Ikebukuro West Gate Park

This drama had some interesting and controversal material to work with, such as gangs, violence, and prostitution, but the writers were confused with what direction they wanted to take the show. The first two episodes were suppose to be about the murder of Makoto's friend, which leads you to believe that the main plot revolves around this storyline. Yet this plot is completely ignored until it's brung up again in the last episode. The writers also didn't do enough to explore the gang lifestyle. Along with poorly executed humor, this drama is boring most of the time.

As for the actors, Watanabe Ken's and Nagase Tomoya's talents aren't used to their full potential. Neither of them are bad in this drama, but both of them have put on much better performances in their careers. On top of that Kato Ai was annoying. Yamapi's character didn't require a lot of acting ability, and just relied on his "cuteness." Kubozuka put on the best performance in this drama, bringing his character to life and the only one who actually managed to be funny.

Hmmmm, this was the first show i saw with nagase tomoya in it, i saw it by chance, cuz yamapi was in it and i had just seen a great performance from him in nobuta wo produce...after i saw this i was happy, it had everything i could ask for a drama to have in it, nagase became my favorite actor after watching this, what happened in this show is still fresh on my mind and i saw this half a year ago......the fighting, the twist at the end, the acting the story line, if your not sure about jdramas, then make this the 1st one that you watch, after i saw this show my love affair with japanese dramas began....yosh!

I thought this drama was great. It was so layered and I had a lot of fun wading through it all.

Ifm a fan of dark humour done well, and of storylines that play with your mind, and of raw characters, and of controversial themes in general. Hopefully this helps explain why I like this drama so much, because Ifm not quite sure I can justify it otherwise.

Nagase Tomoya was really in his element in this drama, and I can see how, through the experience with this role, he was able to play Tora in Tiger & Dragon to perfection. I found that nearly all actors/actresses cast for the secondary characters were perfect – a rarity. My favourite character by far was Takeshi, played by Kubozuka Yosuke. He was brilliant and I was amazed at how flawlessly his could manipulate his character. Kato Ai really made me shiver, which reveals just how well she played the part of Hikaru. A pleasant surprise was the appearance of Koyuki. Ifve never seen her in such a role before and I thought she was great. Sakaguchi Kenji was brilliant (and really creepy), as was Watanabe Ken, who really made it hard for me to sympathize with his character. I love that.

The drama was raw and I loved how the plot folded out smooth before me. The directing was interesting and appropriate. It seemed to be an extension of the theme and purpose of the show. Thatfs hard to do, and it was done well. I really felt for the characters and I found myself understanding how the minds of the characters worked. Even with the surprising deaths of certain character, I found myself accepting them and agreeing with the actions that were then inspired.

On the whole, excellent drama and highly recommended.