3 posts tagged “comedy”
Broadcast date: 7/7/98 - 9/22/98
Genre: School comedy
Cast: Sorimachi Takashi, Matsushima Nanako, Kubozuka Yosuke, Nakamura Aimi, Kirari, Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Oguri Shun
Plot: Onizuki Eikichi dreams of being a teacher. He is finally hired by a strange director to teach a class of troublemakers at Seirin Gakuen. Of course, his antics always get him into trouble but he'll always believe in his students.
What is good: Sorimachi Takashi is awesome as Onizuka
What is bad: A lot of people will compare it to Gokusen
Letter rating: A
Overall: After watching the first episode, I said "So this is Gokusen but with a male teacher?" I was wrong. It is similiar to Gokusen but only because both are set in a high school class filled with troublemakers. Once you look past that, the two series are completely different. In Gokusen, Kumiko becomes friends with her students by keeping them from fighting and pretty much forcing herself into their friendships. Onizuka becomes friends with his students just by being himself. While he does protect his students, he has "They'll make the right decision" type of attitude when it comes to trying to get them to do the 'correct' thing. GTO is a really good series that I would recommend to anyone.
Title: Gokusen 2
Broadcast date: 1/15/05 - 1/19/05
Genre: comedy
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Hayami Mokomichi, Koike Teppei, Koide Keisuke, Namase Katsuhisa
Plot: Shirokin Gakuen has closed its doors. Six months later, Yamaguchi Kumiko (Nakama Yukie) is teaching a group of young children, though she'd much rather be teaching high school again. Due to a twist of fate, Yankumi gets a job teaching at Kurogin Gakuen. Once again, she is left to deal with the school's delinquents. This year her students are the worst she's ever encountered!
What is good: Nakama Yukie comes through once again.
What is bad: This is almost an exact duplicate of the first season but with new students.
Letter rating: D
Overall: The first season of Gokusen did everything right. The studio tried to recreate that magic with the second season but came up short. I easily predicted what would happen next because I saw the same exact thing happen in the first season! Nakama Yukie was still hysterically funny but she was put up against a group of actors, who are mostly in boy bands. (Kamenashi and Akanishi are in KAT-TUN and Koike Teppei is in WaT.) This season should prove to producers that you can't just toss a bunch of cute, recognizable boys into a show and come out with something awesome. I'd only recommend this show to someone who is a big fan of one of the actors. There isn't any other reason to watch it.
Title: Gokusen
Broadcast date: 4/1/02 - 7/3/02
Genre: comedy
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Shun, Waki Tomohiro, Narimiya Hiroki, Ishigaki Yuma, Namase Katsuhisa, Itoh Misaki, Nakazawa Yuko
Plot: Yamaguchi Kumiko (Nakama Yukie) always wanted to be a teacher, like her late parents. However, she is the granddaughter of the third generation Oedo yakuza boss. Kumiko will try her best to keep her family's business secret when she gets a job at Shirokin high school as the homeroom teacher for the worst class of the school - 3D.
What is good: Both Nakama Yukie and Matsumoto Jun's acting.
What is bad: No matter what the situation, Kumiko insists on doing everything herself and refuses help from anyone.
Letter rating: A
Overall: The casting director managed to get a wonderful group of actors together for this series. While I haven't seen any of her dramatic roles yet, Nakama Yukie absolutely shines as a comedic actress. Pairing her with Matsumoto Jun (of the group Arashi) was brilliant. The two of them have a chemistry that pops on the screen and you can see the friendship bloom through the entire show. Add in Namase Katsuhisa as the vice-principal of the school to keep Nakama-san on her toes. There isn't much more you could want in a comedy. Each of the main students of 3D get a background episode so it isn't left to just the leader of the group. While there is a special that follows the end of the series, I would have loved to see more of 'what became of Yankumi's first class.' I suppose I'l have to leave that to my imagination.
