The drama is a Japanese television series. The word is derived from the English drama. Now in Russia and Western countries, dramas are called not only Japanese television series, but also South Korean, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Chinese.
Japanese television dramas can be based on a book, a biography of a famous person, historical events, a full-length film, an anime, or a manga. By genre, these series can be detective, mystical thriller, science fiction, fantasy, historical drama, melodrama, etc.
Typically a season of a drama consists of 10 or 14 episodes, since the television year in Japan is strictly divided into four seasons. Winter begins in January, spring - in April, summer - in July, autumn - in May. There is a two-week break between seasons, during which additional episodes of the drama or documentaries about the production of the series are shown.
Each episode of a drama usually lasts about an hour. The plot is usually linear, and each new episode continues the story from where the previous one ended. The narrative in a drama always has a logical conclusion. In the past, even the very popular Japanese TV series did not have sequels, but now, following the Western model, many dramas are renewed for a second season.
The target audience for these series is young, which distinguishes dramas from Latin American soap operas, and is predominantly female. However, there are also television series specifically targeted at older men, boys, and women.
A drama's rating is often determined by the notoriety of its actors. For example, the participation of Kimura Takui, popular actor and vocalist of the pop group SMAP, has consistently brought success to the series. The drama Beautiful Life, in which he starred, is one of the most watched dramas in Japanese television history.
Among Japanese actors, there is no clear division between those who star in dramas and those who play in full-length films. Often in television series, idols are filmed - young Japanese popular singers and singers. Such a choice is not always justified, since non-professional actors often cannot reliably play the role of a particular character, which negatively affects the rating of the series.
Japanese television series based on anime or manga are commonly referred to as Live-action. This type of drama can bear some imprint of the original genres, which is noticeable in the exaggerated expression of emotions, characteristic types of characters, stylized speech, etc. An example of a similar series is Gokusen. Sometimes the manga or anime behind a drama doesn't track in a new piece, like the Death Note TV series.