Looks like I unexpectedly hitched myself to the breakout J-dorama hit of the fall season with Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu. It really is a surprise because renzouku doramas have not done well with ratings in Japan in over a decade, if not longer. Even my last J-dorama crack with Rich Man, Poor Woman did mostly low teens to high single digit ratings. KwKY is a bona fide ratings hit and now has claimed the crown of a popular poll of Japanese female viewers favorite doramas. I really hope the networks take note of this and bring back more J-romance doramas in the future.
The sweet and sincere KwKY is hands down the ladies fave dorama of the fall 2014 season, tripling the votes of second place N no Tameni which is just edging out another dorama I’m watching Gomen ne Seishun. Leading lady Ayase Haruka remains beloved and won the favorite actress vote also by a near triple vote huge margin, but surprisingly the domestic viewers much prefer young Fukushi Sota over fine wine Tamaki Hiroshi, as Sota won favorite male supporting actor over third place winner Hiroshi. Can I have just both?
好きなドラマ (Favorite dorama)
1位 きょうは会社休みます。 213人 (Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu)
2位 Nのために 91人 (N no Tameni)
3位 ごめんね青春！ 78人 (Gomen ne Seishun!)
好きな主演俳优 (Favorite male lead)
1位 西岛秀俊 155人 (Nishijima Hidetoshi)
2位 竹野内豊 99人 (Takenouchi Yutaka)
3位 小栗旬 83人 (Oguri Shun)
好きな主演女优 (Favorite female lead)
1位 绫瀬はるか 277人 (Ayase Haruka)
2位 米仓凉子 93人 (Yonekura Ryoko)
3位 石原さとみ 63人 (Ishihara Satomi)
好きな助演俳优 (Favorite male supporting)
1位 福士苍汰 91人 (Fukushi Sota)
2位 窪田正孝 49人 (Kubota Masataka)
3位 玉木宏 46人 (Tamaki Hiroshi)
好きな助演女优 (Favorite female supporting)
1位 柴咲コウ 67人 (Shibasaki Kou)
2位 満岛ひかり 65人 (Matsushima Hikari)
3位 相武纱季 49人 (Aibu Saki)
Sota > Tamaki? Woah. I can’t say I agree but I can’t exactly disagree either. It’s very hard to say no to Sota’s dimpled smiles.
And yay for KwKY and Ayase garnering their much deserved fan love. ^^
For the voting on the actors, was it just in general how much they are liked right now or is it for a specific dorama? Like did Oguri Shun get third place for Border or Nobunaga Concerto? I’m mostly asking because I believe the last dorama that Ishihara Satomi was in was Shitsuren Chocolatier and despite her being adorable her character was terrible.
The article is about Fall 2014 dramas, so Oguri would be for Nobunaga Concerto, while Ishihara is in this season’s Dear Sister.
Wait a minute, Tamaki Hiroshi is a second male lead/male supporting ? It doesn’t do main lead anymore ?
I am sorry, I don’t watch a lot of JDoramas nowadays so I am not that updated but I don’t know, it feels weird. I thought he was pretty big/had popularity in Japan ? Or it’s all in the past ? LOL.
Both male leads in KwKY are considered supporting characters to the female lead as this is her story and female-driven. It’s just how this vote characterized them, nothing to do with popularity overall in the industry or anything beyond actors and doramas that are favorites for this fall 2014 TV season.
Mmm… I’d find this more believable if Fukushi had more than two expressions.
I don’t think the ladies care about how many expressions Sota can make. Really, he’s basically a shoujo manga male lead come to life.
I find that kinda sad, to be honest. But oh well.
I guess I am just old.While I think Suto is very cute and sweet in an offhand, I just want to tousle his hair kind of way, Hiroshi is all kinds of lethal to me.
Same here. Puppy looks like a boy & not a man to me & his acting is limited. Nothing attracts me in him while usually i’m all for noona romances whatever the nationality, lol.
Same here. The stiff kid leaves me indifferent. Welcome to the Grumpy Smexy Ladies Club! 😀
Agghhh does that mean for sure the heroine is going to end up with the young guy? I kinda knew that somewhere in my head (from that Last Cinderella drama I watched)…but boy, what a bummer~~!!! I do find myself frustrated but still keep on watching the show…frustrated cause I just can’t believe at the portrayal of the heroine. I find her gratingly annoying. Can she be MORE clueless? *sarcasm*
Luv tis article. Pls continue every season as it gives gd insights into which jdoramas to watch out for. Arigato gozaimasu.
Nishijima Hidetoshi always on top <3 he's da boss on both seasons of MOZU and I cannot agree more with him leading by far on the male leads category … he has the talent and the visuals <3
About the female leads , well, I think Ayase has no competition in the industry … she's a decent actress(who keeps improving with every new project) and her talent to pick good dramas is truly amazing , almost every single of her dramas is a hit no matter the genre . Coincidentally weeks ago I finished Yae No Sakura with Ayase and Nishijima Hidetoshi and yeah , I can understand why both of them are the audience's favorite …. I'm still surprised at myself for finishing a whole Taiga drama XD ( and I loved it!)
About the Sota/Tamaki thing … well, u can't blame young girls for voting for the puppy , just give them few years and I'm sure they'll learn to appreciate the good wine Hiroshi kun just like they've been doing with the fine Hidetoshi Nishijima ^^
Btw, there's more Tamaki Hiroshi coming this January to doramaland! Cannot wait to see him on his first try as husband and dad *_*
I plan on marathoning “Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu” after it’s completed.
But I’m watching “N no tameni” right now and really loving it. It’s a mystery drama with a very tragic and touching romantic sub-plot. Kubota Masataka is giving a really good performance.
I’m happy to see Japanese audiences responding to romance dramas again. I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll make a grand return to the romance genre.
Fall is usually a great time for Jodoramas and myself and this year is one of the best in years! I’m enjoying every drama I picked up keeping me 5-6 hrs deep. Lol.
And maybe I am just “too old” but Suto suits me much more. I’m not interested at all in the young’un, my opinion has nothing to do with age but his acting limitations may play a larger factor. And though I can/try to understand why our main character is attached to him— I don’t see why he’d be “favored” by the audience. However, we all make our choices concerning apples and oranges.
*sorry, nicknames slip in subconsciously, I was referring to Asao, Tamaki’s character.
I haven’t even watched Kyowa kaisha yasumimasu but I have been watching N no tame ni which is very good, unfortunately it’s being subbed very slowly.I think Ayase is the new ratings queen even though I don’t like all her doramas. Also gomen ne seishun is hilarious, I love Kudo Kankuro’s works and this is so good. I adore Mitsushima Hikari and even Nishikado Ryo has been a positive surprise.The entire cast is awesome and I love how wacky it is.
Suteki na sen taxi is also something that I occasionally watch, Takenouchi Yutaka <3 waiting for more episodes of Nobunaga concerto because it's awesome!
Dear sister, I find the characters annoying. If I had a sister like that I'd break all contact.
Something about Mitsushima Hikari annoys me. I keep trying to watch GnS and it’s such a slog because of her whereas I almost always lurve Ryo (except when he’s playing abusive boyfriends and other bad boys of the like).
It looks like I might be part of an even smaller subset as a male watching this than I am watching K-Dramas. This is one more debt I owe Ms Koala, for recommending/raving about it. I just wish it was being subbed a little quicker. I’m loving pretty much everything about it, but have no strong preference who the delightful Hanae ends up with. I do like the increasingly cute puppy Kagami, andf hope that he “gets the girl”, too.
I don’t think you’re in a small subset. Ayase Haruka is insanely popular with the male audience in Japan. This was but one poll in one Japanese ladies magazine so no intention of discounting the male audience watching this dorama.
i watch N No Tameni and Dear Sister. KKY, im not interested on it since it’s noona-dongsaeng love.. i dunno what it called in Japanese, my apologize.. 🙂
This is my fav to watch right now as well… and I’ll take the boy toy anyday~
Dear Sister is my favorite jdrama for this season, I’ve read the manga of KWKY so maybe that’s why I’m not too eager to start on KWKY. I think in the manga itself, both male leads are pretty much on equal footing or I can even say that the younger guy is even more mature than the heroine and the older guy can be a little bit too pushy at times so I ended up rooting for the younger guy in the manga. However, they have Tamaki as the older guy in the drama version, that will be a dilemma for me…
does it good, dear sister?
YES <3
I’m only at ep 2.I’m surprise that chiaki is there and how he only appear for 5 minutes . Can I get spoiler? Does she end up with the yuto boy? coz then I have to drop this drama.
I’m 19 and I still prefer Tamaki Hiroshi to Fukushi Sota. But I guess to each her own!