Reiwa (令和) era of Japan has just begun! It means that Heisei (平成) era, which lasted for about 30 years, ended.
As I mentioned in my previous entry,
The Most-Watched TV Drama Series in Japan in Heisei Period (1989 - 2019), I shared with you 9 TV dramas which were a big hit in Japan in Heisei.
Today, I'm going to share with you 10 my favorite Japanese serial TV dramas. If you love Japanese serial drama and haven't watched these I listed below, you really should check them out. :)
No.1 世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ (Sekai no Chūshin de, Ai o Sakebu), (Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World )
Year of Original Release : 2004
Starring :
Takayuki Yamada and
Haruka Ayase
Numbers of Episode : 11
It also has a
novel (2001),
manga (2004) and
movie (2004).
Sekai no Chushin de, Ai o Sakebu (世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ), Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, is the best serial drama I've watched in Japan. It really drew me in when I first watched it. My first impression of it was that the story in 1987 was nostalgic and a bit dated. If you are in your 20s or younger, I guess that you even don't know what
Sony Walkman is. ;) Sony Walkman, which was first released in 1979, is a portable cassette player / voice recorder. The beginning of story about the pure couple who exchanging cassette tape letter made me really happy, and I really hoped that it's happily ever after story. However, it's incredibly touching, and I couldn't watch the final episode without crying. I think everyone should watch this one. I also recommend you to watch
its movie. Actually, this drama series was released after the movie was a big hit.
No.2 １リットルの涙 (1 Litre no Namida), (1 Litre of Tears)
Year of Original Release : 2005
Starring :
Erika Sawajiri and
Ryo Nishikido
Numbers of Episode : 11
It also has
books (1986 - 2006) and
movie (2005).
1 Liter no Namida (１リットルの涙), 1 Liter of Tear, is very sad story which made my heart ache. This is story about Aya, who is the main character of this serial drama and is diagnosed with spinocerebellar atrophy, a progressive disease, at the age of 15. She is very kind, smart and is an excellent high school student, but she is forced to fight the intractable disease. I thought life is not fair. I cried a lot while watching it.
No.3 のだめカンタービレ (Nodame Cantabile)
Year of Original Release :
2006 and
2008
Starring :
Juri Ueno and
Hiroshi Tamaki
Numbers of Episode : 11 (2006) + 2 (2008)
It also has
manga (23 + 2 volumes),
anime TV series (2007, 2008 and 2010) and
movies (2009 and 2010).
Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ) is a romantic comedy Japanese drama. This is the funniest comedy drama I've ever watched! It made me laugh so much!
Nodame, the main character of this comedy, is hilarious! She falls in love with
Chiaki, who is very handsome and serious about music. Actually, all characters, including
Chiaki, in this drama are so funny!
No.4 Mother
Year of Original Release : 2010
Starring :
Mana Ashida and
Yasuko Matsuyuki
Numbers of Episode : 11
Mother is a story about child abuse.
Nao, an elementary school teacher, notices that
Rena, one of her students, is abused by her mother and her mother's boyfriend.
Nao decides to kidnap
Rena, who is later named
Tsugumi by
Nao, to help her out, and they sneakily live together and pretend parent and child. I was impressed at acting skill of
Mana Ashida, who plays
Tsugumi. She was just a 5-year-old little girl back then and was able to play a 8 year-old poor child. She became very famous by this serial drama, and she appeared on so many movies, TV dramas and so on. She even released many songs in Japan. If you like
Mana Ashida, you might want to watch
Marumo no Okite (マルモのおきて) and
Pacific Rim.
No.5 働きマン (Hataraki Man)
Year of Original Release : 2007
Starring :
Miho Kanno and
Mokomichi Hayami
Numbers of Episode : 11
It also has
manga (4 volumes) and
anime TV Series (11 episodes).
Hataraki Man (働きマン) is a story about a hard working woman,
Hiroko Matsukata, who is trying to balance between work and her love life. I really empathized with this story because I was also working as like a horse in Japan back then. I sometimes thought, "Yes! It happens to me, too! I know how she feels." while watching
Hataraki Man.
No.6 池袋ウエストゲートパーク (Ikebukuro West Gate Park)
Year of Original Release : 2000 and 2003
Starring :
Tomoya Nagase and
Ai Kato
Numbers of Episode : 11 (2000) + 1 (2003)
It also has
novel series (6 volumes) and manga (4 + 1 + 1 volumes) .
 |
| 池袋ウエストゲートパーク (Ikebukuro West Gate Park) |
Ikebukuro West Gate Park (池袋ウエストゲートパーク) is a comedy and mystery drama which is a story about some groups of young people in Ikebukuro, Tokyo such as gang members, yakuza, otaku and so on. The main character,
Makoto, solves difficult cases in Tokyo. It really drew me in and couldn't stop watching it. I also liked
Makoto's funny mother in this drama!
No.7 ホタルノヒカリ (Hotaru no Hikari)
Year of Original Release :
2007 and
2010
Starring :
Haruka Ayase and
Naohito Fujiki
Numbers of Episode : 10 (2007) + 11 (2010)
It also has
manga (15 + 6 volumes) and
movie (2012) .
Hotaru no Hikari (ホタルノヒカリ) is comedy romance TV drama series and is a story about a super lazy girl. She looks very chic, cute and smart at her workplace, but she becomes a super lazy girl at her home. I enjoyed how lazy she is, and I thought that it's okay to be lazy like her! ;)
No.8 ウォーターボーイズ (Water Boys)
Year of Original Release : 2003, 2004 and 2005
Starring :
Takayuki Yamada and
Mirai Moriyama
Numbers of Episode : 11 (2003) + 12 (2004) + 2 (2005)
It also has
movie (2001) .
Water Boys (ウォーターボーイズ) is a high school story of male synchronized swimming. Boys start synchronized swimming team at their high school and try to practice it for the high school festival. Their performance of the final episode was so great! Their dance around the pool was so fun and their swimming was so beautiful!
No.9 電車男 (Densha Otoko)
Year of Original Release : 2005
Starring :
Atsushi Ito and
Misaki Ito
Numbers of Episode : 11 (2005) + 1 (2005) + 1 (2006)
It also has
novel (2004), manga (3 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 3 volumes) and
movie (2005) .
Densha Otoko (電車男) is a pure love story of a beautiful woman and otaku, a geek, who does not have experience with romance. At first, on the train, which is called densha (電車) in Japanese, he finds the woman who is scared by a drunk who trying to pick on her. He helps her out of it and falls in love with her. However, he doesn't know how to behave with the woman, so he posts in a 2channel thread and gets a lot of advice from them. This is a story of how he succeeds in his romantic relationship. I also like its movie, and this drama series was also released after the movie was a big hit.
No.10 半沢直樹 (Hanzawa Naoki)
Year of Original Release : 2013
Starring :
Masato Sakai and
Aya Ueto
Numbers of Episode : 10
It also has novels.
As I mentioned in my previous entry,
The Most-Watched TV Drama Series in Japan in Heisei Period (1989 - 2019),
Hanzawa Naoki (半沢直樹) was a big hit in Japan.
"Bai Gaeshida!" ("I got you back, twice as bad!") is the phrase
Naoki Hanzawa, the main character of this drama, always says in the drama won the buzzwords contest of 2013 in Japan. When I first watched this serial drama, I thought
Hanzawa Naoki was similar to
Karei-naru Ichizoku (2007) somewhat, and I noticed that the drama
Hanzawa Naoki and
Karei-naru Ichizoku were created by the same director and some other staffs. If you likes
Hanzawa Naoki, you might also like
Karei-naru Ichizoku.
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