Japanese tv show recommendations

19 comments

1. I have two words for you. Matsuko Deluxe.

2. Not really what you are looking for in terms of being well known etc. but I recommend “Sanctuary” on Netflix. Great sumo drama.

   For perhaps two that are very famous:

   Hana yori dango

   My Boss, My Hero

   There are many others…

3. Naked Director is a great show

4. Midnight Diner. Netflix has them all. It’s not epic but it’s awesome.

5. Oshin. Drama with a rating of over 60%.

   It was extremely popular in Asia and the Middle East.
   In Iran, the ratings reportedly exceeded 90%.

6. Cultural phenomenon & prestige (high production value) not necessarily being the same thing, but some of the ones that come to mind that are big enough cultural phenomenon that lots of people will recognize scenes from even if they haven’t seen full episodes:

   * Seibu Keisatsu
   * Abarenbo Shogun
   * Hissatsu Shigotonin
   * Kita no Kuni kara
   * 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei
   * Furuhata Ninzaburo
   * Tokyo Love Story
   * Trick

7. I like Doctor X, love Ryoko Yonekura

8. So you won’t find equivalents to the tv shows you mentionned. Closest may be Ikebukuro West Gate Park.
   The biggest hit of the latest years that is not a soapy romantic comedy, medical or police drama may have been Hanzawa Naoki.
   And for the latest big budget tv show with thriller elements, you can check out Vivant.

   But you’re more likely to enjoy Netflix shows that other people mentionned because they were made with a more international viewership in mind, after the success of Korean shows such as that Kaiji rip-off.

   Personnally, I can’t stand the acting style and photography of Japanese TV shows so I stay with comedies, where overacting is not a problem.

9. You might like Massan, it was an NHK ohiru drama but probably one of the better ones. Also recently The Naked Director came out on Netflix and all my Japanese relatives loved it!

10. I don’t feel as though there is really the equivalent in Japan, but there are bigger budget or more popular shows. Usually they seem to be dramas.

    ​

    * We Married As A Job was a big hit with its own dance
    * What Did You Eat Yesterday had a couple of seasons and a movie
    * Midnight Diner/Shinya Shokudo is a great show especially if you’ve lived around Shinjuku (certainly not required but the feel is really spot on in a lot of episodes).

11. Maybe for big budget historical drama, check out some of the previous seasons of NHKs taiga dramas that air on a Sunday evening. They are usually about some historical figure and have a lot of famous Japanese actors in them.

12. Some of my favorites:
    Great Teacher Onizuka,
    Nodame Cantabile,
    Shinzanmono,
    101st Marriage Proposal,
    Iryu Team Medical Dragon,
    Furuhata Ninzaburo,
    Kodoku no Gourmet,
    Dragon Zakura.

13. In terms of cultural phenomenons, GTO, Trick, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Long Vacation, Gokusen and Rookies come to mind.

    Personally, I also like Nobuta wo Produce, Stand Up!!, My Boss My Hero, Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, and Jin as well. (In addition to many more that I can’t think of at the moment.)

    Recently, Silent was probably the biggest hit, though I found it very sappy…

    You won’t find too many recent Japanese dramas dealing with heavy subjects, but prior to the 2010s, Japanese entertainment was at least edgier than it is now.

14. TV viewership isn’t as high in Japan as it is in the US, so I’m not sure there any blockbuster TV shows here like there are in the US. Hulu, TVer, Abema, and other streaming services have a lot of classic as well as contemporary Japanese TV shows.

    Alice in Borderland is a live-action SF drama based on a manga that is one of Netflix’s most popular dramas in Japan. Another on Netflix is The Naked Director, which is a fictionalized historical drama about a producer/director who broke the norms in Japan back in the ’80s.

15. The obvious answer is [Kodai Shojo Dogu-chan](https://youtu.be/nbPCRmj_kFU?si=FbUt3BWwbg7nHDEV)

16. GTO (the live action drama made in the 90s) is really good.

    Highly recommended.

    They made another live action drama sometime during the 2010s, skip it.

17. I would look at Taiga Dramas (I watched *Yae no Sakura* years ago, and it was really interesting and also a lot of work tracking down subs).

    Also, Midnight Diner is fantastic for an anthology show.

    And last, probably not the answer you were hoping for, but some anime I think would probably qualify if you’re willing to give it a chance. Stuff like *[Kids on the Slope](https://youtu.be/7plEDcWy0Oc?si=kJupW_r3oeAT9atU)* (a serious drama about high school kids playing jazz together during the 60’s), or *[Odd Taxi](https://youtu.be/u2h_–ng8rk?si=umNPXlrumFm1DqN9)* (very *Big Lebowski* vibes). There’s more anime that qualifies for sure, but you may find most of it misses the mark if “prestige” means what I suspect it does.

    For the record, I think much of Gundam qualifies here, as it basically started out as a serious science-fiction war drama masquerading as a toy commercial for children: the movie trilogy covering [the original story](https://youtu.be/v4x0hhJ1BBQ?si=e8yXBmmoDHfZFRtI) on Netflix is a good place to start. If that doesn’t appeal though, you may be more interested in [Legend of the Galaxtic Heroes](https://youtu.be/Ou37P25tjJY?si=R37PXIRdwDmHwa7j)

18. The original Iron Chef is the greatest thing in the history of TV.

19. Itte-Q