I would love to have more J-Dramas! To be honest, the few I’ve found here and other places are not that great quality. I haven’t lived in Japan for well over a decade, but they had some interesting shows! Was disappointed to learn they weren’t making it over to the US (even present day). And unfortunately, don’t remember the names otherwise I’d be making long lists! Haha 
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Oddly enough it didn’t turned out as I expected bc when they mentioned the new CEO was from Japan I figured he would make sure many more dramas would be added but … nothing so far.
The few we have here don’t appeal to me since is for young viewers mainly, and so far only 2 caught my attention bc is about women being defenders of their rights, and what they do in their personal life etc…(May I blackmail you/ and Age Harassment). You can check them out and see if you like them.
One of them is starting to annoy me bc is not going where I thought it was going so a bit disappointed indeed. Since I’m doing Spanish subs I have to deal with those parts that unnerve me when women give in to men’s abusive conduct. Will see what happens.
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I became a fan, then a completely bonkers addict, of Japanese TV dramas back in 1998 when I watched the drama “With Love” on the now-defunct International Channel - which later became AZN-TV, then went out of business. It was basically the same story as the American movie “You’ve Got Mail,” about the then-new technology of email and how two anonymous people eventually meet up. It has a quietly powerful performance by Yutaka Takenouchi as HaTa-san, a brilliant modern composer who’s in a romantic funk after breaking up with his girlfriend, who accidentally sends a clip of one of his new songs to a stranger who coincidentally uses a nickname that relates to his ex. They correspond with deeply personal shared insights into life, not knowing they work in the same building and walk past each other every day. The music itself was so good and so memorable that it was another star of the drama, and though it has a lot of flaws, “With Love” remains near and dear to my heart. It got me completely and permanently hooked to J-dramas, at any rate.
Anyhow, I’ve only been able to see something like 40 J-dramas since then, and it’s been incredibly frustrating because sites that have legitimate rights to show the dramas are scarce. Crunchyroll has reduced its total drama quantity to approximately 12, Amazon Prime has obliterated almost all of them, and Netflix - if you can stomach its recent, overt dive into political propaganda - has let greed overrule fidelity to original material, choosing to do “Netflix Originals” instead - which are only copies of the Japanese originals, which should qualify as fraud, at least in advertising.
So there are all of these J-drama addicts who are still scouring around for places to see the tons and tons of dramas that are coming out of Japan and have been for decades, but which they cannot see simply because there’s no place to see them. Which means a huge unmet demand.
I recommend the people at Rakuten/Viki go take a look at the thriving communities of J-drama addicts at the Jdorama.com site and many others, and recognize the huge potential for making Viki the #1 site for Japanese TV dramas.
As a new member here I’m happy Viki exists because, again, all of the usual, formerly-reliable sources of Japanese dramas have dried up for no good reason. But I’m a little disappointed in the variety here - it’s almost all rom-coms.
Like everybody I have my faves, and they occupy a bunch of diverse genres:
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“Life” (2007) - based on Keiko Suenobu’s manga about brutal school bullying, is easily the best, most ethically spectacular drama I’ve ever seen. I’d die to see it again and I would dearly like to introduce a whole bunch of friends to it, but… there’s no longer any place to see it. I describe “Life” as being “Like ‘Alien,’ but with scarier monsters.” Every single scene in this is electrifying, and every single scene has that rarity of rarities, the either-or moral choice. In virtually every scene someone has to choose between loyalty to a friend vs. fitting in with the crowd; giving up vs. fighting; standing up for oneself vs. caving in and living as a beaten dog; trashing an enemy in vengeance vs. elegantly stepping aside and allowing them to destroy themselves via their own embarrassing actions; stepping in and saving the day for someone else vs. indirectly guiding them and letting them triumph via their own effort. Viki really needs to get a “Life,” hahaha. Anyone who’s ever had to endure being bullied will find this drama to be jaw-dropping and flat-out magnificent in its inspiration;
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“Joker Yurusarezaru Sosakan” (2010) - a brilliant show about the ethical questions in vigilantism, with some incredible twists and some of the best acting I’ve seen in ages (Sakai Masato is a Japanese Gary Sinese, with an inscrutable face that’s always smiling but with heavy-duty conflict going on in his head.) I know at least two friends, one of them a bestselling writer of vigilante novels, who’d really dig this show and would likely become long-term subscibers if the show were here;
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“Voice” (2009) - about forensic science students turned detectives, with a classic “morality play” in every episode, like vintage Star Trek and Twilight Zone used to be, IOW, food-for-thought long after it’s done, and with excellent acting and writing;
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“Iryu: Team Medical Dragon” (2006) - one of the best and most realistic doctor shows I’ve ever seen, also with great writing, acting and effects;
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“Kiina: Fukano Hanzai Sosakan” (2009) - about a police woman assigned to an X-Files-type division that deals with weird supernatural cases, much like the classic “Galileo” but even weirder;
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“Ushi ni Negai wo” (a.k.a. “Wish Upon A Cow” or “Love & Farm” - 2007) - a group of pampered Tokyo college students sign up for a semester in Hokkaido to intern as farm workers, where they instantly regret it but can’t back out, so they have to learn to get serious about life and basically to grow up. I remember in the opening episode two of them birth an actual calf, live, with no effects and no help (nothing is done half-hearted in Japan, including acting.) The calf, which they name “Green,” basically becomes another cast member as he grows older. Just a cool and totally unique show;
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“Yasashii Jikan” (2005) - about a father and son living a few miles apart on Hokkaido without knowing it, who’d become estranged after the son crashed the family car, killing his mother. The father runs the Forest Clock, a coffee bar with a huge picture window that looks out on the forest beyond - an actual place you can visit in Furano. A really intense, emotional melodrama that will stick with you forever, and has Ayaka Hirahara’s “Ashita” as its theme song(!)
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Dr. X (2012) - This was on Amazon Prime but got deleted before I had the time to see it (they’ve ditched a ton of their J-dramas too, which means there has to be a bunch of J-drama addicts just as frustrated as me, wanting somewhere else to see them.) This one has gone to six seasons, so it must be good.
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Asakusa Fukumaru Ryokan (2007) - about a nosy and hilarious inn owner in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, starring Nishida Toshiyuki, who played the grumpy noodle chef opposite the late, great Brittany Murphy in “Ramen Girl.” This had a second season but I’ve only seen the first - a great comedy with some heavy tear-jerker action too. By the end of this the actors will feel like they’re your family, and you’ll be sad to have to say goodbye to them.
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Midnight Diner (a.k.a. Shinya Shokudo - 2009 onward) - About a diner that opens at midnight and closes in the morning, and the weird regulars and non-regulars who show up there. This is mondo cool and has gone to something like five seasons, but Netflix only has one. So a great opportunity to pick up their slack and basically pull fans of the show away from the “flix” Borg.
And there are hundreds of others, on hundreds of subjects other than just generic romantic comedies (those are good too, but currently Viki’s overloaded with them IMO.) Doctors, detectives, scientists, X-Files-type investigators, astronauts, forensic pathologists, ghost hunters, rare book sellers, flight attendants, farm workers, ryokan, onsen, sento, writers, locked-room mysteries, musicians… There’s so much variety out there, but people outside of Japan can’t access it, especially with subtitles.
Viki should adopt the goal of becoming the #1 go-to source for Japanese dramas (also Korean, Taiwanese, Thai - like the cool H.S. drama “Hormones” - and European shows too.) Because there is a huge fan base that’s had nowhere reliable to go for their drama fix - and it’s still there, waiting for someone to pick up the ball and run with it. Again, just look at sites like Jdorama.com for a great sampling of the kind of demand that exists.
More, please!
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a lot of the J dramas have caught my attention, I have searched but no luck, (Hulu too) is a disappointment. I as a senior person would prefer something in that caliber. not animes(?) but must say some are cute. guess cheaper to make than flesh & blood people doing their thing. I also wanted to watch that dr x but was canceled before I could watch. Detective Dee would love to see more of him and not sure if that was J or C at this time
I could probably write a list of these dramas if I look for them.
I suggest
Last Friends
One litre of tears
Flowers for algernon
The hours of my life
The speech of the student
I wanna hug you
.
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Hello @gdesu_265 - I also started watching J-dorama back in the 90s and also love the older works, especially from the mid 90s to mid 00s 
There is another Viki discussion along this topic that I thought might be nice to couple with this discussion, here:
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There are many great dorama wishlists on that discussion, you might like to see. I wonder if we all joined hands and then organized mass requesting of J-dramas at Viki, we might get our voice heard?!
My dorama wishlist is on the other discussion, but here it is again
- Ataru
- At Home Dad
- Densha Otoko
- Egao no Hosoku
- Engine
- Gokusen (all of ‘em!)
- Haikei, Chichiue-sama
- Haken no Hinkaku
- Hero
- Hotaru no Hikari
- Ikebukuro West Gate Park
- Kizarazu Cats Eye
- Kekkon Dekinai Otoko
- Keizoku 2 Spec
- Long Love Letter
- Lunch Queen
- Last Friends
- Lost:Time:Life
- Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi
- Osozaki no Himawari
- Tiger & Dragon
- Utahime
- Water Boys
- Yasashii Jikan
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Sheishun, my hope is that the people running Viki care enough about feedback to actually read what people post on these forums, particularly threads that deal with what people want, which is a big part of why I went into so much detail. (Also they don’t have brevity on my planet, though I do try. 
)
Thanks for posting your faves list, but a suggestion: Maybe a synopsis about what each one is about, after each title? I’m always looking for suggestions for new ones to watch but there’s the rub: if they aren’t available here or anywhere else, it’s impossible anyway.
I watched “Haken no Hikari” a long time ago, I forget where; “Lost:Time:Life” was weird, a little morbid, but interesting anyway - that used to be on Crunchyroll before they started unceremoniously axing their J-dramas by the dozen (there are only 12 remaining, other than one-off movies, documentaries and Ultraman.) Yasashii Jikan is a classic and a favorite I want to see again, another I forget where I saw it - likely Crunchyroll too,) but which is impossible to find now. I started watching “Hero” on Crunchyroll, got a little bored with the initial episode so I put it aside for later, then C-Roll eliminated it along with most of the rest of their J-drama content.
Viki is a good source but like I said in a previous post, their content is too top-heavy with romantic comedies. Some variety would be nice, especially suspense shows like “Joker,” X-Files-type weird investigative things like “Kiina” and “Galileo,” and serious dramas like “Life” and “Yasashii Jikan.” I’m really hoping they add more. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but given Viki’s cheap subscription price, I’d be happy to pay twice that if there was a continuously-expanding number of Japanese dramas, old and new, being added to the program lineup. There’s so much to see, but nowhere for people outside of Japan to see them, even without subtitles (which I still need - 'studying Nihongo but still several years away from fluency.)
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I sure would love the change I do love these dramas and all, but would love a sci-fi , mystery, detectives, even if its from the past! need variety! sorry I don’t have any titles for jdramas,
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Good question! I’m hoping to find the television series based on Yokoyama’s Prefecture.
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@gdesu_265 We care, we do care a lot! We might not reply but we do read discussions on here all the time.
We do have a form where you can submit your requests for TV shows and/movies you wish to see on Viki: Request a TV Show or Movie Viki has obtained licenses for more Japanese titles over the years. It’s not always easy but rest assured we do try the best we can.
I am new to Japanese dramas myself! I became particularly hooked after I started Japanese classes (same status: “studying Nihongo but still several years away from fluency” 
)
If I can recommend something, it would be Jimami Tofu, an English-Japanese film premising around traditional Okinawan food and culture. It was lovely, plus great soundtrack!
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how can we get Viki interested, and don’t say stuff about it being hard to get the dramas and all, so how come the other linked get them, and I really don’t want to hear the piracy or whatever. cause I see so many on those other links that it isn’t funny! even those anames would be a change, code breaker is one , I don’t usually watch them but this one caught my interest, so get the ball rolling, get some Japanese dramas on here
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Request some Japanese titles with the request form!
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Maybe they feel viewers don’t watch too many Japanese dramas/movies? Don’t go to those sites they can damage your laptop/computer. Not worth it. I noticed a lot of people adding links for this sites but I made the mistake to go into one and paid hell for it. It took a while before they stopped hacking into my stuff.
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I guess we should all request the same dramas so that there will be a lot of requests and they can’t overlook it anymore.
A lot of the Japanese dramas on Viki are restricted in Europe (or at least in my area). From what’s left there’s indeed quite a few about high school kids, but also some NC-17.
The one you’re describing sounds interesting! 
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requests, I have made, maybe need to do it again, the green door was awesome! Samaria cat is one too
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I try find it bc is really good is about a painting of a cat and every (how many years? dont remember) he comes out. The girl that he helps was already old and dedicated herself to taking care of her mother until she dies.
She turns pretty but after a certain hour she goes back to her old self…It has a nice ending. Oddly enough the ‘‘cat’’ is so handsome I wanted her to end up with him. Anyway, what baffles me that they call him a demon cat yet he’s a loving soul. The story is very complicated but great to watch.
The Green Door in Japanese version is great, too.
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Now I want to watch them!
Hmm, maybe “demon” was not really meant in the evil sense of the word. I don’t remember exactly right now, but when I was studying Religious Studies one of our studybooks mentioned “demons” and it got me confused in that specific context, so I asked, but the teacher or one of the other students explained that the word “demon” originally had a more “neutral” meaning. Unfortunately I don’t remember exactly what they said though, but it just came to mind again when I read your post.
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Unfortunately they’re both restricted here. 
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Ah, that really sucks.
Oh, that’s one of my projects! 
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The drama you’re referring to is “Sumika Sumire.” It’s still available here on Viki.
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