I like the comedy about lawyers with Yui Aragaki Legal high and Legal high 2. It is sad that they shot only 2 seasons. I would like to continue..

Don Dio wrote:I adore Honda Tsubasa ever since I watched "Vampire Heaven." 

I only knew about her after watching this:

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TOPIC: Picking up Rich Man, Poor Woman where I left off after 8(!) years. Ishihara Satomi taimu now.



Listening to miwa in the opening credits remind me so much of my holidays in Tokyo...

Oh, on the J-movie front, I have seen a few since my last post on this thread but one film that I watched on the plane this January that stuck to my mind is Kioku ni Gozaimasen (Hit Me Anyone One More Time) directed by Koki Mitani who has done a few comedy films which I find very watchable. It's about the PM of Japan who is very unpopular with the general populace who lost his memory following which interesting things began happening in office and in his personal life (I guess you'll be making comparisons with Dave starring Kevin Kline).



If you'll be checking it out using the usual methods, it's not out on DVD/Blu-ray yet until end of April this year. Worth the watch.

Not really a binge watcher, but I have been guilty of this twice now - last Sunday and yesterday. These dramas are worth checking out, imho.

ブラック プレジデント / Black President

"Black" in this context is a connotation used in industry/businesses that drives the workers to the bone for the sake of the company's profit. I noticed the ads for this drama 6 years ago when riding the Yamanote line in Tokyo just because it starred Kuroki Meisa. Took me that long to check the drama out. The premise of the drama is about Mitamura Yukio (Sawamura Ikki), a president of a fashion company deciding to take a part time course in business management following which he joins the university's student film making club. It's a drama/comedy really but as usual, peppered with topics on workplace issues that are actually commonplace in Japan (eg overworking for one ) which does make it look like each episode has a PSA of sorts, but without it being overtly in your face.



グランメゾン東京 / Grand Maison Tokyo

This is a more recent drama aired originally on TBS in 2019 about Obana Natsuki (Kimura Takuya), a chef who had fallen from grace teaming up to open a restaurant in Tokyo with Hayami Rinko (Suzuki Kyoka), an experienced chef who strives to achieve a Michelin star but lacks confidence. On teaming up, Obana promises her not one, but three stars. As with J-drama/anime/manga, I love how the story contains not only the plot but detailed explanations - in this case recipes, terms used in French cuisine and how a restaurant is evaluated by Michelin inspectors. Enjoyable, especially if you love cooking and eating!

And thanks to this drama, I discovered Tominaga Ai. *sigh*



There is a spin off (GMT: Hirako Shohei no Yureru Omoi) to this drama, but I need to find one with subs!

During my idle time, I discovered a few non-historical Japanese TV series from the 60s to the 70s. Some are great. Some are violent. Some built curiosity.

I've been watching random episodes of this groundbreaking (or politically incorrect in today's standards) detective series entitled Playgirl. Playgirl is a series about five gorgeous women working as private investigators led by a wealthy mystery novelist whom they called "Mama-san." It was produced by Toei (yes, the same animation company) and shown on Monday nights from 1969 to 1974 and was a massive ratings hit despite its campiness. Sadly, half of the original cast is no longer with us.

Disclaimer: There's nudity in this TV series and censors in Japan didn't care about nudity on primetime TV during that time.

Here's the premiere episode aired in April 1969:


BTW, I believe that the producers of Charlie's Angels stole this idea from Toei.

I don't know what people think of NETFLIX and its foray into more films and "TV" of late, but having more Japanese content in it these days is a plus. I guess some of you may have seen The Naked Director / Zenra Kantoku (全裸監督) but this one is worth checking out:



Followers / フォロワーズ basically revolves around people in the media/entertainment industry - both players and artistes in the day of social media we see today. The characters are two separate sets of women, whose lives are entwined in some way but each of them has separate story arcs which makes this a pretty good watch. The cast is varied from the likes of actor/fashion model, Ikeda Elaiza, to established actors like Asano Tadanobu who surprisingly only has a bit part in the story. As this drama is about the entertainment/fashion industry, cameos by known actors/models can be seen eg Sawajiri Erika, Kiko Mizuhara, Anna Tsuchiya, Miyavi - the list goes on!

The images are very colourful and not your typical drab-looking J-drama from the regular TV stations, although I think this is mainly due to the director, Ninagawa Mika, who actually directed Sakuran. If you had seen Sakuran, you'll know what I mean. Anyways, while the storyline ends the way that is somewhat obvious, I still think Followers is worth checking out if you want to see something fresh in J-drama, and if you have Netflix.

As far as I remember, Ninagawa Mika was the SCANDAL's photographer for the TEMPTATION BOX photo book

Meph1766 wrote:As far as I remember, Ninagawa Mika was the SCANDAL's photographer for the TEMPTATION BOX photo book

Interesting! Hence, the colours. Anyway, she is also a photographer.

I just finished two seasons of BG: Personal Bodyguard on Netflix

I started watching Alice in Borderland on Netflix
Just finished the first ep, the story looks promising

I just finished Alice in Borderland, I thought was quite good. Ep 8 was a bit silly, but I do hope they do bring out other season.

I just finished all five seasons of Shinya Shokudo, also known as Midnight Diner on Netflix. A man called Master (Kaoru Kobayashi) is the chef-owner of a small diner on Shinjuku's Golden Street opens from 12-7 to in the morning. He cooks whatever his customer likes as long as he has available ingredients. While his customers tell stories to him.


In the meantime, I enjoy watching season 1 of Kinkyu Torishirabe Shitsu or Emergency Interrogation Room. Yukiko Makabe (Yuki Amami), a former Number 3 Special Investigation Team of the Metropolitan Police Department who got transferred to a special interrogation team after a hostage negotiation went wrong. Along with a team of diversely talented interrogators, she uses her negotiation skills to solve cases.

TOMOmeow wrote:I just finished all five seasons of Shinya Shokudo, also known as Midnight Diner on Netflix. A man called Master (Kaoru Kobayashi) is the chef-owner of a small diner on Shinjuku's Golden Street opens from 12-7 to in the morning. He cooks whatever his customer likes as long as he has available ingredients. While his customers tell stories to him.

Five seasons? I thought there were only two. Dang, have to look at NETFLIX again... would love to watch the other 3 so thanks for the heads up. Somewhat related to Shinya Shokudo, I have tried a couple of recipes from the series courtesy of a website called justonecookbook dot com:

Season 1 - https://www.justonecookbook.com/netflix-midnight-diner-tokyo-stories-season-1-recipes/

Season 2 - https://www.justonecookbook.com/netflix-midnight-diner-tokyo-stories-season-2-recipes/

I've made toshikoshi soba (New Year's soba), kitsune udon and the leftover kare ramen.

kudo_maharizu wrote:Five seasons? I thought there were only two. Dang, have to look at NETFLIX again... would love to watch the other 3 so thanks for the heads up. Somewhat related to Shinya Shokudo, I have tried a couple of recipes from the series courtesy of a website called justonecookbook dot com:

Season 1 - https://www.justonecookbook.com/netflix-midnight-diner-tokyo-stories-season-1-recipes/

Season 2 - https://www.justonecookbook.com/netflix-midnight-diner-tokyo-stories-season-2-recipes/

I've made toshikoshi soba (New Year's soba), kitsune udon and the leftover kare ramen.

Hey buddy, my girlfriend and I will those out! My favorite dishes from the entire series are chicken cheese katsu and bacon tomatoes!

Shinya Shokudo has five seasons in total. Netflix produces seasons 4 and 5 also known as Shinya Shokudo: Tokyo Stories. While the first three originally shown on TV many years ago were uploaded on Netflix early this year.

If you're into rom-com, check out a mini-series called Tokyo Bachelors (Tokyo Dokushin Danshi) on Netflix. Its theme song sung by the lead actor Issey Takahashi happens to be one of the best in recent years.

Watched Tokyo Dragon Chef, it was funny but weird film.

Started watching Promise Cinderella | プロミス・シンデレラ

Dearest on Netflix