Looking for romance Jdramas with leads that are a little different

Oct 31, 2016 02:40 am

I'm trying to check out some romance dramas from Japan that are not sexist. A few I've tried, male characters are
very demeaning to the women and the female characters are portrayed either as klutzy, submissive or a little silly.
(Don't mean to offend anyone, just taking about what I've seen)
Any recommendations for dramas without all that will be appreciated, thanks.

rainruma

Oct 31, 2016 05:16 am

Very few J-romances are actually romantic .... Some popular ones are rom-coms.... they may not be sexist, but to me not very romantic either.

Here are best I've seen, as in romance and "feels" ... None of these females are silly or weak, but they are gentle.
Pride --- Can't believe a J-romance can rouse such feelings... he's cliche: a tragic figure, w/ sad past, only needs love to melt his cold exterior.... BUT, he's also Refreshingly Honest about his insecurities .... Can feel his pain, how much he loves and needs her... a believable romance and love.
Still typical M/F roles, and she's the old fashioned type ... But he treats her w/ respect.... Side relationships have stereotypes, but not sexist, and good romances.
....
Tatta Hitotsu no Koi --- Sweetest love at the age of 20 .... He's poor, has tough guy image, and she's rich and sweet ... he needs her love .... she's tougher than she looks ...... refreshing characters, not as expected .... dialogue makes it very touching!
.....
Cheap Love --- He's a bad boy, she's a school teacher ... stereotypical M/F ... but not sexist,.... and a good romance.
....
Last Cinderella --- She's a tough cookie, 39 y.o. .... being pursued by Hiro, a 20 something .... and colleague Rintaro, her age ... Not sexist, breaks stereotypes ... This is a rom-com, so she's a bit silly, after all, she falls for the much younger guy, but older guy is there to bring out her womenly qualities!

IzzyDramaLover

Oct 31, 2016 08:15 am

http://mydramalist.com/782-beautiful-life
http://mydramalist.com/412-good-luck
http://mydramalist.com/2985-hanazakari-no-kimitach...
http://mydramalist.com/69-koishite-akuma
http://mydramalist.com/15229-siren
http://mydramalist.com/1344-asuko-march

I hope you enjoy! :)

Marse

Oct 31, 2016 12:48 pm

Orange Days - The main guy is loveable and the girl is not silly. Set in college.
Date - Two quirky adults who are adorable together.
Okitegami Kyoko no Biboroku - The guy is respectful. The girl is intelligent and confident. Romance is very subtle here, though.
Love Shuffle - They're a group of adult people trying to look for the person fit for them

Sorry if you already watched any of these, though. Didn't check your list yet.

kura2ninja

Oct 31, 2016 01:18 pm

What about these:
Zenkai Girl
Soratobu Kohoushitsu
Dokushin Kizoku
Arifureta Kiseki
Bara no nai Hanaya

In all of the dramas above, I don't think any of the female leads were portrayed as weak/clumsy/bitchy or seen as such by other characters. The female lead in Zenkai Girl and Soratobu Kohoushitsu are very driven, and some people don't like them because of it (in Soratobu Kohoushitsu, her ambitiousness led to a professional misconduct--and I think her coworkers didn't like her more because she was arrogant and looked down on their job, thinking that they're not real reporters, and less because she was ambitious), but the drama themselves didn't portray that drive as a bad thing, so I never felt that the dramas were sexist in any way.

Jingga

Oct 31, 2016 03:24 pm

Try the ones which are not adapted from shoujo manga. Some of the good ones are...

Love Shuffle
Orange days
Bara no nai Hanaya
Long vacation
Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku
Date
Nagareboshi
Soratobu Kohoushitsu
Ima ai ni yukimasu
Proposal Daisakusen

NanaChin

Oct 31, 2016 06:36 pm

@rainruma

I remember dropping Last Cinderella because the older male lead was so sexist though? I actually just went back and found a post where I ranted about it "Saying things like it's okay for men to drink at 3PM but not women and while women have a higher social standing nowadays it's still a men ruled society and if the main girl doesn't start to act more feminine she'll never get far in her job and stuff. Saying how women should be all shy and he doesn't like how they're starting to be more independent and "masculine" and that's not attractive cause there's no difference between men and women that way"

Does he change later on?

Asuna VIP

Oct 31, 2016 08:12 pm

From 5 to 9

SumiTheCat

Oct 31, 2016 08:46 pm

Some others:
Love that makes you cry - very slow paced, not everyone cup of tea, i personnaly found it beautiful
maybe any drama with Kimura Takuya (Love Generation...) though Kimura's character can be a littl bit sexist at first,
Long Love Letter
Summer Nude
Sunao ni narenakute

and maybe Densha Otoko

@lea : I took a look at your list, and though i really adored Sekai Ichi muzukashii koi, i would not recommend it as a regular romance drama, and you should not take it as a typical japanese romance dramas. Its main interest lies in the male lead character. Nevertheless, it's a kind of comedy that is not always appreciated, especially by viewers of other countries dramas. I tend to think this whole drama is more of a big fan service sketch for Leader's fangirls (and i'm one of them)

rainruma

Oct 31, 2016 09:05 pm

@NanaChin ....
You are probably right ... I don't remember such detailed conversations.... as for Rintaro, u just reminded me about his sexist attitude, LOL .... but he was actually teasing her b/c he was attracted to her .... I believe his bravado was for show, b/c he was actualy lonely..... he actually respected and loved her .... As adorable as Hiro (and Miura Haruma) are, I ship Rintaro (Fujiki Naohito

rainruma

Oct 31, 2016 09:12 pm

Something is wrong w/ forums again, 1/2 my reply got cut off, and I can't add to it thru editing ...weird!

@arega .... I haven't seen enough J-romances, for sure .... but most of what I've seen, even from the 90's, the romance is either not compelling enough, or the love not really believable...... I need to watch a few of what is recommended above :)

lea

Oct 31, 2016 11:27 pm

Thanks everyone.. I'll check all of them out. Doesn't have all feel good fluffy kind of romance, just a good story with non annoying characters
that that doesn't end tragically. I got started with Kdramas been stuck watching them out of habit I guess, trying to explore around a little.
Thanks again! :)

rainruma

Nov 1, 2016 12:32 am

@lea ....It's good to explore!.... J-doramas have a lot to offer, just that romance isn't their strong point.
Try Chinese dramas for romance, I find they do idealized love like K-dramas, but the development of the relationship/love is much more realistic and believable.
Some of my favorite male heroes are in C-dramas, and the women in their historical dramas are usually smart, strong and tough.

NanaChin

Nov 1, 2016 02:40 pm

@rainruma

It's all right haha I just remembered that I made a post about it when I dropped it so looked for it :D I think I might actually give it another chance then. :)