Gokusen (2003)

SEASON 1

 Country: Japan
Format: 12 episodes + SP
Genre: school, youth
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Shun, Narimiya Hiroki, Waki Tomohiro, Ichigaki Yuma, Namase Katsuhisa, Utsui Ken, Kaneko Ken, Uchiyama Shinji, Ito Misaki, Nakasawa Yuko, Sawamura Ikki, Sakata Tadashi, Matsuyama Kenichi, guests: Ichikawa Yui, Wentz Eiji, Tanaka Kei, Hiraoka Yuta
Synopsis: Yankumi`s life long dream has been to become a high-school teacher. After passing her exam she becomes teacher to 3-D class at Shirokin Gakuen high-school. She does not know yet that her class is put together of delinquents and troublemakers, but neither know students that actually she is the grand-daughter of 3rd generation yakuza boss.
Rating: 4/5
At last I decided to watch "Gokusen" also known as one of the most famous school dramas in the history of school dramas and I cannot argue with that. There is something great about it that just hooks you on to the screen.

Hana Yori Dango

Hana Yori Dango (2005)

Country: Japan
Format: drama season 1, 9 episodes
Genre: romance, comedy, school
Cast: Inoue Mao, Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Jun, Matsuda Shota, Abe Tsuyoshi, Nishihara Aki, Kaga Mariko, Sato Megumi, David Ito, Sada Mayumi, Tomiura Satoshi, Kobayashi Susumu, Ishino Mako, Matsushima Nanako
Synopsis: Makino Tsukushi goes to elite high-school which is ruled by world-famous F4 - Flower 4 -  the richest and most powerful guys in the school - getting a red notice from them means definite leaving from school. As a commoner Makino tries to live her high-school life being unnoticed, but everything changes when she gets on bad terms with F4's leader Domyouji Tsukasa. Makino's first name stands for "though weed" and she proves that she deserves it by declaring war to F4. Oddly enough slowly she is starting to fall for the enemy.
Rating: 4/5
It took me years until I convinced myself to watch it - after all everybody are praising it to heaven and it is one of the must-see classics. Before watching these were my thoughts - "I'm gonna hate Curly, luv Sweety and dunno 'bout others" (Excuse me for slang - these thoughts are already simplified from the actual slang in my head - you do not want to know how my mind works) But lets see how and why my thoughts changed after watching it.

Juui Dolittle (2010)

Country: Japan
Format: drama in 9 episodes
Genre: veterinary, friendship
Cast: Oguri Shun, Narimiya Hiroki, Inoue Mao, Fujisawa Ema, Kasahara Hideyuki, Suda Masaki, Ishizaka Koji, Kunimura Jun, guests: Masuda Takahisa, Kuninaka Ryoko, Saotame Taichi, Kaho etc
Synopsis: Tottori Kenichi (Oguri Shun) is not the friendliest person, but he is the best veterinarian in Japan. He keeps saying that veterinary is business and makes people understand the true meaning of being pet's owner. After operating Tajima Asuka's (Inoue Mao) horse, she is made to help out at the clinic to pay back for surgery.  There is also a great friend, charismatic veterinarian Hanabishi Masaru (Narimiya Hiroki) who is unable to carry out an operation.
Rating: 3/5
 I was surprised by "Juui Dolittle" - I do not know why, but I thought that it will be totally different, so it is really great that it was able to overcome my expectations. It has been in my "watch-list" ever since it aired on TBS, which is almost 2,5 years, so it was about time to finally watch it. I even remember how I kept watching their updates on official page, because they had so cute animals on the set all the time. (I am a big animal lover - I actually grew up in a farm with many animals)

Oguri Shun was really cool in it, because I think that he suits into those "tsundere" character rolls with his big growth and suitable face. Tottori Kenichi is most of the time really cold and his fees are reaaaaaalllly high, but at the same time you can see his hidden love towards animals. I also felt that his coldness is caused by other people ignorance toward their pets, because there are so many people abandoning their pets or not taking good care of them. He also has many secrets, because he is a man of few words, but I also felt that they gave us too less information about him to understand him 100%.  

Tajima Asuka is a novice in veterinary. She is really cute character, because she is not annoying or useless and she gives her best to help animals at clinic. Of course there are mistakes, but it is understandable because she has never done anything like that before. They have put in some hints on love-line between her and Tottori, but the biggest impact goes on animals. As you might think already, then you can see more Asuka's emotions than Tottori's. Another thing I thought before watching it was that she will have some kind of love-line with Hanabishi, which would have caused much jealousy, but it did not happen.  But I was most surprised by the fact that Hanabishi Masaru and Tottori were friends.. :D

I do not know why I thought they are rivals - as you can see I do not read others reviews or all synopsis' before watching. I really liked Hanabishi because he was willing to do everything in order to save animals, even though he did not perform operations himself. He was really appealing and wanted the best, but for me it all made his over-priced car funnier. He has the biggest problems and difficulties in the drama, all due to the lie about operating. He is the only veterinarian who officially acknowledges Tottori's outstanding skills and because they were university buddies he is the one person who understands Tottori, which is really cute.

From other characters I really liked Domon Junpei at first, but Domon family is the most annoying part of the drama. No matter how they all make really selfish things and manipulate with others, so they just got on my nerves. I do not like veterinarians who are out for fame and money or do not bother to make extra researches to find out pet's illness. Of course there are some annoying ones more within "costumers" and their selfish thoughts. Another thing that I did not enjoy in this drama was those fake animal capes! Some of them were tooooo fake and that was not pretty. I understand that making a drama with animals is difficult and especially in those scenes it would have been inconceivable to use living animals, but they could have done a better job with capes.

If we leave out the annoying family and fake capes, then it is a really sweet drama that makes you treasure your pets, there could have been more constant action between three main characters, because, it is said that this drama should be about main characters friendship, which I got to know after I had searched for real synopsis after watching it. Do not know how much it was about friendship and how much it was about owner-pet relationships, but I will leave it up to you to decide.

Surely Someday (2010)

Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: drama, life&death, friendship, yakuza
Cast: Koide Keisuke, Katsuji Ryo, Ayano Gou, Suzuki Ryohei, Muro Tsuyoshi, Konishi Manami, Yokota Eiji, Yoshida Kotaru, Endo Kenichi, small roles: Inoue Mao, Otake Shinobu, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Ueto Aya (cameo), Oguri Shun
Synopsis: Five childhood friends (Takumi, Kyohei, Kazuo, Shuto, Yuki) form a rock band to perform in the upcoming cultural festival. Once the festival is cancelled, they threaten to  blow up the school. Even though the adults agree with their terms, they are unable to stop the homemade bomb. Three years later fate brings them together in order to help Kazuo, who had joined the yakuza, search for the prostitute they used to know and the 300 million yen she stole from him.
Rating: 4/5
It is Oguri Shun´s first directed movie. I had my prejudice because of Oguri Shun, but believe me -

 I think I have never misunderstood someone as much I have him and his talent. This is a different style of movie - I think that it has many great things put together - music, fun and serious underground. Mostly I like it because it is another movie where absolutely everything is related to  each other.
I do not have much to say about each character, so I will mention them later. The movie shows their life 3 years after the bomb incident and also there are scenes from their memories of the school time and from childhood. All they really wanted to do was to perform at cultural festival, well in the childhood Takumi just wanted to meet Misa and know more about her. I know that their way of handling things was wrong, but even more I think that many things just ran together.

The main person who made things to flow, was Takumi - he had a difficult relationship with his father due to ruining his career. Also Takumi was the one who came up with the bomb idea, but of course he did not want anything to do with gun powder in it. Koide Keisuke is amazing in this role. I feel like he gets hotter with years and I love his singing in the movie. Kyohei is the virgin, who makes Yuki put some gunpowder into the bomb - that gives him scruples for the three years as no one has spoken to Yuki since then.  There was only one minus of the story, which was connected to Kyohei´s character. The scene where he was made to "suck it", was filmed in a wrong way and actually Kyohei should have had horrible remorse and feeling of dieing (he a little bit had, but not enough). I have seen one film where the same kind scene is and it is filmed so well that it makes you very sick - besides in that movie the character decides to kill himself and the one who made him do it, because his remorse did not allow to live anymore.

 Like you understood, Yuki was the one who made the bomb - he is the least shown in the movie. Nothing more to say about Kazuo than he did not thought enough and really made excuse out of his sister. Shuto was aiming to become a real musician and all women fell for him by having a eye contact with him for 5 seconds - it happened to me through computer screen too, because Ayano Gou has sooooo beautiful eyes!!! One really important character is Misa who is connected to guys for years. Her story is so sad, because all she wanted was happiness and that someone could love her. Stupid Ijima (crazy yakuza boss) ruined her life.
At some points I was screaming that it cannot just happen so (A bit similar to "Troubleman), it is horrible when someone does not have luck at all and at the same time he is very lucky to survive everything.

The OST of the movie is great and you can see that Oguri Shun had thought through every single thing in it and that made it really good. You can feel that it was not something that was made for fun, but that it was serious work after long time thinking and organizing. I like the fact that the filming and the whole movie was kept in secret until it was finished and ready to show to viewers - that shows that Oguri Shun did not want to fail with it. It was a smart move to take widely-known actors like Inoue Mao, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Otake Shinobu, Ueto Aya into minor roles and even Oguri Shun himself acted for 30 seconds as a policeman.
I recommend to watch this movie when the possibility arises, because it is great.

Hanazakari no kimitachi e (2007)

Country: Japan
Format: drama, 12 episodes + SP
Genre: comedy, romance, school
Cast: Horikita Maki, Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma, Yamamoto Yusuke, Mizobata Junpei, Okada Masaki, Mizushima Hiro, Kiritani Mirei, Kamikawa Takaya, Daito Shunsuke, Sugimoto Tetta, Inagaki Goro, Ishigaki Yuma, Kimura Ryo, Kyo Nobou, Iwasa Mayuku, Kurose Manami, Shirota Yu, Minami, Konno Mahiru,
Synopsis:  Ashiya Mizuki becomes a transfer student to all boys school Osaka High, but the thing is - Mizuki is a girl. In order to get her favorite high-jumper Sano Izumi to jump again, she flies to Japan from California, cuts her hair and says goodbye to being a girl. She is taken into class really easily, but this school is not just about studying - there are competitions about being the best, crazy fangirls, different characters, lunatic photographer and sharp-minded doctor. How long can one girl stay into Ikemen Paradise, when emotions are added into the game?
Rating: 5/5
This is my 100th Asian drama/movie, which I have seen. I know it is not much, but luckily my watching speed is increasing.  "Hana Kimi" is made after same-named manga by Nakajo Hisaya. I hope you understand just how great it is by looking at its cast, many of them are now really well-known. (Example: It was Mizubata Junpei´s second role, Okada Masaki´s third, in addition Oguri Shun, Horikita Maki, Ikuta Toma etc were widely known before) . I do not know why I have not watched it earlier, but it certainly is one of the classic-must-watch-dramas!

The heroine of the story is Mizuki - she is brave and actually thinks much before actions, but she does not think that much of all possible outcomes. She is a bit naive and has a big mouth, when it comes to things she knows nothing about, even though her ideas come in handy anyway. It actually seemed to me that she loved Sano too soon and too much, although she says something else. As much as I was able to read its manga, I understand that in drama she is made even less obsessed with Sano, which is great. Her reason of going there is acceptable and actually right from the bottom of the heart, but I do not think it is something that everyone should think that "OH! Let her stay! she has a big heart and she is not afraid to show it! show it! (Sorry.. I got stuck with LMFAO lyrics). That´s why I liked Doctor´s point "It is interesting to see what is going to happen". I like Maki in this role - the boy-ish girl role suits her as she cannot be said to be the most feminine Japanese actress. I think she must have had much fun while filming it, because you can see that there is going to be much touchy-mushy-and-close-calls.

Sano Izumi is palyed by Oguri Shun - I do not know why I always have a really strict and egoistic prejudice of him (Gomenne, Shun-kun!),  it might be because of "Hana Yori Dango", then again I have not watched it yet. I loved him in this role, well mostly I loved Sano´s character -especially when he showed out his real emotions or was under Nara-pickle-syndrome, other than that he was emotionless bastard loved by everyone, but who did not show his love to others. It feels like the fact of Mizuki being a girl does not as a big surprise for him, but you can see its real conclusion in Special episode. Actually Sano is not reticent as he talks so much about himself to Mizuki, so you get to know his harsh childhood - I think he just did not want to go babbling all over the city of his thoughts and feelings. I really begun to like him.

Nakatsu - well you can guess he was my favourite if you know me. He is now officially goofy-guy-nr2 (Goofy-guys´ list). He is funny, he is loud, he is easy to read, he is full of himself and he is the first one to fall (that would make a great song lyrics..) At first he is againts Mizuki as she puts Nakatsu´s great sport results in danger, but soon they become best buddiezzzz.... well, at least he is friendzoned by Mizuki. Like you might guess - he has no idea of the fact that Mizuki is a girl - so there are lost and lots confused feelings in Nakatsu, which even threaten his orientation. His "Nakatsu super visions" are one of the highlights of the drama and most of the time he ends up having a nosebleed. This role made me go seriously into Ikuta Toma fandom and I want to see his acting more.

By the way, in the 5th episode he is wearing the same green "I have a great personality" T-shirt as Yamashita Tomohisa in "Proposal Daisakusen" 5th episode. This coincidence is cool because Ikuta Toma and Yamashita Tomohisa are great friends since childhood and both dramas aired in 2007.
Nakatsu is roomed with Kayashima - dude, who can see aura and sense the unlivings. His dad is just like he is and no matter what the situation is Kayashima is the first one who is left out from the list. I liked to see Yamamoto Yusuke in this kind of role, because I have not seen him much. NakatsuXKayashima moments  are really great.

There are three dorm leaders. Dorm 2 is lead bu Nanba Manami - guy from who girls get pregnant just by looking at him. Girls, watch out! It might happen through computer screen too. He is a women´s man, that´s why he is referred as Nanpa (Flirt) at many times, but he has big heart for his guys, who are like a family to him. That´s why he always stands up for them and never lets them down.

Drom 1 is full of brainless martial art guys. Tennoji is their leader - he actually looks hotter when he is wearing his school uniform, his most famous word is "Baby~!!!". Other dorm member always try to eliminate him when there is a possibility, but mostly they fail. Last dorm is about acting and music and that kind of stuff. Leader Oscar/ Masao has repeated school for many years. He has unique ideas, but he is just plain stupid. Every once in a while he gets possessed by some spirit and becomes even weirder. Also, be prepared for some cross-dressing and horrible singing. Dorm 3 faithfully follows him and I feel like that there is no thinking in their heads.

I think I should mention more about dorm 2 members, who are shown more. Sekime is slow to understand things and he is always losing, that is why he is called failure. He is naive, but very friendly - he is the first one to become friends with Mizuki.  Nakao is in love with Nanba from the bottom of his heart - but he always gets rejected, although they are still great friends. Nakao thinks to be the cutest, which is the reason of not liking Mizuki as he thinks that Mizuki might be cuter than he. 

Doctor Umeda - my second favorite character from the drama. He has a big trauma since the university time, which made him watch men, but he is not harassing anyone of the students, but I cannot say the same about Mizuki´s annoying brother and new psyhopatic teacher (Inagaki Goro), who I mentally killed already. But doctor is frequently abused by school´s photographer Hara Akiha, who caused the trauma in past. 

Kagurazaka is Sano´s greatest rival, played by Shirota Yuu. Again firstly annoying bastard, but you will have great laugh with him too. Even though I know Shirota Yuu for a long time already, it was the first time to see his acting - well, makes me want to see more.

In Special episode is Julia, who is Mizuki´s friend from USA - she puts her nose into other´s business and is too much with her words - it is weird when everyone thinks that their way is the best for someone, even when they do not know the real situation. AHH! I almost forgot one very important character!!!

Yuujiro - Dorm 2 dog, who is like a dorm member and I am not surprised if he would receive a graduation diploma at graduation too. The school director is a bit off - she is very elegant and always wants to see her students "bloom in full colors", no matter what it is her word is the law for boys, even when they find it silly. She does not see boys much as she is on trips all the time, so the most communication is between her deputy manager, who never remembers the thing he has to say, and boys. Hibari and Hibari Four are the protectors of Osaka High guys and Hibari is endlessly and hopelessly in love with Sano, but Sano is hardly aware of her. Hibari four is pretty unique and funny and they make many things to happen.

It is very funny when all dorm members have different opinions about things and even if it seemed to be secret talk between two person, they start to come out from all kind of different places and each option is more irrelevant to the question and absurd than the one before it. They do all kind of funny things together and their stupidity is endless.
I will end my review with one great saying from the drama: "If you give up on things you love the most, you will lose yourself. Someone who can lie to oneself is lonely and sad" - that´s why keep watching great dramas and movies and be happy, but remeber that "Hard work will be rewarded" - so do not lose your eyesight or your real life because of your great addiction.

It is perfect drama if you want to train your stomach muscles with laugh, well it is perfect drama for everything! May be only minus is that they try to put too many important points of the manga into too few screen time - this is live action needs more episodes to show "Hana Kimi" manga´s real awesomeness. Definitely one of my favorites, soooo WATCH IT! ^-^

SPOILER REVIEW - I actually even did not want Nakatsu and Mizuki together. When so many are saying that they should have been the pair, then actually I think that Mizuki suited more with Sano, because they had more similar personalities than Nakatsu with her. But it still broke my heart to see him suffer from unrequited love. 
I was a disappointed in the end of the Special, because her speech sucked like I do not know what. It ruined the drama a little bit... but I will forgive it, because all those maleXmale kisses are real deal.

Stand Up! (2003)

Country: Japan
Genre: youth, youngster, ***
Format: drama 11 episodes
Cast: Yamashita Tomohisa, Narimiya Hiroki, Oguri Shun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Suzuki Anne, (Minor roles of Tsukamoto Takashi, Becky, Sugita Kaoru, Shaku Yumiko)
Synopsis: Shouhei (Ninomiya Kazunari), Kengo (Yamashita Tomohisa), Kouji (Oguri Shun) and Hayato (Narimiya Hiroki) find out that they are the last virgins in their high school. At the summer vacation their childhood crush Chie comes to visit them after 11 years. The summer of last youth is on with many promises, obstacles and as well as love and pain.
Rating: 5/5
It IS SOOO FUNNY!!! In some way it it really pathetic who try tried to lose their virginity in any matter, but at the same time to protect it? But those two exclude each other! It shows really well nowadays youngsters, but drama gives much notes to write down for beginners - Lesson one should be: ALWAYS use protection! I liked the fact that drama does not show only guys viewpoint, but from Chie (played by Suzuki Anne) you can hear about girls view too. At the same time, Chie´s story was so horrible and sad, but actually it might happen to lot of people (Yes, even to guys).
Parents were sooooo annoying!!! You cannot protect your child from everything and you definitely cannot control child´s life! I was so pissed off because of the parents. Only parents who were a little bit normal were Kenken´s (Kengo) and Shou-chan´s (Shouhei) moms. Even though Kenken´s mom owned a love hotel and her thoughts and sayings were.. eeem mostly the things the guys thought. I liked that they understood that their children are growing up and it is all part of it. It is like my parents have said to me: "We have been young too" (Not about that certain thing, but still).
Friendship between guys and Chie were so sweet. Even though, Chie was mostly outsider, they really worked everything out.
The cast is excellent! Just read the names from cast and you want to watch it!
I just thought about drama name... you can think about the meaning in two ways... =P