"What is this?" some of you might ask. "Is this a Japanese word, or have you forgotten that the word 'drama' does not contain an 'o'?" I certainly haven't forgotten how the word 'drama' is spelled, but the Japanese pronunciation of the word, 'dorama', means both 'drama' as a genre of film, book or tv show, and a particular type of television show that is particularly popular in countries like Japan and Korea. It is this type of television show that this article is about.
Dorama are considered extremely cool in Japan as a type of entertainment. Dorama are different from American television shows, in that your average season for a dorama will last for three months rather than a full year. Dorama will also often only last for one season, although there are certainly many exceptions to this rule. Each episode normally lasts for 30 minutes or one hour, and each season is shown during one of the four Japanese television seasons (Winter (January–March), Spring (April–June), Summer (July–September), and Autumn (October–December)). There are several different types of dorama, usually distinguishable by the time of day in which they’re shown. Morning and afternoon dorama are shown on weekdays every day, and in terms of story formula they are quite similar to western daytime soap operas. For this article I will be focusing on the more popular evening dorama, which are shown weekly at either 9pm, 10pm, or sometimes 11pm. These dorama are more similar to western TV shows like Glee or Big Bang Theory, and there are normally about 10-12 episodes in each series. For the sake of gaining and maintaining good ratings, the makers of dorama have a few tricks up their sleeves. These tricks make dorama captivating, and cool in the eyes of the Japanese.
It seems as though, to make a dorama popular, at least some of the following criteria should be met:
Dorama are considered extremely cool in Japan as a type of entertainment. Dorama are different from American television shows, in that your average season for a dorama will last for three months rather than a full year. Dorama will also often only last for one season, although there are certainly many exceptions to this rule. Each episode normally lasts for 30 minutes or one hour, and each season is shown during one of the four Japanese television seasons (Winter (January–March), Spring (April–June), Summer (July–September), and Autumn (October–December)). There are several different types of dorama, usually distinguishable by the time of day in which they’re shown. Morning and afternoon dorama are shown on weekdays every day, and in terms of story formula they are quite similar to western daytime soap operas. For this article I will be focusing on the more popular evening dorama, which are shown weekly at either 9pm, 10pm, or sometimes 11pm. These dorama are more similar to western TV shows like Glee or Big Bang Theory, and there are normally about 10-12 episodes in each series. For the sake of gaining and maintaining good ratings, the makers of dorama have a few tricks up their sleeves. These tricks make dorama captivating, and cool in the eyes of the Japanese.
It seems as though, to make a dorama popular, at least some of the following criteria should be met:
1) The dorama must be based on a well-known manga series
2) The dorama must star at least one popular J-Pop idol or actor.
3) The dorama must deal with modern-day real-life themes and scenarios
4) The dorama must know what its target audience and genre are, and be shown on the appropriate TV network.
5) Most importantly, the dorama must have a captivating story.
If these conditions are met, the dorama will surely be successful. These tactics seem to have worked countless times on popular dorama in the past, such as GTO, Hana Yori Dango, Nobuta wo Produce, Gokusen, Kimi wa Petto and Orange Days. TV networks in Japan are forever concerned with making sure that their shows rate well, and since dorama feature so prominently in Japanese television, making a dorama as appealing to the target audience as possible is essential. The more the TV networks can draw an audience in, the better.
Manga is extremely popular in Japan (a fact I explore in detail in my article on manga). The cute drawings, diverse stories and weekly-to-monthly releases of new chapters make manga instantly captivating. So it makes perfect sense to base a dorama that you are hoping will gain popularity on a manga series that is already known and loved by many. Since dorama are enjoyed mostly by young women, Shojo manga (manga written for women) series’ tend to be used. Also, because dorama are relatively cheaply made, and as a result it is impossible to recreate the same ethereal and spectacular spectacles that can be seen in some manga, dorama tend to focus on more real-life (or at least, not sci-fi or fantasy) manga stories. Of course, these manga series’ are often made into anime as well, along with the dozens of other manga series’ that are unsuitable for dorama.
It also makes a lot of sense, in the eyes of a producer of a dorama series, to cast well-known stars in the lead roles. If we again bear in mind that dorama is aimed mainly at women, it makes sense that casting popular male stars is a matter of far more importance than casting popular female stars (although, casting popular female stars also helps). These stars come in two varieties: a) stars who specialise in acting alone, such as Shun Oguri and Shota Matsuda, and b) stars who are also J-Pop idols, such as Jun Matsumoto, Tomohisa Yamashita and Kazuya Kamenashi. This is similar to how casting for TV shows and movies in the western world works. More people will naturally want to watch something if there are some relatively famous people in it. And in Japan, there are few people more famous than J-Pop idols and actors who already have several successful dorama in their resumes.
Dorama in modern times have also demonstrated a tendency to look into modern-day issues, such as violence, bullying, modern-day family life, etc. Bullying is an issue focused on strongly in Nobuta wo Produce, and issues involving privilege and prejudice prevail in Hana Yori Dango. This style of dorama that focuses on these real-life issues is known as “trendy drama”, and it was invented in the late 1980s. The idea behind trendy drama was to reach an audience with themes that covered real-life Japan at the time of production. As such, the formula for trendy drama is often tweaked to meet changes in real-life Japan as time goes on. The system appears to have worked, as dorama that deal with these themes is among the most popular in Japan.
Although dorama are not as astonishingly diverse as the likes of manga, there are still a variety of different genres (romance, history, drama, horror, etc) amongst them, and it is naturally important to promote dorama of different genres to their relevant audiences. In Japan, it appears as though a primary method used to do this is to have dorama of different genres airing on different TV networks. Fuji TV and NTV have the most popular 9pm dorama that generally feature love stories and are aimed more towards the younger female population. TV Asahi tends to favour period dorama, called jidaigeki, and crime-situated stories. NHK tries to reach an older demographic, and will often have epic period dorama of historical significance, and inspiring dorama with strong-willed heroes and heroines. This method makes sense. There is no point in having a period drama of historical significance on a network that mainly airs programs for younger audiences that generally are not interested in that sort of thing. By separating the dorama into the appropriate networks for their genre, their chances of the dorama becoming popular amongst their target audience increases.
And then of course, there is the story. Not every dorama has to be based on a manga, and not every dorama has to have well-known Japanese celebrities starring in it, for it to be successful. However, there is no hope for any dorama series to be successful if there is not a good story attached to it. This might seem obvious, since having a good story is surely important in all forms of media, but I would quickly disagree. Popular American TV series’ have little to no story. A show like Glee is about a bunch of high school kids who are trying to win a singing competition. Big Bang Theory is about the day-to-day shenanigans of four geniuses and one pretty next-door neighbour. And it is very difficult to determine what story, if any, there was in past popular TV series’ like Friends and Seinfeld. This is because these series’ run for several seasons apiece, and the beauty of these series’ lies more in the diversity and integration of the characters. Dorama, on the other hand, generally only run for one season, and because of that the one season is a self-contained unit. It would be difficult to have such a short series be successful if there was not some sort of story or some sort of ultimate resolution at the end of it. Character interactions play a large part in making the story progress, but at the end of every good dorama, there is a definite story ending.
In conclusion, dorama is a type of television-based entertainment that is similar to a western TV series, but not completely identical. There are a number of compelling reasons to watch a dorama, including the commonly-held belief that dorama is captivating and entertaining, as well as a great way to practise your Japanese if you are a Japanese learner. Due to the amount of attention that is put towards making dorama as audience-friendly as possible, there is no doubt that it is one of the coolest things in modern Japan.
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