donna8157

To think that this drama would be on the top 50 JDorama is disappointing to say the least. The main characters in this drama are annoying and some of the situations were incredibly trifling. There were only two good things about this drama: 1.) the innovative editing of the film and 2.) Uchiyama Rina and Kobuzuke Yosuke.

Even though I am a fan of Takizawa Hideaki, his character in this drama just didn't appeal to me and the fact that there was this incredibly odd relationship between him and Fukada Kyoko's character made it even less appealing. The insincere relationships that revolved around them made this drama seem draggy and just outright boring.

All in all, there was no strawberry on this shortcake.

I think of this drama as a spoof of "Waterboys". Suzuki Anne plays Etsuko Shinomura, a girl who wants to start a girl's crew team at her school. However, in order to do so she needs to find at least 4 other members. She is met with many challenges during each episode - ie. finding enough members, bearing the weight of being captain, going through training, and experiencing some setbacks. However, she and the rest of her team are still able to overcome them through hope, hardwork, and perseverence.

Along with the sports theme, the drama also has a few romance scenes. Nishikido Ryou plays Sekino, a boy who has grown up with Etsuko and has secretly been in love with her for the entire time, but Etsuko has no idea about it. The other character, Saburo is played by Junnosuke who in the beginning is Etsuko's love interest. (Side Note: Uchi Hiroki stops appearing in this drama as Saburo after Episode 2 due to some unfortunate events. That being said, Junno still pulls off a pretty good job during the transition between episodes 2 and 4).

In the series the main character faces many challenges - in sports, in friendship, and in love. It had a sweet and touching ending. I highly recommend it to others especially fans of Suzuki Anne and/or sports dramas.

One of funniest dramas I have seen yet along with one of the most outlandish plots. A woman owning a young man for a pet? Sounds kind of kinky! Anyway, this drama was definitely one of the most enjoyable I've seen in a long time and the storyline kept the audience wanting more. I thought that the ending wasn't as strong as the rest of the episodes, in fact it left the audience hanging. But overall the drama was still great. Koyuki and Matsumoto Jun pulled it off successfully. Momo is so adorable. ^_^ I'm sure all women want one, too.

A story about a teacher who runs off with her student. Sounds sketchy? At first the taboo topic of a teacher-student relationship really turned me away from wanting to watch this, however surprisingly the show was able to pull this off quite tastefully. And I found myself even rooting for the main leads to stay together. Matsushima Nanako and Takizawa Hideaki did a great job and had great chemistry despite the age gap.

However, more than anything else . .this series has a great ending! I absolutely loved it and I think the ending is one of the reasons why this series is so memorable for me.

A story of a lonely and misunderstood (but kind-hearted) anime otaku who falls in love with a rich and beautiful office lady that he meets on the train, except this time there is no fairy godmother. The man has to receive advice from his gang of internet friends in order to find ways to court the woman.

Itoh Atsushi portrays the very geeky, Yamada who has known only one love in his life - anime, mainly Mina the anime heroine with carrots propelling from her buttocks. He falls in love with Itoh Misaki's character, Aoyama - who is very far, far from his league. Through hard work and a lot of changing, Yamada breaks away from some of his otaku-ness with help from his friends in order to court the woman of his dreams.

A very funny, but touching romantic drama.

A wonderfully dark and moving series with an interesting premise. Hirosue Ryoko once again works her magic and pulls off a very convincing part as Ako, a blind girl whose father recently died. Because of her situation, a man named Reiji (Watabe Atsuro) takes advantage of the fact that she is rich and blind and pretends to be her brother whose name also happens to be Reiji.

As the series progresses, you see the two of them grow closer to one another and how much Reiji changes from his once cold-hearted and money loving self to a more considerate and caring person. The change just seemed very natural and well acted out.

One of the best features of this drama is the talented acting displayed by both the leads and the supporting cast. Their characters were complicated and were full of depth, they just seemed very real and you couldn't help but sympathize with their current situations. This is definitely one drama that shouldn't be missed.

'The story of a race car driver who meets a woman that changes his life', this was what I thought this drama was going to be about since Kimura Takuya's other dramas have always had romance making up a large part of the plot. However, this drama was not like that. Instead, the major focus of the story was the kids of Kaze no Oka. Each episode focuses on a different child.

We see a different part of Kimura Takuya in this drama and I'm really loving it. He does so well in portraying the laid-back, at times immature, but thoughtful and caring Kanzaki Jiro. He brings a different point of view for the children and his way with dealing with their problems was sweet. Koyuki, on the other hand, plays Tomomi-sensei, a very uptight teacher that cares very much for the kids, but doesn't really understand them as Jiro could. As the drama progresses, we see changes in the way that Tomomi-sensei deals with the children. Even though romance wasn't a significant part of the story, I felt that I enjoyed the short, but sweet and oftentimes funny interaction between Kimura and Koyuki.

Excellent drama. The cast acted wonderfully, especially the children, and some parts of the story will surely bring a tear or two to your eyes.

Suzuki Honami triumphs again, this time playing the independent and goal-driven Aso-san, the anchor of Channel 2 News. The series starts off with a bang, the tragic death of her husband and his ex-wife the day after their marriage and all of a sudden she has to deal with taking care of her husband's fifteen year old son, Ryu, played by Takizawa Hideaki.

The feelings and emotions portrayed by Suzuki Honami were sincere and more realistic, being a single person and being such a career-oriented woman, she didn't want to take the boy in and was rather vociferous about it, too. Takizawa Hideaki in the meantime was a bit of a loner and often grated on Aso's nerves. However, as the series progresses, their relationship blossoms and the audience can really sense a change between them. It just seemed very natural and not forced like some other dramas that I've seen. Like some other reviewer, I also felt that Ryu had some sort of feelings for Aso. They just had great chemistry together! (Maybe that's one of the reasons why Takky was later cast in "Majo no Jouken")

The side characters really helped contribute to the overall plot and feeling of the drama. The lawyer (the perfect man) often added comic relief to the serious moments. The scheming Fujiwara Norika made a great antagonist and it was understandable since she also wanted to become an anchor. Konno's character was also wonderfully executed, it was hard to make out the man's feelings and motives with his one expression face.

I've only seen one another news drama, "Bijo ka Yajuu", and I thought that this one surpassed that one by far. I definitely recommend watching this for both fans of Suzuki Honami and Takizawa Hideaki. The ending was also exceptional.

I usually don't review dramas when I'm in the midst of watching it, but this series is absolutely wonderful. The director does a great job of intertwining both the rakugo scenes with modern day life. This drama itself is able to bring back a classic Japanese art and make it both fun and interesting to watch even in our TV-driven lifestyle.

The characters themselves act with such sincerity and are funny when need be. Their situations, especially Toraji's deal with his shishou to pay back his debt, are hilarious to watch even amidst the fact that he is part of the yakuza. The dialogue throughout each episode is witty and highly entertaining.

This is one series that shouldn't be overlooked. ^_^

This drama series exceeded all expectations that I had for it. Sorimachi Takashi shines in this series in his portrayal of the protective and loving, Enzo. At first I thought that this was going to be a typical family drama, but it wasn't. It was much more than just that.

Each of the family members did a wonderful job in portraying their characters and I definitely felt that family chemistry between all of them. At times it seemed to be unbelievable that they weren't related in real life. Each character was memorable and endearing, especially Nanami-chan.

I highly recommend watching this drama. Very rarely do I give dramas a rating of 10/10 these days (since I've watched so many), but this drama really shines and I really think you'd be missing out if you didn't watch this series, especially if you're a fan of Sorimachi Takashi. His acting is so convincing in this series and his character would touch you.

The typical older woman/younger man drama that tries to portray the love in which age doesn't matter. However, the problem with it was that the older woman in this drama was married. It was hard to sympathize with Esumi Makiko's character, Kozue-san when she was married with a man who loves her very much. And there was not much grounds for the love between her and Takuya (Yamashita Tomohisa) for there to have been a plausible love where the audience could root for them. Simply put, there was no chemistry.

This drama fails in one of the most important aspects of Romance storylines - you simply just don't care about the characters. And if that was not enough, the ending is very, very weak.

"Gokusen 2" was a good sequel to its predecessor, however it pretty much stands alone from the first since you can watch the second without having seen the first. The structure of the plot is similar to the first and towards the end seemed rather monotonous and boring.

Besides that the acting was great and Nakama Yukie once again does a wonderful job portraying the energetic and powerful, Yamaguchi Kumiko. The main problem with the story was that it was just a copy of the previous one and the lack of mention of Yankumi's previous students was one of the small drawbacks. Also the fact that the story didn't pay much attention to the teachers of the school, but used them as comedic relief.

All in all, the people who have enjoyed "Gokusen" are sure to enjoy this one also. It's a fun and light-hearted series to watch at anytime.

This was a fun series to watch though in the beginning I thought that it was quite boring and dull, it almost seemed like a Japanese re-make of "American Pie". Luckily though I was wrong, as the episodes progressed the characters had more depth to them and the storyline became much more interesting (ie not only about four boys wanting sex).

Anyway, instead of what I initially thought it would be about, it became more about friendship and love. ^_^ I wanted to watch this drama because I've enjoyed Oguri Shun in his other dramas so much, but instead I found that Yamashita Tomohisa as Ken-Ken was extremely adorable. I would recommend this drama for people who want something comical and cute to watch.

This is one of the best dramas that I've watched up to date. The storyline is grabbing, yet dark. The actors' portrayals of the mentally retarded teenagers were done excellently and realistically. But even more so, the characters were portrayed in such a manner that the viewer will really feel touched by them especially Towa, played by Ishida Issei.

There were some parts of this series that were very difficult to watch because of the angst involved, but nonetheless I highly recommend this series.

I'm not sure why others above have given it such poor reviews because definitely .. the storyline and acting were top-notch. This series is not for those who don't like dark dramas and some themes in this are rather mature. It's one of those series that you won't forget.

This really was a great drama, one of the few really, really meaningful dramas that I've seen thus far. I loved how the series developed each character and there was not one person out of the Sagittarius group that I disliked. In fact, I could almost say that I admired each one of them to a certain extent.

The theme of friendship is really strong in this series and the fact that they were able to pull through so many of life's struggles because they helped each other was really touching. I also liked how it dealt with the idea of achieving your dreams, no matter what they are, no matter what position you are in. The positive note overlies the fact that there were so many downs in each person's life. I really loved this series.

I believe each actor and actress did a superb job. ^_^

This was a fun series at the time that I was watching it, however right after I finished it and reflected .. I found myself thinking that the series was pretty plain and stereotypical of other romances. The characters' "love game" with one another was at times quite tedious and annoying.

All in all, Kimura Takuya still pulls off a great job! ^_^ (as usual)

After having to wait over a few months just to only watch up to episode 5 of Gokusen subbed in English, I finally found the entire version in Chinese. And after completing it (I was in a two-day marathon), I found myself absolutely loving it!!!! It's one of the best series and one of my all time favorites! It's one series that I consistently find myself watching over and over again (without getting bored of it). Nakama Yukie does such an impressive job as Yamaguchi Kumiko, very similar to the character in the anime series. And I found myself falling in love with Matsumoto Jun (Sawada Shin). The rest of the class is just as memorable and likeable.

Even though there are more exaggerated scenes in comparison to a regular JDorama, I found myself laughing so much. Each episode was just so much fun to watch. I didn't want this series to end. Luckily, there is a "Gokusen 2" now.

This series was definitely different from the average JDorama. The scenario was too farfetched and almost sounded a bit like a synopsis from an anime series called "Midori no Hibi". I found that Ninomiya's character as Minami-kun was pretty endearing since he went through a lot of trouble in order to hide Fukada Kyoko's character from other's eyes. Sometimes his actions were just hilarious.

The series started off pretty well, though the explanation for her shrinking is a bit .. eh. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend going too much out of your way to watch this unless you're a big Kyoko Fukada fan or Ninomiya fan.

This drama had a good storyline with a lot of dark elements and angst added to the main character, Tsugawa Tatsuya, played by Takizawa Hideaki. He ends up meeting a timid, optimistic pianist named Eiko through many chance meetings on the street and little by little their relationship develops. The love story between them was very sweet, yet painful at times. The audience really feels for Eiko and towards the end can harbor anger towards Tatsuya. However, even through all of this there was still a beautiful, yet sad ending. I highly recommend it, I found it to be a bit different from the other JDoramas I've watched (much darker).

Takizawa Hideaki does a wonderful job portraying the manipulative, cold-hearted Tsugawa Tatsuya and his few signs of kindness/warmth displayed towards Eiko is really touching. I really enjoyed it. The only problem I had with it is with the ending .. it was less dramatic because Takizawa didn't portray it as convincingly as it could've been. It would've been a serious tearjerker if he had.