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asiacatdogblue This Won't End Well... from Chicago, IL Since: Feb, 2010
This Won't End Well...
#1: Oct 30th 2011 at 5:08:21 PM

I always hear about how awesome Japan's animation and games are throughout the internet, yet I barely hear anything about their Live-Action works.

How are their works?

Yep, I'm still here.
Mathias from Japan Since: May, 2009
#2: Nov 1st 2011 at 7:10:40 AM

It depends. If you are talking movies, there are a lot of really good Japanese movies out there, ranging from classics from the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu et all to really wierd, yet awesome newer movies (Takahashi Miike), to the sort-of-weird but in an understated way (Takeshi Kitano), to balls-to-the-wall insanity that's only fun for lovers of faux b-movie ridiculousness, IE amongst others me (Yoshihiro Nishimura) or thoughtful looks at modern society (Shion Sono, at least sometimes, such as the masterful Noriko's Dinnertable).

However, since you're asking in the live action TV subforum, I'm guessing that's not really what you mean. When it comes to Japanese TV shows you're out of luck, because the vast majority of them are not particularly good. That's not to say that there aren't some good Japanese TV shows, they just seem to be very rare. Personally I've enjoyed some of the taiga river historical dramas, however they are a bit of an aquired taste and are mostly recommended if you're interested in historical Japan. They are quite long too (by Japanese standards) about 50 episodes of one hour's duration, for each one.

Otherwise a lot of Japanese TV is soap-opera-ish romantic drama or slice-of-life, only really surpassed in cringe-worthiness by Korean dramas. Every once in a while you might find one you like though, I kind of enjoyed Ryusei no Kizuna, though it's more of a straight-up drama with mystery elements than romance. I also found the Bloody Monday and Liar Game series fun, however you have to be prepared (mostly in the former case) for some serious stupidity and quite a lot of cheese. Do not take Bloody Monday seriously or you will find yourself scratching your head, wondering how the fuck things happened (well, it's based on a manga and it shows). Oh well, at least it makes more sense than 24. :p

Akihabara@Deep was a pretty fun comedy/drama too, though I doubt you'd like it much if you're not an animefan.

Otherwise they have quite a few detective shows too. The good thing about these is that they are short, so they are done with prety soon. And they really aren't bad, for detectice shows, that is. I remember enjoying Mr. Brain, Boss and Galileo from the top of my head.

And I think I've pretty much exhausted all my knowledge about Japanese TV there, as I said, I find most of it to be pandering, crappy soap-opera. If you're interested in movies though, I'll be happy to oblige.

edited 1st Nov '11 8:27:02 AM by Mathias

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