I picked this up because a J-drama obsessing friend of mine told me I had to watch it. After being completely sold on GTO ( Great Teacher Onizuka ) both the anime and live action, naturally I felt I had to watch this one as well, simply because my friend told me it's about Yakuza, school and love, somehow that's a recipe that always get's me.
The Director(s) did a great job on assembling the series, there's never a really dull moment, and the depiction of the actual story ( compared to the Korean movie and the book it's based on ) stays very true to the story but with a lot more time to develop all characters, probably more-so then the Korean movie, but maybe not as much as the book, honestly I haven't read the book. If there's an translation id be sure to do so.
The blend between crazily sweet and hilariously serious moments is something I admire, I ( a guy with a stone-face ) found myself crying several times when watching it, sometimes of happiness sometime of relief, the music and acting plays a great part in this.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes you might think that Nagase Tomoya, the main character over-acts his role ( making it to silly ) , but it adds to the fun, instead of breaking the illusion. Hi's character Sakaki Makio is very touching and special, at several occasions I wished for him to get to a GTO moment where he fixes everything but to me the situations were solved in a very special way, that was difficult to predict, it adds a great flair to the series overall.
The other actors does a good job as well, I can't speak for them all but Tegoshi Yuya's character Sakurakouji Jun plays his role as Sakaki's first "friend" at school very good, and their friendship kinda grows on you as the series progresses.
Manabe Kazuya, the character played by Tanaka Koki does really add another dimension to the comedy of the series. He's the kinda guy who tries his best to fix everything for Sakaki, but usually ends up getting yelled at for doing it wrong somehow, deep down inside you still feel the strong "friedn" bond that he and his "wakka" or master Sakaki shares.
All the other characters does a great job, perhaps some of the normal students acting could have been more life-like, but there's just gotta be something to complain about?? he-he. The girl that Sakaki will relate to the most in the series, Aragaki Yui's character Umemura Hikari is incredibly sweet, and seems to have taken a liking to Sakaki from the beginning. It is without doubt one of the sweetest presentations of a love story i've seen in later days. She does an excellent job on her acting.
The setting of the series is pretty solid, typical huge Yakuza house, and school, and it looks to be fairly realistic sets, although it distinctly has the feeling of a TV-series. Which means if you sat down in the middle of it, you'd probably be able to tell it's a series and not a movie.
The OST is also great, and helps with conveying emotion in an incredibly way. Tokios song Sorafune that plays in the end is incredible ( I had to order the CD ) actually. Some further research revealed to me that Nagase Tomoya, the main character is actually a part of Tokio. Surprising considering his excellent acting skills, a multi-talent none-the less.
I recommend this to anyone, everybody should watch a J-drama sometime in their life, this is comedy, this is entertainment, this is emotion and great acting, pick it up, you won't regret it!
