Best movies & TV Shows like Dandan

In the post-war Gion district of Kyoto, the geisha Miyoharu agrees to apprentice the 16 year-old Eiko, whose mother was a former geisha who had just died. After a year of training they have to find a large sum of money before Eiko can debut. Miyoharu borrows the money from the tea-house owner, Okimi, who in turn obtains the money from the businessman Kusuda. Kusuda fancies Eiko himself and wants to give Miyoharu to Kanzaki in order to close a large business deal. However both geishas have minds of their own and, going against tradition, want to be able to say no to clients.

Before he hit it big, Takeshi Kitano got his start apprenticing with comedy legend Fukami of Asakusa. But as his star rises, his mentor's declines.

Natsuko is so good at using that super-strong vagina of hers that she can fuck guys to death. In the end, she’s pitted against a sexual superman and a showdown ensues. There’s also a subplot about a mad scientist type who needs vaginal juices to create a potion designed to turn Japanese girls black.

Kimihiko Onizuka is a salaryman infatuated with maiko (apprentice geisha) and whose greatest goal in life is to play a party game called "yakyuken" with one.

Genji, the son of the emperor, is the talk of the Kyoto nobility for his charm and good looks, yet he cannot stop himself from pursuing an unobtainable object of desire: his father's young and beautiful bride. Following the tragic consequences of his obsession, Genji wanders from one affair to another, always seeking some sort of completion to his life.

Ichijo Zentaro, an inspector who is a trend junkie and loves to use out-of-fashion vocabulary used by high school girls, works together with Yuki Maria, a sharp-tongued inspector who has built up a stellar career at the MPD's first division, to solve a serial murder case.

Abandoned in the barren wasteland of Kyoto, a savage, enraged orphan does whatever it takes to survive in the wild. When he crosses paths with civilization, he must learn to tame the beast within.

Yukiko's fiance learns her mother runs a geisha house and ends their engagement. She despises what her mother does until one of her clients shows interest and starts to woo her.

Country bumpkin Haruko only ever wanted to become a maiko, an apprentice geisha. Initially rebuffed for lack of references, Haruko's strong accent intrigues a linguistics professor, who undertakes to coach her.

Documentary following 15-year-old Yukina as she leaves home and moves to Kyoto to embark on the arduous training needed to become a geisha. The profession has always been shrouded in controversy, with some believing geisha are little more than high-class prostitutes. At such a young age, does Yukina really understand what this ancient profession has in store for her?

In this Japanese drama, a dry goods merchant's daughter is surprised to discover that she has a twin sister. In rural Japan it was thought that twins bring bad luck, so the sister was abandoned at birth. Later her parents tell her that her sister was kidnapped. The woman doesn't believe this and when she eventually meets her twin, both women are involved in love affairs. The merchant's daughter is seeing an educated fellow. Trouble ensues when she begins suspecting that he may be more interested in her sister.

Green Leaves Entertainment is a tiny production company on the verge of going out of business in Sendai, Japan. The agency once managed the careers of magicians, photo idols, fortune-tellers, and other entertainers, but its last remaining client finally quit. Faced with having absolutely no one to represent, agency president Tange thinks up a plan to produce an idol group, forming the seven-girl group known as the "Wake Up, Girls".

A youth lyrical story of pure love of a girl who grew up in the Kyoto Gion quarter, with a geisha mother and sisters Maiko and a college student.

Touya Fujii is a twenty-year-old college student dating a rising singer named Yuki Morikawa. Along the way, they are faced with numerous challenges throughout the course of events at Fuji’s college. Be prepared for an exciting journey!

Rec is a Japanese manga about an aspiring voice actress by Q-Tarō Hanamizawa. A nine-episode anime adaptation by Shaft aired between February and March 2006; an original video animation episode was also produced.

Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood is a 2011 BBC documentary series written, directed and presented by Paul Merton. The three-part series traces the rise of the American film-making industry in Hollywood through from the early years of film-making to the foundation of the major motion-picture studios and the new class of the film star.

Ohisama is a Japanese television drama that aired on NHK in 2011 in the Asadora time slot. Set in Nagano prefecture, "Ohisama" covers the life of Yoko Sudo (Mao Inoue) through World War II. Yoko Sudo with her smile is able to bring brightness to those around her & she follows her mother's motif to laugh through the hard times. During the onset of WW II, Yoko is a high school student and "Ohisama" follows her as she eventually becomes a teacher and then gets married and has a child. Yoko then opens a soba restaurant with her student. --asianwiki

13 years ago, the Abe family moved to a town in the suburbs, surrounded by nature. The Abe family consists of their French father Toma (De Lencquesaing Nozomi), his Japanese wife Mikiko (Rinko Kikuchi) and their beautiful daughter Yuko (Kanon Tani). They appear like the perfect family. Mikiko managed to get her daughter Yuko to take part in a CM audition and she was picked by Murano (Joe Odagiri), director of the advertising agency. Yuko is now in show business. Several years later, Yuko (Nana Komatsu) transfers to a large entertainment company. As her mother wishes, Yuko is now popular and appears on the cover of magazines, variety shows and drama series. Yuko, though, feels an uncomfortable imbalance between her public image and her real self. During this time, she meets a dancer, Seiko (Mackenyu), who marches to the beat of his own drum, and falls in love with him. The nightmare begins.

Mare is an elementary school student. She lives with her family in the city, but, right before her father goes bankrupt, they run away and settle down at a fishing village in Noto. The family rents a couple's home who run a salt pond. Mare's father starts a new business, but it also fails. Her mother supports the family by working at the salt pond. 8 years later, Mare, about to graduate from high school, decides to work for the Wajima local government. She wants to have a steady job, unlike her father. Her job is to support people who move to Noto.

The 77th NHK Asadora is Chiritotechin. Location includes Fukui prefecture. This renzoku is about Wada Kiyomi (referred to as Kiyomi-B), a girl brought up in Fukui who moves to Osaka in search of her soul. In Osaka, Kiyomi-B becomes enchanted with rakugo, a Japanese traditional form of comic storytelling, and pursues a career in rakugo. In the summer of 1982, Kiyomi-B and her family move to Obama of Fukui, her father's hometown. Kiyomi-B's grandmother and uncle welcome the family, but Shotaro the grandfather does not allow Masanori to take over the Wakasa lacquer chopsticks making. One day, Kiyomi-B listens to rakugo at Shotaro's factory and becomes fond of it. Shotaro and Kiyomi-B become close through rakugo.

A jaded rom-com screenwriter in her 30s mines four love-sick women for their stories under the guise of providing them with romantic advice.

Fukuyadou Honpo is a traditional Kyoto sweet shop with 450 years of history. This romantic drama depicts the careers, love lives and dreams of three sisters.

Two baby girls were born in the same hospital: one of them is the daughter of an aristocratic family while the other belongs to a deprived household which lives in the slums of the city. However, the nurse-in-charge, Michiko, secretly switches the two babies due to a personal grudge, resulting in a change of fates of the girls from then on. Many years later, the lives of the two girls continue to be intertwined with each other, with the rich Miki ill-treating the poor Nozomi, yet both of them hold similar dreams to become a singer.

Ekoda-chan is from the countryside, living alone in the city. She's a temp worker and a strong, carefree soul, with no solid plan for the future, who doesn't care much about guys. She talks about how she lives her life and provides support to all those women trying to survive in the real life society.

Like the opera, the story is set in Nagasaki in the early 1900s. It portrays the ups and downs of a young woman known as Butterfly, who lost her parents at a young age and has become an apprentice geisha. She later meets a naval officer and gets married, though the officer intends for the marriage to last only while he is stationed in Nagasaki.

Kiyo and Sumire came to Kyoto from Aomori Prefecture, dreaming of becoming maiko. But after an unexpected turn of events, Kiyo starts working as the live-in cook at the Maiko House. Their story unfolds in Kagai, the Geiko and maiko district in Kyoto, alongside their housemate maikos. Kiyo nourishes them daily with her homecooked meals, and Sumire strives toward her promising future as the once-in-a-century maiko.

Two inseparable friends move to Kyoto to chase their dreams of becoming maiko, but decide to pursue different passions while living under the same roof.

Dr. Goro is reborn as the son of the young starlet Ai Hoshino after her delusional stalker murders him. Now, he wants to help his new mother rise to the top, but what can a child do about the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry?

In 3-minute Maiko, NHK WORLD-JAPAN presents tips to help you enjoy the new animation series, Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san, Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House, even more.

Iwakura Mai lives with her parents Kota and Megumi and older brother Haruto. Her father Kota runs a small factory in Higashi Osaka, a district that is known for its craftsmen. Mai is shy and withdrawn. But when she visits her grandmother Shoko who lives on Nagasaki’s Goto Islands which has a rich natural environment, she is entranced by the Baramon kites that catch the wind and soar high in the sky. Wanting to fly high in the sky like these kites, Mai’s longing swells into a dream to become a pilot. Even though she works hard, the path to getting there is tougher than she had imagined. As Mai deepens her ties with the people living in her two hometowns of Higashi Osaka and Goto, her dream eventually takes a new form. She gathers enthusiastic friends to build a small electric plane that can fly to and from the islands. Her dream becomes a wing that carries everyone’s dreams and takes off.

Mishima Kanji is a reporter for the Weekly Times, which mainly deals with gossip. He feels a sense of emptiness and discomfort as he spends his days chasing celebrity scandals, without a shred of the journalistic spirit he aspired to. One day, Mishima goes to Amagasaki to pick up a certain person under the direction of chief editor Nagasawa Asuka. Nagasawa sends him off as a chance to fulfill Mishima's former wish to "see a world you wouldn't see if you lived a normal life", but what awaits him is Keijiro Kihara, a man who is now a renowned figure in all areas of the underworld, politics, and entertainment, as well as an urban legend among informers, known as "Informer".

Born over a tofu shop in Osaka, twin sisters Reiko and Kyoko have very different characters. Reiko is diligent, and longs for a secure, middle class lifestyle. Kyoko is a free spirit, who seeks thrills and adventure.

This docuseries takes an unprecedented look at the enduring and influential legacy of DC, allowing fans to rediscover the universe of characters, as well as the iconic comic book company’s origins, its evolution and its nearly nine-decade cultural impact across every artistic medium.

The 61st NHK Asadora Drama is Asuka. Set in Kyoto in the home of a traditional Japanese candy-maker, Asuka is the story of one young girl's dream to one day walk in her father's shoes and become a top candy-maker in the male-dominated world of wagashi (Japanese confectionery). Asuka grows to be a healthy, adventurous young girl with a deep curiosity and, a desire to become a candy-maker like her father. This NHK drama is one of the best in years with an excellent cast, a well-developed story based on extensive research into the traditional worlds of candy making and the tea ceremony in Kyoto, and beautiful scenery and settings in Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

The series takes place in 1962 Osaka. Hanaoka Machiko, 37, is single and works at a hardware store in Osaka City while doing literary work. One day, she falls ill due to overwork and falls in love with Tokunaga Kenjiro, the doctor who examines her. Kenjiro and Machiko marry. But Kenjiro, who lost his first wife to illness, lives not just with his five children, but his brother, sister, and parents. In a comical and heart-warming way, the drama depicts Machiko's struggle with the new family while pursuing her career as a novelist.