Trip to J-World

So, I took a small vacation to J-World, merely out of curiosity.  The series Million Yen Women intrigued me, so I thought… sure… and started it up.  I have to say, I did enjoy it.  My K-World viewing habits totally skewed my expectations – and the whole time I thought I knew what was going on (and if it had been a K-Drama, I would have been right, most likely)… but I was dead wrong.  About everything, really.   The show is basically about a struggling writer who finds himself living with several beautiful girls who show up mysteriously at his large home.  They say they’ve been invited, give him enormous amounts of rent, and keep their secrets while attempting normalcy in this strange household.  A few of them were very interesting, though most were just stereotypes.  It was a weird, dark little show with no real character development other than the male lead… and honestly, I am not sure he developed at all, he just finally got his small publication books to sell through a series of scandals that skyrocketed him to public fascination and fame.  And yet, despite the lack of reality and strange plot holes, I really liked it.  The whole thing was very short, with 20 minute episodes that flew by at a fast pace… the surreal story unfolding in layers.

I especially liked that ridiculously cute cat… which our author named Cat.  Cause that writer is a creative genius, I tell ya!

So I thought… maybe I should give J-World some love and try out some J-Dramas.  I mean, I’ve been a fan of plenty of anime series.  And there have been some great Japanese movies over the years.  Let’s try their television!

Mistake.

HUGE MISTAKE.

I tried to watch Last Cinderella.  I gave it my best.  Six episodes was all I could take.   I tried Mischievous Kiss:  Love in Tokyo.  Sigh.  Of course, I didn’t even like the Korean remake of this, so I’m not sure what I was thinking going in.  I tried to watch Switch Girl.  Groan.  I did manage to sit through most of Liar Game, just because it was fascinatingly horrible… and yet kinda interesting.  I absolutely ADORE the Korean remake.  In my opinion, they did that show a huge favor.

Maybe there are great J-Dramas and I just chose to sample some crappy rom-coms.  Perhaps their historical dramas are awesome.  Or their action/thriller dramas.  Who knows?  But geesh… the ones I tried just left a very unfavorable opinion of them.

I did have to rewatch the entire Rurouni Kenshin trilogy again because apparently I can’t make a trip to J-World without visiting Takeru Satoh.  Those movies are so fun.

If you have suggestions… let me know.  I would be curious to see what J-Dramas you have enjoyed.  Of course, if you liked the ones I turned off, then we may disagree on quality.  Million Yen Women seems to be a rare exception – and honestly, I’m not sure that it was that amazing, it was just… interesting.