You're in a J-Drama When...

 A few new entries going into the big list of J-drama Cliches and tropes!  

Unexpected Person at the Haka

Whenever a lone character goes to visit a grave and give offerings, he/she will be startled by the unexpected arrival of another person. Then the two will talk about the deceased, usually they employ this method to explain backstory between the deceased and the main character.

Slamming Down a Glass of Beer in Disgust

 An almost comically overused cliche of the downtrodden employee who, after going to an izakaya with co-workers after a hard day, will take a swig of beer before slamming it down and half-drunkenly complaining about the “jerk” that they are working with!

Bonus points if the scene begins with a closeup of the glass slamming against the table...

"Hey, There's That Person I Like! Ooops..."

A new variation of the classic "Mistaken Kiss" trope that i've been seeing a lot lately is when the main character is just starting to fall in love with this new romantic interest and sees him/her out in public. They happily rush over to say HI...but stops SHORT when they see the person MEETING UP with ANOTHER PERSON who looks like it is his/her LOVE INTEREST!!

Cue heartbreak and subsequent "OH I SEE He/She already HAS a partner, guess we were only FRIENDS, well, I guess that's OKAY!

Kawaii Dake Janai Shikimori-san

 Since I'm already in anime-mode while enjoying the highly entertaining "SPYxFAMILY", I decided to also pick up another anime that people are buzzing about, "Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san" (Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie!)!

Shikimori tells the tale of a kind and sincere guy named Izumi who, though no matter how careful he is, always ends up with the worst luck. If there's a rock, he'll trip over it. If a bird flies overhead, it's bound to poop on him! But he has one thing going for him, and it's his girlfriend, the aforementioned Shikimori.

Besides being the prettiest and most desired girl in school, Shikimori is a keen and super-cool badass who is perfect in just about anything she does, and that is a good thing as she has appointed herself Izumi's personal guardian angel who is there to deflect every bout of misfortune that comes to him!

A speeding truck approaching them? Shikimori yanks Izumi aside and shields him. A rusty shop sign falling off its hinges and zooming right on top of Izumi's head? Expertly kicked aside! It seems no matter what the crisi, Shikimori has it under control! 

Now, if she could only get Izumi to see her as "Cute" rather than "Kakkoi!!!"

Promises to be a fun one!

On My Wishlist: Unicorn ni Notte

New Mei Nagano Drama? Can you Say "YES, PLEASE?!"

"Unicorn ni Notte~Riding A Unicorn" Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki: 

When Sana Narukawa (Mei Nagano) was only 23-years-old, she co-founded startup company Dream Pony. The company’s product is an education app. Her dream was to have people all over the world use her app. Now, Sana Narukawa is 26-years-old. Her company is in its 3rd year of existence. The company grew rapidly initially, but is now experiencing a decline in its growth. Due to the slowdown, Sana Narukawa feels nervous everyday. In her personal life, she has feelings for Ko Suzaki (Sugino Yosuke) , who is a co-founder of Dream Pony. He is unaware of her personal feelings for him.

One day, middle-aged man Satoshi Kotori (Nishijima Hidetoshi) begins to work at Dream Pony as Sana Narukawa’s subordinate. Before working at Dream Pony, Satoshi Kotori worked for a more traditional type company, which had a totally different work environment from Dream Pony. At first, Sana Narukawa doesn’t like working with her new employee, but she gets closer to him and receives wise advice based on his long work experience. Meanwhile, Sana Narukawa continues to face hardships at work and her love life."

This plot synopsis sounds an AWFUL LOT like the 2015 Anne Hathaway/Robert DeNiro movie "the Intern"(only instead of Education App it was a Clothing Store App), and this was a movie I loved very, very much! Gotta say, if Unicorn is anything even remotely like it, I know I will love it!

But I guess all we can do is cross our fingers for now...

More J-Drama Deja-Vu:The “Office Tinkerbell” Entrance

 The entrance to the Office Tinkerbell headquarters where Mei Nagano went to work  in “Hanbun Aoi” as a struggling mangaka really made an impression with me, with its gated driveway and pass-coded door (as well as those ivory steps up to the house)…

It helped that this was the episode where Nagano's character Suzume invited her country bumpkin Mom (Yasuko Matsuyuki) to visit and she spent the whole time marvelling at the architecture and decor!

I began to see this entrance in other dramas whenever they needed to show the exterior of an affluent person's house, and of course I immediately recognized it as the same place in Hanbun Aoi!  Every time I’d see it, I’d think, “HEY! It’s Office Tinkerbell!”

It finally got to the point where I was seeing it in enough dramas that I thought it should begin documenting its’ appearances and give it a proper entry into my “J-drama Deja-Vu” Gallery, and just then it appeared in the psychological drama “Nanji No Na” where the main character sisters lived. Here we see Toko (Hirona Yamazaki) arriving home and getting caught by an old lover....

And, just this past week,the entrance appeared as the abode of a murder suspect in the Issei Takahashi thriller “Invisible”. Though they usually make a big presentation of showing the people going through the door, Takahashi was illegally breaking in and had to jump the wall!

PS: this swimming pool has also appeared in many dramas, had no idea it was the same property as the gated entrance! Maybe I'll have to keep track of it as well!

EDIT:

As Hamanosilence has pointed out, both the entrance and the swimming pool made an appearance in last week's episode of "Waru: Hataraku no ga Kakko Warui Nante Dare ga Itta?" with Mio Imada and Nobuyuki Suzuki checkin' it out!!!

With all these appearances recently, I've gotta keep on my toes keeping track of it!

This place is really becoming the place to hang out!