Favorite Dramas

I haven't found a show that hits all the sweet spots this one manages to. It's original in it's content matter, and it allows itself to be both dark and serious while simultaneously embracing some of the goofiness of it's plot. Great music, cool cuts, awesome characters.  Also a lot of BIG stars before they were huge! Ah! Tomoya Nagase AND Ken Watanebe? Hell yeah!

This is so above all other drama in almost every regard. Phenomenal acting, a really unique and awesome plot, a dreamy and surreal atmosphere. It feels more like a movie with how dignified it is, probably due to Shunji Iwai being involved in it's production. I wish more drama aimed to be this good. I have literally nothing bad to say about it.

This show is so fucking funny, even if it's formulaic. Once the second season starts, and it stops holding back, it's even better. A lot of the comedy is referential, so it pays out to watch the jokes build upon each other. With over the top characters and cameos, tons of non-sequitors tossed in here and there for no reason other than to make you laugh. And the chemistry between Yukie Nakama and Hiroshi Abe is so cute and funny.

The greatest bromance of all time, there's too much to Nirvana in Fire to really sum up in a paragraph. It's a highly complex show, with a LOT of plot going on, full of TONS of characters and interwoven politics. I didn't expect this to be that good, and I regret it being my first Chinese drama because I don't think there's really anything else that can compare to it. Think something along the lines of LoGH or Babylon 5, but done in a Chinese Historical piece.

I'm a sucker for eccentric characters, seedy happenings, and counter-culture stuff. I also love food haha. This show has it all. There really isn't an overarching plot. Instead, each episode focuses on a different customer that frequents a specific restaurant that's only open late at night. Some episodes are stronger than other because of this, but its so damn comfy I have a hard time scoring it lower because of that.

Japanese Twin Peaks, starring Joe Odagiri and Chiaki Kuriyama? Sign me the fuck up! There's no subtlety about it, Atami no Sousakan is heavily influenced by Lynch's cult hit, but it manages to be a VERY Japanese take on that, and eventually evolves into it's own thing. It's really weird, and you aren't left with a lot of answers, so prepare for that.

Like IWGP, this is one of the first drama I ever watched, so it's really hard not to have it on my top 10. Also like IWGP, there's a lot of big stars before they were big (omg, baby Shun Oguri!).  If you started watching drama after this, especially school focused ones, chances are... you've already seen this haha. An unconventional educator manages to surprise everyone, connecting with troubled students and teaching them a lot more than academics. But hey, it has one of the greatest theme songs ever, so yeah!

This is another episodic drama, also dealing with eccentric characters. In this, Joe Odagiri works for a small business that will take on a variety of weird tasks that mostly involve tracking down hard to find people and things. It's kinda fucked up at times, and mellow at others, and makes me wish for a drifting life.

Juhan Shuttai! is probably the most mainstream and typical drama on this list, but for good reason. It manages to take a very uninteresting subject matter (fucking, who wants to learn about how print publishing and sales works lol) and make it SUPER fun and educational at the same time. This is the fourth thing on here with Odagiri haha, but there's a lot of good cast besides him. The mc is ADORABLE.

I think overall, a lot of Japanese comedy relies on formula, so like Trick, this show is guilty of that. But also like Trick, it manages to build upon that so each time they go back to a joke, it feels different and is even funnier. This is a really goofy romantic comedy, about a mute (for the most part) Cafe owner that intervenes and influences his patron's love lives while undercover. It gets messy really fast lol.