Fall 2013 J-Drama Picks
One of the things I've chosen to work on as a marketable skill is my Japanese ability. To that end, even though the vast majority of them bore the hell out of me (it's like where television goes to grow up, to me), I've decided to wade through the sea of J-Drama from now on to learn what Japanese people sound like when they aren't talking about robots, swords, and beings from other dimensions. So, here's the list I'm working from, with the picks below, supplied with either promo photos or PVs.
Right out the gate and I'm already failing with the picture thing. This was apparently a movie back in 1978, apparently a Robin Hood-esque story set during the Kyoho period where a group of bandits rob the wealthy with a series of schemes and an array of impressive techniques. This would make it a Jidaigeki, or "period drama", since its set in Japan's past. I'm okay with this, since I'm a fan of samurai and sword-fights and shit. Admittedly though, I've never tried a period drama before, so I'm interesting to see how Japan.
I'm giving this a try purely off the potential unintended humor factor. The synopsis reads like this: "Kurokouchi Keita (Nagase Tomoya) is a man who has dirt on politicians and keeps extorting large sums of money from them. He is neither a gangster nor a hooligan but a detective by profession. An Assistant Inspector of the Criminal Investigations Department’s Second Investigative Division at Kanagawa Prefectural Police, Kurokouchi is called “shady prefectural police”. He is an aloof man with no subordinates, but cracks brutal unsolved crimes through information obtained illegally along with the money. He is an underhanded, corrupt daredevil who fights one evil with another."
I can't see how a hero who operates like a villain isn't funny, unless its done by Sunrise, and even that got funny near the end.
Obviously based on a manga, Tokyo Toy Box is about a former OL (Office Lady) who gets assigned to be the boss over a tiny game company filled with workers who are obsessed with making games. I'm a game geek, so I'm pretty much required to check this out. (Plus its got Kamen Rider G3 playing one of the roles and I can't pass that up.)
Kumokiri Nizaemon
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| Okay, so the series probably WON'T look like this... |
Kurokouchi
I'm giving this a try purely off the potential unintended humor factor. The synopsis reads like this: "Kurokouchi Keita (Nagase Tomoya) is a man who has dirt on politicians and keeps extorting large sums of money from them. He is neither a gangster nor a hooligan but a detective by profession. An Assistant Inspector of the Criminal Investigations Department’s Second Investigative Division at Kanagawa Prefectural Police, Kurokouchi is called “shady prefectural police”. He is an aloof man with no subordinates, but cracks brutal unsolved crimes through information obtained illegally along with the money. He is an underhanded, corrupt daredevil who fights one evil with another."
I can't see how a hero who operates like a villain isn't funny, unless its done by Sunrise, and even that got funny near the end.
Tokyo Toy Box
Obviously based on a manga, Tokyo Toy Box is about a former OL (Office Lady) who gets assigned to be the boss over a tiny game company filled with workers who are obsessed with making games. I'm a game geek, so I'm pretty much required to check this out. (Plus its got Kamen Rider G3 playing one of the roles and I can't pass that up.)
49
This one I can't find a picture on due to the existence of an apparently much more popular Korean Drama, 49 Days. In any case, 49 is a series about a boring 16 year old who suddenly has the spirit of his late father who's apparently just the shit at everything inhabit his body.
Now, depending on how they play this, I could really be down for it. If its mostly comedic in nature, I'd probably watch the whole thing without incident. But if they try to put too much drama or pathos into this, I'll probably vanish within five episodes. We'll see.
Nocon Kid ~ Bokura no Gameshi
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| Literally the only picture I could find for this. |
Another series that's about video games (sorta), Nocon Kid is about a guy who's family used to run a game center when he was a kid, and when he comes back to visit them, he picks up an interest in gaming against his friend again. That's pretty much all I know about it so far, and if its a series that's about a 45 year old man playing arcade games...I'm actually alright with that, since that's something that's probably in my future.
And now its wild card time! Where I pick a drama that I'm not sure if I'll like and try it anyway. And the wild card for this season is...
Link
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| A picture of the cast was all I could find. >_< |
Link is about something so complicated I can't just simplify it into a few words like the last few, so here's a (pun not intended) link to explain things. So this has the potential to be a political drama, or an action thriller, or something entirely different, and the only reason I even have an idea as to the tone is because it's webpage looks awful serious compared to the others I've been looking at.
So, that's it for now. Will I be able to finish all of these series? Who knows. Will my Japanese get any better? Who knows. Is there anything I DO know? Well, yes. That I'll be back here later this week with my (much longer) anime list.
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