Fan reviews: Nobuta wo Produce

Tukata · 3 Sep 2006

This is only a so-so drama, never understand why people praised it so much. Despite the fact that I really love and adore Yamapi, I feel that this is only the same old theme which Japanese dramas always hook to. Most shocking to learn that this drama got the best drama award... gosh... why not one liter of tears.... and Kame.. best actor... my goodness.. how could it be! What a dissapointment... huhh... sorry for the fans.. but this is my true feeling about this drama...

AppleTree · 21 Aug 2006

A very cute story, and characters. Can't wait to see more

yamapi^rawk · 9 Aug 2006

This is one of the best j-dramas i've ever watched. Though its storyline is simple, it goes smoothly. Loved yamapi as Akira. he totally brings all the fun & laughter into this drama. Kame is OK as Shuji. But seriously, I prefer yamapi much more. =P This drama is definitely worth a watch. YOU WILL NOT REGRET WATCHING IT! =)

idiotgurl · 8 Aug 2006

Frankly, I almost stopped watching when I first watched.
Luckily, i keep myself watching, if not i would have regret much.

I have watched it thrice, and cried thrice.
It's a touching show at the same time, there are funny scenes.
Love the way the show cast their frienship, the way shuuji change.
Though I don't really like the ending =D

worth watching show!~

Susan · 5 Aug 2006

When I first heard of this drama, I didn't think that I'd like it very much. At last I watched it... and discovered it to be one of the best dramas I have seen! Nobuta Power... ENTER! The relationship of Shuji and Akira was very cool. It wasn't until the end that I understood that this was more a drama about their friendship, and not just about Nobuta. At first Akira was a bit annoying, but he definetly grew to be my favorite character after Shuji! The only dissapointments I had in this series were how Shuji and Nobuta never hooked up, and how Nobuta was left behind in the end. It was an almost-sad, but satisfyingly happy ending.

elinna · 4 Aug 2006

I dun have lot of things to say just... AKIRA SHOCKED!!!
Just watch it and you'll figure it out..
Se.....Nobuta
KoN..kOn!!! to Bye-Bye Bicycle

chesed · 1 Aug 2006

Good friends are hard to come by, and sometimes those reasons are because we often push away others for what we think is best for ourselves. The lack of trust is often a by-product of selfishness.

I hate the word "expectation" because it has the rather high potential of being destructive. Many times expectations set us up for unnecessary downfalls. I watched Nobuta wo Produce with rather large expectations. Rather than crashing down on itself, the show scaled up the "wall of expectation" with incredible ease -- a popular show proved itself worthy of my tears.

Nobuta wo Produce attacked almost every one of my soft points. For example, one of the best characters, Uehara Mariko (played by Toda Erika, who did a fabulous job of being hot), despite her hanging relationship having been blown away by truthful words, realized how important that truth was and continued to care for her crush as much as she used to. It takes incredible strength of character to do that. I believe this is part of what makes this drama so special -- the fact that each character learns and grows from their high school experiences.

I found myself tearing up at certain points at almost every episode, many times dabbing my eyes at points that don't even make much sense to shed a tear at (I do this often). I was sorta disappointed at how formulaic each episode was with the blatant "theme" having to be solved by the three main characters, but the writing was done so well and the acting every bit as good as the writing that for the most part I didn't care. Every episode had me at attention and ready to face the next thing it was going to dish out. Near the middle of the series it had my complete trust that it was going to move me by the end of each episode.

This was my second exposure to Kamenashi Kazuya, as I started (and finished) this series after watching the first three episodes of Sapuri. Watching Sapuri, I wasn't too interested in this actor, but in Nobuta wo Produce, he did a good job of being the loner wearing the popular guy mask. Yamashita Tomohisa did particularly well acting as the eccentric self-proclaimed friend; after watching the episode 0 special and ending special you get a clear view of how abstractly different his character and real persona is. And like many people, I first saw Horikita Maki in Densha Otoko with an obviously tiny role as Densha's sister. I felt she didn't really get a chance to spread her wings in Nobuta wo Produce. She did a great job being the one who gave up on the world, her dark, brooding personality screaming for help. I know her role required this the whole time, but besides frowns and tearing frowns, topped with several half-assed smiles, did really allow her to cover a decent emotional expanse. Still, her character here was extraordinarily different than Densha's, so that warrants some merit.

Nobuta wo Produce was a great series and knowing full well that it would never get a second season like most other good dramas, I bet you 20 bucks that they could easily come up with another season of material for this. And that is a great thing for a show to have: potential. Excellent drama!

Wynter · 27 Jul 2006

This is by far the best drama I have ever seen. The story is amazing and the characters are so good. You'll never see these three main characters in any other drama. They're so true to real life and the whole drama keeps you on your toes.

tsukushi · 10 Jul 2006

I am currently on the second to last episode and I have to say, this is the first Japanese drama that I've seen that I haven't fully enjoyed. It's far too slow. I am having a great deal of trouble finishing the episodes in all honesty.

Now it could be that I'm at a different place in my life than the show's target audience, but the characters whine far too much. And this critique is coming from someone who has a high tolerance for whiny teenagers. After all, I love Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye!

Now, as for what's good about the show. Nobuta is adorable, but the other characters really don't strike a chord with me. Now it could be that I had high hopes for this drama, but it just isn't that good. I've been forcing myself to finish this series in the hopes that it will get better, but I fear with just one episode left, it's going no where! I really wish I could have given this a good review! I had such high hopes for the drama!

AZNBryan · 4 Jul 2006

Good script, check. Unique story, check. Good actors, unbelievably.. yes. The actors here actually did a good job or maybe even great job on this dorama. From Akira to Shuji to Nobuta.. they were all played well. KUDOS.
At first I thought people(mostly girls) just voted for this dorama.. because of "eyecandy".. but after watching it, I finally understood why it's on the top10.
It's hilarious, touching, and light to watch. The chemistry between the 3 leads were electrifying. The story is very new and will keep you interested. One of the best school doramas out there.
A MUST WATCH for guys and girls.
Minus 2 for the stupid ending though. Other than that.. you should go and check it out.
After watching this.. i find myself saying KON KON..

webfeet · 27 Jun 2006

I was anticipating something special from nobuta wo produce since it grabbed the best drama award and some best acting awards along with it, but somehow I think the plot was never well developed enough, and ended up making the drama only a mediocre product.
I understand the distinction between the different characters, each with their own misfit problem, Shuuji appearing to be an overcomer, Akira ignoring/not acknowledging his misfit problem, and Kotani acknowledging but unwilling to overcome hers. The story kicks off with how the guys try to help kotani by reinventing her to become the popular girl in school only to find out in the end that she helped give them strength and support, esp the nasty turn of events when shuuji's popularity drops overnight and finds himself in an unpleasant situation. I think in a sense, these parts of the plot are intricate and with a nice twist [(1)referring to the popular can never underestimate how things can overturn for him/her and (2) that kotani, however weird and abnormal she seems, is opening herself up as a friend, and her unusual self is enough to be a friend in a time of need], and more could have been done to further develop them. I for one was so impatient seeing how they are gonna reinvent Kotani, and wanted them to speed up, but the drama just kept moving on at crawling speed leaving me exasperated (they took really long to get that her cut her hair). There were some touching moments in the drama, esp when they put together the ghost mansion/house for the festival. The friendship between the 3 are supposedly strong, reflected by the fact that akira and nobuta both chose to trust shuuji when he was ostracized but I never felt that bond was strong when they had their chats on the rooftops. I had a feeling the drama was trying to convey something, but that something just remained surface deep and wasn't able to penetrate through the walls. If there's one special thing abt the drama, I think it'll be how unartificial the plot is. The story is kept simple, and there's no further adornment to purposely reach a climax point or to cause an adrenaline rush for viewers. I view that as one of the pros and not a con.
Out of the 3 main characters, I think kame did a decent job, he pretty much fit his role. Kotani's character was kinda weird, esp how she'd drag her two feet to school with her head hung low, then all of a sudden when she does her nobuta power pose, it was kinda fast and smooth as if she's 'normal'. I've seen a lot of people acting as outcasts, but this just didn't seem to pull off for me. Her acting was anime-like, however I couldn't yet relate that to a drama. Akira's character too was kinda unusual, esp how he gets drunk over soy milk (?). I feel Yamapi did not have a chance to fully develop his character compared to Shuuji who Kame played. I've heard so many good reviews that I was kinda let down. Have been searching high and low reading other people's reviews to see if there's something I missed to grasp in the drama. Putting aside comments such as Akira's soooo cute when he's drunk and such (though I agree Yamapi's good looking), I regret to say I never trully felt emotionally moved compared to other dramas. I still think Nobuta wo produce won the awards because of an affecting quality. I might watch it a second time, this time DVD quality videos, to make sure compromised video quality wasn't the affecting factor, though I highly doubt so.

saa_chan · 23 Jun 2006

much cute and funny drama!!!
yamapi is so kawaii and kamenashi-kun is so hot in the drama!!!
they are very good actors!!!!

weitingd · 13 Jun 2006

this drama is really meaningful for friendship......
love akira n shuji.....they r really great actor....

viet_la_amour · 9 Jun 2006

This was an okay drama. It didn't blow me away. It was just.. okay. =/ hahaha. The ending is AWFUL. It would have been better if they had thought of a better ending.

mitha-chan · 4 Jun 2006

what a funny drama..
ESPECIALLY..there are kazuya-kun+yamappi take a part..
huaaaaaa..
love this movie..
A MUST SEEN DRAMA!!!

pulang tala · 2 Jun 2006

being a JE fan, i think it's a must to see something like NwP coz yannoe.. you just must. it was very very entertaining and very very crack. it has some fantasy touches to it and though i dun like kame that much, i enjoyed it for the crack and the arm-flailing pi it provided. yes.

BUT OMG STAND UP STILL WINS EVERYTHING.

bettebogart · 20 May 2006

Loved it, I only give it a 9 since the ending seemed less than satisfying. It was really funny at times. The acting was good. The supporting cast of the high school classmates and the staff were all good as well. I think the staff deserves extra mention since they were some of the most colorful characters, especially the principal and teachers. Add in the great theme song and a nice animation sequence and you have a highly entertaining Jdrama. Definitely one of the better ones I've seen so far. I want to see more YAMAPI, I hope he does more dramas.

iminai · 19 May 2006

Loved it from beginning to end. I stopped watching dramas for a long time, but this was the one that got me back into the drama craze. The plot, though at first glance seems pretty typical, was actually (somehow) very original (I'm still not sure how they pulled this off! I'm truly impressed), the acting was fantabulous, the characters were omg-so-cute, and their relationships were sweet without being corny. A very light-hearted yet gripping drama. Highly recommended!

xkeita_x3x · 17 May 2006

kame is the cutest!

idiscolikeathug · 14 May 2006

This drama is soooo good. It had its comedic parts and its drama and it really keeps you interested. I loved Yamashita in this drama! He's so funny.<3