The Dorama Encyclopedia : A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953

Rating:
Summary: Invaluable! A Must For Any Japanese Drama Fan...
Review: While being far from being complete, Jonathan Clements' "the Dorama Encyclopedia" is none-the-less an invaluable resource for those wanting to know about Japanese TV Dramas since 1953. Clements and his staff of researchers should be commended for their valued efforts. I was very much pleased and surprised by many of their inclusions. Many shows which I thought would be overlooked are included. Such obscure shows like "Private Eye Story", "Unbalanced", "Buska", "OL Police" and "Uchu G-Men" are given very good entries. Tokusatsu Fans will be especially pleased by the inclusion of most of the Super Sentai Shows from "Go Ranger" to the current "Aba Ranger" as well as perenial favorites such as "Zone Fighter", "Kikaida", "Ultraman" and even the Toei/Marvel Comics version of "Spiderman". Trendy Drama fans will also rejoice at the inclusion of many favorities including "Tokyo Love Story", "Love Generation", "Love 2000" and "101st Proposal". Even cult shows such as "G-Men '75", "Sukeban Deka", "Sign Is V", "Sure Death", "Kamen Rider", "Seibu Police" and "Zatoichi" are covered. As is to be expected, with this amount of coverage, there isn't much room to put any detailed information in but for the most part, the entries are sufficient to give the reader a general idea of plot and storyline. My only complaint is that the promise of photos from the various shows never materializes. In many instances we are given line drawings and black and white artist sketches of some of the shows in question, which I found to be a bit of a letdown. In one silly instance the entry for "Kamen Rider" shows a toy (Kamen Rider Black RX on a Motorcycle). Another nitpick is that some notable omissions are found. Such shows such as "Playgirl", "Big City", "Resolved! Zubat", "Stewardess Story" and "Doberman Detectives", and "Zero Zero Kunoichi" are not included. All in all however I was very much impressed by the scope of the entries. Kudos to Stone Bridge Press for another great and well-researched resource!