What are the boys favourite dramas?

trixi · Post by **trixi** » May 4th, '11, 21:40

My friend and I are currently studying Japanese and since I'm always talking about dramas he would like to try watching some. The thing is, he's really nit-picky.

He doesn't like pretty boy dramas, and no sappy love stories and comedy is well, limited.
And whatever I propose to him, there's always something wrong (the most common answer "If this has a Johnnys boy...."

So I'm gonna turn to all the boys here, what are your favorite dramas? (be whatever genre)

I would really like my friend to start watching dramas and since he's really interested in Japanese and Japanese culture I think dramas can be a nice and entertaining in between studying hours ^^

Thank you so much for your help on this selfish request

Sajen16 · Post by **Sajen16** » May 4th, '11, 22:03

I'm not sure I'll be of much help since I like a lot of the things you ruled out but I'll try

Aoi Tori - is a must sort of a love story sort of not but it's really beautiful and wonderfully acted

Atami no Sousakan - kind of a weird detective story

Hero - it has Kimura Takuya in it but it's not really a love story

A Million Stars Falling From the Sky- same as Hero

Watashitachi no Kyokasho - a thought provoking wonderfully acted, directed, written, produced, scored, and for the most part translated drama

Gonzo ~ Densetsu no Keiji - I loved it great detective story

Code Blue and Code Blue 2 - while not technically the best medical drama it is my favorite

that's all I can think of at the moment

Strife91 · Post by **Strife91** » May 4th, '11, 22:07

Hmmmmm.

My boss my hero
The man who can't get married
Byakuyakou

miyabara · Post by **miyabara** » May 4th, '11, 22:08

My sugestions are:

**99 Nen no Ai - Japanese Americans (SMAP's Kusanagui Tsuyoshi),
Mother,
Gaikoukan ~Kuroda Koisaku,
Guilty ~ Akuma to Keiyaku Shita Onna,
BOSS,
JIN,
Joker Yurusarezaru Sousakan,
**Mr. Brain (SMAP's Kimura Takuya),
Shinzanmono,
Toubosha,
Unfair

** He can give a try, it's a good dorama

XrayZ · Post by **XrayZ** » May 4th, '11, 22:44

There are some fun action-based shows out there, if he's into "typical macho" stuff... me, I like a bit of romance and comedy too, but I totally love a show with some martial arts...

HOLYLAND (ishigaki is a johnny's but he was in Azumi so that's not so bad!)

QUARTET (also featuring a pretty boy, but it stars Fukuda Saki!)

MAJISUKA GAKUEN (there's hardly any males at all in this show, with it being an AKB48 showcase, so its nothing but fighting and cute gals!)

SP / Security Police (a great show, albeit starring a TOKIO member!)

Apart from that I agree with a lot of what people have already said! And I can think of a few other shows but they'd be classed more as tokusatsu (which most people look down on... damn snobs!) or jidai-geki (no use for language-learning, I suppose....).

But damn, is it me or do almost all Japanese shows feature [pretty boys? Pretty girls too, but still, mucho ikemen...

SuiginChou · Post by **SuiginChou** » May 4th, '11, 23:04

My favorite comedy so far has been Papa to Musume no Nanokakan. The supporting character acting may not always be the strongest, but the star players deliver wonderfully well and it's fun to see Freaky Friday but with a Japanese salaryman father and his too-cool-for-school daughter.

My favorite drama, and one of my favorite programs ever from any country, has been Karei Naru Ichizoku. If he likes a gripping story that bites down and never lets you go until the very end, he should check this one out.

My favorite inspired-by-an-anime-or-manga one would be a toss-up between Hana Yori Dango (which has so many factors you said he hates, but I'm a guy too and I loved this program) and Nodame Cantabile. If he's into anime or manga, you might want to consider sending these his way.

TofuQueen · Post by **TofuQueen** » May 4th, '11, 23:20

If he's interested in Japanese culture, how about Tiger & Dragon, or he might like Ikebukuro West Gate Park.... Both have the same Johnny's "boy" acting the lead, but they're not "pretty boy" roles and unless he knows, he probably won't guess that the lead is a Johnny.

Jikou Keisatsu is another he might like if quirky mystery is his thing.

None of those three have much romance.

vqr_02 · Post by **vqr_02** » May 5th, '11, 01:18

I personally liked:

1. Karei Naru Ichizoku
2. Code Blue 1 and 2
3. CHANGE (A must watch)
4. Shinzanmono
5. JIN
6. Zeni Geba
7. Ryusei no Kizuna
8. ROOKIES
9. Galileo
10. Proposal Daisakusen (Probably one of the best love story out there)
11. Propose Kyodai (Also very very nice)

curlywurly · Post by **curlywurly** » May 5th, '11, 03:20

JIN
Atami no Sousakan
Byakuyako
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
Kekkon Dekinai Otoko

so says my boyfriend.

A short while ago, I made him watch a film, 'Tada, kimi wo aishiteru', he ended up crying, the little girl!

lollercopter · Post by **lollercopter** » May 5th, '11, 13:01

I also recommend Atami no Sousakan, Shinzanmono and Kekkon Dekinai Otoko.

Cat Street is one of my favorite doramas. There are no Johnnies and it's not a love story. I guess because it's by NHK they didn't have to worry about idol casting and mass appeal too much.

Mop Girl is another favorite. Again, no Johnnies or sappy romances. But there is time travel. I think it's also worth watching just for the fourth episode.

If your friend likes scifi, he could try Nanase Futatabi (2008). What distinguishes it from most doramas -- aside from the fact that it's scifi -- is that they put some actual effort into the cinematography and production design and other things that usually get glossed over (then again this is by NHK too). And the music was done by none other than Kenji Kawai.

chesed · Post by **chesed** » May 5th, '11, 13:53

Okay, here's some guy dramas with a little bonus for your guy friend at the end.

JIN - Period drama of sorts... medical mostly with a little sci-fi thrown in. Doctor from the present is thrown into the past and uses his knowledge to look like Jesus.

ROOKIES* - Crazy teacher tries to re-form a baseball team full of students that turned into bullies.

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko - Comedy with Abe Hiroshi. Just subtle, funny ****.

Shiroi Haru - Ex-con tries to straighten his life after jail time. Sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic. Again, Abe Hiroshi.

Tokyo DOGS* - Two cops that don't get along try to bring down a druglord. Very guyish, people shooting **** and whatnot, and best of all co-stars the very cute Yoshitaka Yuriko http://jdorama.com/artiste.2881.htm (she's also in Shiroi Haru, altho in a minor role there).

Iryu 1,2,3 - I haven't seen the 3rd yet, but Iryu is a medical drama about a kickass surgeon that everybody wants to bring down cuz he's too damn good or something. =P Very campy (most of these are), but awesome.

Million Stars Falling from the Sky* - The popular Kimutaku plays a very different role than usual in this drama/mystery. Very dark. Don't want to say anything more other than check it out.

Good Luck!! - Another Kimutaku drama about a pilot earning the respect of another. Some romance on the side, but nothing too bad. Very much a dude show, tho.

Densha Otoko - Okay, your friend will probably cringe since it's incredibly nerdy, cheesy and mushy, but even if he has to watch this alone, and even tho it's incredibly nerdy, Misaki Itou is incredibly cute it in.

Majo Saiban - A mystery revolving around a jury of a particular court case. A lot of people didn't like it, probably because it's fairly predictable. But they're short episodes, and it's entertaining, so for a quick dorama bite, go for this.

* = Dramas that I would recommend most for guys who are new to dramas.

BONUS for guys (and girls who like girls):
(Mature audiences only)

«minah» · Post by **«minah»** » May 6th, '11, 00:33

@chessed

rootabega · Post by **rootabega** » May 6th, '11, 00:44

I thought I'd jump in here because I'm nit-picky and rather "man-like" in my dorama tastes.

The above choices are awesome for the sap-and-corn-haters out there. Lovely to see ANS get so many recs. I would also recommend:

Keizoku and Keizoku2-SPEC (top-drawer sci-fi, dark humour, detective doramas
Hagetaka (superb, engrossing business drama)
Gonzo and Untouchable (detective thrillers with sardonic humour)
And who could forget Trick I, II, and III? (stuffed chock-full of Japanese cultural trivia, jokes and gags (including word plays) and headed up by the greatest "I can't stand you either, really I can't" sleuthing partners in J-dorama history). This series had a spinoff with detective Yabe Kenzo - can't remember the name).
Anything written by Kudo Kankuro is a natural nit-picker and man pleaser.

There are other shows out there. No one need consume cancer-causing levels of saccharine in order to experience the joy of J-dorama.

rootabega · Post by **rootabega** » May 6th, '11, 00:53

sorry, dbl post

JiveTalkinRobot · Post by **JiveTalkinRobot** » May 6th, '11, 00:58

Easy -

Great Teacher Onizuka
My Boss My Hero
Proposal Daisakusen

theuncontactable · Post by **theuncontactable** » May 6th, '11, 01:11

Gaikoukan Kuroda Kosaku
Odoru Dai Sousen
Kyoushitsu No Jyo Ou
Young Black Jack

lollercopter · Post by **lollercopter** » May 6th, '11, 09:11

JiveTalkinRobot wrote:Proposal Daisakusen

A sappy love story starring a Johnny... not exactly what the guy is looking for.

ecco27 · Post by **ecco27** » May 6th, '11, 16:25

I'm some of the recs here are pretty funny. Just because a drama doesn't have Johnnys in it doesn't mean it's not an idol/pretty boy drama

rootabega wrote: Anything written by Kudo Kankuro is a natural nit-picker and man pleaser.

I just wanted to say I COMPLETELY agree with this. Well I'm not so sure about Ryusei no Kizuna because I didn't make it past the first episode... but Kudo Kankuro's stuff is the first stuff I'd recommend to guys. I also agree with SP, Atami no Sousakan and Jikou Keisatsu.

hungicp · Post by **hungicp** » May 6th, '11, 18:03

My favorites dramas:

- Osen
- Pride
- Kimi no Te ga Sasayaite Iru
- Mother
- Shiroi Kage
- Shiroi Kyoto
- Karei naru Ichizoku
- Ima ai ni yukimasu (but movie's more than greater)
- Lunch Queen

Kazzymon · Post by **Kazzymon** » May 6th, '11, 18:36

Trick!

nuttybuddy · Post by **nuttybuddy** » May 6th, '11, 19:07

Your roommate has the same problem I did when I was getting started with Japanese years ago, and my roommate watched all the girliest dramas (Hana Yori Dango and other things I was surprised to see recommended in this thread).

TofuQueen wrote:If he's interested in Japanese culture, how about Tiger & Dragon, or he might like Ikebukuro West Gate Park.... Both have the same Johnny's "boy" acting the lead, but they're not "pretty boy" roles and unless he knows, he probably won't guess that the lead is a Johnny.

Jikou Keisatsu is another he might like if quirky mystery is his thing.

None of those three have much romance.

I can confirm Tiger & Dragon is a decent one for guys, I really liked it. More recently the main guy in that was in Unubore Deka, which was alright if you can get over the slapstick.

Jikou Keisatsu wasn't bad either.

Ougon no Buta had a female lead, but she was kinda hot and it didn't get too girly.

Benogoshi no Kuzu was a really good lawyer-comedy/drama, but it might be hard to come by these days.

33pun Tantei was super slapstick, but I actually really enjoyed it.

And for regular Japanese TV, Sekai no Hate made Itte-Q is surprisingly easy to get into for a variety show.

Endexus · Post by **Endexus** » May 6th, '11, 19:38

Maou
My Boss My Hero
JIN

also if i can suggest a japanese movie, i'd say Crows zero, i loved it because it had awesome fights etc and i suggested it to one of my male friends that has never watched anime,jdrama and has zero interest in japan's culture and he loved it.

trixi · Post by **trixi** » May 6th, '11, 22:57

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I'm in the middle of deciding which one I'm gonna let him watch but please keep the suggestions coming. I really appriciate all of your help!

I asked him a little what kind of Western movies he liked and American Beauty, Vanilla Sky and Clockwork Orange were some of his favourites.
And also, he did like ROOKIES and Ryuusei no Kizuna and the movie Seaside Hotel so I think you guys are on the right track with your suggestions.

Thanks again!

bugs_3v · Post by **bugs_3v** » May 7th, '11, 15:40

miyabara wrote:My sugestions are:

**99 Nen no Ai - Japanese Americans (SMAP's Kusanagui Tsuyoshi),
Mother,
Gaikoukan ~Kuroda Koisaku,
Guilty ~ Akuma to Keiyaku Shita Onna,
BOSS,
JIN,
Joker Yurusarezaru Sousakan,
**Mr. Brain (SMAP's Kimura Takuya),
Shinzanmono,
Toubosha,
Unfair

** He can give a try, it's a good dorama

i also recommend this titles..any detective series is fun to watch for boys like me....also any series of yamapi like proposal daisakusen.......

ailuros · Post by **ailuros** » May 8th, '11, 05:59

Of all the drama I watch, only these three that he like.

Nodame cantabile
Jin
SPEC

rejakes · Post by **rejakes** » May 8th, '11, 13:22

Favorites-
Gaikoukan ~Kuroda Koisaku
Nodame Cantabile (the music is just awesome)
Galileo
Boss
Unfair
Hakken no Hinkaku
Shinzanmono
Koto Sensei no Shinryojou
1 liter of Tears
Perfect Report

Guilty Pleasures-
Reinoryokusha Odagiri Kyoko no Uso
Hotaru no Hikari season 1
Karei naru Spy
Deka Wanko

antspace · Post by **antspace** » May 8th, '11, 18:15

Tiger and dragon! Atami no sousakan!

Maybe a Taiga would do the trick? There is a batch available for Atsu hime in 720p.
Mmmm... Atsu hime is great

Fishface · Post by **Fishface** » May 9th, '11, 02:23

I'm a guy learning Japanese as well and here are the ones I liked. I also don't like overly sappy/pretty boy dramas so theoretically we should like the same things.

Liar Game
My Boss My Hero (gets a bit sappy near the end but by then you don't really care anymore haha)
Kekkon Dekinai Otoko
JIN
Odoru Daisousasen

GaussAlgorithmus · Post by **GaussAlgorithmus** » May 10th, '11, 22:07

GTO Nothing to say about this. It was my "gateway drug" years ago and it is still my favourite drama. It has cliffhangers, it is funny, the acting is a bit cheesy but enjoyable, the theme song kicks ass, the character Onizuka is just hillarious and so well played.
GTO is probably the only drama, which I could recommend to nearly everyone while still beeing able to sleep. I think most people do like it.

Atami no Sousakan: It's different, slow, different, strange and...different. But I really love it.

Jin: Nice story set in an historical setting. I liked it.

It's hard to make suggestions to people who just say "no Johnnys" "no romance" "not so much comedy". I've started so many j-dramas which I never suspected to be good...and then loved them. For example "Last Christmas" is still one of my most favourite dramas...but I have to admit, that I quite like "romantic comedys" in general. :p

trixi · Post by **trixi** » May 10th, '11, 22:15

GaussAlgorithmus wrote:GTO Nothing to say about this. It was my "gateway drug" years ago and it is still my favourite drama. It has cliffhangers, it is funny, the acting is a bit cheesy but enjoyable, the theme song kicks ass, the character Onizuka is just hillarious and so well played.
GTO is probably the only drama, which I could recommend to nearly everyone while still beeing able to sleep. I think most people do like it.

Atami no Sousakan: It's different, slow, different, strange and...different. But I really love it.

Jin: Nice story set in an historical setting. I liked it.

It's hard to make suggestions to people who just say "no Johnnys" "no romance" "not so much comedy". I've started so many j-dramas which I never suspected to be good...and then loved them. For example "Last Christmas" is still one of my most favourite dramas...but I have to admit, that I quite like "romantic comedys" in general. :p

Yes, I know what you mean. My friend doesn't know that a lot of Johnny's do have great dramas and are over-all good actors, it's just because I like Arashi he has decided that all Johnny's are products and therefore dramas starring them are un-watchable

Next time I present a drama with a Johnny in it, I'm not gonna tell him xD
For example Kizarasu Cat's Eye have two Johnny's but the drama is funny as hell!

SSpiegel · Post by **SSpiegel** » May 10th, '11, 22:28

I'm not a guy, but as a girl with a boyfriend who's totally not into Asian stuff (except some Korean movies), there are only two dramas I've gotten him to watch: Maou and Ashita no Kita Yoshio.

Maou we spent laughing our asses off, so I wouldn't recommend it, but we both really enjoyed Ashita no Kita Yoshio. The humor is dry-ish, so it might suit male audiences who don't like traditional comedies.

GaussAlgorithmus · Post by **GaussAlgorithmus** » May 11th, '11, 00:22

trixi wrote:Yes, I know what you mean. My friend doesn't know that a lot of Johnny's do have great dramas and are over-all good actors, it's just because I like Arashi he has decided that all Johnny's are products and therefore dramas starring them are un-watchable
Next time I present a drama with a Johnny in it, I'm not gonna tell him xD
For example Kizarasu Cat's Eye have two Johnny's but the drama is funny as hell!

I have to admit, that I actually quite like several of the "Johnny's"-guys, especially Kimura Takuya. I really liked him in "Engine". But again, I'm not a good "guy" example, because I also like Oda Yuji quite a lot ;)

TenguKing · Post by **TenguKing** » May 11th, '11, 01:44

JIN for the win...

99-nen no ai was also good, but I feel somewhat biased in recommending it as a Japanese American myself...

Ultimo · Post by **Ultimo** » May 13th, '11, 16:57

Tell your friend to stop being picky, being picky gets you no where.
Anyway that being said you might want show him some dramas that not only entertain but educate a bit. For example:
JIN
Galileo
Mr. Brain
Trick
Other than that show him Stand Up and My Boss my Hero

howtwosavealif3 · Post by **howtwosavealif3** » May 14th, '11, 00:30

since you're saying you're gonna study japanese with dramas i just wanted to mention korean subs to aid learning when japanese subs are not available (they are definitely more helpful than english subs)

http://choronghi.wordpress.com/2010/11/ ... rean-subs/
I wrote it about it on my blog. best of luck

drama reviews i wrote on my blog:
http://choronghi.wordpress.com/2009/07/ ... ma-review/
I'm not a guy but I like american dramas so I don't compromise with low quality japanese dramas for the most part no matter how popular they are. so maybe they are of some use.

punkakauntan · Post by **punkakauntan** » May 14th, '11, 01:44

Bloody Monday 1 & 2
Ryomaden
Rinjo

almost anything with Abe Hiroshi.

sora_cantabile · Post by **sora_cantabile** » May 14th, '11, 02:04

My male friends like
-Iryu <- Highly recommended!
-Galileo
-Nodame Cantabile <- they said they like drama version the most
-Great Teacher Onizuka
-Densha Otoko
-JIN
-1 litre of tears <-one of them cried a lot because of this,,lol
-Shimokita Glory Days<-I don't like it,,but boys love it
-H2
-Kurosagi
-Bloody Monday

I can't remember what else..but the above list is surely liked by my male friends..^^

momotaro2 · Post by **momotaro2** » May 14th, '11, 02:53

personally i liked:
0. Beach Boys my first encounter with j dorama, ah my high school summer....
1. My Boss My Hero,
2. Mukodono
3. Nodame Cantabile
4. BOSS ( i underestimated this dorama at first-from it poster-,but i've must admitted now, this is one of j dorama i've enjoyed so much)..now downloading it's 2nd season..^^
5.Galileo
6. Trick 1, 2, 3,(just for fun, but there is Japan literature lessons here, so many hard words)
7. Iryu 1, 2, 3
8. Voice
9. Liar Game 1, 2 ...the camera angel is superb (for me), original, what else, just simply awesome (for me) ^^
10. Kurosagi (even though there is so much silly "undercover"

by him,it's too obvious...i liked how this dorama flow)
11. Dragonsakura
12. Hanakimi No Kimitachi E to many strange people

in generally, i liked dorama which could makes me laugh and had a good value heheheh

popoycanton · Post by **popoycanton** » May 14th, '11, 04:56

I like off beat comedy. The ones by kudo kankuro, Miki Satoshi.
Sports theme like H2.
kekon dekina otoko and probably anything with abe hirosi.
detective shows. The ones I especially like are gonzo, bayside shakedown.
cooking theme dramas.
zero to hero types - Okane ga nai!

The most recent that I've watched is slow dance - this is just awesome in terms of skill by the actors and the production team, especially their loooong takes, brilliant.

ariz · Post by **ariz** » May 25th, '11, 09:11

I've watched:

- Akihabara @DEEP (for otakus)
- Buzzer Beat ( this is good in my opinion)
- Bloody Monday Season 1 (this is like the American series 24)
- Kimi wa Petto ( there's something in it that I really like. Maybe because of Koyuki's character.)
- Kurosagi
- Mr. Brain
- Rookies ( I like this because it's about baseball.)
- Saru Lock ( a bit ecchi)
- SP
- Tokyo Dogs
- Yukan Club (watch this if you want a good laugh)

I don't know if other guys watched those I mentioned but I really enjoyed them.

ps790 · Post by **ps790** » May 30th, '11, 21:58

I see people recommending Doramas that I absolutely hate as well as some that are rather good, often with zero explanation as to why they like the listed dramas. Is this useful for anything at all? The orginal poster didn't provide any explanation about what her male friend was interested in, i.e. comedy, sports, action, detective dramas, etc.

In fact, the only information we were provided was that (1) he is male, and (2) he is attending a Japanese language class. From THAT perspective, all I am able to recommend is:

(1) NIhonjin No Shiranai Nihongo: This comedy teaches you Japanese along with little lessons on life as a foreigner in Japan. The Manga version is on Amazon.com.

(2) Nyokei Kazoku: This drama is full of beautiful Keigo. It is like one long lesson in the use of different levels of Keigo, particularly in formal situations. You can buy the DVDs on Amazon.com, and they come with Japanese subtitles, which makes the Keigo much easier to understand. This is exactly the type of Japanese you need to speak if you ever have a Japanese language job interview.

(3) Any good detective drama. If you are studying Japanese with the object of spending any time in Japan, this can be useful. In detective dramas, the detective goes around asking lots of questions, and guess what, that is exactly what foreigners in Japan do! Like "Where is the train station?" or "How do I find the subway from here?" If you watch detective dramas, you will soon learn how to ask almost any question in any situation, although some of the vocabulary is a bit off (i.e. "identity of the corpse", "time of death", "What were you doing at 10 pm?"etc.).

Drain · Post by **Drain** » May 30th, '11, 22:27

My joint favorites:

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko - All round great and funny show, possibly my favorite show in any language.

Great Teacher Onizuka - Onizuka as a character is the embodiment of cool, just plain entertaining to watch.

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