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since there has been several threads asking about how fans got into watching Tokusatsu, I thought why not for J-dramas too? anyways...

back in 2006, Malaysia brought in both of the live action Death Note movies and I went to check 'em out... becoming a huge fan of Toda Erika (who portrayed Amane Misa) as a result. I even went on to check out her J-drama works such as Nobuta wo Produce, Galcir etc. and everything was history. I even got to know other amazing actresses such as Aragaki Yui, Amami Yuki, Kitagawa Keiko etc. throughout my years of watching J-dramas and my current favourite is none other than Seventeen model/actress Shinkawa Yua, who I knew through GTO 2012. :)
 
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Apr 13, 2011
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Mine was a complicated road. Back around 2000-ish, Meteor Garden (Taiwanese Hana Yori Dango) was a huge hit over here. Also Animax was showing a subtitled Music Station where I got to learn about J-Pop. I really liked the Meteor Garden series, but felt it was incomplete.

Later on, the dubbed Hana Yori Dango (The Japanese version) was shown here as well and I realized that those guys are the same guys from Arashi (who I saw once in awhile at Music Station). I then went and downloaded the subtitled version of HYD 1 and 2. I really liked Inoue Mao's portrayal of Makino, and started watching Mao's other series First Kiss.

After that it was basically connect the dots with the actors and actresses I liked. The onset of NANA 2 made me curious who the actress replacing the wonderful Miyazaki Aoi was (Ichikawa Yui), so I watched Kurosagi, which introduced me Yamashita Tomohisa and Horikita Maki. Yamashita had tons of wonderful series which introduced me to Nagasawa Masami (ProDai and Dragon Zakura) and Eikura Nana (ProDai) and Kitagawa Keiko (Buzzer Beat). Horikita Maki led to HanaKimi. Dragon Zakura led to Hiroshi Abe's works, like the Trick Series, Dekichatta Kekkon, Kekkon Dekinai Otoko and Hero. And Hero led to another bunch of wonderful series with Kimura Takuya and a few more series with Takeuchi Yuko. After that it was basically following crushes, like Yoshitaka Yuriko and Naka Riisa.

On a side note, HanaKimi and Trick were series that actually helped lead me back to Kamen Rider after being exposed to Black as a kid.
 
Not-So-Rabid Blade Fangirl
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Dec 4, 2008
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I got into toku first, and then watched Gokusen because I'd heard there were lots of toku actors in it. Couldn't face watching the second and third seasons of that, but made me decide to watch Hana Yori Dango to see more Matsumoto Jun. ;)

After that it was pinball with actors (especially toku ones), so I saw Hana Kimi (for Shun but also for Hiro), Atashinshi no Danshi (for alll the toku actors) etc. These days I mostly watch ones that sound interesting, though I do have lots of favorite actors. I also keep an eye out for Johnny's guys (some of them are meh, but others are actually really good actors).
 
Hey, I'm Eian.
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Jun 19, 2008
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I remember exactly how I got into J-dramas. I had seen on wikipedia that there was a live adaptation to GTO, which is one of my favorite manga series. I mentioned that I was thinking of checking some dramas out to my best friend, Mike, and he told me I definitely should. Along with that, he also told me that I should check out a J-drama called 'Pride.' I actually download the episodes of Pride that had been subbed at the time and started it before GTO, but I ended up watching all of the first GTO drama in a few days before Pride had even finished airing, lol!

It all went downhill from there...........I don't want to contemplate how many hours I've spent watching J-drama now. I mean technically I've got one paused right now while writing this reply. So yeah, back to Kamen Teacher for me ;D
 
Not-So-Rabid Blade Fangirl
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Dec 4, 2008
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I've kept a list since 2008 of all the Asian media I've watched, like jdrama, movies, toku, etc. Not variety shows though, that list would be huuuge.

I have dates next to them and everything...
 
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Oct 29, 2013
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Watched Files of Young Kindaichi (season 1 and/or 2, can't remember) when I was really young (about 7) when they were airing in Singapore on TV, and also season 3 when I was older. I could barely remember 1 and 2 but I only know that I really loved it, though I could remember partially of 3 since I watched it more recently.

Then I was curious to rewatch season 1 and 2 since I forgotten totally about it, and really loved it.

Then I continued to watch other j-detective series which I've seen on TV before, like Trick and Galileo. My sister got hooked to it as well and she recommended me to watch Mr Brain too. J-detective dramas are just so epicly interesting :)

Well I only watch j-detective and toku since I have no interest in love/family dramas.
 
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J-detective dramas are just so epicly interesting :)

Well I only watch j-detective and toku since I have no interest in love/family dramas.

I agree. I'm a sucker for romance, but there are a few romance/relationship dramas that have failed me. But there is not a single J-detective show that threw me off, not even the silliest.

I also love it when the J-detective shows reference each other.
 
Actually back this time
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Jul 13, 2007
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I decided to watch Hana Kimi because of all the toku alumni that were in it. I ended up digging it a lot more than I thought I would and branched out from there.

I'm kinda out of the loop now, and only occasionally even look at one I think would be interesting. I really should go back and watch all the good ones I've missed these past few years.
 
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