Ai no Uta [あいのうた] Rating: 10/10 (Bought & Watched) This one is such a feel-good drama! The characters are not the most advanced, I'll admit, but they still gave me the feeling there was more to them than the drama presented. I think the cast was good as well, and I was moved by the development "Ai-chan" goes through as well as the warm and welcoming Kataoka family with friends. You get to see strenghts and weaknesses in all the characters - plus there's a lot of humor in the mix. I myself find this jdorama inspiring.
Gokusen [ごくせん] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) I just started watching this one - and fell instantly in love with it from the very first episode. I am myself about to start teacher education this fall, which makes this dorama extra fun to watch. Although the students in class 3D were rather extreme (at least to begin with), I am certain that to some degree this kind of thing will be part of a teacher's job. Who knows - perhaps I'll pick up a few tips on how to handle that, huh?
Even if I don't, this IS a good drama with a lot of humor and warmth. "Yankumi" faces a lot of challenges and uses her smarts and guts to see past insults and attitudes and eventually set things right. And that is without doubt due to her passion and determination as a teacher, as well as the fact that she truly cares about her students. I find such qualities AWESOME.