A-Z Drama and Movie Challenge – The Awards

Welcome, to the most out of season and barely relevant to the majority of readers, A-Z Drama and Movie Challenge Award Ceremony. I promise this is my final post on the subject, but I wanted it to be FUN dammit!

While I have reviewed 44 of 52 titles, and rated all of them on a scale of 1 through 10 – you can find the drama listing here, and movie listing here; I wanted to go back and highlight the best, worst, and a few other titles of interest for everyone. I’m sure I have a few readers’ who’ve been here since the beginning, and a few who had no idea I’ve done this. So sit back, relax, maybe grab a snack and get ready to scroll a bit, laugh, cry and go ‘oh wait you really watched that?”.

~Brain Candy~

What I mean by brain candy, is media that you don’t need to think about to enjoy it. You can take it completely at face value, and it’ll have the same level of entertainment if you watch it seriously. With Kakafukaka, it comes with the caveat that this is more so aimed at women brain candy, then general brain candy. With Vampire in Love, it’s just a sugary sweet story that anyone can enjoy.

---

Most Thought Provoking

When I think of ‘Thought Provoking’, I usually mean a title that lingered more than most. Titles with topics that I sat with and genuinely gave consideration to, had I experienced something like this before? Was this something I could relate to, or was the point to be un-relatable? It happens to be a coincidence that both of these reviews for Tokyo Love Story (2020) and GO, also took a bit more time then usual to gather my thoughts on and form my opinion.

---

This Aged like Milk

Just in case a reader might not know what this term means, “This aged like milk” implies that these are series that didn’t age well. There might be techniques, actors, or usually more commonly themes that when watched were acceptable, maybe even praised, but now with hindsight and societal changes just… don’t hold up. I talked extensively about King of Apology‘s problems in the review. With Winter Sonata I will say, that I get why it was popular when it was first released and even afterwards. It is an absolute classic, and the literal pioneer for the majority of KDrama staples, from characters, troupes, location selection – you will find them all originating here. However, in the year of 2022 watching this series was just absolutely rough.

---

Worst of the Bunch

While worst will always be subjective – both Love at the Tip of the Tongue, and Pinch Runner were just not it. Both of them suffered from under trained idol actors, thin plots and logistical leaps I couldn’t make. Love at the Tip of the Tongue also suffered from being blatant tourism material, which did it no favors. Respectfully, they have their audiences. Those audiences just don’t happen to include me.

---

Best of the Bunch

Again, Best of the Bunch is a subjective phrase exclusive to me. The more suitable, but less catchy title would be “my personal favorites”. Which again, starting out with dramas was Pride by a long shot. I seriously won’t bore you, just go watch it already, and read the review if you haven’t. Now East Palace, West Palace – that’s a gorgeous, must-watch and not just because it was produced, and then banned in China. It’s a masterpiece in storytelling, cinematography, and even queer history. Seriously, go on AsianCrush (where it’s been licensed legally) and watch it. You might not ‘get it’ but it will be worth having seen to sculpt your movie-watching perspectives.

For those that don’t watch JDramas or Movies…

It’s always hard for me to make general suggestions for where someone completely new to Japanese drama or movies, should start. I mean both mediums have decades of material to shift through, cover thousands of genres and themes – it can be a bit overwhelming. With Jimi ni Sugoi!, I think it’s really approachable. There’s a rather relatable premise and themes, coupled with some well-known actors, and it’s just the right length to get a taste and see if your thing. Fish Story is not a story at first glance is ‘approachable’. However, I think it shows the strengths of Japanese cinema in a condensed form where it’ll be a pretty easy way to tell if a more mainstream or a more obscure film is next on your agenda.

And that, is all I’ve written folks! I hope the award categories and explanations were at least a bit amusing to read. Be sure to let me know if I inspired you to give this challenge style a try, or one of these titles (awarded or not) made it at least on your plan-to-watch list!

Advertisement