Once again yet another light J-drama viewing season, but here are the handful of dramas I'm keeping up with, as usual listed in order of how much I'm liking them....
1. Hanasaki Mai ga Damattenai
Without a doubt the drama I'm most faithfully watching, not only for the adorable antics of Mio Imada in the titular role, but for the show's easy bite-sized case episodes. Not really a fan of the long-winded political thrillers of late, and Hanasaki Mai is the perfect antidote to entertain each week!
Another medical themed drama with ALL the usual cliches surrounding the genre regarding the doctors, nurses, patients and higher-ups, however the overarching story of main character Miyabi and her short-term memory medical condition and her hidden past is very interesting and keeps me hooked as the facts come out little by little....
Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of the corrupt politician/diabolical company kind of drama, however I find the Takuya Kimura drama Believe more a study of a person's strength of character in the face of strong adversity, and at times I felt it seemed like a modern-day "Spartacus" as we see architect Kariyama, wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, slowly win over his fellow cellmates and make connections with them much as he did as a savvy businessman. At this point I'm wondering if this will turn into a drama like "The Fugitive", but only time will tell!
4. Tsubame wa Modottekonai
A riveting drama about a couple (Yuki Uchida and Goro Inagaki) who, due to medical reasons, cannot successfully bring a child to term, and a healthy but down-on-her luck woman (Shizuka Ishibashi) with limited work prospects and a crippling debt. Between them is Plante, a Reproductive Medical Clinic dealing with infertility problems and act as go-between to match up those who can fulfill each other's wants...
The real strength of this drama has to be the character development where everyone seems to have well-rounded personalities. both good and bad....Must say I was completely taken in by this show from the beginning and feel it may go on to become another must watch!
5. Kururi Dare ga Watashi to Koi wo Shita
Meru Nukumi as a woman with amnesia who finds an engagement ring in her purse, and then three mysterious men appear before her. That’s the set-up, however I was much more interested in her journey rediscovering her past self and the friendships the "new" persona makes with co-workers and neighbors. More than romance, I’d like to see them focus on THIS stuff!
In any case, I’m very pleased to see Meru continuing to headline shows of her own. She was easily the best part about “Sexy Tanaka San” and she continues to dazzle with her adorably quirky style! Eager to see more!
6. RoOT
7. 9 Border
While holding out for the second season of Oi Handsome ( that drama with Haruka Kinami as the oldest of three sisters who go through life and love together) I reluctantly opted for 9 Border, a DIFFERENT show featuring Haruka Kinami as the oldest of three sisters who go through life and love together! Though primarily a Haruna Kawaguchi vehicle, I must say the breakout STAR of the series HAS to be Mei Hata as the girls' precocious little sister Hatsumi!
8. Nanyobi ni Umareta no
What started out as what I thought would be a predictable and cliched teenage high school romance story actually surprised me by how well fleshed out all the characters were and how interesting I found them!
Marie Iitoyo plays a hikikomori girl who has withdrawn from society after a bad motorcycle accident when she was in high school. But when her manga father makes a deal with a famous author (Junpei Mizobata) to collab on a new series using her backstory as the basis, we slowly learn her past, get introduced to her old classmates, and learn of their dreams- until the tragedy separated them all. Each episode is just crammed with back story and it’s interesting to learn about each character, even as the author is falling in love with his subject himself!
This is a drama from a few seasons back that I’m only now getting into...better late than never!
From the beginning I was interested in this drama following the lawyers who step up to defend those accused of murder, especially as it seemed the slant was that the people they were defending were actually guilty, but recent episodes have had me wondering just WHO we're supposed to be rooting for! Interested to see how it all shakes out!
Fun and lightweight drama showcasing the talents of charming Hirona Yamazaki, here playing the studious OL by Day, and affair-ending vamp by night Rei Saegusa! Both predictable and unbelievable at the same time, this is pure entertainment! And at a mere 8 episodes, you can't lose!
11. Hakubo no Chronicle
12. 366 Nichi
13. Destiny
As a stalwart fan of Alice Hirose, I'm glad to see that 366 Nichi has been pulling in the viewing numbers. Sadly, this drama just hasn't been doing it for me and is simply FILLED with ALL the usual cliches. Hope things turn around soon as I adore Alice and love seeing her, but most of this show has (so far) been putting me to sleep!
Argh, this is just the kind of mystery drama I really dislike, with the characters more like virtual game pieces in a board game as they are led from one clue to one suspect to one confession to one false alarm to another clue to one red herring to another false confession.... Quite astounded how well this drama is doing, but with similar shows like Shinhannin Flag and the like, I'm guessing it's all the rage nowadays...
14. Blue Moment
With a drama starring Yamapi as an emergency team expert and the color “Blue” in its title, I had the vague idea that Blue Moment was a spin-off of his earlier series “Code Blue”, however it seems to be its own thing entirely!
Focusing on Yamapi as a man heading a Special Disaster unit which covers weather accidents, it nonetheless very much seems like Code Blue all over again, (though the first episodes reminded me a lot of other disaster shows like TOKYO:MER and DCU as well.
Not much going on character-wise (outside of the usual set-ups) as the main focus is the disasters themselves and all the technical mumbo-jumbo involved with solving the problems, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be invested in this one.
OK, that's about where we stand....most of these dramas are only at episodes 4-5 so I'm hoping to see some dramas move up the list!