I have a love-hate relationship with new drama season. On one hand, new dramas starting are always exciting and there’s plenty to sample from. On the other hand, the previous season has ended and now you’re in this kind of withdrawal from your favorite of the previous season. Sometimes it helps if there wasn’t anything too good last season, but usually, there’s one drama that I just need more of. Well, anyway, I’ve definitely been sampling quite a few of the dramas from this season and here they are:

Ando Natsu
This is the story of a young woman who wants to become a pastry chef who one day comes across a small Japanese sweets shop looking for a part-time employee. So, she starts working there and learning about the art of traditional Japanese sweets from them. I really liked Kanjiya Shihori in KimiHan and does anyone remember her from Hanadan 2 as Hinata Sara? And also has the crazy guy who was Manami’s boyfriend from LIFE, his role seems rather minimal, though. Unfortunately no one has picked up this series, but that doesn’t mean I won’t still be watching it =) And I can never refuse sweets…yum!

Code Blue
One of the more anticipated series because of its all star cast of Yamapi, Aragaki Yui, and Toda Erika. I admit I haven’t joined the Yamapi fanclub, but I really like Toda Erika and Aragaki Yui isn’t bad either. Also has Ryo in her usual type of role of the beautiful and very experienced __(fill in occupation)__. Basically this drama is Grey’s Anatomy with a helicopter and without the sex . I’m in!

Maou
Whee! Ikuta Toma! =) Mystery, suspense, thriller? I’m in! Of course there’s Arashi’s leader Ohno in his first starring role, and he has pleasantly surprised me as the two-faced lawyer. It’s an interesting type of mystery drama, since the culprit is already known, but I’m been captivated every minute of it. Does this drama remind anyone else of Death Note? L and Kira? I’ve always loved Death Note and I can never get enough of physiological thrillers… So far it’s been very good, and I’m a little surprised at the average ratings, but I suppose the genre can turn off even the biggest of Johnny’s fans/

Seigi no Mikata
It’s the story of two sisters: the older is a devil masked beneath a beautiful and intelligent woman, the younger is the victim of the older and the only one who knows of the older sister’s true evil ways. I don’t really like Yamada Yu and I don’t think she’s all that beautiful, either, but she’s quite entertaining as the evil older sister. The upside is that Shida Mirai is playing the younger sister and I have watched her in a number of roles and every time she impresses me. So far, it’s no different - this girl is going to be a big star (if she isn’t already). Plus what makes this drama so fun for me personally is that I’m the younger sister and when I was younger, I felt the exact same way as Youko (the little sister) feels, even though my sister isn’t actually evil (or is she?) Watching this, I just want to laugh and say “story of my life!!” haha… but watching just the first episode I just think…man, how can everyone think she’s actually nice….she’s a complete bitch to everyone and not just her sister!

Cat Street
Adapted from Kamio Yoko’s manga, this tells the story of a former child star, Aoyama Keito, who has cut off the world but slowly starts coming back when she starts attending a school for teenagers like her. It’s by the same author as Hana Yori Dango, so you know what to expect. Amazing storytelling with relateable characters. I’ve read parts of the manga myself and am looking forward to this finally airing! (starts in August) Stars Tanimura Mitsuki as Keito (remember her from Watashitachi no Kyokasho?). Also stars Kimura Ryo (Hana Kimi, Puzzle), Namase Katsuhisa (Gokusen 1-3, 4 Shimai Tantei Dan), and Kurokawa Tomoka (Detective Conan 1 and 2). I’m looking forward to this drama the most….start already!

Koizora
Drama adaption of the movie, which tells the story of Mika and Hiro’s painful love. I enjoyed the movie and I’m looking forward to better timing of the events and some backstory on their friends! The girl starring as Mika, Mizusawa Erena, is pretty unknown, so this could be her breakout role! Seto Koji is going to play Hiro and he’s from D-boys, which I known pretty much nothing about. Looking forward to watching Nagayama Kento aka Eita’s little brother in his supporting role. I think this one starts in August too.

Lotto 6 de San-oku Ni-senman Yen Ateta Otoko
It’s the story about a divorced man who suddenly wins lots of money in the lotto. It sounded sort of interesting, so I watched the first episode but never finished it. Maybe I’ll finish it eventually but I doubt it. Oh and it has that cute little boy from Last Friends in it!

Walkin’ Butterfly
It’s about this girl who has a complex about being too tall (partly because she is always rejected because she is too tall for her crush). One day she gets mistaken as a model when she’s delivering pizza to a fashion show and she realizes that her body is perfect for modeling. Unfortunately, she’s totally ungraceful and acts just like a guy, so it’ll be a tough climb to become a real model. Stars Nakabeppu Aoi as Michiko, who’s actually a model, Toray’s swimsuit model for 2008. Also stars Ishihara Satomi and Sakai Ayana in small supporting characters, which is a shame because they deserve to be the leading characters in some other drama on a bigger network. Generally, I find that TV Tokyo dramas are kind of weird, so I’ve never watched them before. But since this is adapted from a manga, it should be okay, right? Even though this one isn’t being subbed either, mostly I’m finding it easy to get through, as the language they use isn’t very complicated.

Honorable mentions
Shiro to Kuro - stars Nishihara Aki (Yuki from Handan, the hairstylist bitch from Last Friends) as Ayako, who’s in a love triangle with two brothers that have two opposite personalities. It’ll be interesting to see her finally star in her own drama, even though it’s daytime. I’d like to watch this but don’t know if I actually will.
Yottsu no Uso - sounds like Desparate Housewives, but I never got into that
Tomorrow - another hospital drama but it has Kanno Miho who is amazing
Here is Greenwood - adapted from a shoujo manga that I heard of but never read. and it’s also on a network with generally weird dramas
Taiyou to Umi no Kyoushitsu - seaside school drama that starts Oda Yuji who I only know about because of Oguri Shun’s Kisaragi. Also stars Kitano Kii from LIFE and a bunch of other young rising stars like Yamamoto Yusuke, Okada Masaki, and Tanimura Mitsuki (who’s also in Cat Street). Hm… maybe I should pick this up….

Starring
Kitano Kii as Shiiba Ayumu
Fukuda Saki as Anzai Manami
Seki Megumi as Hatori Miki
Hosoda Yoshihiko as Sako Katsumi
Sakai Miki as Hiraoka Masako
Hojo Takahiro as Sonoda Yuuki
Seto Asaka as Toda Wakae
Maya Miki as Shiiba Fumiko
Hoshii Nanase as Hirose Nodoka (Hiro)
Osawa Akane as Shinozuka Yuko
Katsumura Masanobu as Sako Toshikatsu
Nakamura Tomoya as Kano Akira
Suenaga Haruka as Iwamoto Midori
Ono Takehiko as Anzai Daijiro

LIFE is a Japanese drama that aired during the summer of 2007. It was broadcasted by Fuji TV and is 11 episodes long. The average ratings were 12.2%. It was adapted from Suenobu Keiko’s manga of the same name. Its theme song is LIFE by Nakashima Mika. Fukuda Saki won Best Supporting Actress and Tanimura Masaki won Best Director for their work at the 54th Television Drama Academy Awards.

LIFE focuses on bullying in a prestigious high school, Nishidate. In particular, it chronicles the story of Shiiba Ayumu’s bullying and her subsequent fall and rise. It starts when Ayumu is in junior high. Her best friend, Shinozuka Yuko (whom she calls Shii-chan), is a much better student than she is and is aiming towards Nishidate. Ayumu, on the other hand, isn’t very smart; she tries, but her test scores are always quite low. But Ayumu doesn’t want to be separated from her best friend, so she begs Yuko to help her study to get into Nishidate together.

They take the exam together, both hoping to pass and get in together. However, there’s a surprise in their plan. Ayumu’s score gets her into Nishidate, but Yuko doesn’t. Yuko is crushed and blames her failure on Ayumu. She breaks off her friendship with Ayumu and refuses to see her.

Ayumu starts her high school life listless and with little to no self-confidence. She is approached by Anzai Manami and they become friends. Manami has everything: the #1 student as her boyfriend (and handsome, too!), Sato Katsumi; money, her father is ridiculously powerful and has serious connections; beautiful and popular.

However, through a series of misunderstanding and manipulations, Manami comes to believe that Ayumu betrayed their “pinky promise.” Manami and her little gang lead the class in bullying Ayumu and her self-esteem falls lower and lower. Not only that, but she is struggling at school as well, ranking close to last place. One of Ayumu’s classmates, Hatori Miki, reaches out to her. Hatori is different from everyone else, she is not afraid to be by herself and is content being alone. She is very strong-willed and from her Ayumu gains the confidence to begin fighting back against her classmates.

LIFE was definitely one of the best dramas this past season. The acting was excellent; everything felt so real. Most of the cast are not well known, so it really surprised me how good the acting was. But I think it was better to have a relatively unknown cast, so it’s not your favorite actress being bullied or your favorite actress leading the bullying. Isn’t it scary how sweet some people can appear to be, only to suddenly turn into something so horrible?

It’s really a little horrifying to watch sometimes because of just how bad the bullying was. Like you hear that bullying is bad in Japan, but I don’t think people who grew up in the West can really understand. I mean, yeah, bullying is mentioned in some popular stories, most notably being Hana Yori Dango, but you don’t really see the effects of the bullying. Especially because the main character, Tsukushi is so strong-willed that she immediately fights back and continues to fight back. In LIFE, you really see how it can drive people to suicide. Plus, people who are bullied don’t have many friends around them and have little self-confidence, so they won’t fight back. It scares me to think how real this situation could be.

Another point that LIFE brings up is how everyone has their problems (well, pretty much). They can seem one way at school, but in reality they have a lot of things going on in their lives. And just because you know how they are at school doesn’t mean you really know how they are.

I really like the portrayal of people who have power. Take Manami, daughter of one of the most powerful men in town. A complete daddy’s girl and spoiled brat, her father completely fawns over her. I don’t want to say that it’s all her father’s fault, because it was Manami’s decision to do all this. But why does she think she can do this to begin with? Because even though she is the daughter, she has her father completely wrapped around her finger. Her father is super rich and super powerful, but he can’t raise a modest girl and he can’t see how dense he is.

A lot the problem also lies in the mindset of the people. The bullies in LIFE actually think they are right. That Ayumu deserves to be punished and they’re serving justice. But it’s so hard for me to believe that almost all the other classmates that participate think they are doing what’s right. Or that when it comes out into the open, they will say that it’s not their fault and that they were just innocent bystanders. I think one thing the drama wanted to point out is that everyone who witnesses the bullying is participating in it.

And then there’s the school administration. It sickens me that teachers either can’t see the bullying, don’t want to see the bullying, or see it and don’t do anything about it. And that if there is a teacher for attempts to solve it, they’ll be ostracized by the other teachers. It’s just so hard to wrap my head around it; how can they just turn a blind eye?

The series also briefly touches on the cycle of bullying. That point is especially interesting to me; I’d think that all the students who were bullied would eventually team up against it. But perhaps, they are too afraid of being bullied again that they wouldn’t do anything.

Now, if there’s a show that spurs me to write (much less think!) this much about the subject, it has to be a good drama. It is hard to watch at times, seeing Ayumu’s pain and wishing you could do something about it. But it’s so amazing to watch her growth and in that same way, maybe you can gain more confidence in yourself as well. Plus, the drama points out all the different aspects in bullying; it’s super thorough. I don’t know what more I can say to recommend this drama. It deals with a tough subject in an amazing way; I loved it.

Buy the boxset: Japan Version