Mog Dragonheart wrote:I think it's a little of both. Personally, it took me a long time to tell my brain to just shut up and take it in for what it's worth. I still see plenty of suck out there but I'm enjoying the good stuff far since way back in the early 2000's. Studio's are churning out good -Dragon Diamond- on a yearly basis. Right now, I'm currently digging anime that's filling the void of quality console RPGs in my soul like kingdom, Nanatsu no Taizai or Maoyu Maou Yuusha. I'm surprised you like jdramas right now.. anything in particular or atleast in the last 3 years?
It's a little hard to find (a) what's big right now, and (b) where to watch the actual episodes, so my list is really short. But here's a quick run-down of what I have watched in the last few years, roughly in order of how much I liked them:
(1) Hanzawa Naoki (2013) -- This was a great series, and also the top drama of 2013. The gist is that a banker (named Hanzawa Naoki) entered the industry with a strong sense of personal ethics, and has worked his way through the ranks of a major nationwide bank's loan/financing department. But his own sense of what's right and wrong ends up making him an enemy of many other senior officials who are unethical, corrupt, or even downright criminal. Now, the dialog was a little hard because of the density of financial terms (even with a background in economics, this wasn't easy), but the way the story was constructed, and the themes of corruption in the banking industry that it drew upon, made it very enjoyable.
(2) Orange Days (2004) -- Ok, this one is really old, but it's still probably my favorite JDrama of all so far -- also, because of its age, you should be able to find it at least fansubbed. The story follows a young man in his final year of college trying to enter the workforce, and a young girl about the same age who was a famous violinist, but two years prior lost her hearing. There is a lot of JSL (Japanese Sign Language) used in the story, and there's a very... rocky romance that goes on between those two main characters. But a lot of it is sort of a coming-of-age story about these two people and their friends trying to negotiate the move into adulthood, with a very difficult romance in the background.
(3) Taira no Kiyomori (2012) -- This was the NHK Taiga Drama (historical drama) for 2012. This follows the Heian-era historical figure Taira no Kiyomori (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taira_no_Kiyomori). I only watched the first few episodes, and while the production quality is
amazing, it was... nearly impossible for me to follow the dialog. Sorry... way too many old terms, and I even studied classical/literary Japanese.
(4) Kagi no Kakatta Heya (2012) -- This is one I'm watching right now. This one is a bit more episodic: it follows a group of lawyers and a quietly obsessive security/locksmith/puzzle expert (hard to describe, but he's played a bit like he has mild Aspergers) who end up becoming de facto detectives in a series of hard-to-solve cases. Each episode usually starts with setting up a seemingly-impossible crime, and by the end they usually solve the puzzle of what happened.
Anyway, those are the four right now that come to mind. I am 100% open to any suggestions, though, since it's hard for me to get a good gauge in the US on what dramas are worth investing time in. KF