We've all heard about the importance of watching japanese tv/movies without subs, but that can be really hard if you can't find a work that matches well with your language level. I hope that we can create a thread with this in mind.

If you come across a drama that would be understood by Japanese learners, please post it here :) Include the name and the level with which it would work well. Please feel free to add any additional info :)

Recommended Dramas for Japanese language learners:

Risou no Musuko
(lower intermediate, maybe high beginner)
Cute drama from the JE boys. The story line follows predictable plans and the target market is probably teenage girls, making the language a little easier to understand.
I'll be back later with some recommendations, but my first bit of advice is to watch dramas with people you want to talk like. Listening practice is one advantage of watching dramas, but like it or not you will also end up emulating the speech as well. Japanese changes a lot based on gender, age, socio-economic class, location (part of Japan), etc. So you want to choose wisely who you will copy. As a teenage girl, just because you like to watch Yamapi or Yamada Ryosuke, doesn't mean you should also aspire to talk like them. As a thirty something woman, you may like watching school dramas, but you probably shouldn't copy the teenagers, male or female. And as a beginning learner, it's best to stay away from dramas set in Osaka or Kyushu, or anything involving Kanjani 8. (As listening practice anyway... first you won't be able to understand them, and second you should probably stick to standard Japanese for speaking in the beginning. Of course watching them for entertainment value is another story) If you are a guy, especially if you are studying formally with a female teacher, you should watch things with lots of male characters. That is the one thing that all of my guy friends noticed when they went to Japan. As most of the native speaking teachers in the US are female, they got to Japan and were told their speaking was very effeminate... oops...
Lol.. Cool thread.. I'm keen to learn & know which drama is best for that.. So firstly thanks for the thread.. Next.. I feel like that there is more to learn in a anime when it comes to Lang?!?! No?!?! I'm not sure but coz I'm able to catch lot more things & in faster manner when I watched NARUTO. Hehe. Sorry if I seem childish:) just my thot;)
NahSuRin wrote: Lol.. Cool thread.. I'm keen to learn & know which drama is best for that..
So firstly thanks for the thread..

Next.. I feel like that there is more to learn in a anime when it comes to Lang?!?! No?!?! I'm not sure but coz I'm able to catch lot more things & in faster manner when I watched NARUTO. Hehe. Sorry if I seem childish:) just my thot;)


for the actual language the difference between anime and the dramas is based mostly on prefernce i feel, but if also want to learn about the culture of japan and japanese people its better to watch dramas
When beginners watch japanese dramas for practice their japanese it's better for them to know the basic. Like the differents things between female and male speech / formal and neutral way of speaking.
I recommend Himitsu no Kankei and Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo which are easy to understand for intermediate beginner but I think that for the low beginner it may be difficult without sub.

Practice japanese with anime is the worst things to do because japanese doesn't speak like that.
One day I went to the Paris' "japantown" with my japanese friend, we were in a bookshop and a french teenager (who apparently learned japanese), came to the bookseller and ask him with a silly voice like anime character if they having book about cooking and my friend ask me "Why she speak like that ?". So copy on anime is the worst thing to do ^^
Buy Rosseta stone :)
I second the recommendation for Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo. I dropped that drama due to over the top acting, but in terms of language it should really help. However, it's not for those who want to start learning Japanese, but for those who already can speak to some extent and want to know more detailed paths of the language and how it should be used.
Nana87 wrote: Buy Rosseta stone :)


Don't if you seriously want to learn the language and a) not waste money and b) waste time.
Szasha wrote: Don't if you seriously want to learn the language and a) not waste money and b) waste time.


^ I second this.
Does watching without subs really help? I've been watching dramas for just over a year now and have picked up more Japanese than I thought and had never planned too. One day I just realised I knew what was said before the subtitle came up, which has made me want to learn more. I find when I watch with subs I study the subs to get an overall idea of what the meaning is. If i purposefully use the subs to help me learn I feel that is much better than watching without subs where I would have little to no idea as to what the words they are saying mean, even within context. I'm not saying without subs doesn't help I was just wondering the reasons behind why this is the case.