Top 85 J-Dramas Of All Time: #61-70
61. ロト6で3億2千万円当てた男 (The Man Who Won 320 Million Yen In Lotto 6)
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆
Recently divorced and hopeless Tachibana has no savings. How does he solve this? He wins the 320,000,000 yen (around $3 million dollars) lottery. What will happen when he recklessly uses this money to try to improve his life without any real plan? He must learn to use money more wisely while at the same time avoiding those who are out to take him for everything he is worth.
62. ROOM OF KING
Japanese Level: ☆☆
Three rich entrepreneurs create a competition where they rent out a beautiful small mansion to seven people of their choosing who will live together. Unbeknownst to the seven, who merely think they are getting a nice cheap room, the three gamble with each other on who of the seven will attain the most successful life in the next three months, and will grant ownership to the winner. This is a weird but very fun and hip show.
63. マジすか学園 (Seriously High School) Season 1
Japanese Level: ☆
Imagine a world where all the AKB48 members are all violent street fighters at an unruly all girls high school. Maeda is transferred to this school and must fight her way to the top (willingly or unwillingly), as she faces stronger and stronger enemies, in effort to show who is really “serious.”
Sounds like a concept that wouldn’t work, but somehow it is pulled off. But it only works if you don’t take it too seriously. If you liked Holyland, you’ll probably like this. While the Japanese may be slightly harder than ☆, you are watching it mostly for the battle scenes and cute girls, so your level is probably irrelevant.
There is a season 2. I didn’t like it. Give it a try if you want, but I don’t think it lived up to season 1.
64. モップガール (Mop Girl)
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆☆
Momoko, who for some reason doesn’t have the best grasp of the Japanese language, gets tricked into being transferred from her decent job to working as a janitor for an emergency funeral cleaning company. If that isn’t bad enough, every time she touches any remnant of the deceased she is trying to clean up, she is sent back in time to the morning of the day the person dies in an effort to save them. Why does she have this ability? How will she use it? Can she save everyone? Can she save herself? I love time travel, and I know you do to. This means you should watch this.
65. 幸せになりたい! (I want to be happy!)
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆
Hikari’s family is deep in debt and is hounded by loan sharks. She decides to drop out of high school to help her family by getting a job. Thanks to an old friend who is a producer at a large TV studio, she gets a job as a janitor there. Her friend falls asleep while editing a screenplay for an upcoming drama, and Hikari decides to finish it for him, knowing that he won’t make the deadline.
At first there is a huge backlash at what she has done. However, her skill and drive are recognized and she is hired as an assistant producer and learns all about the Japanese TV industry and the world of making J-dramas. If you love J-dramas, you can’t miss out on learning how they are made!
66. リバウンド (Rebound)
Japanese Level: ☆
Nobuko, who grew up being fat most of her young life finally succeeds at her diet and gains the body she has always wanted and her dream job working at a fashion magazine. Things are going great until she is sent on an assignment to review cakes at a new fashionable patisserie, and falls in love with the patissier. She helps him develop new and exciting pastries, and because of this faces the possibility of rebounding on her diet, causing her to revert to her old form which would result in her being fired. Will she be able to prevent a rebound, and is there something that the patissier is hiding from her?
67. エンゼルバンク (Angel Bank)
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆
Former English teacher Mamoko joins Ebisawa and his team of job consultants. She must learn the ropes of finding new jobs for all her troubled clients, earning her “angel coins” for each life that she successfully changes. In encountering the employment situation in current day Japan, will she slowly get wrapped up in Ebisawa’s plan to take over Japan?
68. 美男ですね (Handsome Guys)
Japanese Level: ☆
Miko, a nun in training, is asked out of nowhere to join the super famous boy-band A.N.JELL. Why? Her twin Mio brother is recovering from a serious injury that he got right before he was supposed to enter the band as the newest member. Will Miko be able to pose as the new star of this group, keep her identity a secret, and not get involved in a 4-way love affair?
Based off of a popular Korean TV drama. I’m a guy and still found this upbeat drama to be an interesting ride, so it’s not just for girls.
69. 雨と夢のあとに (After The Rain And Dreams)
Japanese Level: ☆☆
On his trip to Taiwan in search for the “phantom butterfly,” Sakurai meets an unfortunate fate and dies on his travels. However he somehow arrives back in Japan with no memories of how he got back home, and reunites with his daughter. How will he break the news that he is actually dead and what will he be able to accomplish with his time left in the world of the living and with his daughter.
70. 正義の味方 (Ally Of Justice)
Japanese Level: ☆☆
Yoko has an evil older sister Makiko, who manages to make her life hell. Despite Makiko’s aggressive and demanding character, she slowly starts to be known as the “Ally of Justice.” To Yoko’s discontent, somehow all of Makiko’s self-centered actions have a butterfly effect that make others’ lives better. Yoko is bitter, but soon realizes that this will help Makiko get married sooner and out of the house forever.
Go to: 1-9 ● 10-20 ● 21-30 ● 31-40 ● 41-50 ● 51-60 ● 61-70 ● 71-85
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
Awesome list of dramas!
I wish I started watching the dramas in raw straight away rather than watching them with subs. I saw most of the ones recommended by Khatz which were awesome but I wonder whether I would have enjoyed them at such a low level that I was when I saw them :/
Atm I started going through the level 1 dramas and its very rewarding being able to watch it in Japanese and understand some of what is being said and get the rest from context.
Thanks so much for this guide! can’t wait for the next installment
My first drama is the only one I ever watched with subs and I have to say I’ve enjoyed all the dramas I watched greatly without very much understanding of what’s actually being said. I keep my goal to understanding the story more than the dialogue at my low level, which requires some but not nhuge comprehension. The only drama I couldn’t watch like this so far was Hanazawa Naoki… I didn’t understand most of what they were saying and I certainly didn’t understand what was going on. I guess somehow, though I dealt with military language in Soratobu Kouhoushitsu, I couldn’t deal with bank-speak… maybe cos bank speak is sort of dull.
It is seldom to read about so many doramas I watched myself too, from anyone else. Keep up advertising, because I feel jdramas are probably the most underrated and misunderstood TV programs that are actually great :)