For non-asians How have you gotten yourself into asian drama

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tranman66
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For non-asians How have you gotten yourself into asian drama

Post by tranman66 » May 18th, '06, 01:39

just curious, i find it pretty cool that non-asians are forming community on this site too.

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Post by toyotaku » May 18th, '06, 01:57

By way of a very torturous route...

All my life I've been fascinated by history & Alexander the Great was one of my childhood heroes. Take a large leap here --- I generally disliked anime, but when Reign the Conqueror was released in the US, I had to watch it since it was about Alexander. Another fan of Reign said if I liked the history, I'd love Rurouni Kenshin. They were right. I got hooked on RK and totally absorbed in the history of the period, particularly in Saitou and the Shinsengumi. Of course, then NHK came along with Shinsengumi! in 2004 at about the same time I began discovering other aspects of Japanese popular culture. Between that taiga and latching onto actors I began to watch every chance I got, which led me to even more actors... voila. I'm now a total jdrama fan. ... or maybe that should be "junkie." :-)

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Post by Gir » May 18th, '06, 12:09

Mine wasn't as torturous, well maybe it was in it's own way.

Basically on a whim I took a cheap vacation package to Japan about 8 years ago, and really liked it there, (I've gone back 3 times since and hope to go again this year).

So when I got back I was looking for some DVDs, and I thought "How about a Japanese movie?", but the only thing I could find was the "Ghost in the Shell" movie. So I bought it and that got me started on anime. I bought a few Japanese movies since then, but it seems that most movies that make it over here are either horror or "B" grade ones. I did enjoy the ones that fit my likes but there still wasn't allot to see. Then one day I happened to download an episode of Koi ga shita, and really enjoyed it. I managed to get a few more, then I found bitorrent and D-addicts and thats when things really took off. And now Jdramas are probably my main source of video entertainment.

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Post by kenderkin88 » May 18th, '06, 12:35

I took the Jpop route..

My father lived in Japan for awhile during his military days, so we've always had a lot of photoalbums and souvenir-type stuffage hanging around the house. I've always been fascinated, so one day when my friend was like, 'I just found this awesome music video, and the band's Japanese!' I was curious and decided to take a look. Lo and behold, it was Malice Mizer's Beast of Blood. It was intriguing, although not immediately addictve, so I hunted around for information. After some investigation, I found a picture of Gackt. Now, anyone who knows Gackt knows that he's pretty darn hot [especially when you're 13 and sick of the guys at school], so I avidly hunted for anything I could find of him--which, admittedly, wasn't much at the time. [It was the before mp3 rotations became insanely popular.] So for a long time my collection consisted of an album and some random Malice Mizer stuff. I managed to hook a few people before that stage died out.. When you're 13 or 14, you tend to follow the crowd, and the crowd didn't understand Japanese.

Then last year, randomly, I was going through the files on one of my old computers ad came across my Gackt folder. I remember looking at it fondly and wondering if I could recall any of the words. Vanilla, of course, was ingrained in my brain due to that rather scarring live where Gackt humps his band members onstage [::ish teh blind:: x.x]. I started to like it again, so I went back to those old friends who I'd previously hooked. They gave me some new music, and then I discovered mp3 rotations. Through those, I discovered LiveJournal, and through that, Jrock communities. I've met some of my best friends through there.. One of them saw a picture of Matsumoto Jun, went :wub: , and immediately went on a hunt to download anything with him in it. So she found Gokusen and sent it to me via mail [because I had dial-up for a long time]. I've been hooked since then, but it wasn't until I got DSL that my addiction really took off.

..and now I want to learn Japanese AND Korean. Darn you, dramas! You make my life difficult. :wub:


::breathes:: ..that was long. :lol

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Post by Rakkie » May 18th, '06, 13:23

I think I answered this on another thread, but I downloaded "Full House" for my
sister thinking it was that bad 80s sitcom from America (she was into the olsen twins).

I'd never watched a tv show with subtitles before that point.
Little did i know what i was in store for...

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Post by kenderkin88 » May 18th, '06, 13:48

:lol I almost didn't download Full House because I thought it was a Korean version of the American show. o.O;; Now it's my favourite drama, of course. :wub:

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Post by Mythrel » May 18th, '06, 16:42

I am not sure actually LOL. I think it was I was downloading some full series of animes and I got GTO thinking it was the anime but I was delightfully suprised by the live action and how well it was put together. I watched the series in like 2 days and I was sold on the idea. I never did download the anime version of it, the jorama was perfect to me. I didn't really get into it untill last summer when I found this site somehow (I'll blame fate) and I have been a D-addict since :lol.

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Post by senpuuken » May 18th, '06, 17:26

i guess it was a transition from being curious of power rangers original footage and where it came from. than began watching sentai and than kamen rider among several other tokusatsu shows. after a major breakup and heartache, a friend of mine turned me onto densha otoko for some hope and i have been stuck ever since. i really reccomend shibuya 15 to all viewers among kiken na aneki. really great shows!

:alcoholic:

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Post by pokute » May 18th, '06, 17:43

Well, I hadn't watched TV for about 20 years. Every time I saw TV at somebody else's house, it looked like trash... And the more popular the show seemed to be, the WORSE it turned out to be when I finally saw it. Then I downloaded the first episode of GTO on a whim... Totally hooked. U.S. TV lost interest in the humanity of the individual years ago, but in Japan it's still a viable issue and one of the most common themes in Japanese literature since WWII.

I am not ignoring Korean and Chinese dorama for any reason, I simply have not seen enough of them to comment. I've also seen some fun Thai dorama.
Last edited by pokute on May 18th, '06, 20:43, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Tao Libra » May 18th, '06, 20:19

Long story…

My father was in the U.S. Air Force when I was a kid, and I got to live in Taiwan for a year — and in case any of you are thinking, "Hey, the U.S. doesn't have any bases in Taiwan anymore," it was a looooong time ago, and we did still have bases there at the time. While there, I watched Taiwanese TV shows without understanding a word (there were no subtitles), and I loved 'em anyway. Then we moved to Hawaii for a year, where I watched Japanese shows (stuff like Kikaida and Kamen Rider V3) on KIKU-TV — thus acquiring the ability to read subtitles at an early age, which would come in handy later in life.

:lol

Skip forward many years, toss in the usual acquaintance with Kung Fu movies and Anime, add in a wasted foray as a Philosophy major that gave me a thorough look at (and respect for) Asian religions (hence, "Tao")… and then one year (2001, to be specific) I finally got sick of listening to American pop music. I had an argument with a co-worker who seemed to think that music is automatically good if it's on the Top 40; so I decided, "Okay, if all that matters is that it's 'Top 40,' then why not listen to the Top 40 from some other country? Like, say… the Japanese Top 40. Do they have a Top 40 in Japan?"

One Google search later, I was looking at the Japanese Top 40. (Utada Hikaru's "Traveling" was #1, incidentally.) A few trips to eBay after that — and some shipping time — and I was permanently addicted to J-Pop.

Skip forward a bit more, a marvelous thing called the "TORRENT" was invented, and I discovered the JPopSuki site… and one day, as I was scrolling down to their PV section, I happened to notice all the episodes of "Hero" listed under TV-Drama. Plenty of seeders, too. And I figured, "What the hell?" Click.

:blink

Eleven episodes later, suddenly I was addicted to J-Drama too… so here I am.

:D

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Post by martina_SMO » May 18th, '06, 20:42

My friends started watching Asian dramas because of Mars, since they were fans of the manga version.
Then they started watching other Asian dramas as well, and finally I was drawn in, too :lol I started almost 1 year ago with "Devil Beside You", because I was a long time fan of Akuma de soro. But soon I started wacthing other dramas, not related to comics, and I became a d-addict almost instantly :salut:

I think that dramas adapted from comics are one of the best ways to "convert" non-Asians to Asian dramas, especially now that manga are so popular both in Europe and US!
I run an Italian forum about manga, and thanks to dramas like Mars, Devil Beside You and Handan we have lots of Asian dramas converts 8)
Last edited by martina_SMO on May 19th, '06, 00:41, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by meiohsetsuna » May 18th, '06, 21:06

Being born and raised in Hawaii meant I always could find resources to Asian cultures. So even though I'm not Asian, I was surrounded by Asia. I'd watched stuff like Speed Racer when I was younger, so I knew how to recognize a Japanese cartoon. So I was so-so about anime in my life. I blame Sailor Moon - the first time it came out (wow that was over 10yrs ago...o.O). That kickstarted my fullblown otaku-ness. I stopped watching American TV and devoted my life to anime. After many years of Mooniedom, it was impossible not to have heard Jpop. Animes made that shift from their own theme songs to choosing pop songs - so unless you were stuck in anime classic land, there's no way you could escape the Jpop rush.

So what was my first drama? It was a live action really.. :mrgreen: None other than my trusty SailorMoon! :alcoholic: *MOONIES4EVA* Ok so then I tried another live action.. GTO... (mind you I idled the animesuki torrent site on a daily basis) Then I saw Kimi wa Petto cuz a friend supplied me with a few eps. Then I went searching to get the last two. So from there I found JTV. I downloaded all their completed stuff to watch over the summer (I loved their classic work). I still wasn't a drama freak yet. Via a friend's myspace I saw clips of Stairway to Heaven, and off I went to go find it. A summer of searching for the entire series brought me to D-addicts. I didn't even know this site had existed!!! Since I'm learning the Japanese language, the Japanese shows appeal more to me. After my discovery of D-A, I became a 'dramie'.... haha bad joke... And now on top of that I'm also a JE freak.. I'm so susceptible to obsessions.. I'm also a subbing freak now too... :whistling: Ok I'm an overall freak!

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Post by Aprisea » May 18th, '06, 21:08

I began to read manga about 8 years ago, six years ago I discovered j-pop and later korean and chinese music. And one day I was bored and I downloaded "You're Under Arrest" drama and I really like it ^_^ And now I'm learning Korean! I'm addicted to Korean dramas and music ^^

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Post by x_XJules » May 18th, '06, 21:30

LoL... i don't know how this happened seriously..

it all started as a joke. one day i was like.. i wonder what real asian pop sounds like. so i just typed in asian pop and the tw-band F4 popped up. i showed it to my friend who was really into anime.. and i just kept downloading all this f4 music, but of course.. it was all just a joke.. as i learned more about them i found out that the four hotties were all in a series together... meteor garden. i bought it without downloading.. and surprisingly i got HOOKED.

while searching the net on more information about these shows i came upon d-addicts.. and then i went from tw-dramas.. to k-dramas.. and to jdoramas. LoL, my name is Julie and I have been a drama addict for a year.

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Post by koreanLover » May 18th, '06, 21:31

For me the answer is easy,mE i am french and my girl friend is korean,so naturally i was interested in her country and culture,and i think that watching their dramas is a good way to know more about it^^

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Post by ZenMystic » May 18th, '06, 21:49

For me, it all began with Bruce Lee movies, many many moons ago. When I first got an internet connection I used things like Kazaa for a year or two, then I joined some asian oriented DC hubs, like A&AM, mainly for Jet Li and other martial arts movies. This led me on to episodes of Tian Long Ba Bu, Condor Heroes, and such like. I can't remember exactly how I found myself here, but it took me about a year to register. I don't think I liked it here much at first, I could never find any movies, lol.

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Post by chitato_80 » May 18th, '06, 22:10

interesting stories.. ... i'm asian and surrounded by asian friends who don't understand my fascinations w/ asian dramas.. they're more into american tv ! -_-

so just out of curiousity... what does the people around you (in real life, not online friends hehe) think about your addiction to asian dramas ? :)

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Post by toyotaku » May 18th, '06, 22:27

chitato_80 wrote:so just out of curiousity... what does the people around you (in real life, not online friends hehe) think about your addiction to asian dramas ? :)
With the exception of my daughter (who I gave her own copy of Densha otoko as a moving out/wedding gift and is now venturing into d/l-ing dramas for herself), everyone else is totally clueless as to why I'm so hooked, especially since I watch them usually without subtitles and I don't understand Japanese. My parents just smile and say, "That's nice, dear" then I'm sure turn their heads to roll their eyes. I can get the husband to watch an occasional Japanese or Chinese film, but attempts thusfar to get him into a drama have been fruitless. I'm going to keep trying, though. No matter what anyone thinks of it, I'm going to try showing him Engine. Both of us are longtime open-wheel racing fanatics and I think I can lure him in with that as part of the story. I know the human stories (and the comedy) in jdrama will hook him once he sees one, but getting him there... :P
Last edited by toyotaku on May 18th, '06, 22:29, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by pockiiee » May 18th, '06, 22:29

For me,the journey began at sailor moon, I had a group of friends in the 9th grade who were really addicted to it, and after the series ended in Canada I looked up resources on the internet and got someone to copy VHS fansub tapes for me. After that, I was really into anime for awhile, but lost interest, It got me interested in manga and all things from Japan. I think the first drama I downloaded was long vacation - and that series really got me, I've been an addict ever since but I take my addiction in doses, really into it for awhile, then drop out for a year, then get intersted again when I have some free time.

chitato_80 wrote: so just out of curiousity... what does the people around you (in real life, not online friends hehe) think about your addiction to asian dramas ? :)
My husband HATES Korean dramas with a passion - and he doesn't quite get why I like them. He's Dutch so many of the popular programmes here are subtitled and he has no problem with that as long as the story is good.

He will watch Japanese dramas with me, though, if the plot is interesting to him - right now we're watching Kurosagi - and he's really keen on IWGP that SARS is releasing.

Most people I mention it to are really surprised and think I have an interesting hobby. But I also really like some American TV shows, British TV - things like Lost, Veronica Mars can be really clever, some BBC sketch comedy programmes like Little Britian and also some Dutch TV so maybe I'm just a TV addict in general.
Last edited by pockiiee on May 18th, '06, 22:33, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by OvertheRainbow » May 18th, '06, 22:31

I'm asian too, so I won't say how I got into asian dramas :P but I do know how it feels when people don't understand. A lot of my white friends are just like clueless on it and they refuse to actually even try it. Even one of my asian friend thinks I'm weird but she's been americanized since she's half half.

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Post by Allure » May 18th, '06, 22:51

I have to give thanks to Youtube.
I was searching for some video -honestly don´t remeber which one- when, suddenly, found a MV of Full House. All I could think at that moment was What´s this and who´s that guy :wub: !!!!!???? (obviously in spanish :P...Qué es esto y quién es ese tio???!!!!! )
I didn´t know anything about asian dramas, nothing at all, but I felt in love with Bi (I didn´t even know his name), so I looked for Full House and I found that it had been subbed to spanish -to me, fansubbers are like Gods :notworthy: -. I watched it and after that, must have seen about 30 series, the most of them kdramas.
All I can say is THANKS YOUTUBE!!!!![/i

My firends...they think i´m weird, but they have allways think that... :mrgreen:

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Post by tringo » May 18th, '06, 23:35

Well the laws recently got harder about filesharing over the net and I actually got a warning for sharing an american movie. At the same time my TV broke down and I really needed something to watch to "rest my brain" in the evening. So I started to search for for stuff to download that was non-American and non - European and stumbled upon Meteor Garden on a larger torrentsite. Downloaded some episodes and was fashinated that there actually was a story that moved forward - and not like these endless american dramas that I cant stand to watch...like Sunset Beach.

Well people around me, really don't care. But I just introduced my brother to Full house, and he is addicted.
:whistling:

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Post by kenderkin88 » May 19th, '06, 13:34

People around me have varying reactions.. My best friend in the world is the one who got me hooked [yes, she started as an internet friend, but we have since met and become real-life friends], so she understands. :wub: She's more into the C/Twdramas than the Kdramas, though, so we're starting to branch apart in cultural tastes. >.< Ah well. She's still my best bud, and the one I chatter to the most.

My OTHER best friend finds it amusing and just takes it as one of the many things that make me who I am. I think that if I ever forced her to watch one, especially if it had a fantastic OST, she'd learn to appreciate dramas, too.. But I'm too lazy to try it. :P

My parents don't really understand, but my mother has conceded that some of them are really good. [She liked Kimi wa Petto and Hana Yori Dango.] She tolerates my fangirling and obsessive watching because she knows I'm going to move over there after university.. I guess she figures it'll tone down a bit once I'm fully immersed in an Asian culture. My father, on the other hand, doesn't understand at all. Even though he's the one who lived in Japan for years and should better understand my love of Asian cultures, he constantly berates me for watching shows and listening to music that I can't understand. I still don't understand his reasoning, but I avoid mentioning my drama addiction when I'm near him.

Most of my other real-life friends don't understand at all. I'm actually starting to lose touch with most of them now, because we've lost all things to talk about--I don't watch American TV nor listen to American music, and they refuse to try anything they don't understand. They're very close-minded.. Most of them are rather unimaginative and unambitious, too, so I'm not terribly surprised.

I have a couple of real-life friends who are starting to get into Asian dramas, though.. One of them I'm pretty sure is friends with me only because I provide her with them [we've lost a bit of contact now that she has her own DSL]. The other one is just starting, with MARS. I'm not sure yet whether she'll be an addict.. I don't think she has the personality for it. ^.^;;

So..yeah. Lots of varied reactions. ^.^

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Post by Skykim » May 19th, '06, 15:51

I've always loved asian movies, ever since I saw Yojimbo as a kid. In the late eighties I saw A Chinese Ghost Story and started hunting for all the HK New Wave movies I could get my hands on. In the early nineties i collected all the Viz mangas (and Dark Horse's Outlanders - god I loved this one) and tried to get some animes and movies, but that wasn't too easy back then, let me tell you. I still have my old VHS imports of Grey: Digital Target and Dirty Pair - The Movie displayed on a shelf to remind me of a time when there was no internet and the Japanese market was basically closed to foreigners (except for Akira Kurosawa and maybe Empire of the Senses). The equivalent of fansubbing back then was called Video Search of Miami, and even if the quality of the tapes was lacking, some of my dreams came true. Anyway, with Otomo's Akira the market slowly opened up, and people like Takeshi Kitano started being known around the festival circuits. Finally, Japanese movies were beginning to be available (and affordable) with subs and in good quality. Fast forward a few years, more Japanese movies, Ringu, Korean Movies, more Japanese Movies blah blah blah and then a couple of years ago, a friend of mine said he wanted to show me & my (then) girlfriend this amazing Japanese TV-show that just blew him away. "It's called GTO", he said. "Ah, the anime" I answered. "No", he smiled, "live action".

Oh boy.

But even though i felt like I had just witnessed something very special and was craving for more, I didn't look for it until last year, after I bought a new PC (my previous one dated from 1999, yuck) and finally had the technology to deal with larger amounts of data. That's when I thought that I would really love to watch GTO again. So it really started on the Japan-TV page, and there was a link to D-Addicts and another one to TV-Nihon and it was just a big chain reaction from there.

Now for the people around me. My best friend, who I mentioned above, obviously loves jdramas since he introduced me to them. My (now) ex-girlfriend was present during the fateful GTO-incident and loves jdramas as well. Even though we're separated, we're still friends and meet regularly to watch some dramas together. As for my other friends, most of them are into Japanese movies and/or animes anyway, so it's not like they think I'm crazy or something, but they don't really get it either - they get Tokusatsu - but to them, dramas walk in mysterious ways... I guess ultimately they're a bit scared of the emotional reaction. Because real men don't cry, you know? Or rather, boys who would really like to be men one day don't cry... I still got hope for one or two of them though.

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Post by ksaz » May 19th, '06, 16:50

I can tell that before i watch asian dramas, I always say that dramas were for stupid people. When I was little I watch a couple of american and spanish dramas but non of them really catch my attencion like these asian dramas.

One of my bestfriends is asian and of course is addicted to them and she always wanted me to watch them but "I always make excuses such as " I don't understand anything in clubbox", "I have some much to do" "I prefer reading" bla bla bla but one day i was really bored and she keep laughting in front of her pc right next to me.... so I try wacthing with her "It Started with a Kiss" but to be honest it was just OK, but them she introduce me to Goong and I just love it,,, since Goong i have watched a buch of them already.

now my bestfriend just make fun of me because i always said that i would never watch dramas, but the thing was that i never try asian dramas :wub: .

(can't wait for the subs of Spring Waltz to come out!!!!!!!! but while waiting for them I'm watching 4 old dramas:whistling: remember i have to repair the waisted time. :thumleft:

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Post by classic » May 19th, '06, 22:13

It's got to be Sailor Moon for me, I was one of those obsessed kids back in the day and after seeing Sailor Moon I hunted for everything like it and then I started paying attention to the music, mind you I didn't understand it and I still don't but then from the music came the artist searches and then I found Gackt and more obsession came on.

From there came the Johnny's and with the Johnny's comes Matsumoto which comes Gokusen and then I found G.T.O and I got hooked on the dramas and my K-drama phase kicked in when I saw a pic of Se7en. I got into his music and then I read about the supposed rivalry between him and Rain and that's when I found Full House .

TWdrama came next because I was curious about what their drama's were like compared to the other drama's that I had seen. DBY, ISWAK, and the Rose. Those drama's got me hooked. I can't wait to see more dramas and learn more about the world around me.

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Post by lirarn » May 19th, '06, 22:25

I think I've always liked martial arts movies, though when I think about it, I really hadn't seen that many before these past years. When I was younger I just loved Kung Fu (the series) though, watched it all the time.

The connection to asian series started a year or two ago, when I started practicing Wu Shu, which got me more interested in the chinese language/culture. Then about half a year ago I saw an add at my university from a chinese girl offering to teach people chinese, just for fun, so I replied to the add, and we've been studying language together since then (I'm teaching her swedish, and she teaches me chinese in return).

Well, back to the series, a few months ago, she recommended that I watch some chinese series, because other friends of hers that had learned chinese had said that that was one of the best ways of learning the language, so I started searching the web for some chinese series, and then I found this place and... Well, you get the picture.

About what other people think: They don't seem to understand at all. My family says that asian languages all sound really wierd, and that they'd probably get a headache from watching an entire asian movie. :I

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Post by deathviasatellite » May 19th, '06, 22:59

my story is not exciting at all:
i came to discover asian dramas when my masanobu ando obsession was at its peak (ha) and i wanted to find loads of stuff with him in. someone mentioned on a message board somewhere that you could download seija no koushin from here so i did (though only to about episode 7), while i enjoyed the what episodes i saw (ok mostly because of masanobu ando i admit it) i found its quite hard to watch so stopped downloading, though i really liked the concept of being able to watch asian tv and liked how different/controversial the story of seija no koushin was (i really doubt they'd ever show anything like that on bbc1 or whatever), so i started watching some others (gokusen, taiyou no kisetsu etc) and gradually i became obsessed (i dont really watch british/american tv much anymore, except when something like south park's on) and began talking about them to my friends all the time haha, none of them have seen any dramas yet but i'm going to make it my mission to get them to sit down and watch some cos i know that if they did they'd be JUST as obsessed as i am

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Post by londonsoul » May 19th, '06, 23:25

I LOVE :wub: :wub: TAKESHI KANESHIRO
Can I say that again :D :D ok
After watching "Chungking Express" I started to surf the net for all his movies. ( I have all but two)
D-addicts popped up.
END of story

JenBell
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Post by JenBell » May 19th, '06, 23:31

I started with Japanese films, then started watching Chinese before moving to to Korean films. Eventually, I was given GTO live action by a friend...after watching that I watched some other JDs before finally watching full house...been hooked since. I have been an addict for over a year...at the beginning it was a part time thing...now its like totally full blown

Prowler_88
Posts: 13
Joined: May 5th, '06, 22:16
Location: England

Post by Prowler_88 » May 20th, '06, 17:33

My partner.

When we met she was studying Japanese and watched animes. Her sister recommend that we watch Orange Days. Since then we've started to watch Jdramas together. Hardly a torturous route, and Jdramas are so much better than most series we get in the UK!

Schala
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Post by Schala » May 21st, '06, 17:46

Well I used to be really into anime. I loved the GTO anime (still do), and my friend told me about a live action version. So I downloaded it and LOVED it (still do). From there, I decided to try more Jdrama shows. And my love for them just developed from there. :wub:

pinkuonigiri
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Post by pinkuonigiri » May 22nd, '06, 02:14

I wish I had a more interesting and eloquent way of saying how I got into dramas like “though all those years I spent in japan while I was inthe peace core” but alas it was one of it's actually a more common variety excuse…anime..

While I used to think anime was really odd I actually got in when the pokemon craze first started back in the late 90’s and really started to get in it when I saw ranma ½

I had actually been a anime fan for about 5 years when I decided to broaden my horizons and watch a j-drama. My boyfriend who’s also a anime fan saw some dramas and told me about some of the ones he's seen ( he’s a big gto fan so he had to see the drama and he also saw summer snow) and I always thought it sounded so.. sophisticated…O_o to be into dramas compared to anime.. so when I saw that mognet had decided to fansub a j-drama(yamato nadeshiko) I thought it check the first ep out. Now here's the part of the story where I’m supposed to say I fell instantly in love with that drama right..?..but I actually thought it was kinda boring and generic <<;; (sorry to any one who likes it) I didn’t actually start to get into them until I saw densha otoko a little time later. A good drama for any anime fan to start off in, it made me see not all dramas are super serious tragic mushy romances and that’s what got the ball rolling.

caffienejunkie
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Post by caffienejunkie » May 22nd, '06, 02:49

One of my friends was very into Gackt's music, and would always burn me cds of his stuff (and other asian singers) for various holidays. In the beginning, I thought it was weird, but I eventually came to accept it and manga and anime as well. Then I fell in love when I heard Gackt's "Last Song". I surfed the internet, trying to find somewhere where I could watch the pv, and came across youtube. I became a frequent visitor of the website and one day an mv of "Full House" came up under "newest releases." I had no idea what it was, but I thought it looked adorable after I watched the mv. Later, at school, I told a friend, who happens to be Vietnamese, that I had nothing to watch and was terribly bored. She recommended that I go to an asian forum and download "Full House." Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was the same series that I had seen clips of in that mv from before. Needless to say, I became hooked and have since branched out into Japanese and Taiwanese doramas.

About a month ago, I got one of my caucasion friends hooked after showing her "My Girl." It took a long time to get her comfortable enough to be willing to watch it, but since then she has become an asian dorama addict like me. Now I finally have someone to share this obsession with... though my brothers still give me hell . :glare:
Last edited by caffienejunkie on Jun 2nd, '06, 19:15, edited 1 time in total.

alcozar
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Post by alcozar » May 29th, '06, 10:16

For me, i used to read a lot of manga (and some rm anime files ) via dial-up internet, while using mirc stumbled across first 4 MVP Valentine episodes and some GTO and was instantly hooked.

From then on, upgraded to broadband (wish i'd done it much sooner) and discovered how much jdrama, e.t.c was available, long may it continue.......

satu
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Location: Canada

Post by satu » Jun 2nd, '06, 05:54

Hyun Bin :wub: And my best friend who is vietnamese, told me to watch korean movies.. so I did.

Kayiaxo
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Joined: Jun 1st, '06, 02:06

Post by Kayiaxo » Jun 2nd, '06, 20:29

I used to watch Japanese anime on TV here, we had a channel that did 24/24 anime only.
They were old although (Dirty Pair, DBZ, Evangelion, etc etc)
Then our cable provider changed the programs and that channel wasn't there anymore, so I started years ago downloading through kazaa (hentai mostly at first :X).
After I got bored of hentai I jumped to anime at around the age of 15, when I got bored of anime (only recently) I started watching live actions and got hooked to J-dramas.
Well now i watch all asian dramas (currently catching up so I'm busy with the most popular ones first).

lila_ai
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Post by lila_ai » Jun 9th, '06, 04:11

To cut a long story short:

Sailormoon => Fanfics => Japanese culure exposure => Anime => Manga => Japanese dramas => felt like trying something new => Korean Dramas => Chinese (Taiwanese) Dramas

:)

Roudy
Posts: 58
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Post by Roudy » Jun 9th, '06, 05:26

my sis got introduced to anime in the university.. i was still in high school.. she tried to pull me with her . u wouldn't belive that i statred to watch anime in my last year in college.. prior to 2 yrs she was introduced to Tiawanese dramas .. I wasn't hooked copletly with that 2, but I fell 4 korean dramas after watching full house......

Karo
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Post by Karo » Jun 9th, '06, 17:31

Well... I was just curious. There was a raw version of Pride on someone's tracker... O.o I can't remember who uploaded them...
I just wanted to know what an asian series looks like... Cause I was sick of the western ones... ^^v
I watched 3 Episodes... I didn't understand a lot but I loved it!!! ^^ Hehehehe... so half a year alter I found the old CDs I burned them on... and tried to find a place where I can get the rest of the drama.... and found d-addicts... and found lots of othe great drama... yay!!! ^^

At first I didn't watch so many... but after some time I got addicted... hehehehe... ^^

NorikoChijinu
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Post by NorikoChijinu » Jun 9th, '06, 18:01

Friend of mine commented on a really funny drama to me and told me to watch it. I did. I fell in love with it. Nobuta was what got me not only into dramas but also YamaPi. It was too addicting to stop. @w@;;;

newersumm
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Location: Midgar

Post by newersumm » Jun 9th, '06, 18:15

how i found out? hmmm

I was interested in japanese Tv (like webcam or something liek that) so i typed "japan tv" in google and J-tv popped out. I clicked it, saw Long Vacation, watched it and got addicted :-)

Isamu
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Post by Isamu » Jun 10th, '06, 04:33

-> german tv showing anime first time years ago (pokemon, dragonball,one piece, ranma aso.)

-> tried to download other things after collecting some videos of several anime series (expensive over here and german translation or subs really disappointed me, ended with watching japanese version with english sub and i still think they are the best to carry over the moods, second comes english translations)

-> after watching so many anime series that i cannot count them anymore i really started to like some of the drama ones like full moon or beautiful days.

-> found a sailor moon live action and told a friend of mine that something like that exists. she is a really sailor otaku^^ since then she hadnt this information. i watched the first episodes and found it funny but not really my taste at all.

i thought maybe there are more....
at that time i just finished the H2 anime version and saw a download link for live action version. tried it out and after that day i downloaded all of the series.

-> lost a bit contact because the site wasnt showing anymore live action animes and then found return of the condor heroes. my first thought it is some weird superhero mecha anime series. never was wrong more lol

-> today...finished 17th episode of ROTCH and since i liked GTO as anime i want to see GTO live action. but i cannot speak french nor read it besides a few words and cant find any download for it with english subs or audio. so i decided to sign up here and ask around^^

oldboy90
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Joined: Dec 4th, '05, 00:46

Post by oldboy90 » Jun 10th, '06, 04:55

First I watched the GTO anime. Then I came across GTO live action so I downloaded.

It changed my life

been addicted for year

newersumm
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Post by newersumm » Jun 10th, '06, 08:46

btw what is this GTO "LIVE ACTION" :blink

MEME(-_-)
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Post by MEME(-_-) » Jun 10th, '06, 10:04

For me, it started by downloading "Hana Yori Dango" by one of the students . From watching this series I got addicted to Asian series and movies. :thumleft:

PJB
Posts: 184
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Location: Seoul

Post by PJB » Jun 10th, '06, 21:24

Started with movies really, then went into the dramas around 2004 period - Only scattered, though! It wasn't until last year that I started collecting them faster than I could watch (and still have many unwatched ones)

jieshi
Posts: 29
Joined: Jun 6th, '06, 09:13

Post by jieshi » Jun 11th, '06, 01:16

I started watching Anime around 2003/ 2004. Through that I saw interesting aspects and decided it was high time I went on exchange for 1 year!! I headed to Japan and while I was there I started watching various dramas that were on the tv and ever since then, I have been hooked on these shows!! I also have always had a love for asian cinema so everything naturally extended from there.

tekistar
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Post by tekistar » Jul 6th, '06, 05:03

Pokemon and Sailor Moon got me hooked on anime in grade six. When I discovered anime could be -gasp- downloaded in grade seven, it all began. My love grew and then in grade nine I discovered J-Drama. And that is my tale. =3 Not very interesting, but hey.

Kakihara
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Post by Kakihara » Jul 6th, '06, 05:34

Azumi! And the desire to see more of Aya Ueto's work. She's pretty versatile. A master swordfighter to a JAL cabin attendant.

cornflake
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Post by cornflake » Jul 6th, '06, 05:43

hehehhee *scratches head* well...i blame it on jackie chan. you say "JACKIE EFFING CHAN! WTF?"but yeah. here's how it went. one day in my buddies gameroom that he used to have, drunken master was playing. i was like, that's effing awesome. so, my interest in jackie led me to an interest in kungfu, which led to an interest in china. and from china we went to japanese pop and movies, then to taiwan. then finally to korea. xD Mars was my first ever drama, and it rocked. xD

california_rebel
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Post by california_rebel » Jul 6th, '06, 06:00

i would say when METEOR GARDEN was first aired in the Philippines, the people got crazy about it. I think it was the first asian drama ever to be aired in the Philippines. Before this drama has been aired, Filipinos usually watched their own dramas and also American and Mexican dramas. They did not tend to like asian dramas. But when Meteor Garden was aired, it strucked the nation. It stole the Filipinos' hearts. Since then, it was an obsession. Filipinos never had this feeling for asian dramas before. Meteor Garden was aired for the second time since a lot of people suggested for it. Because of MG, different kinds of asian dramas have been aired. There was competition between the TV programs. And until now, asian dramas still capture the Filipinos' hearts. I could never forget the time when people were so addicted to MG. You could see F4 everywhere, in your TV, in the radio, your friends' shoes, their folders, their clothes, their trends, their faces.... It was everywhere. It was like a hurricane. I would say it was very memorable.

idiscolikeathug
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Post by idiscolikeathug » Jul 7th, '06, 10:49

started with anime and manga of course^^

FruitChaat
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Post by FruitChaat » Jul 7th, '06, 17:04

for me it was sumtime in 2003, one of my best friends is from taiwan and she got totally obsessed with F4 and meteor garden, so me and my other friend watched it at our house and we got obsessed too.
forward to last year and my friend downloaded meteor garden off clubbox and we both watched it again, then our japanese friend[ who we showed meteor garden to last year] told us tht their was going to be a japanese version-hana yori dango- and my obsession with dramas [t/j/ and k] grew from their =D

User avatar
Erroll
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Post by Erroll » Jul 7th, '06, 17:13

Anime. It's a gateway drug. I leads you over to other addictions.

jpoplover08
Posts: 131
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Location: USA

Post by jpoplover08 » Jul 9th, '06, 17:27

Like many people here my addiction first started with anime. I loved and still love it (although not as much as dramas) I was especially obsessed wtih Hana Yori Dango so while watching the anime i found out about the live action and i just had to watch it. And i loved it! I ADORED MatsuJun so i searched for more dramas with him in it. I stumbled across Kimi Wa Petto and really liked it. Then on the same website i got info on i found Stairway to Heaven. I gave it a try and LOOOVED it. The rest, as they say, is history. :D

Nice_spork
Posts: 3
Joined: Jul 9th, '06, 01:22
Location: Australia

Post by Nice_spork » Jul 12th, '06, 20:46

I started loving anime about 3 years back, then i slowly went got into manga and after reading Hana Yori Dango i heard of a live action version and downloaded it. Now i'm hooked. :D

Neji-sama
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Post by Neji-sama » Jul 14th, '06, 21:26

I started with anime few months later I was stuck for the asian movies/series.

bigfrog
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Post by bigfrog » Jul 14th, '06, 22:54

I'm teaching myself japanese.....so i'm trying to immerse myself and most especially my ears into everything japanese.
:D

prismatic_star
Posts: 57
Joined: Feb 1st, '06, 22:33
Location: Montréal, Canada

Post by prismatic_star » Jul 15th, '06, 02:27

My story is pretty much like others.
Except I was biased. :unsure:


Five years ago, I was an absolute anime otaku. I developed a sense of japanese culture by constantly immersing myself into these fansubs. Couple more years later, I grew older and began to outgrow my anime hobby.. it was getting sickening with all the big eyes and clichés and super long legs and ... I don't know. I lost interest. What happened next was that I finally gotten SATELLITE (ohh, I am poor) and while I was surfing the channels, I happened to watch H2. I didn't like it but since it was based on a manga, I watched it anyways. Somehow, I landed on this site that offered these fansubs of Full House. At that time, I heard about the fact that there was a manwha of the same name so I figured, "Eh, why not? I've got lots of time to spare." :note:

Little did I know, watching that drama has gotten me hooked on dramas. And the dramas then introduced me into jrock, jpop.. etc. Then among the dramas, I introduced myself into the JE boys (Akanishi Jin :heart:).

Oh boy. :roll

If it weren't for dramas, I'd remain as an ignorant fool. :roll

Oguri_Shun_fan
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Post by Oguri_Shun_fan » Jul 15th, '06, 02:56

for me it all started with the Japanese exchange students that went to my high school. I knew 5 of them one every year from 8th grade to 12th grade. I started watching anime with a few of them. then i went to college and had a Japanese roommate my freashman year. we would watch anime with the bad english voice overs (Inuyasha, and pretty much all the things that aired on Adult Swim. we watched it in English because she came to college in the USA to learn English). well after watching anime for 6 and a half years i needed to take a break from it but i still wanted to watch Japanese shows and i heard some international students talking about a show Hana Yori Dango, so I looked into, downloaded it, watched it, andI thought that the drama was good so i looked into some Taiwanese and Korean dramas too, and that was how i came to the where i am today a non-asain drama addict. I even learned basic Japanese so I can watch J-Dramas, I'm teaching myself basic Korean and Mandarin so if I really want to watch an episode i can get the jist of what is going on and then I'll re-watch it with subs so i know everything that went on and not just bits of it.

ToadyChan
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Post by ToadyChan » Jul 18th, '06, 19:20

Ahh, mine is boring. :lol I had been listening to Japanese music for a few years, and then with my brother's tutelage started downloading anime after being sick of the reruns on TV. I became curious about these strangely titled "subbed" versions, so got some, and realized they were in Japanese with English subtitles. From there my obsession with anime and manga became more serious, sparking my desire to learn Japanese. Then my friend, after her dad brought back a Chinese subbed version of Anego with Akanishi Jin for her from China, told me all about it and she got hooked on dramas. I started searching for the drama to download as well, interested in finding something else from Japan, ended up discovering torrents and D-Addicts, and Hana Yori Dango grabbed me in and wouldn't let go. :lol

Kimmy07
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Joined: Jun 17th, '06, 21:34
Location: Ohio, USA

Post by Kimmy07 » Jul 29th, '06, 05:11

Sorry, for some reason I turned a relatively short story into an essay :lol

In fifth grade I sat next to a boy I had a crush on and he liked Pokemon cards. Therefore, being a schoolgirl I put all independent thought aside and made myself watch Pokemon. After I brainwashed myself into liking it, I watched a ton of those dubbed and horribly-cut-beyond-recognition anime, particularly Sailor Moon. So using my 6th grade internet skills I found out that *SHOCK!* Sailor Moon was from Japan. It was called anime. And it came from something called manga! I immediately shared my exciting new discovery with all my friends, but I was the only one that got worked up about it. But with that, I bought my first manga and subbed anime and became a total otaku.

A few years later a friend introduced me to a J-rocker named Gackt because she thought he looked like a super saiyan in his Vanilla PV. I became a fangirl and loved Gackt and Malice Mizer but never realized there could be other Asian music. Sophomore year my anime phase (and Gackt phase I suppose) began to fade.

Last year I came back into anime and manga a bit and read Hana Yori Dango. I LOVED IT. Then somehow I stumbled onto D-Addicts and realized *SHOCK!* Japan had non-anime tv. I skimmed for a popular series to try out and came up with Gokusen. At the same time the Hana Yori Dango drama was airing, so I downloaded both and came out of it with mad Matsujun love. Got into Arashi through that (wondered who Johnny was and why he had juniors, got into JE through that, then other J-pop). Then I just kept going with the dramas.

Who knew forcing myself to watch Pokemon once for a boy would have such an effect on my life?

Néa Vanille
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Post by Néa Vanille » Dec 28th, '06, 17:46

Wow, this has got to be the thread with the best overall grammar/spelling I've ever seen on this board. :lol

Okay, so my story's boring and very similar to most of you people's. Goes like this:

Japanese video games on my SNES --> Anime on TV (Sailor Moon) ---> manga, loved Kimi wa Petto --> went online and saw the live-action for it ---> downloaded it and loved it ---> found D-Addicts ---> discovered other JDramas, then TWDramas, then KDramas.

Now I watch and love all 3. :wub:

Jaime
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Post by Jaime » Dec 28th, '06, 17:53

hmm mine is boring, i got tired of anime so i search for other asian thing to watch ^_ ^

HouseFan
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Post by HouseFan » Dec 28th, '06, 18:21

Well, I found the cover of "Pretty Woman" by Kaela Kimura, and I found it was for a drama - Attention Please. So, I downloaded an episode, and was sort of hooked at first, but left it alone for a couple of weeks. During a break from studying, I decided to go back and watch it again, and really liked it, and finished the show with my roommate.

I watched the Sailor Moon one a couple of years (I think) earlier, but I didn't think it was a drama, really. I wasn't into dramas back then, and knew nothing about them. Attention Please made the transition for me.

TrevorGod
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Post by TrevorGod » Dec 28th, '06, 18:47

My wife is from Korea and she gets a little homesick, so I wanted to get some shows for her to watch. At first I only got movies, but I noticed her watching dramas online and I figured I should try to get some for her. I wanted to be able to watch with her, so that I could improve my Korean (which is almost non-existant).

After a bit of searching I found this site and downloaded Full House. I watched it with my wife and by the end of the series I was hooked on k-drama.

Eziya Minamoto
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Post by Eziya Minamoto » Dec 28th, '06, 19:53

Well, it started when I got addicted to Sailor Moon years ago...Then I got into pokemon, and then DBZ, because of my tomboy-ish phase. Then I started reading manga around 8th grade, and then my friend introduced me to Korean dramas this year (Stairway to Heaven was the first). I've been watching Korean, Japanese and some Chinese since. Although I have watched more Korean dramas, I enjoy Japanese dramas more.

Zh_Xiah
Posts: 3
Joined: Nov 25th, '06, 18:37

Post by Zh_Xiah » Dec 28th, '06, 21:02

How i Got into Asian dramaz/Movie/Groups Wild i am non asian!!!!

It all started With that me and my sisster hade nothing too do soo we borowed our big brothers computer and we were lóoking truee his files so wee found a move that was called A moment to remember... so we was like ulala something too watch so we started too se the move (without sub.... Crazy, i know)
Soo when we finisht it wee were like omg what a good movie
(Befeore i started too se that move i use to say, Eyuu who wants to watch Jing Jong With ini mini Eyes Ejuu)but after watching that movie i could not say like that any more

1Month Later

I was in DC++ and wanted too find any movie soo i found a movie That was named Ao no hono-o and in the movie it was a guy named Nino That was from a group that was named Arashi I was like wow a group of hot Japnaes guys i would love to see them...so i really got into them but it was not a wild after I was in wikipedia and wanted to find a artist that was Blode type O (because It was somebody inn arashi Don’t remember who That was blood Type o and I thought he wass that handsome)
Soo I found This guy named Park...... that was from the k-pop group SS501 so I was like okey an other group so I went in to youtube and tried to find some videos of them ...and so I found, but then a video that was not there but It was saying SS501 My Destiney soo I clickt on it and tried too see if Kim hyun joong was there but could not find him so I thougt okey want kind of psycho group is this??
But when I read in the comment it was a person that said ´´that is not SS501 it is DBSK´´
So I was like fyuu...
But after finding dbsk I found there banjo dramas so I was like ´´Let Watch This Thing´´
Soo watch it and got soo curios if all Korean movies and drammass was like this And the same they I tryde to find A Korean movie soo I found He was cool And I loved it soo I kept on watching k/j-movies until I found Orange days (haven’t watcht the 3 last espiods yet) and I liket it so my sis found Goong and said lets watch this drama
and know i watch TW/J/K-dramas
Yep that was my story
=) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
LOve to ya that read this

mun78
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Joined: Aug 15th, '06, 05:23

Post by mun78 » Dec 29th, '06, 01:26

FOR ME IT WAS ANIME FROM THE START, THE SONG INTROS TO ANIME SHOWS GOT ME INTERESTED IN J-ROCK. FROM J-ROCK , I WENT OVER TO JDRAMAS. IT WAS ACTUALLY THIS ONE SONG BY SAMBOMASTER, SEKAI WO AI TO YOBUNDAZE (SORRY IF I MISPELLED THAT) THAT LEAD ME TO THE JDRAMA DENSHA OTOKO, BECAUSE ITS THE ENDING FOR THE DRAMA. YOUTUBE HELPED OF COURSE LOL. WHEN I WATCHED DENSHA OTOKO I WAS IN CULTURE SHOCK MODE LOL, I REALLY LIKED IT BEYOND ANYTHING I'VE WATCHED BEFORE, EVEN THE FACT THAT JAPAN WAS A RICH AND PROSPEROUS COUNTRY LIKE AMERICA OR CANADA, THAT PROBABLY WAS THE MOST SURPRISING. LIKE I KNEW THIS BEFORE , BUT I ACTUALLY DIDN'T SEE IT FOR MYSELF. WHEN YOU LIVE IN A COUNTRY LIKE CANADA OR AMERICA, YOU GROW UP WITH THE IDEA THAT ASIAN COUNTRIES ARE ALL POOR AND YOU KNOW.... SO THAT'S BASICALLY IT. LOL.

queequeg
Posts: 43
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Post by queequeg » Dec 29th, '06, 01:56

Wow! I guess alot of people started out the same way i did, with anime. I was downloading fansubs left and right. But about 6 months ago I made a search for something I can't remember what, and I came upon a synopsis of A Sleeping Forest and it sounded interesting so I downloaded it. Takuya fever came over me and I started downloading all his dramas. Then GTO caught my eye, since I loved the anime. Then I had to get all of Takeshi Sorimachi's. And so it went. Now I'm just obsessed and in love with them all.
I started trying to learn Japanese on my own and it does really help to watch these.

melz
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Post by melz » Dec 31st, '06, 17:52

FruitChaat wrote:for me it was sumtime in 2003, one of my best friends is from taiwan and she got totally obsessed with F4 and meteor garden, so me and my other friend watched it at our house and we got obsessed too.
forward to last year and my friend downloaded meteor garden off clubbox and we both watched it again
hehe, thts me!! so yeah, after mg, our friend got obsessed with Stairway to Heaven, and after figuring out how to work torrents, I thought I'd watch tht. I absolutely loved it, so then I moved onto another suggestion of hers, Pride (which was ok). From then I started watching dramas on my own, moving from HYD to Mars, and then DBY and Goong (which we all watched together and obsessed over). So yea, now whenever I have free time, I'm watching a drama!!

Pekana
Posts: 53
Joined: Dec 22nd, '06, 01:18

Post by Pekana » Jan 1st, '07, 18:40

Well, the interest for me started the same as for a lot of others here - first anime and manga and then on to drama. My first drama was Hana Yori Dango. I found it while looking for the anime. Though I did not finish watching it, it started my interest in Asian drama. Next came Gokusen which I loved and after that Goong got me into Korean drama as well. Ever since I've kind of lost my interest in both manga and anime and have become addicted to drama. I must say, Asian dramas are IMO a lot more interesting and diverse than their Latin American counterparts which are a dominant presence on TV in my country.

veracious
Posts: 135
Joined: Sep 15th, '06, 08:19
Location: Finland

Post by veracious » Jan 2nd, '07, 13:32

Quite effortlessly, though I'm really just a huge newbie at this point.

I've liked some Asian things, a select few anime and mangas and movies (especially South Korean!) but in general I was no Asia-freak or Jfan or animegeek or any of those things. But I wasn't exactly a stranger to Asian media, either.

But what sucked me was a friend on Livejournal, who got into these dramas (her username on livejournal is dangermousie, I suppose she's also joined here but I don't know her username on this board!) in a major way and began posting pictures and videos of her favourite doramas and generally fangirled them. Her enthusiasm wouldn't have been so effective but some of her picspams just looked so wonderful. Pretty Asian people and romantic storylines - I thought, why not and checked out Goong on YouTube.

Also the fact I'm a big fan of Bollywood movies, and I've noticed most Bollywood fans who've tried out Asian dramas have been terribly sucked in so the success rate of doramas with Bollywood fans is pretty much 100%! :D

Goong was wonderful and I immediately asked her and other d-addicts on Livejournal for further recommendations and now I'm into It Started With A Kiss and going to check out My Girl eventually and other kdramas and twdramas etc etc.. :D

keiko001
Posts: 59
Joined: Aug 2nd, '06, 15:34
Location: germany-kassel

Post by keiko001 » Jan 2nd, '07, 16:39

followed the korean route. used to watch arirang tv, because it was the only ENGLISH SPEAKING channel we had...

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