The Ultimate Guide and Discussion Board for Asadora (Japanese Morning Dramas)

 Saburo:

NGN, my local J-TV cable channel, is airing "Mone" subtitled and I'm giving it a shot. We're way, way behind the actual episodes in Japan -- almost two months, I believe. In fact, we just began watching the new Tokyo arc and my friend is already babbling about how rich the characters are now, while trying not to spoil things so many dozens of episodes ahead of us.

I'm pleased to be along for the ride. 

That is so cool. One day when I make it to Hawaii I'll be turning the TV to NGN immediately. If not NGN2! 

In the meantime we've been watching Natsuzora and I'm surprised how enjoyable it is. I remembered mixed to positive reviews but I'd rank it nicely in the top tier of asadoras I've watched. The characters are well-drawn, the settings are gorgeous and the story is nice and layered with a lot of moving parts (in a good way).

 lontongstroong:

Come Come Everybody's rating looks pretty worrying, it's started at ~16% and plummeting to 15%. Are we heading into a Second Asadora Dark Age? Which is astounding after all the Superstar-Only Heroine policy and star-studded writers and directors.

Granted, some very successful Asadora in recent times had similar thing at the beginning, if I'm not mistaken it's Amachan and Gegege no Nyobo. But their low rating period wasn't prolonged and they managed to turn things around pretty quickly.

I'd say we're already in another Asadora dark age:
Ochoyan (average 17.4%)
Okaeri Mone (average 16.3%) 
These numbers are pretty similar to what Asadoras were getting in the 2000s before Amachan revived the genre... I think these down periods are probably an inevitable part of the never-ending Asadora cycle though

I like to read Japanese forums about asadoras to see what the hardcore fans are thinking, and it seems the general consensus on Come Come Everybody is that they really like Kamishiraishi Mone as the heroine.  But, seems many people are wary/worried about how the 3-heroine system is going to work with the story and flow... we shall see I guess!

Interesting. Japan as a nation has been slow to adopt digital content, at least for TV and video games. Digital game purchases have been through the roof the past few years so hopefully TV dramas will see a similar trend. Especially asadoras....

So NGN -- the only JTV option here in Hawaii -- is wrapping up OKAERI MONE at the end of December. They usually have a filler show before embarking on the next Asadora. Just got the new schedule yesterday and noticed eh, there's some show starring Horikita Maki so it *must* be something older, so...

It's UMECHAN SENSEI, from 2012! Da hell?!! Not only a decade-old show (I honestly don't remember if this aired on NGN previously) but it's the Asadora trope I *loathe* the most: the olden days period piece from many decades ago, preferably early Showa. Yay, more opportunities to relive postwar horrors!

What. A. Drag.

 ZDorama:

So...since they're going to show Umechan Sensei, is NGN going to delay Come Come Everybody or are they just going to skip it?  How do they "fit" a complete asadora into the schedule? Like, OK, remember when they re-aired OSHIN, did they skip over whatever was the latest asadora to show that?

Good question. I *assume* it'll be delayed at the very best. UMECHAN is going to be broadcast in the same timeslot as all the previous Asadora. I suspect this is a cost-cutting decision.

Is the new Asadora worth it? I have no real preference one way or the other...

 heart-ereki:

I'm really loving the new Asadora so far and I would recommend it. We're still only in the first part, but so far the script has been thoughtful (albeit fast-paced!) and Mone is a perfect heroine. Everything just seems to be working so well.
 
That being said, it does start in the WWII era (which you mention not being a huge fan of, and I'm usually not either). For at least a few episodes, it's kind of what you expect of a drama set in that period 

I appreciate the impressions! I still need to catch Okaeri Mone next up...! Just a bit left of Natsuzora to go and I'm surprised how much I've loved it.

 Saburo:

Got in touch with a rep from NGN. Apparently NHK isn't releasing the latest Asadora, Come Come Everybody, for overseas distribution. This is not unlike the previous Taiga drama, which wasn't broadcast in Hawaii for the same reason. Not certain if this is because of lack of interest amongst overseas interests like NGN or just utter indifference from NHK. I suspect the latter.

Interestingly, "Seiten o Tsuke" will begin airing on NGN beginning next week.

Thanks for sharing! Very cool of you to contact NGN. Hopefully future asadoras will air for you all. That is strange about NHK. It's anecdotal but I've read of a lot of overseas asadoras fans getting started with NGN airings.