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?
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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!
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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!
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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?
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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.
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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!
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Why I Dress Up for Love is a cute slice-of-life drama about a woman who is compulsively on social media all the time, and a man who doesn’t even carry a cell phone with him. How well would they get along? Funny you should ask…
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This new Japanese drama on Viki is a body swap story, but if you’ve seen “body swap” before and think you know what to expect – surprise! Heaven and Hell Soul Exchange has only a few hijinks, and the rest is a recipe for immediate disaster and is very unexpected.
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Two recent Japanese dramas impressed me because they each had a warmhearted guy and a cold guy, and for most of the show, you couldn’t tell which of them would turn out to be the main lead and get the girl. A Girl & Three Sweethearts and Oh My Boss! Love Not Included have similar characters and even similar plots. Who do you think wins out?
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If you enjoy foodie dramas, you should try this Japanese drama that came out recently. Tokyo Noodle Factory is short and fun and you learn quite a lot about udon.
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