Dorama: Japanese TV series

I’m watching dorama (jdrama) since some time ago, not only because I love japanese culture and language, but the peculiar style they have on TV series, an style we are not used at West, and I really like that freshness (a good manner to take a rest of scifi). Really, that’s the only reason I like dorama…

Well, series in Japan (live action series I mean) are called Drama (ドラマ dorama), and them have a wide range of subject matters. A lot of times them are based on manga or anime (for example, Great Teacher Onizuka Live Action, or Gokusen).

Japanese dorama are broadcasted on real seasons (spring, summer, autum and winter), with a duration of 3 months (between 9 and 11 weekly chapters). If the dorama gets a good success, some times they broadcast an special, longer duration chapter, and usually telling “what happened after”. That’s curious because the drama do not have only a tragic or happy ending, but you know what happened to the characters in the future.

The 9-11 chapter dramas are called renzoku (連続 - れんぞく), while long drama with only 2 o 3 episodes or “parts” (here called tv movies) are tanpatsu (単発 - たんぱつ). Special epidodes of a renzoku drama are tanpatsu too.

Many times, the soundtrack of some jdrama have legions of fans (as in the case of many anime), because they work with famous singers or composers. Music in a dorama have a great significance, contrary to the western series, where music is on a second plane (not as in cinema) .