Japanese dramas ;.;

I was poking around through wikipedia just now. I forget how I started out, but I was looking through all sorts of sites... from gemstones to flowers, chrysanthemum leading me to a page about Japanese emperors, and thereafter to NHK taiga dramas.

I miss watching those so much. ;.; I was so spoiled living in the Bay Area. Every weekend I could watch jdramas subbed on KTSF, a San Francisco based channel. The taiga dramas were always my favorite (year-long dramas based on Japanese history, huge productions with period sets and costuming and well-known Japanese actors), and I've long been wishing I could get a complete subbed collection of the taiga dramas based on Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.

My other favorite isn't a historical drama, but a "family" drama, called Churasan. I've mentioned it on earlier journal entries, and particularly in my old Nucleus journal, since I was posting there around when it was showing on KTSF. That series is such a tearjerker at times and has such lovable characters (Mariya is still my favorite!)

Anyway my nostalgia has led me to looking for torrents. Found some Churasan, but nothing in order from the beginning, and now I'm downloading Fuurin Kazan which was the last completed NHK taiga drama. The current one airing on Japanese TV is called Atsu-hime.

Interesting fact: apparently Gackt (as in the jpop/jrock star) plays Uesugi Kenshin in Fuurin Kazan. WTF?! I can't imagine Gackt as him at all... almost curious to see it just to go "WTF?" out loud.

But it's gonna be hours before I even get the first ep. *sigh* I wish jdramas enjoyed the kind of popularity that anime does. Seriously... I'd love to be able to walk into a store and see bunches of jdramas on sale. At least the taiga dramas, that would be great! And I don't see why people who like anime wouldn't like them, too. They're live action, but the high budget ensures quality. There might be some bending of historical facts, but does anyone who watches anime care about that, anyway?

I guess part of my nostalgia is that jdramas remind me of some of the few good memories of my childhood, too. I truly enjoyed watching them. I remember how I used to be all obsessed with Japanese stuff, and I'd get my mom to drive me to Japantown so I could visit Nikoku and buy anime related things, or to the tofu shop that used to be open there, or to the little market to buy mochi and pocky and stuff like that. I remember buying Ranma 1/2 manga in the original Japanese because back then, they weren't even being translated. Actually no... I lied, Viz *started* to, but they were doing it all wrong, trying to sell manga in American comic issue size. The popularity of the "graphic novel" today shows how well manga can sell when it's marketed *right*. :O

Everything just seemed simpler then, when I think about it. But then again, I wasn't quite as self-aware then as I am today.

When I was in high school I would walk over to Nikoku or, when I could drive, take my car there. Later on, bigger Japanese markets opened... there was the Mitsuwa (I don't think it was called that then, though) in Saratoga, for example. That was where I was able to rent all my episodes of Violinist of Hamelin (I still like the anime better than the manga :P) and Utena and Slayers (well, that was more my sister's idea at first).

And when I lived in Riverside, I found out through Mapquest where to find Kinokuniya bookstores and other Japanese stores so I could drive there at my leisure. I'd buy Japanese magazines and CDs. It boggles me today how there's actually English versions of Newtype and other anime mags, and even local versions of anime and video game soundtracks. o.o SO much has changed.

And yet jdramas are still ignored. Whyyyyy~ maybe Japan wants to at least keep some part of their entertainment to themselves? I dunno! :P I'm not even as big of an anime fan as I used to be, but I'd still pay to watch jdramas if I could get a hold of them. Such a shame. :( For now I'll just torrent and hope I can even get a hold of a full series that way. o.o