I would like to add “Nana” and “Paradise Kiss” to the list. They are both movies and manga/anime adaptions. I already sent a request for both of them. 
Does anyone know a legitimate site to watch JDramas? I’m dying to see the movie Drowning Love - The previews are all over YouTube.
I have watched a lot of the Jdramas on Netflix, Not sure if drama fever has, does have some, did you check drama fire> drama galaxy?
crunchyroll
most of the ones I like are crime or mystery shows
Painless: Eyes for Signs (medical, crime)
Galileo (Crime, medical, mystery)
Flashback (crime, supernatural, mystery)
ST: Scientific Task Force (crime/mystery/drama)
Perfect Insider (crime/ mystery/drama/sci fi)
based on manga
Death Note live action (L is awesome)
Future Diary
Gantz
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Similar threads on Japanese dramas, to consider merging:
Maybe just merge the ones who are asking for more J-dramas? But they also have recommendations, so I don’t know…
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I would argue that there are more redundant threads on other topics than this one. But maybe the reason there are so many threads about adding Japanese dramas is that J-drama fans are frustrated with the comparatively small number of J-dramas at Viki.
Also frustrating is the fact that almost all of the Japanese dramas that currently are on Viki are from the Romantic Comedy genre, which gets a little boring after awhile. There needs to be more variety: cop and detective shows, doctor shows, school dramas, sci-fi, etc.
Three that I would most like to see Viki add (though I have a long list,) are:
- “Life” - the 2007 FujiTV drama based on Suenobu Keiko’s manga about vicious school bullying. I describe it as “Like ‘Aliens,’ but with scarier monsters.”
'Can’t remember where I first saw this but it was a long time ago and I really want to see it again because it’s easily the best J-drama I’ve ever seen - also to be able to tell friends that it’s available on Viki, which in turn would get Viki some new subscribers.
-
“Joker Yurusarezaru Sosakan” - 2010, also FujiTV, about a cop who is also secretly a vigilante who hunts down criminals. Sakai Masato in the lead role of Date-san reminds me of Gary Sinese - his face is inscrutable, like maybe he’s smiling or maybe he’s about ready to explode. It’s a great meditation on the meaning of justice vs. revenge, reason vs. emotion, and ethics in general. Another drama that I saw a long time ago and would like to introduce friends to:
https://mydramalist.com/165-joker-yurusarezaru-sousakan -
“Doctor X ~Gekai Daimon Michiko” - 2012, from TV Asaki - a medical drama starring Yonekura Ryoko, who was stunning as Baba Ayako in “35-sai no KouKousei,” another drama about school bullying that was on NTV a year later. In Doctor X she plays a brilliant, uncompromising freelance surgeon who is both hated and relied-upon by slackers at a poorly-run hospital. Her statement “I never fail” is awesome.
https://mydramalist.com/5432-doctor-x
Anyway, the problem is that the number of Japanese dramas vs. Korean and Taiwanese dramas is horribly lopsided. We need more, and some variety.
/soapbox
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I think we all agree that there are too few Japanese dramas. I mean, numbers speak by themselves!
Some theories about the reason have been discussed on all the threads. It seems that there is a difficulty to get Japanese content because of the unwillingness of Japan to give it to international streaming sites.
I thoroughly enjoyed Jin. Although there was some little (lukewarm) romance, it wasn’t the main focus at all. Unless you count in the fact that I fell in love with the main actor.
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Irmar I agree with you, we need more of the J dramas. the unwilliness of Japan to give it to international sites? maybe they lost their trust in those people that got their dramas? I would love to see Samari Cat and that detective and that dr x, and so many morew!!
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J-dramas were so much part of my mom’s life, I can’t believe it!! Whn my mom was young, Indian TV had only about one channel called DD National and they’d watch all their entertainment on that. To my surprise, they used to stream j-dramas sometimes-- one that is special to my mum’s heart is ‘Osheen’.
Anime has also gotten a lot into our lives without us knowing it. Almost every Indian kid of my generation has grown up watching Doraemon and Shin Chan without even knowing it was Japanese anime (we’d think its some chinese thing and just watch because it was pretty funny and sometimes the only show available on most of the cartoon channels)
Can’t believe Japan isn’t sharing its content internationally now, what happened??!
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Lots of Dutch series from my youth were actually Japanese anime … dubbed in Dutch of course. Well, I did know at the time they were drawn by Japanese artists, but the word “anime” was not in use yet.
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heres another I don’t want to miss out on. so few Jdramas here on Viki, found some on NF and prime, some really good ones too
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I’d actually love to watch all the old classic director’s movies again. The ones that are out of print. You can’t find them anywhere to watch them now except for Seven Samurai and a couple of others. Back in the 70’s in San Francisco, KQED ran a Japanese film festival with movies made by all of Japan’s great directors up to that time. It would be good to see them here so this generation can watch them.
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Porkypine, that’s another huge area - the school where I take Japanese language classes hosts a classic samurai movie every month but this coronavirus fiasco has had the whole school shut down for almost a year.
Classics would be great too, but personally I would rather see Viki focus on TV drama series, because a lot of the classic movies with subs are available elsewhere, while subbed Japanese TV dramas are almost impossible to find. And though some of my faves are available for purchase at CD Japan and elsewhere they do not have subtitles - and currently I’m somewhere between JLPT N5 and N4, so a long, long time before I can watch one with with good comprehension without the “training wheels.”
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Oh! Someplace was streaming Samurai cat! I’ve see it somewhere… Prime? Netflix? Can’t remember off hand. one of those.
gdesu_265 Some of those shows were tv series about historical events during the Tokugawa Shogunate era. They were very interesting. There was also a tv show about the Minamoto clan.
I haven’t seen any of them since the 70’s.
Oh! And Speed Racer was the first anime in the US as far as I knew. (1960’s) except we didn’t call it anime.
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someone just recommend a j-drama-- ANY genre will do-- that has more than 9.5 rating because I haven’t found a single one yet
Vivi, if popularity ranking is your sole criterion, I think you’re a.) going to be sadly disappointed regardless of country of origin and b.) needlessly shutting yourself off from worthwhile dramas on the basis of a number.
Despite the ridiculous percentage of Rom-Coms, there are excellent dramas in the current lineup anyway:
- “Jimi ni sugoi!” a.k.a. “Pretty Proofreader” is one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen, from any country, so is “Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo 1” (just avoid M.K. 2 like the plague because it was a huge letdown after the first.)
- “Caution: Hazardous Wife” was surprisingly good - I’d assumed it would be frivolous and forgettable, but it packed a solid punch.
- I watched “My Little Lover” a couple of years ago - I think that was on Crunchyroll before Crunchyroll turned coward and went 100% Anime - and that was a good one too. Which surprised me, because I’d assumed that a story about a girlfriend shrunken to pocket-size would be silly, but the story was great.
- “Sumika Sumire” was similar - something I thought would be boring turned out to have a good story. Weird, but good.
- “May I Blackmail You” was a good one too - with an interesting idea - but had a slight ethical downside: I did not like that it made some yakuza side characters look like they were Good Guys.
And yeah, there are some duds on the Japanese drama list - not horrible, just… not very good. “Adult High School,” “Peanut Butter Sandwich,” “When One Day I Will Sleep,” are examples. Which is another argument for Viki refreshing the J-drama lineup with much more, better material. And there are hundreds of great Japanese dramas, past and present, for Viki to choose from. 'Just wish they’d get going on adding them.
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oh, I’m sorry then…
because so far Viki’s rating system has worked pretty well in gauging dramas, I just take into account the kind of audience watching it by observing the reviews and then see if it matches me 
I checked out the dramas you mentioned…and I added a lot to my list!! I spend way too much time digging around K-dramaland for hidden gems that I have no energy for others 
thanks again!!
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That’s very difficult to do! For instance people saying “I loved it, it was great, the storyline was so good and I enjoyed everybody’s acting” could be teenagers or mature ajummas, people who were swayed by the male lead’s pretty face into finding everything good - how can you tell?
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also for mew per the mature ajummas, and didn’t take offence, the story line has to be good. I do enjoy watching a good drama, all their acting abilities, and yes the cuteness of those “younguns” now we have younger generations playing these parts, how can I not enjoy watching them be they male or female??
sorry younguns meand people under 30. to my age, they are my kids…
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