Starring:
Narumi Riko as Hanamoto Hagumi
Ikuta Toma as Takemoto Yuta
Harada Natsuki as Yamada Ayumi
Mukai Osamu as Mayama Takumi
Narimiya Hiroki as Morita Shinobu
Murakami Jun as Hanamoto Shuji
Seto Asaka as Harada Rika
Takizawa Saori as Teshigawara Miwako
Kimura Yuichi as Lohmeyer-senpai
Matsushige Yutaka as Professor Shoda
Maekawa Yasuyuki as Teranobori Yasuhiko
Kashiwabara Takashi as Nomiya Takumi
Izumiya Shigeru as Yamada Daigoro

Hachimitsu to Kuroba is a Japanese drama that aired on the winter of 2008. Even though it was based off of a super popular manga and anime of the same name, the drama failed to live up to that popularity, averaging ratings of only 8.9%.

The drama follows the lives of five art school students. Hanamoto Hagumi is a young naive girl form the countryside, but she is an amazing artists. Takemoto Yuta is an architecture student who is a bit lost in life, not knowing what he wants to do. Yamada Ayumi is a talented ceramics student. She’s in love with Mayama Takumi, an experienced architecture student. The last member of their group is Morita Shinobu, an eclectic young man, who despite being an amazing artist in all sorts of forms, doesn’t want to graduate. Right off the bat, many love triangles are introduced. Takemoto likes Hagu and Yamada likes Mayama, but he’s too busy falling over his boss, Harada Rika. She and Hagu’s cousin, Hanamoto Shuji, a professor at their school, were friends back when they were in art school together. One nice change that HachiKuro has is that although there is romance in the story, it’s not a strict romance story. It tells the tale of five students as they find their way in life and as always, life brings elements of romance into it.

I have read part of the manga and have watched all of the anime, so I was expecting something a bit more from the drama. And I’m sad to say that the drama really doesn’t live up to the manga and anime. With the transition from animanga to live-action, a lot of things are lost, especially the way artists can over-exaggerate anything without looking too outrageous. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the drama and much of HachiKuro’s slapstick humor is cut from the series and replaced with other attempts at humor (which doesn’t work as well). Like Lohmeyer-senpai….whose role here was 1000 times greater than in the original storyline. I think it was supposed to be funny, but it was just stupid. And not even the type of stupid that you can laugh at.

The fact that many plot elements were changed made the drama’s storyline less touching than the manga. Not to mention how some of the character’s traits were altered, making you wonder, “is this person really the same character?” (just think Morita…). And not to mention they took out the entire character of Kaoru…which makes Morita lose a ton of depth to his character.

Despite that, I enjoyed Ikuta Toma’s portrayal of Takemoto and his monologues are well done. And I have always really liked the Yamada-Mayama storyline; I find it so touching and real and pure. I love the character of Yamada Ayumi, actually. And Hirai Ken’s Canvas as the theme song was really great as well.

HachiKuro is probably a good drama for those who aren’t too familiar with the original storyline. But for the rest of us who had some expectations, they definitely weren’t met. It wasn’t even like Hana Kimi, where the drama was still good, even though there were changes made to the storyline. Okay, so HachiKuro’s not bad, but it’s not good and that’s bad enough, right?

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
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