The Difficulties with Exporting Japan’s TV Dramas

24 comments

1. Well they are generally just bad… And the over the top reactions and silly plot lines are cringe.

2. As someone who loved JDramas when I first started learning Japanese, I can no longer stand them. I didn’t realize it before but they’re all bad, predictable plots. The leading actresses almost always are just models with no ability to act. Also, I’m not sure what it is about Japanese TV shows and movies, but they are all just shot horribly and look bad.

3. Turn down the irrelevant background music to start…

4. Many of the dramas produced by Japanese TV stations are of a low level; I saw VIVANT, but the script, direction, acting, and visuals were all of a low level.

   First of all, TV stations should stop taking the initiative. They don’t study foreign dramas and stick to their own methods.

   However, I think they are doing a good job with movies these days.
   Godzilla was very good and won an Oscar.

5. My gf is Japanese and we’ve only watched 2 JDramas. If we watch anything like that, it’s Korean.

6. The Koreans have got it right and are making dramas with legit crossover appeal. Same with K pop vs. J pop. K pop learned from western trends and in many cases hires popular western producers and songwriters. J pop is forever stuck in its tuneless, talentless wasteland.

7. There a few good ones around but most of them are terrible. A lot of dramas these days are based on manga that probably no one outside of Japan would get.

8. Someone recommend some decent ones because I recently watched omakanai and it was lovely. Then again it didnt have any Johnny idols in it.

   Korean dramas is fine too.

9. Perhaps they’re just objectively terrible?

   The only foreigners who like them seem to have an entirely unrealistic – near unhealthy –  fascination about everything Japan. Not a great, nor large market to rely on.

   From what I’ve heard, dramas are given 3 months full turn around; how you could produce anything half-decent, or unique, in that time is beyond me. Proof in the pudding.

10. I think the plot that appeals to Japanese audiences and global audiences has been drifting apart. Japan used to make good scifi, horror and action movies/drama. Nowadays is mainly romance or day in life story. Look at how Korean drama has evolved. They even adopted parasite from Japan into Korean Netflix drama which is a success.

11. I cant stand when real human actors acting like anime characters..

12. The GTO Revival that aired last week was the worst hour of television I think I’ve ever watched. It was absolutely garbage, and super disappointing because I actually really love the original series.

13. When it comes to J-drama set in modern times, I think the problem is that western audiences will find the main characters un-relatable. Then there is censorship and how relationships are portrayed without any real intimacy. Quite often I feel the characters are unbelievable.
    The way the leads think in J-drama is vastly different to how people would think abroad.

    I can’t stand watching J-drama, especially anything set between Showa and now. I also hate how female characters are often written as basically a pretty face to complement the main male character.

14. Any time I turn on the TV and see a Jdrama playing it seems to be one of three themes: high school slice of life, office worker cheating drama, or hospital worker love triangle.

15. No source or anything to back me up.
    I feel that 95% of the production is only made to promote talent agencies and media companies.
    They lower the bar of acting and so that talents become commodities and are easily disposable. It pretty much ends up being a live anime, cheap dialogue, decor are poor, they use the same school/office all the time. The TV show doesn’t cost shit and brings entertainment to people who want to see Johnny’s idols, business wise it should work.

    I believe Netflix raised the bar with naked director, 100 million yen women or sanctuary but I also remember 1 liter of tears, life or last friends were great shows.

    Post notes:
    I actually think that some of the post morning musume/akb48 girls are doing ok.
    I really believe that Japanese shows could be better than Korean ones but the last are better at identifying successful plots and executing it. Japanese can’t do conspiracy thrillers, survivor movies nor serial killer ones.

16. ones produced by Western funding has been goo, Netflix, HBO etc local ones just don’t have the budget

17. Scene 1, Act 1: The meeting room of a broadcasting company.

    Actor playing Section Chief: “I have called this meeting to discuss a business matter”

    Supporting Actors (try to look curious. Some tilt their heads to one side. The two who are having an affair exchange a passionate glance which the Section Chief completely fails to see).

    Section Chief: “We are facing significant difficulties in exporting Japanese TV dramas to other countries”

    Supporting Actors: (Open eyes and mouth as wide as physically possible) “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?”

    (Camera pans to product placement shot, probably of the broadcasting company, pans back to Section Chief)

    Section Chief: “Does anyone have any idea how we might fix this?”

    Bold Newbie with Slightly Rebellious Streak: “More dramas about food?”

    Grizzled Veteran who Clearly Wants To Retire: “Idiot! We’ve been doing that for 50 years to no effect!”

    Bold Newbie (goes silent, stares with moody vibe into camera)

    Section Chief: “Why do dramas from other countries succeed? What do they have that we don’t?”

    Company Joker who only has his job because his father runs the place: “Talented actors? Budgets? Ideas?”

    Section Chief: (says nothing, knowing that Company Joker has carte blanche)

    (Uncomfortable silence)

    Section Chief: I have to tell the boss something. Come up with an idea or you will all be in my bad books.

    (Section Chief storms out and slams door. Supporting Actors, with the exception of Company Joker, look concerned).

    Cut to Act 2…

18. Spoiler: they’re all boilerplate stuff that a grade schooler could make better, just like K-dramas, and C-Dramas, and western soap operas, they’re all the same bland plot with the same bland twists with the same bad F-tier actors that overemphasise emotions to the point where Japanese gameshow reactions feel more genuine.

19. TLDR: because they generally suck

20. The article mentions that anime is clearly the dominant export compared to live-action drama, and I don’t think that point is discussed enough. Namely, anime’s influence on live-action. A lot of J-Dramas, whether by design of accident, seem to copy the anime “feel”, from cinematography to lighting to acting. And it doesn’t work.

    In anime, it’s pretty much the norm to see other characters standing stock still while one speaks. In live-action, it looks bizarre.

    In anime, over-bright lighting is acceptable because other artistry such as line work helps to draw your eye to the main focal point. In live action, the excessive lighting makes everything look cheap.

    In terms of acting, anime gets away with a certain amount of melodrama and hamming it up because the limited facial expressions need the extra vocal oomph to lift the performance. In live-action, it just looks daft (seriously, I’ve seen plenty of J-Dramas where the actors tried to do an anime-style face fault, it’s painful to watch).

    I know this sounds like I think anime has a lower bar to clear than live-action, but that’s not the case. They’re two different mediums with different needs, and I don’t think that difference is understood enough by those making a live-action drama.

21. anime>live-action

22. If they could creare dramas the quality of Shogun on Disney then people would watch them the world over.

23. The historic ones are pretty cool. But I understand why it would be difficult to export it as a commercially attractive initiative.

24. TV dramas are made for domestic TV watchers. They don’t have the budget or time to produce something that appeals to a wider audience, let alone an international following.
    My parents and older relatives love that stuff because they grew up watching it and can’t get in to content that younger people are in to