In my early years studying Japanese I watched a huge number of Japanese dramas, and while this really helped improved my listening and vocabulary skills, it also made me accustomed––or should I say overly sensitive––to the common tropes of this form of media. That, plus the fact I generally try to spend more time in… Read More »
As I have discussed before, I’ve seen so many Japanese anime and TV drama series that I’ve learned many of the stereotypes, and as a result it’s pretty easy for me to get bored and give up after an episode or two, despite the extra vocabulary and listening practice opportunity it offers. The drama “心がポキっとね” (English… Read More »
Having become a member of the streaming service Crunchyroll a few months ago, I’ve sampled a few anime series, but for over half of them I ended up bored and never made it to the end. One exception was “Time of Eve” which I reviewed the other day. Besides anime, Crunchyroll also has a few live-action… Read More »
As I’ve said in several other posts, Japanese dramas are a great source for learning conversation skills, including common expressions and vocabulary. However, depending on the drama, there will be more or less coverage of stuff that you would actually be able to use yourself. For example, a drama where the main character is a… Read More »
(I’ve made a single question survey regarding Japanese ability – if you are interested please check it out here. Thanks!) As things have been the last few years, I haven’t spent much time watching Japanese dramas, and finding one that is good enough to keep my attention past the first episode is even rarer. “素敵な選Taxi”… Read More »
“Arakawa Under the Bridge” is a manga series created by Hikaru Nakamura (中村 光) in 2004, which was eventually turned into an anime, TV drama, and movie. I’ve only seen the drama and movie so will be focusing on those in this post, though I imagine the story is much the same. This story starts out… Read More »
It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and watched a Japanese drama, but I decided to watch the first episode of a drama that is pretty popular in Japan now. Not only does it star some actors that I like, but it involves a theme very dear to my heart – sweets. This drama… Read More »
For a self-studier of Japanese, TV dramas (ドラマ) are one of the most important resources to improve vocabulary for spoken language. They are also a whole lot of fun. Compared to anime, the Japanese used in dramas is generally much closer to daily life, though some dramas about certain occupations (for example medical dramas) will… Read More »