Starring:
Kamenashi Kazuya as Hatanaka Kosaku
Kuroki Meisa as Sister Angela
Kobayashi Satomi as Mukoda Seiko
Okada Yoshinori as Ueda
Yamada Ryosuke as Mukoda Katsumi
Minamisawa Nao as Noriko
Takahashi Issei as Ishizaka
Mitsuishi Ken as Mitaka Hideo
Motai Masako as Osamu Incho
Ishiguro Hideo as Horiguchi
Namioka Kazuki as Kojima
Eguchi Noriko as Sister Milee

One Pound Gospel is a Japanese drama that aired in the winter of 2008. It’s based on the manga of the same name by famed manga-ka, (of Inuyasha) Takahashi Rumiko. It garnered pretty average ratings of 10.6%.

This drama stars Kame as a flyweight boxer who loves to eat. He loves it so much that he is always over the weight limit for his weight class and always has to work extra hard to lose the weight for his fights. One day while running, he meets Sister Angela, a young nun from the local convent. He falls for her instantly, but she is very naive and doesn’t really understand what’s happening. Each episode is a stand-alone story about Kousaku’s fights and his training prior to it. Throughout the series, Kousaku and Sister Angela’s relationship progresses and faces many trials.

While One Pound Gospel is certainly an enjoyable drama, it’s just an average sports drama. And sports dramas are what they are. It’s exciting and cheesy and after you’re done watching it, you think that whatever sports theme it was, it could start being your favorite. Maybe the only new concept it adds to the typical sports drama is the heavier romance theme. But even then, the romance drama parts are very average as well. He falls for her, she eventually falls for him, they face many trials, but are reunited and live happily ever after.

But the acting is good and all the characters are likeable enough. However, unlike most dramas, there wasn’t very much back stories to each of the characters outside the gym. There were a few short and uncomplicated side stories, but definitely not enough to flesh out each of the supporting characters, which leave little depth.

However, if you really enjoyed this storyline and live in the US, then there is some good news. I hear the English version of the manga is coming out sometime. So if you liked the drama, you can enjoy it again in its original manga version, though I doubt I’ll be picking it up.

Buy the boxset: Japan Version

New season, new dramas, and a renewed spirit! This’ll be my first drama preview post as just my first impressions on the dramas I’m planning on watching and reviewing.

First Impressions

Shikaotoko Aoiniyoshi

A very unlucky man is forced to move his post at a university lab to a girl’s high school in Nara, where the deer roam around freely. Ogawa Takanobu moves into an apartment/inn of some sorts with a bunch of his co-workers. Life in Nara is quite different from Tokyo and Ogawa has probalem adjusting, including a student who seems to hate him. And not to mention that there seems to be someone tailing him and writing telltale notes on his classroom blackboard. So far, I’ve found Shikaotoko Aoiniyoshi to be quite interesting. Even though, it takes place in Nara that’s depicted as mostly slow-paced and not very exciting, the drama is full of life. I also love that the humor is very dry; there doesn’t seem to be any slapstick to be seen. I also have to mention that Tamaki Hiroshi and Ayase Haruka have pretty unflattering hair compared to their previous hairstyles. Maybe it’s supposed to be reflect on their location.

Hachimitsu to Kuroba (Honey and Clover)

Probably one of the more anticipated drama for overseas watches would be Hachimistsu to Kuroba, more commonly known as Honey and Clover. It’s a story of five college students in art school and the drama and comedy that ensues from college life. The story starts when Hanamoto Hagumi, an amazingly talented painter among other things, starts school. It centers around Takemoto Yuta, though, who is mostly the narrator and falls in love with Hagu. There’s a lot of love triangles, random fun, and all sorts of art. I was really looking forward to this drama, but I was disappointed in the first episode. Some parts were funny, but other parts were just on the boring side and all in all I was not impressed. Fortunately, the second episode redeemed it a bit for me, but it’s still not as good as I had hoped. I have read a few chapters of the manga, and I’ve never watched the anime. I did watch the the movie and thought it was rather boring, though I found the manga to be pretty enjoyable. I just hope the drama will get better soon. But since the third episode’s rating is now below 10%, maybe all there is is hope.

Ashita no Kita Yoshio

I found this story synopsis to be quite intriguing. A man, Kita Yoshio, has always had a strange connection to the number 11. He has lead a life that he regrets and is sad about. He feel that the world hates him and there is nothing left for him to live. He had a wife, but she divorced him 11 years ago. He had one good friend, but he also died. Kita Yoshio decides to end his life 11 days from then, on the anniversary of his one friend’s death. However, fatefully, he meets Yashiro Heita who pulls him into a world he never knew about. This is the start Kita Yoshio’s most eventful 11 days. After being disappointed with Hachimitsu to Kuroba, I watched the first episode of Ashita no Kita Yoshio and was pleasantly surprised. The story is kind of trippy, but is really enjoyable. There’s a morbid side to it, yet it is very funny. Kohinata Fumiyo who plays the titular “hero,” Kita Yoshio is, so far, amazing. His character is really pathetic but at the time can relate to many people. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of this drama.

1 Pound no Fukuin

This is the story of a boxer who absolutely loves to eat. However this always gets into trouble since he needs to keep a close watch on his weight to stay in his weight class. One day, he meets a fledging nun, Sister Angela, and feels a strange pull towards her. I don’t know. The nun thing is really weird, but the juxtaposition of a nun and boxer is quite interesting. It’s weird, though, having Kame as the boxer cause he’s so skinny. Generally, it’s a little cheesy and dramatic (but what sports drama isn’t?). But Kame is nice to look at and Kuroki Meisa is really pretty.

Koshonin

I cannot resist a crime drama. Seriously. Koshonin is about the Special Investigation Team unit of the police. This team goes directly to the front line of a crime to negotiate with the criminals. The story focuses on Usagi Reiko, a new trainee in the SIT. She is the only woman on the team and the leader of the team lets her know straight up that she is not welcome. After watching the first episode, it seems that this drama is not about the crimes, but really mostly about police hierarchies and internal politics. Actually, I don’t find the actual case to be very interesting or engaging; what is interesting is the internal politics, perhaps the drama is a commentary on the rigidness of the system?

Still to start

Binbo Danshi

Two words: Oguri Shun! It’s the story of a poor college student who always lends a helping hand with other people’s debts, even though it always lands him into trouble (and he’s already dirt poor). This drama is either really good or really cheesy. I think I’ll watch it no matter what. That promo image is gold. Plus, it’ll also be an interesting ride to see him in a purely comedic role (a nice departure from Hanazawa Rui and Sano Izumi).

4 Shimai Tantei Dan

Yeah, just can’t resist mystery. It revolves around a team of 4 sisters who solves crimes. I’m interested to see what kind of mysteries the sisters will solve….Yukan Club-esque mysteries? (please, no more of those) or Galileo-esque mysteries? Hopefully this won’t disappoint. Also interesting to note that the abbreviation is 4STD.

Bara no nai Hanaya

I’m still not sure if I want to watch this drama. But it does have rather high ratings, I think the highest of the season so far. I dunno. Maybe. I do want to watch Matsuda Shota in a lighter role, though, since his recent leads have been rather dark characters (though he’s not the leading role in this one). What I gather about the story is that it’s about a single father running a flower shop and the people that he meets.

Starring
Miyazaki Aoi as Satonaka Shizuru
Tamaki Hiroshi as Segawa Makoto
Kuroki Meisa as Toyama Miyuki
Aoki Munetaka as Shirohama Ryo
Koide Keisuke as Sekiguchi Kyohei
Oonishi Asae as Yaguchi Yuka
Uehara Misa as Inoue Saki

I watched Miyazaki Aoi in NANA; she was great and I was interested in her other works. And I do love Ai Otsuka’s ballads (the movie’s theme is Renai Shashin), so when I found subs for Tada, Kimi wo Ashiteru, I had to watch it.

It starts out at the end of the story where Makoto flies to New York to meet his good friend Shizuru. He then recounts the story of their unusual friendship. Makoto is somewhat autistic and has a difficult time socializing with others, so he often keeps to himself. Shizuru is an eccentric young woman who acts and dresses many years younger than she actually is. The two meet on the first day of university when Shizuru is attempting to cross a busy intersection and Makoto points out to her that it would be better to cross at an intersection with a light. He leaves and she still stands at the intersection waiting to cross. Makoto is taken by this and pulls out his camera and snaps a photograph. He later notices her in a class and sometime later, she joins him in the school cafeteria. This is where their tentative friendship starts.

Shizuru follows Makoto to a gated forest. He enjoys photography and sneaks in there to take pictures. Together they discover different parts of the forest and it kind of becomes “their place,” somewhere where it is only the two of them. Eventually Shizuru also takes up photography.

Miyuki is a beautiful girl who befriends Makoto, who incidentally likes Miyuki. Makoto becoming friends with Miyuki and her group create a little rift between Shizuru and Makoto, since Shizuru is known as the strange girl, and his new friends poke fun at her. Makoto makes things right with Shizuru and they once again start taking pictures together again. He takes her back to his house to use his darkroom to teach her how to develop photos. Soon Shizuru and Miyuki also become friends. However, Shizuru knows that Makoto is in love with Miyuki. And in turn tells him that she just want to like the person that she likes like.

Shizuru and Makoto decide to enter an amateur photography competition near the end of their university years. Shizuru wants to take a picture of the two of them kissing in the forest. She says that she wants that for her birthday present; Makoto agrees. After that day, however, Shizuru disappears without a trace.

Tada, Kimi wo Ashiteru is a beautifully crafted film. The pace is fairly slow compared to American films, but that is one thing that I enjoyed about it. There’s a simplicity in the story that is just very charming.

Miyazaki Aoi is great as a cute, innocent university student; the character she creates is really very lovable. She has some lines that you just think, “what was that?!” to, but I think that it just adds to her character’s emphasis on not being mature yet.

I also liked Tamaki Hiroshi’s character a lot, though a bit too shy and non-confrontational at times. Kuroki Meisa’s character is so seemingly perfect that you almost doubt that someone like her really exists. I mean, who really know anyone like Miyuki?

This movie is definitely worth seeing if you enjoy slice-of-life or romance stories. If you’re a fan of the three actors/actresses listed above, it won’t disappoint either.

Buy this movie: HK DVD | J Special Edition