One of my favorite Kdramas lately is One Day Off, which is a rare example of an interesting but restful show. It’s about a school teacher who, when faced with the intractability of some of her students, “sometimes longs to disappear,” so she indulges herself with one-day trips.
Continue reading
A few Japanese dramas have popped up with the theme of government trying to cope with a falling birth rate. A new one on the light and fluffy side is called Marry Me! I checked it out because I quite liked the older one, Choosing Spouse by Lottery, which was more serious. How would you react to the government pushing its nose into your business like that?
Continue reading
How would you react if you heard a rumor about time travel in your town? The Japanese novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold tells of an urban legend involving a coffee shop in Tokyo where people sometimes go back in time. If you heard of this, would you be tempted to try it?
Continue reading
Hold My Hand At Twilight is a show that is gently humorous without being slapsticky. It’s about two people trying to succeed in challenging careers, and how they encourage and inspire each other. There’s no candy girl with a rich guy here. Do you think there will be any childhood flashbacks, water fountains, piggyback rides, bandaging of scrapes, or running into someone several times in one day instead? Come find out!
Continue reading
Last fall I watched a Japanese drama called Fight Song, which had a story line about a girl who was afraid she would lose her hearing. Shortly afterwards, Silent came out, with a synopsis about a character with hearing loss. I was curious about it, because here were two shows with that theme. Then this spring I was surprised when a third one aired, On a Starry Night. Come see if these dramas made sense all together!
Continue reading
Hold Me Back is about a woman who lives alone and talks to a voice inside her head that gives her advice when she doesn’t know what to do. She is lonely, but satisfied with this way of coping with stress, until she starts to fall for a man she has met at work. Then she begins to worry about leaving her comfort zone, something that any of us could relate to.
Continue reading
How to Get a Divorce for the Whole Family is a tale of people marrying in haste and repenting at leisure, but it’s more than that. They are two very different people, coming from different lifestyles, without any real problem-solving skills. How do you think that works out?
Continue reading
How would you behave if you were so cute that everyone clamored to please you? How would you react if you were told it was all coming to an end? That is the precise situation we have in the Japanese drama My Cuteness is About to Expire! Read on to see if you think Kosuke Maruya’s cuteness is about expire too.
Continue reading
One of my favorite dramas this year was Avengers Social Club aka Buam Dong Avengers Social Club. It came out a few years ago, but not too many people saw it because it wasn’t easily available. It’s a girl power story about three women who decide to avenge themselves of rankling injustices, and a teenage boy who tries to worm his way into the action. Come see for yourself if this is a hidden gem you need to watch.
Continue reading
Sleepeeer Hit, also known as Juhan Shuttai in Japanese, is a fun look at the world of Japanese mangas (comics) as seen through the eyes of a newbie editor who has loved reading mangas for a long time, but doesn’t know anything about the business. And yes, it really has all those “e’s” in the title. Listen for the characters to say it in the show. If you’re looking for an enjoyable, lighthearted story, you’ve come to the right place!
Continue reading