ThatJapaneseDramaGuy

Drama: My Favorite Member (English title) Romaji: Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita Japanese: だから私は推しました Director: Keita Hosaka, Yoshio Watanabe Writer: Yoshiko Morishita Actors: Yuki Sakurai, Sei Shiraishi, Yu Sawabe Most people know Japanese dramas for being formulaic, repetitive and full of tropes, which is due to the huge amount of high school and job oriented Jdramas being released each season. Little did they know there is one aspect where Jdramas excels alot, that is when their creativity takes over and start to think outside the box. They are not afraid to take risk, and when they nail it, they nail it hard. This way of thinking gave birth to masterpieces across different period in Japan's rich film history, which same can be said for their dramas as well. I've only watched four episodes, but from what I've seen, Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita has the potential to be one of the best Japanese dramas ever. I'm not saying this because I'm...

Movie: Samurai Marathon Romaji: Samurai Marason Japanese: サムライマラソン Director: Bernard Rose Writer: Akihiro Dobashi (novel), Hiroshi Saito, Bernard Rose Actors: Takeru Satoh, Nana Komatsu, Mirai Moriyama, Shota Sometani, Munetaka Aoki, Naoto Takenaka, Etsushi Toyokawa, Hiroki Hasegawa, Mugi Kadowaki, Junko Abe, Taishi Nakagawa I could only imagine when they pitch this idea to the producers, the producers gave it a green light right away. That is how interesting this project is. Imagine Jidaigeki plus marathon? That combination would pique anyone's interest especially fans of samurai movies. Although the idea is fresh and brilliant, I feel the execution could have been a lot better. I feel pacing is the biggest problem. The beginning is a bit fast. It's not like a marathon, but a 100 meter dash. You can separate this movie into three acts. First act is the boring introduction, second is the marathon and third is when they clash their swords. The pace in the beginn...

Drama: Coffee & Vanilla Romaji: Kohi & Banira Japanese: コーヒー＆バニラ Director: Smith Writer: Takara Akegami (manga), Yuko Shimoda Actors: Haruka Fukuhara, Dori Sakurada, Mario Kuroba, Yuuki Ogoe, Shogo Hama, Noa Kita, The amount of cheese in this drama will put Domino's Pizza out of business and as a viewer you will also gain 10 pounds just by staring on the screen. Seriously though, Coffee and Vanilla, the Japan's answer to fifty shades of grey, is perhaps the cheesiest Japanese drama I've seen, but it doesn't mean it sucks because there are people who enjoy this type of show, hence this is the hottest Japanese drama right now. Risa Shiroko, a country girl, comes to Tokyo to attend university. She never had a boyfriend and dreams of having one. Although she is a bit popular with male students, Risa is a shy type of girl who lacks confidence to talk to opposite sex. Male students approach her, but she is just too timid to entertain them. One da...

 Drama: The Naked Director (English & literal title) Romaji: Zenra Kantoku Japanese: 全裸監督 Director: Masaharu Take Writer: Nobuhiro Motohashi (novel) Network: Netflix Actors: Takayuki Yamada, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Misato Morita, Tetsuji Tamayama, Tokio Emoto, Sairi Itô, Takenori Gotô, Lily Franky, Jun Kunimura, Ryo Ishibashi, Koyuki, Hyunri It's a given fact that some people will be put off by this drama due to its explicit content. It has to be the most sexually provocative Japanese drama ever, but given its plot and what seems this drama is trying to achieve, I think it's clear that the show needs the amount of nudity and the shock value of those sex scenes for the drama to leave a strong mark. Some supporters of women's movement might also be triggered by how they treat women in this show, and the people behind this drama might have already anticipated that as they tried to address that concern in the beginning of the first episode. In the openi...

Drama: And, Live (literal title) Romaji: Soshite, Ikiru Japanese: そして、生きる Director: Sho Tsukikawa Writer: Yoshikazu Okada Actors: Kasumi Arimura, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Kang Ji-Young, Amane Okayama, Masato Hagiwara, Ken Mitsuishi, Kaho Minami First just a quick heads-up, if you watch this just to see Sakaguchi Kentaro and Arimura Kasumi cuddling each other then you'll be disappointed. Yes, there's a romance but don't expect it to be a shoujo adaptation type of romance, it's more of a human drama, both characters have their own burdens to carry. It's the type of story where both characters help carry each other's burdens, so if you are into that more realistic type development love story then you'll definitely love this drama. Toko Ikuta (Arimura Kasumi) lost her parents in a car accident, after that incident her uncle raised her alone like his real daughter. She's became a local idol who hopes to become an actress someday. Then she had this...