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Japanese Historical Drama Recommendations

Knavery

Anyone got recommendations for Japanese historical dramas that are fun/funny or epic like many Chinese historical dramas? I think I have gone through the majority of Korean/Chinese stuff so I wanted to try something a little different.

I really liked Nobunaga Concerto for example. A guy travels back in time and kind of becomes the reluctant hero of the people of medieval Japan. A decent mix of comedy and heart.

I tried Ashi Girl(?) but I think it stopped being subbed late in the game so I dropped it. That was OK and I could definitely watch something like that again but it wasn't exactly my style.

My favorite 'historical' dramas:

Go Princess, Go! (and probably soon to be Mr. Queen from Korea)

Oh My General

Nirvana in Fire

Nobunaga Concerto (as listed above)

Shine or Go Crazy (Korean drama)

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Sonme

If you don’t mind long shows you should try asadoras. They are generally well written and I enjoy learning about what happened during different time periods in various industries in Japan. Some of the stories are based on real people and some are fictional. They all have both comedic and dramatic moments. My favorite asadoras have been:

Beppin-san: A woman starts a children’s clothing business during the devastation of WWII.
Gochisousan: A woman from Tokyo who loves food marries into a family in Osaka. Set during the Taisho and Showa eras.
Hiyokko: A woman who grows up in the country settles in Tokyo in the 1960s to track down her missing father.
Natsuzora: One of my favorite historical dramas ever. A woman who lost her birth family during WWII grows up with an adoptive family on a farm in Hokkaido. She later moves to Tokyo and becomes an animator during the early days of Japanese animation.

There are also dramas called taigas that you might be interested in. I don't have any recommendations for those since I haven't finished any of them but many of them center around the shogunate eras. There are tags for both asadora and taiga dramas on mydramalist as well.

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TimiZero

Ashi Girl has finished being subbed as far as I remember...and there is a subbed SP too

In general, Japanese historical may not appear as fun or epic as Korean and Chinese. Many are based on or spin-off-ed of a real people and events so the production will try to stay with the actual fact as much as possible.  This give Japanese historical less freedom in terms of creativity. The most they could do is time travel...haha

Some are based on legend, classic novels or folklore. In this case, it's similar to Chinese but the way the ancient Japanese social-political worked will make it impossible for it to appear as "grand" as Chinese historical.....the clothing, architecture, fighting art are usually stayed close to the authentic one. However their ninja could appear fancy and more action-pact in fighting.

I think the most important thing if you want to try out Japanese historical is to get ready for a different kind of journey...J historical can't be viewed as  C or K historical

As for the suggestion, I haven't seen the drama you listed above except Nobunaga Concerto....so I don't know if this will do any good to you

Seirei no Moribito (consist of 3 short seasons) - this is the only Japanese historical that I know featuring a totally fictional backdrop and more easy to relate....in here there are 3 fictional kingdoms and it also has fictional social role like shaman (which never existed in typical J-historical)

Jin (2 seasons of short episodes) - you must have heard about this time travel drama....but it's around 19th century so some modern tech will appear in this

Mi wo Tsukushi Ryouricho - story about common people though...there are several adaptations, but the one that I've watched and liked was Kuroki Haru version

Tsuma wa Kunoichi (2 seasons) - for some reason I like this drama LoL..it's about a weak husband married to a ninja wife....yup, it's cliched but nice to see some ninja actions

Nobunaga no Chef (2 seasons) - time travel and meet Nobunaga and become his chef....I don't like it though...similar vibe with Ashi Girl (which I don't like too)

Hotarugusa - I haven't watched it yet but it's got some good review...it's my PTW

There are many that I have watched especially Taiga Drama but I don't think it's beginner friendly unless you really want to learn about Japanese history

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mjf314

Jin

I've only seen one historical J-drama so far, but I liked it.  I see that you've already watched it, but I'm mentioning it anyway, in case there are other people who haven't seen it.

If you don't mind an anime recommendation, then I recommend The Rose of Versailles, which is about the period leading up to the French revolution.

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