CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

i posted a thread almost a year ago requesting some good asian drama recommendations. however, i soon found myself once again uninterested in asian dramas. however, it's quite strange what one does w/ all of his free time over summer vacation. as my summer break neared its end, i found myself randomly and suddenly feeling the urge to watch some asian dramas. now that school has started, i won't be able to keep up as much, but i thought it would be interesting to start another thread regarding the topic of asian dramas. what sort of asian dramas have you seen/like? feel free to post anything about your favorite asian dramas and such and such. as for myself...

i saw GTO and Gokusen several months ago before i became uninterested in asian dramas again.
i recently watched Nobuta wa Produce which was actually very interesting and almost saddening to finish. it's quite odd how sentimental some of these dramas can be.
my sister recently encouraged me to watch a more romantic series and recommended Hani Yori Dango. i am several episodes into this series and i am finding it surprisingly enjoyable.

Have you seen "Long Vacation"?

I'm in the middle of Why Why Love. I have a huge list of shows I need to watch. But I have like no time anymore to watch. T_T

My friends have been trying to get me to watch them. I just don't know which one to start with. xD

I'm actually on the hunt for some good Taiwanese drama-- they tend to be a little more over-the-top, but I need something to practice Chinese on ^_^

As for recs, if you're looking for something that is not-quite-as-fluffy, try LIAR GAME and Kurosagi-- sort of mind-action thrillers with cool psychology and loophole tricks-- or One Litre of Tears or Deep Love-- dark and depressing love stories that are very powerful.

minakichan (post: 1256966) wrote:I'm actually on the hunt for some good Taiwanese drama-- they tend to be a little more over-the-top, but I need something to practice Chinese on ^_^

www.mysoju.com

Has everything! Korean, Chinese, Japanese, everything.

Crunchyroll.com has a lot of Asian dramas.

battletech (post: 1256986) wrote:Crunchyroll.com has a lot of Asian dramas.

yeah. that's what i use to watch my asian dramas.

Re: mysoju, crunchyroll

I know where to *AHEMCOUGHCOUGHAHAHAHA* find Asian drama, I just need TW recs ^_^ See, the last TW drama I picked up was The X-Family, and it was pretty much the worst thing I've ever seen in my life, so I'd like to know if anyone has any titles they really find great.

Why Why Love
Devil BEside you are my two favorites

I have uh connections to finding them as well....>_> <_<

are there any other good places to watch dramas? because crunchyroll took off a good deal of there's after licensing, and mysoju doesn't seem to be working...

http://aznv.tv/en
you need winamp player I think.

thanks man.

So, I'm not trying to gravedig or anything, but I wanted to talk about Asian Dramas, and I didn't want to start another thread if there already was one.

So... umm... I'm pulling a Lazarus on this here thread, if that's alright.

Has anybody seen any good ones recently? I've been watching Japanese dramas as language practice. I started with Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, which I loved, although there are some questionable elements to it.
I watched Maou, which started out as an exciting psychological thriller but kind of fell apart and ceased to be all that great in the end.
Right now I'm watching Hana Yori Dango. I've almost finished season 2.
And I'm watching Majo Saiban, which has been really exciting and really good so far.

My wife loves romantic / comedy Asian dramas. A few months ago she saw a Taiwanese one. The English title translates roughly as "Corner with Love". I don't know if there is an English version, we watched it in Mandarin (with Chinglish subtitles).

It is about an artistic / creative young man from a relatively poor background who can nonetheless cook awesome oyster omelettes (believe it or not, this is kinda central to the plot) who meets this beautiful and rich young woman with an air of confidence but is nonetheless insecure (but she hides it well).

The pair initially bicker but eventually fall in love.

Into this picture comes along other characters such as the young, rich, and handsome man, as well as the other rich young woman who loves the main male character.

Anyway, if that was a bit too confusing to follow, please see my dot points below which gives a generalisation of typical romantic Asian dramas:

- Lead male and female characters fall in love.

- Supporting male and female characters love the lead female and male characters, respectively.

- Lead male and female characters do not love the supporting characters, but somehow this still causes misunderstandings to occur between the lead characters, leading to 20+ episodes of confusion and copious amounts of tissues being used by the viewers.

- Eventually the lead characters resolve the issues and fall in love. There is a hint of "happily ever after", but it is generally left open-ended.

Analysis of typical characters in these dramas:
- Male lead character is good looking in a rugged way. May not be mild mannered by has a genuinely kind heart. Generally not very wealthy.

- Female lead character is good looking, but sometimes not as good looking as the female supporting character.

- Female supporting character is extremely good looking, and yet male lead character does not fall for her (because looks aren't everything).

- Male supporting character is usually very polite and kind, handsome and rich. Sometimes they are so handsome that one could be mistaken for thinking he is a "she". But their beauty would be what the audience thinks of as "gentleman-like".

I intend no disrespect to Asian dramas (having watched some myself), but I thought it would be interesting to give my two cents worth.

I kinda enjoy them, but obviously not as much as my wife. Hahah.

Oh man, don't even get me started on romantic dramas. I generally don't like them as much as crime/psychological dramas, because...

1. You can almost always tell from the very first episode who the heroine will eventually end up with

2. It's never the nice (and usually better-looking) guy who would never do a thing to hurt her. It's the violent jerk who treats her like garbage.

3. The violent jerk treats her like garbage, but deep down inside, he is tenderhearted and misunderstood, and her love will change him.

4. Of course, although it is obvious to the viewers who she will eventually choose in the end, the story is drawn out for at least 12 episodes, and many times there is conflict for no reason at all.


Hanazakari no Kimitachi e was a refreshing break from the "violent jerk" rut, but it was very much along the lines of what you just described. I still to a certain degree enjoy romance dramas, but I can only take so much before I have to step away and watch something else for a while.

I like the mystery thriller dramas because

1. they're usually incredibly well done

2. they're usually really good about keeping you guessing up til the bitter end.


EDIT: I just started a new one: Voice. I have to say... it's super awesome! It's a medical mystery drama, kind of like a Japanese "House, M.D." meets "CSI", but with way more heart than either show. I love it so far!

There's an Asian Drama threa?! I'm so happy, I could cry!

I love Asian dramas. I've seen the live-action of Liar Game, am watching You're Beautiful right now (yeah, he treats her like crud, but he also thinks that she's her brother because she's cross-dessing as him because he needed to sign a deal and couldn't because he was..... Okay, it's compllicated.) and am really looking forward to seeing Personal Taste.

One that I own and love is Palace, which as about a prince who is forced to marry a commoner because he had to be married by a certain time, and his grandfather had made an arranged marriage for him before he died. And she says yes because her family is in debt with the Korean mafia. So seeing them get to like eachother, along with seeing various royal customs of Korea, is a lot of fun!

Sammy Boy (post: 1424640) wrote:My wife loves romantic / comedy Asian dramas. A few months ago she saw a Taiwanese one. The English title translates roughly as "Corner with Love". I don't know if there is an English version, we watched it in Mandarin (with Chinglish subtitles).

It is about an artistic / creative young man from a relatively poor background who can nonetheless cook awesome oyster omelettes (believe it or not, this is kinda central to the plot) who meets this beautiful and rich young woman with an air of confidence but is nonetheless insecure (but she hides it well).

The pair initially bicker but eventually fall in love.

Into this picture comes along other characters such as the young, rich, and handsome man, as well as the other rich young woman who loves the main male character.

Anyway, if that was a bit too confusing to follow, please see my dot points below which gives a generalisation of typical romantic Asian dramas:

- Lead male and female characters fall in love.

- Supporting male and female characters love the lead female and male characters, respectively.

- Lead male and female characters do not love the supporting characters, but somehow this still causes misunderstandings to occur between the lead characters, leading to 20+ episodes of confusion and copious amounts of tissues being used by the viewers.

- Eventually the lead characters resolve the issues and fall in love. There is a hint of "happily ever after", but it is generally left open-ended.

Analysis of typical characters in these dramas:
- Male lead character is good looking in a rugged way. May not be mild mannered by has a genuinely kind heart. Generally not very wealthy.

- Female lead character is good looking, but sometimes not as good looking as the female supporting character.

- Female supporting character is extremely good looking, and yet male lead character does not fall for her (because looks aren't everything).

- Male supporting character is usually very polite and kind, handsome and rich. Sometimes they are so handsome that one could be mistaken for thinking he is a "she". But their beauty would be what the audience thinks of as "gentleman-like".

I intend no disrespect to Asian dramas (having watched some myself), but I thought it would be interesting to give my two cents worth.

I kinda enjoy them, but obviously not as much as my wife. Hahah.

You're wife would love Fly Me to Polaris if you haven't seen that... Which fits your description of asian romances like a glove. I don't watch asian anything really but I did discover this movie by accident searching google about the star polaris once. It has a really nice soundtrack though. It's pretty cheesy and does everything it can to get you to cry but everything is pretty well done that it's still pretty entertaining. It's about a nurse who falls in love with a blind mute. He's killed in an accident but wins a celestial contest for being like the 600billion death or something and gets a wish. His wish is to go back to earth. So he gets 5 days on earth where he can talk and see but he can't tell anyone who he was. Anyway.. like I said... cheesy... but I like the music ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P1fOiAMKig

Atria35 (post: 1424681) wrote:There's an Asian Drama threa?! I'm so happy, I could cry!

I love Asian dramas. I've seen the live-action of Liar Game, am watching You're Beautiful right now (yeah, he treats her like crud, but he also thinks that she's her brother because she's cross-dessing as him because he needed to sign a deal and couldn't because he was..... Okay, it's compllicated.)

Oh man. I couldn't finish You're Beautiful. It was making me too angry, because I really hated the male lead (I don't want to spoil anything for you, but some of the stuff that happens later convinced me that he's a total tool) and really liked the secondary character that was falling in love with her, and it was too obvious who she was going to end up with, and... GUH! I just couldn't take it. It was really funny and enjoyable, but I think I was too into it, and I got really frustrated, lol. I like Hana kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) better because it has similar elements (the female crossdressing as a male, etc. etc.) with significantly less lead male being a total jerk factor. Plus, I only really like to watch Japanese dramas because I don't feel like I'm being frivolous watching them... it's... language practice... yeah... >.>

Yuki-Anne (post: 1424739) wrote:Oh man. I couldn't finish You're Beautiful. It was making me too angry, because I really hated the male lead (I don't want to spoil anything for you, but some of the stuff that happens later convinced me that he's a total tool) and really liked the secondary character that was falling in love with her, and it was too obvious who she was going to end up with, and... GUH! I just couldn't take it. It was really funny and enjoyable, but I think I was too into it, and I got really frustrated, lol. I like Hana kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) better because it has similar elements (the female crossdressing as a male, etc. etc.) with significantly less lead male being a total jerk factor. Plus, I only really like to watch Japanese dramas because I don't feel like I'm being frivolous watching them... it's... language practice... yeah... >.>

Yeah. THat's what I tel people too. XD I think I'm going to keep watching for now, though, just to see for myself. Isn't Hana Kimi a manga, too? Or is that my imagination?

Yes. Hana Kimi started out as a manga, and I think is also an anime and a drama in Taiwan as well as in Japan. But... the Japanese cast is better looking...

Speaking of good looking (XD), do you have any actors or actresses that, if you see that they're in a drama, you feel like you've just gotta watch it?

I've been slowly going through all of Ikuta Toma's work.

Scarecrow (post: 1424736) wrote:You're wife would love Fly Me to Polaris if you haven't seen that... Which fits your description of asian romances like a glove. I don't watch asian anything really but I did discover this movie by accident searching google about the star polaris once. It has a really nice soundtrack though. It's pretty cheesy and does everything it can to get you to cry but everything is pretty well done that it's still pretty entertaining. It's about a nurse who falls in love with a blind mute. He's killed in an accident but wins a celestial contest for being like the 600billion death or something and gets a wish. His wish is to go back to earth. So he gets 5 days on earth where he can talk and see but he can't tell anyone who he was. Anyway.. like I said... cheesy... but I like the music ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P1fOiAMKig

Thanks for the link.

So that's where the song is from! The female lead was a pretty popular singer in Hong Kong for a while in the late 90s.

sharien chan (post: 1257146) wrote:http://aznv.tv/en
you need winamp player I think.

Need an invite...

kipach!

Yuki-Anne (post: 1424790) wrote:Speaking of good looking (XD), do you have any actors or actresses that, if you see that they're in a drama, you feel like you've just gotta watch it?

I've been slowly going through all of Ikuta Toma's work.

Not yet. I don't attach myself to actors/actresses, which seems a little odd, but I've found that as long as the story is good and the actors are acting well, I just don't care.

Which reminds me- I STILL haven't finished 'Fated to Love You'.

minakichan (post: 1256966) wrote:I'm actually on the hunt for some good Taiwanese drama-- they tend to be a little more over-the-top, but I need something to practice Chinese on ^_^

This is the one my wife and I watched ("Corner with love"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE8WBsA-u1o (theme song 2).

This does not feature scenes from the series, however as the description includes lyrics in pin yin, I thought you might find it useful.

Finished Hana Yori Dango. It was ridiculous. Here are my thoughts.

Season 1: You know, I'm really enjoying this. This is light-hearted and cute.
Season 2: What the blazes is this?! This is poo!

Yuki-Anne (post: 1425523) wrote:Finished Hana Yori Dango. It was ridiculous. Here are my thoughts.

Season 1: You know, I'm really enjoying this. This is light-hearted and cute.
Season 2: What the blazes is this?! This is poo!

I've heard that from a lot of people. I tried reading the manga and hated it, so I never attempted to watch it, myself. Is there anything in particular that got your goat?

Well, there's this...

[SPOILER]They pulled out the horrible "amnesia" plot twist to stretch out the sexual tension. That immediately makes me lose all respect for a writer. Plus, the "hero" does things that should by all rights land him in jail multiple times (like beat up high school kids, as an adult, and so forth), yet the heroine still chooses him over the gentle guy who actually stops the "hero" from bullying and being generally cruel to... well... everybody. But there's really some awfully cruel bullying that goes on, and a lot of times it's dismissed as, "Oh, well, he has issues."[/SPOILER]

Actually, now that I'm really remembering, season one wasn't actually that cute. It just seemed cute when compared with the general inanity of season 2.

Finished Majo Saiban. That one was awesome, and I loved it. But I think a lot of it was the fact that romance was a minor subplot; the main plot was the mystery. It was really good.

Now I'm watching Voice, which is pretty good, though it tries a bit hard to be a tear-jerker with every episode, and along with that, I'm watching Akihabara@Deep... that one's... interesting...

My Japanese class is watching hana yori dango right now. hooray for watching tv for a grade!

I also discovered the drama of Otomen (live bishies+LOL = awesome) and liked it a lot.
The only one I've finished though is "Scrap teacher," a drama starring 4 boys from HeySayJUMP. luved them anyway but this drama cracks me up, and it isnt a romantic comedy!

Godislove_18 (post: 1426509) wrote:-Hana-Kimi ( Is an awesome and funny drama ...the Japanese version)

Agreed. Also, serious heartage for your avatar. My avatar is also Toma Ikuta, but you can't tell because it's focused on the guitar and cuts out the face, lol.