Top 25 Japanese Actresses on MDL
For good or bad, the guiding adult influence in your childhood shapes who you are and what you become. This guiding role in the formative part of our lives is typically, but not necessarily, played by parents. Whether the children embrace or reject all lessons and traditions they were taught by their defining adult figures, the influence is undeniable.
Our selection of dramas and movies this time aims to bring you stories that have parental ties as a central part of the story, but there is liberty in that definition because we have also included stories with other central adult figures that played a parental role. This could be grandparents, aunts and uncles, older siblings: anyone who played the role of parents. While some tales speak to the close relationships between parents and children, and delight us with how sweet and important they are, others leave a strong impression by highlighting how problems relating to one or both parental figures can cast a deep shadow on the children. The recommendations below have flavours from comic to tragic to sentimental, and we hope that you will enjoy watching some of these!
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Orphans since childhood, they were "raised" together by a kind woman that ran the orphanage. One day she was killed, and they vowed to find her killer. What secrets will they uncover? | What happens when the parents stop paying attention to their children and just go through the motions of parenting? Can an eccentric teacher help this dishevelled family? | Tonbi Drama +Special Single father doing his best to raise his son. He is not flawless, but they get through it all together. | Involves time travel to see how his father was before he married his mother. It's a unique way to show and forge parental ties. |
Dramas: Kounodori, Karamazov no Kyodai, Tokyo Bandwagon, Hungry! Risou no Musuko, My Girl, 14-sai No Haha, Byakuyako, Tiger & Dragon
Movies: Shoplifters, What's For Dinner, Mom? (unsubbed), Our Little Sister, Naze Shoujo wa Kioku wo Ushinawanakereba Naranakatta no ka?, Oshin, Himizu, Myu no Anyo Papa ni Ageru, Budo no ki, Princess from the Moon, Onibaba, Tokyo Story, Ikiru, Late Spring
Suggested but not watched: Mother, MOTHER, Mother, Mothers, Mother, Mother
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Despite disapproval from his mother Helen, Elvin still chose to be with Onay and married her later on. The latter eventually gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Rosemarie, but her mother-in-law took her child because she still doesn't agree with her relationship with Elvin. From then on, Onay's life became miserable upon getting kidnapped and molested by a group of men that resulted in her unexpected pregnancy. Will she ever seek justice that she rightfully deserves? Will she ever see her long lost daughter? How will she take care of the child who was a result of molestation? | Happily, married couple Miren (Yasmien Kurdi) and Adrian's (Dion Ignacio), lives were almost perfect except for the fact that Miren was having difficulties conceiving a child. The couple then decides to adopt the bright and bubbly Duday (Leanne Bautista) — a decision that dramatically changes the course of their lives. Then enters the arrogant Benjo (Paolo Contis), the real father of Duday. He will try to take his child back from Miren and Adrian, but the two are willing to fight for their right to their adoptive child. | Boyet, a young man with mild intellectual disability, who has a quiet and simple life with his mother, will be changed when they find out that he has a child. Despite their state in life and Boyet's condition, they will take care of the child along with the help of aunt Chona and Boyet's childhood friend, Carol. | Tinay is a mentally challenged teenager, who despite her condition, lives a happy life with her family made up of Lola Annie, Lolo Berto, and her half-brothers Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne. Her life, however, takes a different turn as she got pregnant by her childhood friend, Archie. Little Nanay follows the adventures, struggles, and victories of Tinay as she raises her daughter, Chichie. |
Dramas: Anak ni Waray vs. Anak ni Biday
Movies: Mano Po, Bahay Kubo, Magnifico, Anak (The child) (Unsubbed), In my life (Unsubbed), Mother Nanny
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This film tells the story of a widowed, semi-retired Chinese master chef at the Taipei Grand Hotel. Chef Chu and his family are living in modern-day Taipei, Taiwan. At the start of the film, he lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. The oldest child, Jia Jen, is a school teacher nursing a broken heart; the middle child, Jia Chien, is a successful career woman, and the youngest child, Jia Ning, is a twenty-year-old student. As the film progresses, each daughter encounters new men in their lives. | The story began 18 years ago when Man Qing was adopted by three women. They poured their love into her. But their love can't stop her from wanting to know about her father or protect her from the hypocrisy in life. Man Qing left her mothers to find a different kind of love. | A young successful young man has always felt something missing in his life because he never knew his father. At 26, Che Chen is already a successful assistant manager for an investment trust. But he was raised by his single mother Chen Mu and never knew the identity of his father. That void has been nagging at him but a freak accident sends Che back 27 years into the past, to the year before he was born. When Che realizes that anything he does in the year 1989 could alter his mother's future, will he do anything to alter the course of his own life? | Seven years ago, two men were notified that the women they both dated had disappeared after giving birth to a baby girl. Not knowing who the father was, the two bachelors decided to raise the baby together. Tang Xiang Xi, the smooth-talking lawyer, and Wen Zhen Hua, the sensitive florist, and the young Tang Wen Di make up a non-traditional family. Their unique living arrangement attracts the attention of the girl's pigheaded teacher and their reclusive next-door neighbor. |
Dramas: On Children, All is Well, The Rose, The World Between Us, Yong Jiu Grocery Store, Chu Chu My Daddy, The Story of Time, Inborn Pair, The Kid from Heaven, A Thousand Goodnights, Dear Mom, The Making of an Ordinary Woman
Movies: Perfect Two, Where the Wind Settles, The Gangster's Daughter, Banana Paradise
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Tor is a love child of a mistress and a wealthy hi-so man. After his mother dies from neglect, Tor is forced to live with his father's family. Abused by his stepmother and stepbrother, he turns to the girl-next-door, Mingta, who also suffers neglect at the hands of her so-called mother and sister. | Lisa is a rich, spoiled girl who has graduate from England. However, when she comes back to Thailand, she notices that her parents are in debt. So, without any choice, she has to find work to repay her parent's debt. Don's mother offers to pay her debts if Lisa marries her son. | Muey is a smart multi-talented young woman who receives an opportunity to live with her crush Thien, the wealthy son of her mother's friend. Several years have past living with him, but Muey's crush has only deepened into love from being near Thien with her residing to love him from a distance. | Natda and Lookkaew, two very different women, got involved with each other because of a car accident. Rachawadee, Lookkaew's mother, had Dr. Goson do plastic surgery on Dada to make her look like Lookkaew. Dada wakes up with a new face, but she has amnesia and also finds out she has a fiance, Ratt, who is angry that the real Lookkaew had cheated on him. |
Dramas: Rabam Mek
Note: Thank you, Brownie, for the suggestions! <3
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Inspired by a true story, the film tells about a heartwarming relationship between a young master of a big family, Roger (Andy Lau) and the servant of the family who raised him, Sister Peach (Deanie Ip). | Chung Siu Hor(Louis Lee)and her husband Kam Tai Jo(Ha Yu) have been working hard for many years to establish a good reputation for their bakery. However, Hor discovers that Jo committed adultery with her best friend, Yan Hong (Michelle Yim), and she divorces with him miserably. Hor brings along her children Kam Wing Ho, Kam Wing Hing, and her adopted daughter Suen Ho Yuet to set up another bakery for a living. This drama revolves around human nature, family bonds, and love of the two families. | This drama is about an unexpected pregnancy disrupting the plans of the married couple, Ali Lee and Chris Lai. They initially hoped to rely on their mothers for help, but their mothers have opposite methods of raising the baby, resulting in frequent conflicts. The couple finds themselves in a never-ending 24-hour cycle of taking care of their daughter. Due to the circumstances, they hire the expert postpartum caregiver, Griselda Yeung. Because of the baby's arrival, Ali bid farewell to her career in fashion, while Chris must stay away from his nightly pastimes. | This Hong Kong martial-arts extravaganza tells of evil emperors and true love. The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to overthrow ing the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant, recently moved to Canton. Her father, in an attempt to gain influence in the region and thus improve his business, offers his daughter in marriage to the winner of a Kung Fu contest. |
Dramas: Virtues of Harmony, A Chip Off the Old Block, Life Art, Home Troopers, The Family Link, Return of the Cuckoo, Wonder Women
Movies: CJ7, The Way We Are, Wait 'Til You're Older, Run Papa Run, Echoes of the Rainbow, Fagara, For Love We Can
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The drama is shot from the perspective of women and tells a story about finding light in the darkness and embracing hope in motherhood. Lin Xu Zhi is a woman who doesn't have a past. She was adopted and is still scarred from being abandoned by her birth mother. She's an elementary school teacher that realizes one of her female students is receiving abuse from her mother. Her maternal instincts kick in, and she impulsively decides to bring the girl into her own care. In caring for the young girl, named Xiao Ou, two broken souls find solace in each other. Remake of the Japanese Drama Mother | The drama tells the story of Sheng Ming Lan, the concubine-born 6th child of the Sheng household from childhood to adulthood. The unfavoured daughter of the Sheng household. After her Mother passes away, her Grandmother decides to raise her within the household. Ming Lan first meets Gu Ting Ye, the 2nd son of the Gu Family, as his rival in a game of Touhu, but when she encounters him again in a time of need, he goes to great lengths to help her. This dynamic plays out on a grander scale when they meet again as adults. Both Ming Lan and Ting Ye are disfavored children who suffer as a result of internal scheming in their households. | During the tragic Tangshan earthquake in 1976, Li Yuan Ni finds her twins, daughter Fang Deng and son Da Feng, buried under a giant slab of concrete. Rescue workers inform Yuan Ni that she has to chose between the twins, because as soon as one child is extracted the other will perish. Terrified Yuan Ni, who already lost her husband in the earthquake, finally choose her son Da Feng. Unknown to those at the chaotic scene, daughter Fang Deng overhears her mother making the choice and then is left mistakenly as dead. | The film is set in the mountainous regions of the western Hunan province in the early 1980s. At the film's start, a young man (Liu Ye) begins his first journey as a postman at the mountainous rural areas of the aforesaid regions. His father (Ten Ru Jun), a veteran postman forced to retire due to a bad knee, decides to accompany him together with the family's faithful dog, Buddy. |
Dramas: Fairytale, All is Well, The Family, Romance of Our Parents, Battle of Changsha, I Don't Want To Be Friends With You, Because of You, Light on Series: The Bad Kids
Movies: Shower
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High school student Hye Ji is a troubled teen with a scarred mind and a secret. She is dramatically reunited with her grandmother, Gye Choon, after going missing for 10 years. Gye Choon lives as a hanyeo (female diver) on Jeju Island. | Realizing one of her students is being abused, school teacher Soo Jin impulsively kidnap the girl and acts as a substitute mother in an attempt to care for her. Remake of the Japanese Drama Mother | Dr. Kim Min Seo sets out to fulfill his girlfriend's dying wish to find the kid who was accidentally infected by HIV because of her and to apologize on her behalf. Lee Young Shin is a single mother who works hard to take care of her grandfather, who has Alzheimer, and her daughter, who is HIV positive. | This is a story about a man who is serving a life sentence for murder and gets one day to meet his son after 15 years. |
Dramas: Ojakgyo Brothers, Marriage Contract, Dear My Friends, My Father is strange, When the Camillia Blooms, Marry Me now, All about my Mom, Glorious Day, Secret Mother
Movies: Unstoppable Marriage, 11th Mom, Miracle in Cell No. 7
Have you seen any of these dramas and movies?
Do you plan to watch any?
Let us know in a comment below!
Edited by Jojo (1st editor), BrightestStar (2nd editor)
