Sunday, June 24, 2007

Watashitachi no Kyokasho eps 1 + 2


I'd thought I'd never see another good high school teacher show again. Nothing can ever top GTO in the cool teacher department. Kinpachi sensei's covered every conceivable student problem. Jyoou no Kyoushitsu looked at the classroom as a reflection of society. Now comes Watashitachi no Kyokasho. What this show does well is to take various genres (bullying/legal/mystery) and combine them with solid cast and script.


Densha plays a substitute teacher who comes to a seemingly nice school but discovers that there's a lot beneath the surface. Shida Mirai plays Asuka, a loner who one day falls to her death and Kanno Miho plays a chain smoking lawyer who has ties to Asuka.

Just give her a leather outfit and a whip...

The first thing I commend this show on is that it shows the point of view of the teachers. Instead of showing teaching as an inspiring occupation, teachers are educational providers who struggle to please everyone. What I hope this show will do is show that a lot of decisions schools have to make are difficult because you can't please everyone all of the time.

I wish I had a teacher like her.....

The driving force behind the story is of course, Kanno Miho's personal quest for redemption. Densha is just the newbie teacher through whom the viewers follow the story. Plus we get a group of teacher with their own personal problems which I assume will be solved by Densha. All I ask is that they play down the melodrama and excuses.

Densha meets 14-sai no haha? Imagine a show where Densha is the father, lol.

And the perv factor is strong in this show. In addition to the lovely Kanno Miho, we have Maki Yoko (Tokyo Friends) as the Ice Queen teacher and Sakai Wakana (Enka no Joou) as the teacher who moonlights as a hostess. Two more reasons to watch this show: no bishounen who can't act in sight and the directing is top notch. It just looks different from all the other high school show out there. I would say that the high school setting in incidental to this story about responsibilities of a public institution.

OMG, I see Sakura, Leo from Warzard, Jin from Cyberbots and Viewtiful Joe! Its pretty obvious who's sponsoring the toys in this show. I want that Leo figure!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to see you picking up this show. I'm just done watching episode 11 and it was just awesome.

IMO, this is easily of the best and most underrated show this season. Kanno Miho's performance is great and I like the subtle Fubuki Jun (Amagi) as well. The only problem is that Itoh Atsushi still reminds me too much of Densha.

Can't wait for the last episode!

Anonymous said...

One of few beefs I have with this show is Densha's tendency to exaggerate his facial expressions. Where's the subtlety? He needs to learn from Miho Kanno... She's awesome in this show. Mmm looking hotter than ever. =3

But otherwise I think this is a terrific show. There's a lot of little side plots going on that pieces the puzzle together, including principal's mysterious son.

Anonymous said...

I think Kanno Miho is really an awesome actress. This is actually the first drama I've seen her in, and there's just something about her that sets her apart from most other Jap actresses. Anyway, this drama really is my favourite this season. I was hooked from the first episode... although I'm holding out on watching ep11 until I've downloaded ep12. I don't think I can take any more cliffhangers.

Great script and excellent acting - leaves you on the edge of your seat the whole time! Definitely the most underrated show this season!

Akiramike said...

I highly recommend Koi Ga Shitai, my fav Kanno Miho show. Agreed on Densha's acting. Good thing he doesn't get majority of the screen time.

Anonymous said...

To me, it's good, but not a keeper. I guess viewing it from somebody raised in America, it seems corny. The school act like bullying doesn't exist and not normal...haha. I guess that's hardcore in Japan?

Anonymous said...

^leave it to Densha to do all the corny talks. whatever comes out of his mouth with his dramatic bent sounds extra corn.

if you want something a bit more hardcore, watch the end of ep 11. It gets a bit more hardcore... that is, if you consider butcher knife more hardcore than guns. (like I do) lol

Thanks for recommending Koi Ga Shitai. Somehow I overlooked this one. Speaking of oldies, I dug up Suika, because the screenwriter also worked on two dramas I really liked: Sexy Voice and Nobuta.
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kizara_Izumi

It's slow paced with no strong plotline. But hell who cares... it has Tomosaka Rie and she plays softcore ero-manga artist. LOL

Anonymous said...

I think knives are much more hardcore cuz it takes a lot more balls for somebody to use it or fight with someone using it. Any p*ssy can use a gun.

Anonymous said...

I came across this site while searching the words: "Watashitachi no Kyokasho" on google. I must say that I was hooked from the beginning and recently, I have finished the last and final episode (unsubbed). I just wish it got more credits and higher ratings than it deserved. This is by far, one of the best shows that I have ever seen due to its psychological insights into the world, human mind/mentality, etc.

I must say, though, America needs more shows like these instead of those crappy shows such as "One Tree Hill", "The O.C", etc. Those shows completely suck. There's no depth and the moving onto my point: despite the fact that there were cliffhangers at the end of each episode and that there were many twists and turns in the plot, which kept viewers from predicting/guessing what would happen next, it was suspenseful.

The entire cast was wonderful, especially Kanno Miho (the first show I've seen her in), which got me to watch Koi ga Shitai, in which, she played a compeletly different character from Tsumiki Tamako.

Anonymous said...

In reply to Stephoni Ha, yeah, American shows are pretty duh...haha. I watched American shows most of my life, but I just never felt anything meaningful. Jdoramas for me touched the heart. Though I'm not crazy about this drama, I have to recommend another kanno miho show called "IGUANA no Musume". Pretty good and sad. It was on the cover of a book about japanese dramas....means a lot that she was on the cover with that drama.

Anonymous said...

For a VERY hardcore look at Japanese High School ( bullying, self-mutilation, suicide, rape, etc.) see current season's Fuji Saturday late night drama "LIFE". It is VERY dark and depressing. Based on a shojo manga (of all things), some of the things depicted are absolutely horrific (if they follow the manga).