The Dorama Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953

by Motoko Tamamuro and Jonathan Clements

Deeply connected to Japanese anime, manga, music, and film is . . . Japanese TV. This encyclopedic survey of the next cultural tsunami to hit America has over one thousand entries--including production data, synopses, and commentaries--on everything from rubber-monster shows to samurai drama, from crime to horror, unlocking an entire culture's pop history as never before. Over one hundred fifty of these shows have been broadcast on American TV,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880656817
• ISBN13: 9781880656815
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
• Length: 441 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Finally a book for Japanese dorama fans!!!

This is the book that Japanese drama fans have been waiting for. As a fan and also a creator of the online J!-ENT Japanese Dorama Database, it is a real pleasure to see a book not only covering Japanese drama but also sentai and including anime references for the anime fans who have discovered Japanese dramas. Within the last five years, there has been a significant Japanese dorama boom in many countries thanks to the growing popularity of anime, Japanese music and Japanese/Asian entertainment. Although Japanese drama is not readily available as Japanese animation or Asian cinema on DVD, there is a growing fandom for dramas thanks to the International channels, Japanese rental stores, fan-trading/subbing, BT and VCD's. What I like about this book is that it has something for everyone. For fans looking for information on trendy Japanese dramas, the very long duration NHK and TBS dramas (especially those samurai/historical dramas), sentai and of course, dramas within the last fifty years, I was very impressed how the authors handled and included them in this book. What I worried about the most was the translation or the titles that would be used for the drama because what other countries have used as their English title for a Japanese drama has nothing to do with the translated title and thus, I was happy by the way this book handled that. One thing that also impressed me is the author and Stone Book Press's dedication to update the encyclopedia (there are dramas missing and a few errors but they are not as numerous and can be fixed in the next version especially with the input from readers). For a freshman book, it actually surpassed what I was expecting and I highly recommend the purchase of this book. So, may you be the trendy drama fan like me or the fan who just watched the live version of GTO or You're Under Arrest and are hooked and want more! This book is THE ONLY SOURCE that you will find this much information on Japanese dramas.-KNDY

Truly Amazing

Just when you thought there was nothing new to say about Japanese popular culture, this incredible book rolls off the presses. Riding the "dorama" wave within anime and manga fandom, the authors have opened up an entirely new area in Japanese media studies. Very few cultures have such guides to their TV available -- only the USA, the UK and Brazil have any comparable volumes in existence. The introduction is particularly interesting, demonstrating the earth-shattering effects of the English-language broadcasting industry -- simply by being five years ahead after the war, the USA came to dominate the style and practise of Japanese TV. Superman becomes Ultraman, the Westerns become samurai dramas, and, amazingly, one of the most influential TV shows in Japan *today* is still the all-but-forgotten American "Thirtysomething". An incredible window into the way that English-language culture is transformed when viewed through the eyes of another nation.

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Japanese TV

This is a well thought out and researched project into the history of Japanese television. Not only does Clements and Tamamuro catalog all available references, they cross-reference them to untold degrees, AND provide a concise overview of the industry's history. There are also amusing sidebars with observations and bits of trivia not found in any other compliation of this type.This is a MUST for any fan of the Japanese culture and an eye-opening experience for those who equate Japanese entertainment to pop music and anime.Definitely a comprehensive source of information for anyone in the industry or just needing a pop culture reference.

a whole new world of tv

I never thought Stone Bridge could improve on their wonderful Anime Encyclopedia, but then again, I never thought that there would be several hundred live-action manga adaptations I had never heard of! Clements and Tamamuro have a clear love of Japanese television and a witty sense of humor that makes me laugh out loud, but they have also constructed this 440-page edifice with hefty academic tools. The bibliography cites a majority of Japanese-language sources, and an appendix gives Mandarin titles to help fans in the Chinese-speaking world. As an unexpected gift, the book lists an additional thousand TV shows from America, including details of their Japanese broadcast dates and retitling. An introduction gives a succinct outline history of television broadcasting in Japan, with fascinating tangents about globalisation in broadcast media, the appeal of rubber monsters, and the overseas effects of America's 2nd Golden Age of TV broadcasting. The Dorama Encyclopedia is an amazing resource for anyone interested in the effect that the likes of Steve Bochco, Mary Tyler Moore, George Reeves and Gerry Anderson had in the distant land of Japan, and I'm pleased to see that Bayside Shakedown, GTO and Kimpachi, my favorite shows of the 1990s, receive giant entries that detail just why they were so important in the Japanese TV world. Sadly, the book went to press before the release of the awful Sailor Moon dorama; a crying shame because I would love to have heard what the authors made of it.

Invaluable! A Must For Any Japanese Drama Fan...

While being far from being complete, Jonathan Clements' "the Dorama Encyclopedia" is none-the-less an invaluable resource for those wanting to know about Japanese TV Dramas since 1953. Clements and his staff of researchers should be commended for their valued efforts. I was very much pleased and surprised by many of their inclusions. Many shows which I thought would be overlooked are included. Such obscure shows like "Private Eye Story", "Unbalanced", "Buska", "OL Police" and "Uchu G-Men" are given very good entries. Tokusatsu Fans will be especially pleased by the inclusion of most of the Super Sentai Shows from "Go Ranger" to the current "Aba Ranger" as well as perenial favorites such as "Zone Fighter", "Kikaida", "Ultraman" and even the Toei/Marvel Comics version of "Spiderman". Trendy Drama fans will also rejoice at the inclusion of many favorities including "Tokyo Love Story", "Love Generation", "Love 2000" and "101st Proposal". Even cult shows such as "G-Men '75", "Sukeban Deka", "Sign Is V", "Sure Death", "Kamen Rider", "Seibu Police" and "Zatoichi" are covered. As is to be expected, with this amount of coverage, there isn't much room to put any detailed information in but for the most part, the entries are sufficient to give the reader a general idea of plot and storyline. My only complaint is that the promise of photos from the various shows never materializes. In many instances we are given line drawings and black and white artist sketches of some of the shows in question, which I found to be a bit of a letdown. In one silly instance the entry for "Kamen Rider" shows a toy (Kamen Rider Black RX on a Motorcycle). Another nitpick is that some notable omissions are found. Such shows such as "Playgirl", "Big City", "Resolved! Zubat", "Stewardess Story" and "Doberman Detectives", and "Zero Zero Kunoichi" are not included. All in all however I was very much impressed by the scope of the entries. Kudos to Stone Bridge Press for another great and well-researched resource!