most of what they talk about is about everyday’s stuff. And when it’s everyday’s stuff, it’s always great because you know it’ll be used often in Japanese. Second, it’s so fun, you’ll forget you’re learning Japanese. Yotsuba’s innocence is so attractive, the situations are funny and that’s what makes you learn better. Then, how Yotsuba herself act is awesome. She’s very curious about the world, and that’s probably what a Japanese beginner wants too. “What’s that??” “It’s an air conditioner” type of conversation. It’s not one of those manga that is heavy and that you can’t understand that much even with pictures. Second is that they repeat important words so many times that it get stuck in your head even if you don’t want to. So, I strongly recommend this to anyone who just started or is at their beginnings. And even if you’re advanced, it’s just plain funny. Aria the complete series アリア、アクア。 Anime and manga, completed all Anime, reading volume 1/12 Level Anime: beginner and up Level Manga: intermediate (or AJATTers) and up. furigana: yes, and also lots of kanjis First recommendation: watch Aria just before sleeping. Or, if you’re like me, watch it if you can’t sleep. Anyway, you’ll be half-asleep by the time the episode is finished. It’s very slice of life, and the conversation they have is very light. The thing is, there’s a lot of thing I understood from Aria, and the speech patterns are easy. The only thing is that you have to cope with are new terms. But you’ll get accustomed to it because there’s plenty of repetition. My review is a little bit tainted here, because I’ve watched the first few episodes half-raw. Words like undine, manhome and speech patterns like “embarrassing remarks aren’t allowed” can’t really be figured out easily if you just watched it raw. But it’s truly a very unique experience to watch it raw. I bought the manga version after Aria became my solid top #4. To my surprise, reading it was a little bit harder than I thought. It's still relatively easy, especially for AJATT users, but sometimes I get lost. Nevertheless, Aria is so amazingly cute (not moe) that you just absorb whatever they say :D 楽しそう～～！ハヒ！ |
firebound12Sep 30, 2009 9:07 PM
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| General suggestions: it helps if a show/manga is somehow familiar, but still interesting. Personally, I like to rewatch shows I saw when I was younger, ones like Digimon Adventure (the TV series) and Sailor Moon, which are nostalgic, familiar, and a bit easier than shows for an older audience. You can also watch sequels and the like, things that are highly visually expressive, and things based on stories you already know more or less. If you're into sports, sports anime/manga is a good bet. Generally the shoujo or shounen marker for manga tells you there's full or almost full furigana, which is very useful. There are a few categorized as Seinen or Josei that have full/nearly full furigana, such as Death Note, Yotsuba&, and NANA. Manga: Second Yotsuba& (after seven volumes). Highly amusing, fairly educational, easy. It's the best one I've found for this. Lovely Complex ラブ☆コン It's longish, sixteen volumes (seventeen including Plus), but it's a brilliantly funny and touching romance, and it's a great introduction to 大阪弁 (Osaka dialect). It made me read obsessively, and given how difficult Japanese is for me to read, that's rare. Kimi wa Girlfriend キミはガールフレンド It's short (one volume) and funny. Dramas: Engine エンジン Touching family drama/romance. Often funny, sometimes heartrending. It's about an F1 racer who gets kicked off his team and goes back to his hometown to try to get on the local team. His dad runs a foster home but Jiro, the racer, hates kids, or so he claims. But because he's a big doofus, they come to like him. Many episodes focus on one or a few kids as they deal with their issues. Gokusen ごくせん Hilarious school comedy. There's also a manga (that it's based on) and an anime, but I haven't read/seen either. Nakama Yukie is awesome as an idealistic young math teacher assigned to the bad class who turns out to be the granddaughter of a yakuza boss, as a result of which she's a great fighter and slips into yakuza speech, which can be hard to understand, but usually one gets the drift. A lot of the comedy is physical. The sequel, Gokusen 2, is not as good, and I've heard the same about Gokusen 3. Mop Girl モップガール Show about a young woman, Momoko, who goes back in time against her will to prevent deaths that have recently occurred. She's rather clumsy, a bit of a screwup, and talks funny - there are a decent number of puns, some so obvious that even I got them (after studying Japanese for a few months). There is a lot of comedy, mostly making fun of human nature, and a mystery element as well. My Boss, My Hero マイ★ボス マイ★ヒーロー School comedy about a 28 (or 29?) year old son of a yakuza boss whose father sends him back to high school as a condition for inheriting the yakuza leadership. His younger brother (in college) is a weakling, but very smart, so they compete. Meanwhile he has lots of trouble getting used to a school life again. He's not exactly dumb, just horrendously ignorant and sometimes talks funny. The English teacher (a white guy) speaks pretty funny Japanese. Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) 絶対彼氏 Based on the manga of the same name, this is about Riiko, a young woman who's hopeless in love and gets ahold of a robot that's supposed to be the ideal boyfriend. Unfortunately, she has to pay for him, and that's not easy in her entry-level job. But her dream is to become a pastry chef, and one of the guys at work becomes intrigued after he tries one of her cream puffs. So we have a love triangle (that gets more complicated from there), a robot to hide, dreams to realize, etc. It's a fun romantic comedy, not too hard to understand, lots of visual humor, tasty-looking pastries, etc. Hotaru no Hikari ホタルノヒカリ It's also based on a manga, but the manga is fairly hard to read. It's a romantic comedy about a woman who's not into love and just wants to lounge around at home in sweatpants, drinking, eating junk food, and making a huge mess, even though she's a fashionable and successful worker at her job and gives the impression that she has a boyfriend. Then her boss is unexpectedly forced to move in with her temporarily and a new cute guy starts working at the office. Suddenly everything gets more complicated, and under her boss' direction, she tries to clean up her act. Funny, but not very difficult. |
| Hi! My suggestion is on http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=81092&show=140 but I;ll put it here too *-----watch the sub, then the original, This way, you can learn some japanese because you are connecting the two together time and scenewise. Also, you can see how difference an anime can be without subs. The sad thing about this technique is that it TAKES space and TIME.. I usually stick with soft subs to takes space down, but time is your consideration.***** One very good suggestion for learning Japanese with media in my opinion is: Cardcaptor Sakura. Brief look: A classic that keeps you entertained. The story is about a 4th grader name Kinomoto Sakura, who accidentally scatters a deck of magical and mysterious cards and must gather back all the cards. Why? Every episode has similar scenes to other episodes, Sakura wakes up, and meets a new day. The numerous 'daily life' scenes also help this series become my suggestion. However, the episodes themselves will give many a tremendous boost in vocab. (food, verbs, i can't think! etc) Easy grammar everywhere, which can help some that wants to improve their listening. KERO chan can be used if there are those who want to be different and study Kansai-ben, a dialect of Japanese, like southern accent in America, Cantonese in Chinese, etc. Episodes 70, which is a lot to cover. |
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| Welcome to the NHK! NHKにようこそ！ manga, completed volume 1/? level: above average beginner and up. Or just AJATTers XD furigana: yes When I first read it, I thought it was going to be very difficult to understand it. However, now that I finished the first volume, I think I can safely say that the NHK manga series would be an excellent source of sentences, even if the content is harder than what I've read so far. First, it has kanji galore. Even kawai~ is written 可愛い. So, good thing for those who have passed RTK. Second, its not much, but it does refer to a lot of otaku lifestyle. For ex: 同人誌 (どうじんし）. Third, its a good series, just like the Anime (strongly recommend to watch it too). Very funny, never gets old, and of course a little bit reflective on otakuness, or more on ひきこもり. |
firebound12Sep 30, 2009 9:20 PM
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| I currently watch 3 shows raw to practice my Japanese listening and comprehension skills: Chi's Sweet Home Pokemon Keroro Gunsou Chi's sweet home uses very easy vocabulary, the characters don't talk too fast, and it's a very cute and funny show. Pokemon is recommended because it uses "cool" vocab, like stuff you can put in your SRS as sentences because they sound really cool and fun to learn. Keroro Gunsou is a bit harder than the first two, but it's also a kids show, and of course it's also really funny and has a lot of "cool" vocab. All of the above mentioned shows come on weekly (Chi more often that weekly because all the eps are short), so you don't have to wait long between episodes. |
| I'll put my 2 cents in drama I guess more systemically with the scores. Like anime I have my stay the hell away warnings~!!! j-drama/k-drama they have this issue with melodrama which just kills me and some j-drama has this thing with stupidity like shoving in some random crap that's just random and not funny or anything. I'm just saying that these two don't have those issues or they're not noticeable. well nobuta's definitely not melodramatic Of the dramas I've seen the ones I can recommend without a doubt! I highly recommend They're like 9/10 For these the directing the BGM and all that is well-done. c nobuta wo produce hanazakari no kimitachi e watashitachi no kyoukasho nodame cantabile Story-wise I would say watashitachi no kyoukasho would make you want to watch the next ep everytime. Most I watched in one day was like 3 eps, it was THAT GOOD. It starts off slow but gets mad good. nobuta wo produce - it grew on me fast. it was okay then I get used to it and I loved it. I got to the last ep before I knew it. i DON'T THINK THERE'S RAWS ON j-addicts anymore but there are on VEOH so you can just download from VEOH if it's still there now. hopefully. hanazakari no kimitachi e (aka hana kimi)- The first ep was okay and a little cringe but... I'd say give it a few eps. It gets pretty funny and interesting beyond the fan-service crap/jokes. a lot of characters and I love their little antics/jokes/. i was really worried that it woudl be shit because of the "ikemen paradise" but it's the most re-watchable drama i watched. it's very fun/funny and it really encompasses "seishun". The pace is really good, I'm like never bored while watching and j-dramas always tend to be draggy/boring at some parts of the episode etc but this one isn't at all. nodame - if you haven't seen/read anime/manga watch the drama first. I think i would've enjoyed it more if i didn'tread the manga/watch the anime. even if you saw it, it's pretty interesting because it is live-action. so it's mad weird. comedy comes offbetter in the drama. =========== 8-7/10 my boss my hero liar game LIFE Out of these most addictive are LIAR GAMe and LIFE. I finished these shows like less than a week or 5 days (could've been faster too). They are only 35 minutes each ep too so. My boss my hero is really well-done but then at the end I felt like it lacked something. by all means give it a few eps before you decide you like/don't like. I think it gets really good. ============== 6-7/10 last friends joou no kyoushitsu haken no hinkaku hanayori dango i /ii /movie yume to ame no ato ni Last friends is addictive too actually. You could criticize the show and all that but it's pretty exciting to watch. Sometimes it's boring though. it is a disappointing show. joou no kyoushitsu is slow boring sometimes but it has some brilliant scenes/parts. haken no hinkaku = it's well done and it's pretty funny. I loved some of the moments and the intereaction but it's sorta boring at times. hana yori dango = it's like melo/manga/embarrassing but it has a charm about it. i like the comedy. i would say just don't go in with expectations and just assume it's overrated as hell before watching if you are going to watch. the movie is bad, i guess just fastforward half of it if you're gonna watch. yume to ame no ato ni - it started off mad 90s and okay but it grew on me and at the end I was glad I watched it. If you want this genre and don't mind slow, do try. ======= average seigi no mikata - by all means it does fulfill its job as a comedy but sorta slumps in the middle and it's boring sometimes. I enjoyed it a lot sometimes but overall it's just average. ALL THE ONES ABOVE ARE ON dramanote (the lines). I think all the shows except gokusen are on? well you can check. but the ones I rated 7-9 are definitely on there. even that person has good taste :) ============ average/don't watch or skim watch etc propose daisakusen == um i know it won best drama but it really shouldn't have like there was liar game and life and watashitachi that season I think so it's pretty messed up. um I will say THERE IS NO TWIST. It's gonna be boring and like that all the way through so i'm telling you... maybe if you love yamashita it'll be different? lol. I don't get the popularity with this show. by all means it was okay and sorta good but then as it went on you can really endure it for so long. oh and it doesn't end. lol. you have to watch the special.!! how dumb. I don't think this is spoiler, I' m just saying so you don't waste 10hrs~ just to be like ENDING!! and to not watch one. 1 liter of tears= drama cliches/typicalness galore. the point of the show is to make you cry every ep but that doesn't mean it's a good drama. It's too artifical like the pounds of make-up that peeled off with the tears etc etc. There's lots of flwas with this. maou - this is boring... I don't like oono or ikita toma THAT much. the show started to feel pointless after a while... story is like eh to me b.c. it felt pointless after a while. there's a scene i love though with oono and sister and cd 14 sai - cliche/boring/MADDDDDDD MELODRAMATIC. the mr. cihldren song is good. I think I hate haurma (that actor ) kekkon dekinai = it's like quirky slice of life. I found it boring and not thta funny and I hated all the characters. hate is too strong but well I don't like them. sekai no chuushin ~~~ = it's really boring and I read reviews that the original book sucks and how the main character is brainless and does these crazy actions. i think the negative reviews is more enterataining than watching the show. I only watched 1 ep and skim the ep 2 3 4 and wow it's boring. ============ 4-3-2-1/10 = stay the hell away from or drop after 5 seconds recommendations densha otoko & gokusen = I hate densha otoko and I don't hate gokusen. I find densha otoko annoying and dumb and cliche/ gross/offenseive/boring/etc. the premise my ass. I would just say if you feel bored/irritated within the first episode skip to the last one if you care or just stop watching. gokusen is uh pretty unimaginative/boring/averagage/average(no it's below...) it's very cliche/typical shoen -school-anime with yankees (that japanese word)i don't get why ppl say omg gokusen 1 is so much better okugsen 2... in some ways gokusen 2 is way better/exactly the same like that cliche ep abt a guy chasing a girl was so much funnier/interesting in the s2 version. another thing with drmaa is after you watchit you can watch the NG on youtbe or veoh or whatever and itnerviews if you want. AND most of the time they have interviews with the cast on the official site if that interests you~~ ====== I would suggest watching the top videos on youtube (jP) for entertaining b.c. I found some good /hilarious stuff on there. then i can subscribe to that user and that that person might contiue uploading that show or other shows like it or wahtever. By all means i usually HATE half the stuff on the top video on youtube so by all means find shows/videos/celebrity (geinoujin) you like and don't force yourself to watch some show b.c. it's in japanese or it seems hard/etc. As you delve into it, you can begin to tell from the picture/screnshot whether you'll hate it or like it. I mean there's exceptions obviously cause it's abt what they're saying but anyways It's about enjoyment. 2ch = well there's some interesting threads. there's threads about EVERYTHINg. personally I don't browse it, you know the page where they just list a bunch of thread topics in like a box. I just serach for the topic/issue/ that interests me and I read it. there's some really fun threads to read plus I can participate in it too cause my college internet is weird but at home I couldn't. you have to have a japanese ip to join or use a proxy etc ~ serach engine for 2ch |
midori-Sep 12, 2009 6:52 AM
 今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
| I got one: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Furigana: Always available Recommended JPNS Level: Beginners and up Pros: This manga is very good for beginners, especially for those who want to polish their hirigana/katakana reading skills. It's a classic, so it's very likely to be enjoyable. I'm not very good on Japanese vocab, but as I read it, I can understand what's going on. Cons: The manga was aimed for young girls, so if you're hoping to study advanced structure, this isn't the best option. |
| <img src="http://manga.tokyo/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/318963e6e6d19177d77a3e23e528527e.jpg" border="0" /> |
| JIN - J-drama I think people are saying it's the best drama of 2009 or for fall 2009 but I totally agree with that. Basically this show definitely has some value with learning Japanese if you want to branch out to Japanese used during EDO JIDAI. There's Japanese subs on d-addicts for all the episodes, so as far as looking up anything you want to look up, you can. I just find it really interesting cause I don't anything about EDO JIDAI and what was there or what wasn't there during that time period in Japan. Personally, I really just hate anything (like drama) that has to do with ancient china or korea or japan but I really love this drama. I think it's pretty edgey in many ways and even though I'm mostly into dramas that take place in this century, I really enjoyed this one (didn't watch to end yet though). The visuals/clothes since it is edo jidai and the way talk is really interesting I think. I think that if you really follow/understand modern Japanese really well... I don't feel like it'll be too hard to follow this one. Like I said I have no interest in Edo jidai or meiji jidai, etc and so this is my first jidai-teki media. Isn't it like that with English too. Like Pirates of the carribbean has weird english since it is you know but peple have no trouble following/understanding it. OH And I also thought it would be a クソ涙頂戴 because I remember seeing some comercial for this on youtube where they showed haruka ayase crying (and I didn't like her in hikari no hokaru because she was annoying) but it really isn't. I just feel really moved by this drama.. It's not like cheap-namida choudai like 1 liter at ALL. |
今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
| Yep hotaru n hikari. I usually check out this site to see what's worth watching, what's not as far as the new dramas go. 2ch-drama review site I also check top jdrama - the reviews/comments there. For this seaon I only saw liar game 2, samurai high school, and JIN. I think that's pretty good for a season, 3 shows that I can actually watch. I think the season before that I watched 0 cause there was nothing. Samurai high schooolmade me not regain faith in that actor haruma. I've only seen him in 14 sai and bloody monday which ewre both pretty bad dramas to me. and all he did was either nothing/not much or cry. It was very annoying. So for samurai high school I was glad to see he's versatile and can actually act (plus he's acting out a better character than the ones from 14 sai/bloody m) liar game 2- not as good as season 1 for obvious reasons but i still enjoy it (ediT: it gets more and more disappointing??). i love the background music and just how the show is and all that. I hope the movie is good. I have a feeling it'll be either be really crappy or really good. ALL THESE shows have japanese subtitles up at d-addicts. |
midori-Jan 21, 2010 7:31 PM
今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
Zealous said: JIN was pretty good, but I don't know if it was necessarily the best for the season. I enjoyed Ohitorisama and Tokyo DOGS as well. Ohitorisama was cute and fun, certainly a romance-addict's dream, but a bit shallow and awkward at times. I also enjoyed it quite a bit. Tokyo Dogs was mostly a FAIL. Viewers who enjoyed it seem to praise it for its comedy, but that's all there was to it. The acting was half-assed (Yoshitaka Yuriko made a poorly made and poorly used character a thousand times worse), many of the jokes get old VERY fast, and the overall plot was just... not worth an entire series, especially Yoshitaka Yuriko's role, which was worth a couple episodes at best. I just barely made it through the entire series and it just.wasn't.worth.it. >_< JIN, on the other hand, was superb in every respect. Amazing cast first of all. Ayase Haruka can do no wrong these days (She's lovely, funny, talented. She brightens everything up). Osawa Takao made Minakata Jin feel like my best friend! Uchino Masaaki as Sakamoto Ryoma was funny, scary, and somehow CUTER than Koike Teppei (yes, I said it!), and with more personality too. Everyone else was pretty damn good. Secondly, plot-wise, it was damn interesting. I was intrigued by the mystery of time-slip, but eventually completely immersed in Jin's effect on Edo and those around him, as well as the development of his character. I became 100% emotionally invested in the show, right up until the end, and I was never bored enough during an episode to look away! Finally, it was just a great-looking show. There was some fine directorial work! Unexpectedly JIN was the BEST of the Fall 2009 season (I never planned on watching it, but did thanks to the rave reviews of a friend I did). Best of 2009 overall? Hard to say. There were some strong contenders. Love Shuffle, Orthros no Inu Mr. Brain (which would have been better if it were longer and a bit more like Tokyo Dogs, in having an overall plot, rather than being as episodic as it was), Shiroi Haru, BOSS... My top 3 of 2009 probably looks like this: 1. Love Shuffle 2. JIN 3. Mr. Brain (Orthros no Inu would be 4). I watched Japanese 17 NEW dramas in 2009 from start to finish, a couple specials, and started 9 (most I dropped, some are on hold). =P There were also several older dramas that I watched, and a few Korean dramas too. (Can you tell how passionate I am about this?) I'll come back later with more drama recs. XD I appreciate everyone else's, though! |
| <---made of awesome! |
| This season is a little dull, and I'm trying to scale back my watching, buuuut... Massuga na Otoko is pretty enjoyable. Episode 1 was good! I also plan on watching Bloody Monday 2 (Because I watched the first series), and I'll watch Angel Bank later in the season. Other Addicts are watching Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge, and seem to have enjoyed episode 1, though it's going to be a very shallow series. XD Also, USUALLY if a series bores me, I drop it. At least, I do that all the time American television. XD I've dropped around a dozen series... But there's an alarming few (that includes Tokyo Dogs) where I watched from start to finish... and regretted it. |
SusanJan 23, 2010 2:43 PM
| <---made of awesome! |
| This thread havent gotten any anime suggestion lately XD Casshern sins Level: Intermediate. Anime Pros: +has nice speech patterns. +lots of repetition +plenty of not often used verbs Cons: -Pace: Permanently on slow mode. -too much repetition. -Genre: A lil bit too gloomy. |
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| for the HYD fans - It's like an episode of one of those arashi bangumis and it's juts to promote hana yori dango final.. some parts were so funnny. like the part where tsukushi says arienai tsuu no and then oushima says to her well something like that. tsukkomi!! |
今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
| I saw gyne/gine sanpujinka something something (kamiji yuusuke is one of the actors in it) I think it's a well-done medical drama. One of more well-done drama in general too. Like I couldn't make it past the first episode of ryuu (doctor dragon??)... and the ep1 it self was pretting boring to me. By well-done... I mean like acting/background music/camera/lighting/script/etc. some japanese dramas tend to be... like mediocre and cliche with even just the camera work. It was fun to watch gine (not exactly fun in some aspects but entertaining) and it's not draggy and slow as hell and full of silence (ie MOTHER0 The season that gyne aired is the season JIN aired... so obviously comparing it to JIN... I would say JIN is better. BUT out of that sesaon it's #2 to me. #3 is lia game II just b.c. the other ones are blah. but liar game ii... is like 44 minutes an ep and liar game s1 is 35 minutes an ep so it's just draggy in that sense. Other ones I saw/dropped (stopped at ep....1 or something ) from that SEASON. gaiji keisatsu /samurai high school/ shokojo / liar game 2 / tokyo dogs gaiji keisatsu = boring/don't care for it but I saw ep 1 of CHASE and that show's interesting. samurai high school - first few eps are fun,,,, then it got the fast-forward treatment.it becomes unwatchable? shoukoj = mediocre and boring... from ep 1. tokyo dogs = bad. Just wanted to recommend gyne if you wanted to watch a good medical drama and it has JAPANESE subs on d-addicts. The ONLY reason I watched this drama was because i saw the preview for ep 6 or someting by accident. There wasn't much tal kabout this drama and some reviews were bad saying the main character is horrible so i honestly wouldn't have wached this drama if i hadn't seen the preview. I'm so glad I did..... AND there was buzz about kaibutsu kun and mother but they're both mediocore and boring. like mother is melodrama :( |
今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
Susan said: Zealous said: JIN was pretty good, but I don't know if it was necessarily the best for the season. I enjoyed Ohitorisama and Tokyo DOGS as well. Ohitorisama was cute and fun, certainly a romance-addict's dream, but a bit shallow and awkward at times. I also enjoyed it quite a bit. Tokyo Dogs was mostly a FAIL. Viewers who enjoyed it seem to praise it for its comedy, but that's all there was to it. The acting was half-assed (Yoshitaka Yuriko made a poorly made and poorly used character a thousand times worse), many of the jokes get old VERY fast, and the overall plot was just... not worth an entire series, especially Yoshitaka Yuriko's role, which was worth a couple episodes at best. I just barely made it through the entire series and it just.wasn't.worth.it. >_< JIN, on the other hand, was superb in every respect. Amazing cast first of all. Ayase Haruka can do no wrong these days (She's lovely, funny, talented. She brightens everything up). Osawa Takao made Minakata Jin feel like my best friend! Uchino Masaaki as Sakamoto Ryoma was funny, scary, and somehow CUTER than Koike Teppei (yes, I said it!), and with more personality too. Everyone else was pretty damn good. Secondly, plot-wise, it was damn interesting. I was intrigued by the mystery of time-slip, but eventually completely immersed in Jin's effect on Edo and those around him, as well as the development of his character. I became 100% emotionally invested in the show, right up until the end, and I was never bored enough during an episode to look away! Finally, it was just a great-looking show. There was some fine directorial work! Unexpectedly JIN was the BEST of the Fall 2009 season (I never planned on watching it, but did thanks to the rave reviews of a friend I did). Best of 2009 overall? Hard to say. There were some strong contenders. Love Shuffle, Orthros no Inu Mr. Brain (which would have been better if it were longer and a bit more like Tokyo Dogs, in having an overall plot, rather than being as episodic as it was), Shiroi Haru, BOSS... My top 3 of 2009 probably looks like this: 1. Love Shuffle 2. JIN 3. Mr. Brain (Orthros no Inu would be 4). I watched Japanese 17 NEW dramas in 2009 from start to finish, a couple specials, and started 9 (most I dropped, some are on hold). =P There were also several older dramas that I watched, and a few Korean dramas too. (Can you tell how passionate I am about this?) I'll come back later with more drama recs. XD I appreciate everyone else's, though! wow so i watched love shuffle up to episode 8 i believe and it is nowhere near JIN whasoever so i hvae no idea how you put it above JIN> love shuffle is average or above average or something like that but it doesn't click with me. something about it is just lacking. yes i like everyone in the cast but that doesn't change the fact something about the tsory and characters are lacking to the point where i don't feel the need to recommend it to anyone. it's not to the point of regretting my watching of it but it just lacks lacks lacks stuff. p.s. my top drama of 2009 is 1) JIN - this is without a doubt hands down amazing j-drama that people need to see. I can't explain it any other way. So many things are so well-done like the acting, costume, lighting, camera work, bgm /ost, etc etc. I will admit it's a little melodramatic at times but you know j-dramas are j-dramas. It's strengths are so awesome so ireally want to recommend this one. 2) gyne - this one i liked. it was entertaining and there's j-subs on j-addicts. 3) liar game 2 - season 1 is better... 4) love shuffle - it just did not resonate with me. if you find panda and all the other silly jokes lame then i suggest you stop watching it because they'll only repeat it! 5) samurai high school / Atashinchi no Danshi (only saw ep 1 fast-forwarded lol) / boss/ mr. brain (only saw ep 1 fast-forwarded) --- i can't decide which one is the worst for obvious reasons like seeing only ep 1 since i just don't want to watch it anymore. there's other dramas from this year that i haven't seen so these are the ones i saw that i saw from 2009. |
midori-Jul 21, 2013 9:06 AM
今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
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