Watashitachi no kyokasho

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IT>
really good drama... umm for the people that are saying are slow ignore 'em... they're crazy. i would say it's a little slow. like slow/boring to me was maou, arifureta kiseki, propose daisakusen, joou no kyoushitsu, bloody monday (good twists though), 1liter of tears, 14 sai, denshaotoko, kekkondekinai .

the story's well done and I was also dying for more. It made me want to watch the next ep which most dramas don't do. acting's good so is the background music. I love the concerto and the symphony song they picked, very effective and i never got sick of 'em . imo, it's a lot better than proposeal daisakusen (it won best drama that season) which I can describe as one big frustration, weak story, weak character, etc.

this DID win best scriptwriter and BEST ACTRESS.

This is probably my favorite japanese drama of the last couple
years. From what I have read recently, its topic, bullying, is
very timely in Japan. It does a great job of ending most episodes with a bit of a cliffhanger that keeps you coming back (I watched all 12
episodes in two days).
The story takes alot of interesting twists,
probably a few too many in fact - it would have been better with
two or three fewer episodes and the final scene in the teacher's room was a bit much. However, with the usual terrific performance by Miho Kanno I can't complain.

While watching this show, I can't help but feel that the writer is trying to educate us the viewers about some of the unspoken ills that plague schools and society today. Perhaps that's why the title of the show is "Watashitachi no kyokasho".

This is not a feel-good school drama like GTO, nor is it a school comedy like Nobuta. Perhaps it's a bit similar to Jyoou no Kyoushitsu, in that both dramas try to educate the viewer about the education system, but the subject matter and the approach to it are rather different between the two shows. The main themes in this show include school bullying, student suicide, alienation between teachers and students, parental negligence and the fight for the often inconvenient truth. What's intriguing about this show is that it doesn't try to present simple truths to the viewers, but everything and everyone in the show seem to have a hidden side, so it's not easy to tell who's good or bad, and what's right or wrong. It serves to keep the viewer guessing and thus wanting to find out more about the show.

The cast is generally excellent, with the usual brilliant and abrasive acting by Kanno Miho as a combative lawyer and negligent but remorseful step-mother, Itoh Atsushi (Densha Otoko) as the awkward but honest new teacher, Shida Mirai as the ill-fated bullied student, and surprisingly captivating performance by Maki Yoko as the seemingly uptight veteran teacher.

At times, this show feels like a whodunit mystery, with constant surprising plot twists. This, on top of the excellent cast, will make sure that I'll keep watching until the end.

P.S. even though this show is about the Japanese school system and aimed at a Japanese audience, in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting incident and the fact that bullying seems to be one of the root causes, perhaps the subject matter here will be of relevance to the American audience as well...