I was really excited when I began researching for this Top 5 because I’m a huge fan of Japanese dramas. Unfortunately, since making this Top 5 I haven’t had time to watch any of them!

The names of these ones were practically impossible to pronounce, especially since I don’t speak a lot of Japanese and don’t live there. So, I did my best to translate them, and created the closest equivalent names in English.

Some of these dramas have my favorite Japanese actors and actresses in them. Furthermore, a lot of these dramas are about books, which is one of my favorite things!

5. Shotenin Michiru no Mi no Uebanashi

This is the one I called Michiru: The Life Story of a Bookseller. Toda Erika stars in this one. I saw her in Nobuto Wo Produce, Hana Yori Dango 2, and Death Note. She’s a really beautiful actress, but I haven’t seen her star in enough dramas to sincerely judge her as an actress. She’s made a lot, I just haven’t seen them all. She tends to do a loty of medical style dramas which I have a difficult time getting into. What’s interesting about this one to me is that she is still younger than I am in real life, and she’s supposedly got a secret husband and two boyfriends. It took me until I was 26 to get married, and this woman has 3 men at the age of 24? Not totally out of the realm of possibility but……… c’mon. AND she wins the lottery? You’d think her character’s karma would make it impossible for her to win money like that.. or at least that’s the way I think.

4. Saki

Nakama Yuki stars in this one. I love her as an actress. She’s in her 30s by now, and she’s one of the first actresses I ever saw in Japanese dramas. She blew me away in Gokusen. She’s just so damn pretty, as if she comes straight out of a Japanese painting. She’s plays a Japanese fem fatale in this one, and this is actually a spin off of another drama from 2011. It came about because of her good looks, and her ability to play the vixen oh so well. Jealous of her good looks, can you tell?

3. Itsuka Hi no Ataru Basho de

I called this one ‘Someday, someplace where the sunshines. I just started watching this one while writing this. So far, I’m on part 1 of the first episode, and already the colors are very muted and have a dark feel to them. It shows japan that you don’t usually see as the tourist parts. It doesn’t looks like a part of Japan that I have been to. It looks a little like Hongdae (in Korea) to me. There are old traditional shops with a it of a modern, edgy look to them. It’s grungy. It seems very Japanese to me. Ueto Aya is in this one. I have a feeling that I’m really going to struggle truly believing that her character deserves to go to jail. Oh yea, did I mention I have a total girl crush on Ueto? 😉

2. Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi

In the video I called this one ‘The Land Before Maharo Station’. Aeita is one of the guys who stars in this one. To me, I have seen him in a lot of things, but he’s always been the guy who is playing one of the smaller roles. Despite this status, from everything I’ve seen him in, he’s always made the drama much better. Once you wake up to who he is and the characters he’s playing, you say to yourself ‘Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t notice him before.’ In this one, I hope that he really truly breaks out and becomes more of a household name. He so deserves it!

1. Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou

I called this one ‘Stories of Biblia: The Ancient Bookstore’. I haven’t seen this one at all, but was told it’s pretty good. Personally, I think that a bookstore is an awesome place to host a drama because there are so many stories. Even if every episode is just the characters picking up a book and opening it to see what’s inside, each episode could have different plots with twists and turns. With the thought of that this one is even more tempting to me, but I doubt that’s what happens. Even so, there’s a lot of potential in a format like this. And the main girl is so cute! Girl looks like she’s 12 and she’s still cute as a button!

The Blooper Reel: