In addition, I watched the movie ohoku (大奥)which was very interesting and quite comical, but very hard to follow without subtitles as they use a very old style of speaking, using words like せっしゃ.
I think in general, the PE exercises are quite effective, but it is important to set tangible goals. For me, watching a lot of Japanese dramas was helpful in learning colloquial speech and picking up more vocabulary, and I will definitely continue watching Japanese shows to improve my listening ability.