Anyone else like Asian dramas?

[barnaclelapse]

Me! I started watching about a year ago and then buying boxsets of my favorite ones. You've seen most of what I've seen, tho.

Nodame Cantabile - http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Nodame_Cantabile
excellent! A little over the top, especially when Milk-whatisname shows up, but if you give it until the second or third episode you'll be fine with the humor.

The Gokusen (1) - http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Gokusen
probably my favorite series. Its about a young teacher that gets assigned to the delinquent class (shades of Great Teacher Onizuka) but the rub is she's secretly the granddaughter of a yakuza head. Very funny, well acted, and touching in ways as she tries to win the boys over, hide her yakuza ties, and give overly dramatic speeches followed by beatdowns of outside troublemakers.
It spawned two more seasons, but while the classes had hotter and hotter guys in it, none have had the enjoyment of the original. I couldn't even finish Gokusen 3.

Lovely Complex - a movie about a tall girl and a short guy. The anime was much, much better, but its still good for a view.

Yankee-kun to Megane-chan - http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Yankee-kun_to_Megane-chan
another show about a girl ex-delinquint now turned class rep who takes a delinquint classmate under her wing, no matter how hard he resists.

Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) - http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Hanazakari_no_Kimitachi_e
girl dresses like a boy in order to attend an all-boys high school. A little angsty, but the guy playing Nakatsu makes up for it with hiliarity! Homo ja nai!

Hana Yori Dango - http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Hana_Yori_Dango
(spoilers in link! don't read past the synopsis if you're interested in watching!)
my second fave dorama. A poor girl who attends a high school for the super rich ends up inadvertantly becoming the target of the four most elite boys (calling themselves F4) who have the run of the school, who then sick the rest of the school on her to make her life miserable. Of course, nobody has ever decided to stand up to them, but Tsukushi is a 'strong weed' after all.

Salad Days (Doremisora) - http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Doremisora
I've only been able to track down the first four episodes, but its another 'teacher given the class of outcasts' show.


Others that were good:

Great Teacher Onizuka
Buzzer Beat
Nobuta wo Produce
Honey and Clover
Hotaru no Hikari


Its not out yet, but I'm very looking forward to the live action version of Beck.

The GTO movie is seriously one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, Asian or otherwise.

 

[lennier1]

Still, the movie can't hold a candle to the TV show.

 

[galleywest]

I'm kind of curious to watch the J and T drama versions of Honey and Clover, partly just to see how they manage to find a short pixie girl and to see how it would translate over into the "real world". I'd also consider watching Nodame for the same reason (and the Sailor Moon adaptation for that matter).

I've been considering whether or not to watch Honey and Clover. I probably should, I usually enjoy live adaptations of manga/amine series.

I did manage to watch some of You're Under Arrest (J-drama) before I started watching the show. It's about a couple of women who are partnered together as traffic cops. It's not bad, but it's hard to compete with nearly a decade of anime episodes.

This sounds like just my type of show...

But one of the reason it works, especially now that I look at my list, is because a lot of these shows are adaptations. There's already an established arc and the only thing they really have to do is find a place in the manga that would serve as a good end point (or, alternatively, make up their own ending).

I agree with this 100%. I can't tell you how many times I started watching a show and really enjoyed it, then found out it was a live adaptation of a manga and/or anime. I don't enjoy either manga or anime--nothing against them, they just don't appeal to me for some reason--but I love the live adaptations. It makes me so happy because I don't miss out on the stories now!

Can I ask where people watch their shows? I watch mostly on dramacrazy, mysoju, cruncyroll, and sometimes youtube.

Also, I violated one of my own primary rules yesterday. I started watching Tumbling, which is still running (I always watch ones that are already completed). I can't help it! I'm hooked! Who wouldn't be? the plot is that the school bad boy is forced to join a club activity or be held back in school, so after seeing the girl he likes join the rhythmic gymnastics team, HE joins the men's rhythmic gymnastic team. Oh yes, it's a show about men who tumble. It is so enjoyable watching the guys who played brothers 4 and 5 in Atashinchi No Danshi (the girl-phobic supermodel and the genius magician shut-in) play completely different characters in this. And I must be watching too many of these things--I recognized the cafe the main character's mother runs right away: it was the library/restaurant in Samurai High School.

 

[firehawk12]

It's funny because I find anime easier to watch because I often can't overlook the production values/acting of Asian dramas. I know it's fairly shallow, but when a US show spends anywhere from 1-5 million per episode, you get spoiled.

I think you named all the streaming sites. D-addict is probably the big site where the subbers gather... chances are you've been to their wiki if you search the name of a show on Google.

 

[Lady Conqueror]

I've bought all the ones I've seen (probably why I've seen so few). Didn't even know about any of those sites - I'll have to check them out. Of course i've not got a very big download limit, do they use up much bytes watching them on those sites?

 

[firehawk12]

Streaming, probably not. They're fairly low quality.

 

[Jeri]

Some of the telenoveleras at a couple telenovela websites I've frequented for a decade or more have defected to Asian dramas. Not me yet, though.

 

[Wynterhawk]

I recently saw "I'm a cyborg, but that's ok" which was surprisingly clever and engaging. It had a clear storyline and the characters were unique and definitively drawn. I'd recommend it.