![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
umechanThe first Gokusen drama is definitely a fun, fun series~ I remember thinking at first that Nakama Yukie was too pretty to be acting YanKumi, but she really fills the role wonderfully and you get over the fact that she's too pretty almost immediately. Major love for Jun-kun as Sawada Shin too. <3 He does wonderfully here. And it's kind of funny how different this role is from his usual tv personality. The role is different from Momo in Kimi wa Petto, but listening/reading folks on the jdorama or d-addicts boards would make you think he's like the best actor ever and he's really been stretched as an actor because his roles are so drastically different. In all honesty, I don't think the roles are all that different. Although Momo acts cutesy, both roles are essentially young teenaged boys who are good people underneath whatever mask they're wearing. I can't really explain it well, but I don't think the roles are so different so as to really strech an actor. Don't get me wrong, I love Jun-kun to bits. XD; And I do think he's a consistently good actor, but I'm not quite convinced that he's an excellent actor just yet.
Uh, ok, reel that inner irritation back in. :P I also adored Kuma. He's just adorable - how can you not like him? He's like this big teddy bear. :P I liked that he showed up in Gokusen 2, even if he's only there as a special "hey look! It's someone from the 1st series!" I'm really glad they had the special for the 1st series because it really wraps things up nicely.
Which brings me to why I actually didn't like Gokusen 2 very much. I think it probably had something to do with watching it immediately after the first series. They are too similar to marathon together. I ended up feeling like the 2nd series was a pale imitation of the first one. Not only are the students similar to the previous ones, the some of the storylines are the same too. :/ Couldn't they have put in a little more time/care and come up with some different stories?
That said, I did like (er, I forget all the characters names XD), the character acted by Koike Teppei - he's adorable! And his storylines were fresh/new and not recycled. BTW, did you all know he's part of WaT ... XD; what an accumulation of jpop eyecandy + Hayami Mokomichi. ^^;;; I also prefered Akanishi Jin's character to Kame's character but neither of them held a candle to MatsuJun's Sawada Shin who I think they were supposed to be replacing. The love interest for Yankumi this time around was also not as interesting as the cop guy from the series before and the new cop guy in the 2nd series is just downright annoying. I do love the way the second series ends though! SPOILER! (although not really much of one)
BTW, can someone teach me how to do the white on white spoiler hiding thing?
Yankumi and the Head teacher really have great chemistry. XD It's a cute idea that they keep on like that forever into the future, even if it kind of negates all the times in the past that we feel like he finally starts to see her side of things
I had pretty low expectations for Nobuta wo Produce when I first started watching it, partially because of what the premise was (from various sites which gave little summary/blurbs), and partially because two of the 3 main characters are Johnny's Jrs - Kamenashi Kazuya (Kame) and Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi). Neither of which had been terribly impressive in previous drama I'd seen them in. Ok, I admit that I've only seen each of them in one other drama, so maybe I hadn't given them a fair shot. Gokusen 2 for Kame and Stand Up!! for Yamapi (side note: Yamapi's character, KenKen is adorable! <3 )
BUT... I'm really glad I started watching it because it turned out to be just the kind of drama I really like, despite the seemingly shallow premise. Here's the one line non-spoilerish summary of the premise: Popular kid, Shuuji teams up with strange/eccentric/annoying kid Akira to make the dark and picked-on new transfer girl, Nobuko, into the most popular girl in the school. I highly recommend this drama if you like school-type dramas with just a tad more depth and meaning to them than your average school drama.
OK, I liked the ending - which I thought was fitting since the drama is focused on friendship. I was surprised to see Akira follow Shuuji to his new school, but I don't think that Nobuta being left at the old school means that they don't consider her a friend, or that they only considered her a project. After all, she obviously affected both Shuuji and Akira very profoundly. Especially Shuuji - it's because of Nobuta that Shuuji's learned to be a real person and not a walking facade. I like the symbolism that Nobuta "gives" Akira to Shuuji - because the person that has 2 of those dolls can have happiness. It's a very Nobuta-like gesture.
I don't know why people on various boards (like d-addicts, etc) are focusing so much on the fact that Nobuta is left alone and that means only Shuuji and Akira have a real friendship. I don't think those two things equate. You can very well have a true friendship without being in the same place. I like the scene where Shuuji and Akira talk about Nobuta being somewhere under the same sky (might not be exactly what they say, but similar meaning) that she's out there somewhere trying hard.
And I also like that they come right out and say that both boys are equally important to Nobuta - and her choice to have all three of them suffer bad luck together. <3 If you haven't noticed by now, I have a major weakness for stories about friendship, pure friendship, etc. So I am exceedingly happy that they didn't veer off into romantic triangle land.
Side notes: I really like Kame's character Shuuji - it's wonderful to watch him change throughout the series. Complex characters appeal to me. :3 Nobuta is also a great character - it's hard not to like her directness and she really is cute when she's trying to change. And now I confess that I don't particularly like Akira, Yamapi's character. I feel like the characterization is inconsistent. A good friend put it into better words than I could - it seems like he's playing at being weird. And he's not really annoying - just putting up a front as a supposedly annoying person. The character rings a little false in my personal opinion. He wavers between being supposedly annoying and strange, and then being really serious. And there isn't any real reasoning/development/anything at all to explain this. That said, I still enjoyed all the scenes with the three of them because Akira does lighten the mood.
...I can't understand why so many people seem to love Yamapi's character...? Personally all the affected Akiraisms kind of annoy me because they seem ...faked? or like affectations?
Another thing which annoyed me that doesn't seem to have annoyed anyone else (or at least other people seem to have thought it was really cute) are the little things Shuuji does with the class. Like the whole "bicycle" "bye-bye-cycle" thing. x_X ...someone please kill me now. Or the other stupid puns he makes (like the one he does with the days of the week, I'm not about to try and spout off japanese here.. so.) ....maybe I'm too old for this kind of thing?
Absolutely loved episode 8. BEST EPISODE EVER! <3 So much love for all of them. The last two episodes were almost a bit of an extra afterthought. But I still enjoyed them nonetheless.
..ok I'll stop babbling now. ^^;
Uh, ok, reel that inner irritation back in. :P I also adored Kuma. He's just adorable - how can you not like him? He's like this big teddy bear. :P I liked that he showed up in Gokusen 2, even if he's only there as a special "hey look! It's someone from the 1st series!" I'm really glad they had the special for the 1st series because it really wraps things up nicely.
Which brings me to why I actually didn't like Gokusen 2 very much. I think it probably had something to do with watching it immediately after the first series. They are too similar to marathon together. I ended up feeling like the 2nd series was a pale imitation of the first one. Not only are the students similar to the previous ones, the some of the storylines are the same too. :/ Couldn't they have put in a little more time/care and come up with some different stories?
That said, I did like (er, I forget all the characters names XD), the character acted by Koike Teppei - he's adorable! And his storylines were fresh/new and not recycled. BTW, did you all know he's part of WaT ... XD; what an accumulation of jpop eyecandy + Hayami Mokomichi. ^^;;; I also prefered Akanishi Jin's character to Kame's character but neither of them held a candle to MatsuJun's Sawada Shin who I think they were supposed to be replacing. The love interest for Yankumi this time around was also not as interesting as the cop guy from the series before and the new cop guy in the 2nd series is just downright annoying. I do love the way the second series ends though! SPOILER! (although not really much of one)
BTW, can someone teach me how to do the white on white spoiler hiding thing?
Yankumi and the Head teacher really have great chemistry. XD It's a cute idea that they keep on like that forever into the future, even if it kind of negates all the times in the past that we feel like he finally starts to see her side of things
I had pretty low expectations for Nobuta wo Produce when I first started watching it, partially because of what the premise was (from various sites which gave little summary/blurbs), and partially because two of the 3 main characters are Johnny's Jrs - Kamenashi Kazuya (Kame) and Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi). Neither of which had been terribly impressive in previous drama I'd seen them in. Ok, I admit that I've only seen each of them in one other drama, so maybe I hadn't given them a fair shot. Gokusen 2 for Kame and Stand Up!! for Yamapi (side note: Yamapi's character, KenKen is adorable! <3 )
BUT... I'm really glad I started watching it because it turned out to be just the kind of drama I really like, despite the seemingly shallow premise. Here's the one line non-spoilerish summary of the premise: Popular kid, Shuuji teams up with strange/eccentric/annoying kid Akira to make the dark and picked-on new transfer girl, Nobuko, into the most popular girl in the school. I highly recommend this drama if you like school-type dramas with just a tad more depth and meaning to them than your average school drama.
OK, I liked the ending - which I thought was fitting since the drama is focused on friendship. I was surprised to see Akira follow Shuuji to his new school, but I don't think that Nobuta being left at the old school means that they don't consider her a friend, or that they only considered her a project. After all, she obviously affected both Shuuji and Akira very profoundly. Especially Shuuji - it's because of Nobuta that Shuuji's learned to be a real person and not a walking facade. I like the symbolism that Nobuta "gives" Akira to Shuuji - because the person that has 2 of those dolls can have happiness. It's a very Nobuta-like gesture.
I don't know why people on various boards (like d-addicts, etc) are focusing so much on the fact that Nobuta is left alone and that means only Shuuji and Akira have a real friendship. I don't think those two things equate. You can very well have a true friendship without being in the same place. I like the scene where Shuuji and Akira talk about Nobuta being somewhere under the same sky (might not be exactly what they say, but similar meaning) that she's out there somewhere trying hard.
And I also like that they come right out and say that both boys are equally important to Nobuta - and her choice to have all three of them suffer bad luck together. <3 If you haven't noticed by now, I have a major weakness for stories about friendship, pure friendship, etc. So I am exceedingly happy that they didn't veer off into romantic triangle land.
Side notes: I really like Kame's character Shuuji - it's wonderful to watch him change throughout the series. Complex characters appeal to me. :3 Nobuta is also a great character - it's hard not to like her directness and she really is cute when she's trying to change. And now I confess that I don't particularly like Akira, Yamapi's character. I feel like the characterization is inconsistent. A good friend put it into better words than I could - it seems like he's playing at being weird. And he's not really annoying - just putting up a front as a supposedly annoying person. The character rings a little false in my personal opinion. He wavers between being supposedly annoying and strange, and then being really serious. And there isn't any real reasoning/development/anything at all to explain this. That said, I still enjoyed all the scenes with the three of them because Akira does lighten the mood.
...I can't understand why so many people seem to love Yamapi's character...? Personally all the affected Akiraisms kind of annoy me because they seem ...faked? or like affectations?
Another thing which annoyed me that doesn't seem to have annoyed anyone else (or at least other people seem to have thought it was really cute) are the little things Shuuji does with the class. Like the whole "bicycle" "bye-bye-cycle" thing. x_X ...someone please kill me now. Or the other stupid puns he makes (like the one he does with the days of the week, I'm not about to try and spout off japanese here.. so.) ....maybe I'm too old for this kind of thing?
Absolutely loved episode 8. BEST EPISODE EVER! <3 So much love for all of them. The last two episodes were almost a bit of an extra afterthought. But I still enjoyed them nonetheless.
..ok I'll stop babbling now. ^^;
