Hi, I’m looking for some Japanese media to help with learning, any recomendations?
If you’d like something with a mix of both, I really enjoyed Giri/Haji, which was a Japanese/British collaboration, so has equal parts of both.
I enjoyed Miss Sherlock
Oooh, that looks really good from the trailer
adds to list
SCAM$ on Netflix was fairly enjoyable, I thought.
The Third Murder (三度目の殺人) was enjoyable and well-played in my opinion.
Crime films, uh…
Well, Takeshi Miike could be your man there.
Shinjuku Triad society and Dead or Alive are nice exponents of those days when Miike was hot on doing cool flicks.
As for shows, Signal was a fine drama about crime solving. They made a Korean remake, which usually is a good indicator of it been something to watch.
Now about crime… Yakuza and sexplotation films go there fairly often. Let me know if you care for those genres too.
Just look up Beat Takeshi. You’l find plenty of crime films to watch. Which is funny considering he started out as a comedian.
Galileo
Ah, I really need to finish watching that…
Film:
- Violent Cop (その男、凶暴につき) [1989]
- Sonatine (ソナチネ) [1993]
- Fireworks (はなび) [1997]
TV:
- Kindaichi Shonen No Jikenbo (金田一少年の事件簿) [1995]
- Mirai Sentai TimeRanger (未来戦隊タイムレンジャー) [2000-2001]
- Watashi No Kirai Na Tantei (私の嫌いな探偵) [2014]
Really impressed by Yohei Taneda (production designer) here; as good as his work in Kill Bill: Vol. 1.
Just started watching the show - it’s excellent! Have you ever seen the live action version of it? Is it similar?
I agree
I’d add the Outrage series to the list of Kitano. Among my favorite gangster films from any country.
Yes and I’m quite surprised that the live action is quite good too; season 1 of the live action maintains the brutality and maturity from the anime TV series. Plus, Tsuyoshi Domoto is a really intense actor and I really like the heroic bloodshed-esque cinematography.
マルサの女 (A Taxing Woman) is a fun one. It also does a good job of showing societal expectations and pressures. The Wikipedia summary doesn’t do it justice. The main character is tax fraud inspector who regularly looks into shadier businesses.
If you like Outrage and Kitano, you might enjoy Gonin (ゴニン) [1995]; the cinematography by Yasushi Sasakibara here is as gritty as his work in A Night In Nude & Rampo.
Nobuko Miyamoto is amazing in this film; she’s also awesome in Supermarket Woman.
Looks interesting. Thanks.
These films aren’t within the crime genre, but they might be helpful for learning Japanese:
- Kamome Diner (かもめ食堂) [2006]
- Mother Water (マザーウォーター) [2010]
- Tokyo Oasis (東京オアシス) [2011]
All of them have serene cinematography and sparse dialogue, so it’s quite fun to parse the screenplays.
I don’t know if these are the kind of crime dramas you’re looking for (I don’t tend to go very dark or gritty), but here are some I’ve liked.
99.9
Bishonure Tantei Mizuno Hagoromo
Border
Boss
Dele
Hunter ~Sono Onnatachi, Shoukin Kasegi~
Kagi no Kakatta Heya
Keizoku
Keizoku 2: SPEC (you don’t have to have watched Keizoku to watch this)
Kizoku Tantei
Mikaiketsu no Onna
Miss Sherlock
Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku
Ryuusei no Kizuna
Subete ga F ni Naru
Unnatural
Voice (2019)
I am too lazy to un-romanize or link, but will be happy to do so for any particular thing if you’re interested and/or it’s unclear.