In our Japanese class we watch Drama shows in order to practice listening skills. We watch about 15 minutes every two weeks. First with Japanese subtitles, look at some interesting vocab that came up (translating sentences), then watch again with Dutch subtitles.
Now we are coming to the end of 過保護のカホコ and looking to start a new show in a few months, but teacher is struggling to find an appropriate show. I was hoping you guys could give some recommendations!
Some guidelines:
Available on DVD
Not too fantastic, vocab needs to mostly usable in everyday life
Not any of the shows already watched (５時から９時まで, Rich Man Poor Woman, 過保護のカホコ)
I’m very fond of 結婚できない男. It’s just fun. Most of the episodes could be thought as self contained, so it ain’t a huge deal missing one or two. Normal and contemporary dialogues with all the quirkness of Abe Hiroshi’s character.
Currently season 2 is been broadcasted, so in case you really love the show… there’s more coming!
One of the most interesting J-dramas I’ve been watching is called Ghostwriter. Not sure how it would fit in your class, but it’s definitely worth a watch.
Though should it really be just primetime dramas? As far as the titles you’ve watched so far, next to most of them are primetime dramas. And as I can tell, most of the titles you’ve watched so far are set in the current age and mostly uses the general Japanese (the one mostly used in Kanto region and the “basic” Japanese). It might be too long and pretty daunting since there are many dialects in the title, but I would also suggest Amachan - but I understand it would be rejected since it’s an asadora (156 episodes), and has LOTS of Japanese dialects.
Also, do your class want to learn more vocab in a specific Japanese subculture or genre? Like the Galileo series mostly is about Physics and Science (though it’s a very brilliant title) and detective. There’s also Hanzawa Naoki which delves mostly in banks (and corruption). There’s Mr Brain which has more vocabs on the nervous system and the brain. Code Blue series would have you challenged with medical terms. There’s always the more popular Hana Yori Dango and the recent spinoff, Hana Nochi Hare. And also the classic Nodame Cantabile. Just so it’s in here, maybe “dele” and “Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita”, especially the latter which is my favourite so far of the year.
Nooooooooo. I watched 1リットルの涙 several years ago and challenged myself to not cry for any given episode as a 30 year old man. I failed every single episode.
I was watching 1 episode a day and crying at every single one of them. After a week, I was just emotionally burned out and had to take a break 3 years later and I still have to complete it
3 years later and I still have to complete it 
