Saturday, January 14, 2017

The 1st Dorama World Awards 2016 - Winners in the Best Drama category

Finally, here is the last category to be announced i.e. Best Drama!

In terms of the voting pattern, it does look like the dramas shown later in the year had a slight advantage initially probably because it is human nature to remember something which happened nearer in time. As such, it took some time before the dramas from Winter 2016 and Spring 2016 to start amassing votes from their supporters. In addition, none of the dramas from the top 5 came from the summer which seems to suggest that the offerings in that season did not really impress the voters.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the top 5 dramas of 2016 as voted by you!



At No.5, we have two dramas i.e. 99.9 Keiji Senmon Bengoshi and Juuhan Shuttai! which were tied at 72 points. Coincidentally, both dramas were shown during the spring season where the former was the ratings winner while the latter was a favourite among critics and picked up some awards.

Juuhan Shuttai! actually looked like a promising bet for the top spot at the beginning of the voting period and was giving No.3 a run for its money as they kept switching places. However, the drama failed to get many votes compared to the others in the top 5 from the second week onwards thus it had to settle for No.5.

As for 99.9, it didn't really make an impression at first until the number of votes started to pick up in the second week. It was rather late by then to climb further upwards but still managed to squeeze into the top 5.


No. 3 Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu - 74 points

NigeHaji actually had a blazing start and looked like the sure-win for this category as seen by the many guesses which placed their bet on this title. However, it had a similar issue like Juuhan Shuttai! where the votes sort of dried up towards the end. Coupled with the phenomenal influx of votes for No.1 in the second week of the voting period,  the gap was too big to be closed so NigeHaji ended up being ranked No.3.
At first, nobody probably expected NigeHaji to become the much-talked-about hit of the year because its first episode's rating was just 10.2% but it was more than doubled to 20.8% by the time it finished its run. This goes to show that hit dramas can slowly build up their momentum even if they do not start off strong.
Personally, I don't quite like such romance comedies based on manga as they usually tend to be quite fluffy and unrealistic so I wasn't keen on this drama in the first place. Nonetheless, I did watch the digest versions which TBS put up generously on their YouTube channel and think that it is not as bad as I thought. Despite so, given the nature of the genre, this is probably something which won't go down well with me.


No.2 Kaitou Yamaneko - 90 points

In the first few days of the voting, this drama hardly made an impression but its supporters turned out in full force suddenly in the middle of the voting period and helped it grab the top spot easily. As such, it looked almost certain that Kaitou Yamaneko was going to beat NigeHaji which was seen as the hot favourite. However, the eventual No.1 rose up the ranks so quickly in the second week and earned so many points that it was not possible for this drama to overcome the deficit.
As I've not watched this drama, I am not in a position to comment on it but it will be nice to hear from you guys why you voted for this.


And the title of Best Drama goes to Doctor X 4 ~ Gekai Daimon Michiko ~ with 172 points!

As seen from the strong support by the voters, it's pretty obvious that Doctor X is such a huge favourite that it had beaten the most-talked about drama this autumn i.e. NigeHaji. As Daimon's catchphrase puts it, she never fails so it's not surprising that the drama is the No.1 in terms of ratings and has received pretty good reviews. Support for the drama was slow at first but just like what happened in the Best Actress and Best Theme Song categories, the votes for the drama in this category came in fast and furious that it just swept all the supposed sure-wins off the No.1 spots.

And for those who are interested to know which dramas I voted for, they all did not make it to the top 5 but here is the list:

No.1 Boku no Yabai Tsuma
No.2 Kaseifu no Mitazono
No.3 Chef ~ Mitsuboshi no Kyuushoku ~
No.4 Naomi to Kanako

I think I have said enough about how much I liked Boku no Yabai Tsuma in my earlier posts but just to put it in a nutshell, the story's twists and turns and great acting from the cast made this the most memorable work I watched in 2016. Kaseifu no Mitazono had an interesting story and great acting from Mabo although I would have preferred it not to have an ending like Kazoku Game where you still did not know the background of the lead character. Chef was a feel-good drama with a positive message which was accentuated by Amami Yuki's charismatic performance. Last but not least, Naomi to Kanako was generally good for its suspense element despite the loopholes in its story but it was still better than I expected.

Now that all winners have been announced, I would like to thank all of you for your participation and support in this event. Whether the winners were who or what you chose, I hope that you had fun in the process. Keep watching the dramas in 2017 and we'll pick our favourites again at the end of the year!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I get it now why Yonekura was top the actress rating list with 5A price tag. She surely is popular.

But honestly I still don't understand what make Doctor X (and Aibou too). I had watches tons medical jdorama (and procedural too), but I don't see what make those two dorama standout significantly from the other.

Okay, may be it just me don't have same preference as most people.

yukari

Anonymous said...

Ryoko is one of the most successful actress in Japan , her popularity is no joke too!


The formula of Doctor X is "Hot female Doctor"

Yonekura Ryoko’s performance as Daimon is what makes this series so fun to watch. As the highly skilled surgeon whose catchphrase is “I never fail”, she carries the show through its somewhat formulaic concept with a compelling yet carefree air, as adept at playing it straight and serious when the scene calls for it as she is during the show’s lighter moments.While Daimon’s default expression is “stoic and indifferent” most of the time, Ryoko’s performance gives you the impression that there is so much more to Daimon, and she excels in bringing that out during the few scenes where the mask slips a little. Ryoko won several Best Actress awards for her portrayal of Daimon in Japan’s Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix and Television Drama Academy.

With Daimon unsurprisingly the main focus of the show, the supporting characters are given little to do beyond helping to move the plot forward (and constantly reminding us what a “demon” she is, apparently).


Anonymous said...

I'm with you on your choices, especially Boku no Yabai Tsuma, Chef and Naomi/Kanako. Yonekura may be competent but even she can't save a hackneyed medical drama series.

junny said...

Doctor X? Really? Sigh.

Chiaki said...

Hi Yukari, I guess there must be something about Aibou or Doctor X which attract so many viewers but somehow we don't feel the same way. It all boils down to personal preferences, I guess. What's popular may not be our cup of tea after all.

Hi Junny, I was personally quite disappointed that Boku no Yabai Tsuma was totally overlooked but honestly, since I haven't watched a single episode of Doctor X at all, I don't think I'm in a position to say whether it deserves the title. All I can say is that there are many among my blog's readers who like it well enough to make the effort to vote for it. ^__^

Anonymous said...

Hmmm most of the dramas voted came from either Fall and summer.. I don't know, let's say the recent ones. But Doctor X season 4, unbelievable.. Despite finishing it, I can say it's the worst season in Doctor X in terms of story and under utilized cast. But the medical cases there were great. Doctor X SP was way better. =(

I hope they just use different plot for Doctor X moving forward. Cold case was the most underrated of the year. hehe