Hey everyone,
Are there any good websites you recommend for dramas/movies in Japanese that I can look into? I’ve been using Netflix, but the selection is limited. Anime is available in all corners of the earth but it feels like dramas and movies are impossible to get access to and its something I definitely want to invest my time in more since they will be closer to real-life conversations and intonation.
Thanks!
I’m just putting this gif here as I have a similar interest.
Have you tried changing your location to Japan with a VPN? That’s my advice, since Japanese Netflix has a bunch of dramas
Edit: Whoops forgot subs aren’t widely available for Japanese shows on Japanese Netflix, still may be worth looking though
Japanese subs or English subs?
So far everything I’ve come across on Japanese netflix has had JP subs but no english subs. Luckily that shouldn’t be a problem since using english subs on immersion material is a big nono and it sounds like OP wants dramas to use for educational purposes.
+1 for the Japanese netflix with a VPN doe. The only issue is that a lot of free VPNs are blocked by netflix from my experience. If anyone needs a free VPN that works with netflix, just DM me and ill be happy to help you out. You can also use the language learning with netflix addon for chrome to make things even more language learning friendly.
hi! Have you tried viki? Some content is free with ads but you can get a Viki pass to remove them. There’s also a standard pass for $5/month that unlocks more shows.
Amazon Prime also has a couple of Japanese shows too.
Crunchyroll has some, and a ton of anime. I pay twelve dollars Canadian a month for it.
Tubi TV is free. There’s lots of anime, but I’m not sure about dramas.
Totally didn’t think of that! I’ll have to look into using a VPN for it!!
I don’t mind it if there are no subtitles because I’m looking for immersion. But if there are japanese subtitles that will be a plus!
Thanks I’ll have to look into it. I have amazon prime, which i didn’t know had some selections. I’ll look into that as well. Thank you!!
a website called GYAO! through Yahoo! has a bunch of stuff! Sometimes it has the whole series, sometimes it just has the first and most recent episodes, but it’s nice to see what shows you’d be interested in! (Sadly no subtitles). If you’re okay with a slight bombardment of slightly NSFW “singles in your area” ads, then kissasian has a whole bunch of dramas with English subtitles.
Thanks, this is pretty great. I didn’t even have to make an account, and there are Japanese subs 
. Started watching ‘Time Taxi’ and it seems interesting. 素敵な選TAXI 
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EDIT: Seems like subs are a hit and miss, as they are community created. Only the most popular shows have all episodes subbed. Time to start subbing?
DLibrary Japan offers many dramas and a small, small, small amount of other content.
I subscribed because there are interesting titles available. But I don’t keep the subscription every month and just pay when there is something I want to watch. Since most shows are 10 or so episodes, easy to get through an entire series in a month subscription. Sometimes more if I’m feeling frisky.
With Amazon prime, Tokyo Girl is very interesting. There is also a romantic comedy about a fancy candy shop in Kyoto that I forgot the name. If you want to try English subtitles with Netflix it seems that there is a Chrome extension that allows you to add subtitles. I never used it so I’m not sure if it really works.
Yeah, this has been my experience too. I also use the Language Learning w/ Netflix extension. Couple that with yomichan, and I need only hover over a subtitle and I can get the definition.
As for VPNs, I’ve never really had an issue with them myself. I think maybe once Netflix blocked it, but I just did a Ctrl + Shift + R which refreshes a page and the cache/cookies and it worked fine. Perhaps I’m just lucky though.
Bumping to ask if anyone has used DLibrary Japan more recently than last December, and can tell me if they’ve added more content with English subtitles.
A local TV station broadcast subtitled Japanese dramas and they were incredibly helpful to my language study. Sadly, it became a shopping channel(!!) 3 months ago and I’ve been looking for a legal replacement ever since. I find Amazon and Netflix content very limited.
DLibary has just the content I’m looking for, including several of my favorite shows, but at this point I still need the subs for picking up vocabulary and natural speech patterns. I’m more than willing to pay, but it won’t be worth it to me without at least some subbed content.