nome wrote:In need of recommendations again! I somehow have a hard time finding any good dramas... Well what I'm looking for is a light hearted romcom / romance drama. I'm currently watching itakiss love in tokyo and last cinderella but waiting a week for new episodes is killing me! They're both so good
Yay! Romance is my specialty… ;)
Looks like your list has quite a lot of overlap with mine (and I’m also watching Last Cinderella, so I know what you mean about waiting for episodes…), but I can definitely think of a few good romance comedy/dramas that aren’t on here. Here’s what I recommend:
Rich Man Poor Woman—Classic romantic comedy about a young software tycoon who lacks empathy and a hardworking recent graduate who lacks confidence. One of my overall favorites.
One Pound Gospel—A romantic comedy about a boxer who is obsessed with eating and falls in love with a Catholic nun. (Based on a manga series by Rumiko Takahashi, so believe it or not it’s actually one of her
less bizarre premises… ;) So cute! Stars Kazuya Kamenashi, which is always a plus for me.
Nodame Cantabile—A romantic comedy about a group of eccentric students at a music conservatory. Focuses on Chiaki, an aspiring conductor with control issues, and Nodame, a particularly eccentric piano virtuoso who plans to become a kindergarten teacher. The style is an odd mixture of slapstick and seriousness, but it really draws you in. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would at first.
Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku—A summery romantic comedy/drama about a young actor struggling to live up to his father’s reputation, and a single mother who works at his agency. Stars Jun Matsumoto—and I always find it entertaining to see him play a “struggling actor,” given that in his real-life career he hasn’t played a non-lead role since he was about fourteen… ;)
Tatta Hitotsu no Koi—A romance drama about a guy who works in a shipyard and a young heiress. Essentially a familiar “wrong-side-of-the-tracks” narrative, but there’s more to it than that as it goes along. I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would too, for various reasons. It also stars Kazuya Kamenashi—which again, is always a plus… ;)
Brother Beat—This one is sort of more of a family comedy/drama than a romantic comedy/drama, but there’s some good romance in there too for sure. Another one that took me by surprise—I tried it because it had a couple of actors in it that I liked, but I expected it to be more frivolous than it was. It actually has a solid narrative, and a really nice mix of characters.
And, as a bonus, a couple more where romance isn’t exactly the main story, but it’s present, and they’re worth watching for other reasons:
Tonbi (this was my “waiting for episodes each week” series last season…so good… ;)
14 Sai no Haha (features a quite young Haruma Miura, which is fun to see next to Last Cinderella…)