Dramas and a name change

We finally have some information about the upcoming NTV late night drama. It is going to star Inagaki Goro from SMAP but will have plenty of Juniors in the cast. The name of the drama is in the Room and will start on January 12th. Inagaki's character will be a school counselor and of course the Juniors, that have not been announced yet, will be students.

Nikkan Sports article (Japanese)

I have to say I am surprised they are having someone as high profile as a member of SMAP be in one of these late night dramas. I wonder if this is to make sure the next drama in the slot is a hit after Piece not doing so well, but then again it could have been decided well in advance so who knows.

But I cannot wait to see which Juniors are going to be a part of this. I have the feeling that they may announce it at the Fresh Junior concert this coming week so I would expect members from noon boyz and Bakaleya6 to be in it, minus Jesse for reasons in the other drama news in this post.

Also I cannot help but think that someone out there is already spinning out a conspiracy story how this slot is probably part of the Michi faction now that SMAP is tied to it.

~*

It seems like Lewis Jesse is changing his stage name to just drop his last name and go only by his first, Jesse, from now on. This comes with the news that he will have a role in the upcoming Getsu 9 drama, Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou, which will star Japanese actress Gouriki Ayame and air on Fuji TV beginning in January.

Jesse will be playing the part of the main character's younger brother that is named Shinokawa Fumiya.

Fuji TV OHP (Japanese)

Big congrats to Jesse for this. The Getsu 9 slot is a major time slot for dramas and he is joining a cast that has AKIRA from EXILE, who played the lead in the GTO remake that was rather successful, so it should at least start with good ratings. But even if it flounders in the ratings it will still be the most high profile drama he has been in yet and could work as a launching pad for him to become more of a regular on the prime time dramas. Which I am sure Johnny's is trying to go with him looking at his past drama work. I just hope he improves on his acting in time but until then at least he is a pretty face to look at.

For his stage name change I cannot help but think it may be to make him seem less "foreign". As though there are a few actors/actresses that are part-Japanese like him they either have Japanese names or at least either their surname or given name is Japanese unlike Jesse's case. So this could be a way to make his name not stand out as much in that crowd.

Bakaleya6 profiles: Jesse

Anther day another profile. I have the feeling between the general lack of information about him and his recent pushes Jesse's is going to be one of the more popular ones.

Jesse (ジェシー)
Birthdate: 1996.06.11
Birthplace: Tokyo
Blood type: unknown
Admired sempai: Tegoshi Yuya
Previous groups: J-International, Hip Hop Jump
Dramas: Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou (2012), Sprout (2012), The Quiz (2012), Biblia Kosodou no Jiken Techou (2013), Pin to Kona (2013), Kamen Teacher (2013)
Movies: Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou (2012)

From the October 1st, 2006 Shounen Club episode

Jesse has an American father and a Japanese mother. And while he has been with Johnny’s for years he has not gotten much exposure until recently. 

In his early years as a Junior he was a member of J-International with other non-full Japanese Juniors. The grouping did not last long, mainly just the first half of 2007.

After that his appearances were rather spotty at best. But things got better for him with the creation of Hip Hop Jump in 2009.

He was a part of the initial line-up of Junior group Hip Hop Jump with fellow Bakaleya6 member Tanaka Juri. Unlike Juri though, he was not always a part of the group as it went through several member changes but it did give him the chance to perform on Shounen Club occasionally. He was a part of the final line-up before the group was dissolved though.

Around the time of HHJ dissolution he began being paired with Kyomoto Taiga to sing duets on SC.

In February 2012 it was announced he would be a part of the cast of the late night NTV drama series Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou. The drama was a hit and will had a movie released in October 2012 and will be released on DVD/BD in April, 2012.

He also has one of the Juniors in a Baskin Robbins commercial for a 2012 summer campaign for the ice cream chain. As well as having one of the main roles in the late night NTV drama Sprout.

He got his first chance at being a drama lead with a drama special titled The Quiz that aired in September 2012 and was released on DVD/BD in December 2012.

The six Bakaleya Johnny’s Juniors (Bakaleya6) headlined their own SUMMARY concerts at Tokyo Dome City Hall on September 8th and 9th for a total of three concerts.

On December 15th, 2012 Bakaleya6 with noonboyz and other Johnny's Juniors held concerts at Yokohama Arena.

He got his first chance to be in a Getsu9 drama with a supporting role in the 2013 winter drama, Biblia Kosodou no Jiken Techou. At the announcement for the role he announced that he would be just going by his first name Jesse from now on dropping his surname, Lewis.

He participated in the Live House Johnny's Ginza concerts that took place at Theater Crea from April 28 to June 2, 2013.

In the 2013 summer season he will have roles in two dramas, TBS' Pin to Kona and the late night NTV drama series Kamen Teacher. Both begin in July 2013.

He can be seen performing on Shounen Club together with other Juniors monthly.

Sprout First Impressions

Decided to take a look at Sprout and while it is not knocking me off my feet I will probably watch it when I can when I have time to kill.

To say the least I am not really impressed with this series. Mostly because I feel I have seen this all before and done better. This is about as standard and generic as shoujo (girls') romances get and it does not seem to really add anything unique to it.

Not to mention the main character Ikenouchi Miku, played by Morikawa Aoi, is not the kind of character I feel any desire to support. She is very much a typical teenager, thinking that the world revolves around her and her problems, and seems to spend a large amount of time daydreaming about her "destined one", who is really some stranger that helped her out once.

Honestly I would love to see a series play with this trope to have the "destined" person be someone that the main character not only does not end up with, but would not want to in the first place. But unfortunately that will not be this series.

Even though I do tend to worry about Chinen Yuri's acting skills he is not so bad so far. Of course this is not a challenging role by any means but he does not come off as wooden as I have seen him so I am willing to think he may have actually improved. There is not much to say about his character, Narahashi Souhei. He is your typical nice guy (though thankfully not a Nice Guy) and that is just about it.

While I loved Lewis Jesse in Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou I cannot get myself to care for his character in Sprout. Of course a good portion of this is because he is stuck as the "cool" guy with playing Katagiri Hayato. This means he has to pretend to be emotionless for the most part and is the trope I really hate in shoujo romance stories, the asshole that the heroine will somehow have feelings for. Thankfully it is pretty transparent that even if (though I am almost certain this will happen) Miku ends up in a love triangle with Souhei and Hayato she will end up with the nice guy over the jerk which is actually the reverse of what usually happens in these stories.

I kinda feel sorry for Souhei to be paired up with Miku as he does seem like a genuinely nice guy. And I fear for whatever reason the story will think up for why he will be eventually breaking up with Miyuki to be with Miku instead. Because really this series is that transparent. And Miku is pretty self-absorbed, which makes sense since she is a teenager but it rarely makes for an endearing character.

Probably the real reason I will keep watching this drama is for Hashimoto Ryosuke's character, Takigawa Naoharu. The character is pretty much Miyata Toshiya but with a pretty face. He has the highlight of this episode and makes watching another one worth it as long as he shows up.

Other than that there is also the eye candy that is Fujii Shuuka. Tanaka Juri and Yasui Kentaro may have small parts but they are not bad. In fact I would take a drama about Miku's friends over Miku already as they seem to actually have interesting personalities.

This is very basic shoujo fare and I do not expect to be surprised by anything that happens in the drama. It looks like even for the genre it plays it safe with being as generic as possible for the most part. In fact I would say that Hasshi's character is the only thing that is stand out about it.

But as generic as it is it is not what I would consider bad. Boring if you know the tropes well and most likely forgettable, but not bad.

Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou ep. 12 review

At the final episode at last. It is a bit sad to have the series end but there is still the movie to look forward to.

Mixed in the usual recap is a scene we did not get in the past episode, Mana showing up at the assembly.

Back with the boys and their fight the group begins to break off to let the others move on. This starts with Maya and Satoshi staying back to let the rest of the group move on.

The next to leave is Shohei, to the surprise of the rest of the group. But they leave things in his hands and while it looks like he may actually do some fighting his true colors come out and he runs, letting himself be chased by the thug that stopped the group.

Back at the assembly Fumie continues to give her speech, talking about what she hates about the school.

We go back to the fight and of course Tetsuya splits off to leave Tatsuya to fight the main baddie alone.

Miyata-sensei actually does something somewhat useful in the drama and holds Saionji back so he cannot interrupt Fumie's speech. 

Fumie continues her speech and reaches the point where she turns it on its head by saying that even though she hates a lot about the school the boys love the school. And because they love the school she does not want to see it be ruined by someone who has used underhanded tricks to do so.

After Fumie is done Saya runs on stage to tell everyone that she also does not want to leave the school.

Lead by Sayuri the other girls and Miyata-sensei give their support for wanting to stay at the school. This of course ticks Saionji off as things are not going as he wanted at all.

Tetsuya manages to defeat his opponent which begins the series of events for the fight that ends up with the Bakada boys winning.

And the two delinquents that Tatsuya and Tetsuya ran into last episode show up to team up with the Bakada boys. Of course they do this because they do not want to see their rivals defeated by anyone else but them, which is a pretty common trope in shounen series.

Saionji pretty much turns into a defeated cartoon villain that snarls at the girls that the school will be closing and that will be the end of it.

With the fight things are wrapping up. On of the big highlights is Shohei actually landing a hit, though on accident with a headbutt.

The end of the fight with Makoto and Yuuki is a fun watch as they argue with each other only to use that momentum to beat their enemies.

The director of the school shows up at the assembly and ends up siding with Fumie. He claims her words and the support of the girls have changed his mind and he will do everything possible to keep the school going. So with that Saionji has been defeated.

Tatsuya is the last to finish off his battle and does that with the power of love (for his school).

Tatsuya lets out a cry of victory which all the boys hear and they celebrate the victory. Again I feel like Yuuki and Makoto are the highlight of this with their brofist.

Both sides meet after their separate victories. Tatsuya asks Fumie if she likes the school and she tells him that she hates it.

But Fumie gives her biggest smile yet and that seems to get the message across about how she and the other girls feel as everyone then breaks into smiles.

We jump to a month later and see things are more or less the same as they have been, with the boys being their usual selves and the girls being annoyed that they are not more refined. Also at some point Mana returned to the school and is friends with the rest of the girls again. The boys end up inviting the girls to go out and eat with them, showing that they have begun to get along even though they do not agree with everything.

Not everyone is happy that the boys and girls are getting along better. Yuuki and Makoto decide that the other guys are getting soft and decide to challenge them.

The others take up the challenge. And we end as the fight begins, much like how we entered the series in the middle of a fight.


Overall Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou is a good drama series. Sure it is not the most challenging but for it is it is good. It never takes itself too seriously, comes through with action and has a surprising high quality to its cinematography. That said I do not think I would recommend it to anyone who is not a fan of this kind of drama or the actors in it.

I think the series started strong enough but there were issues with actually making all the episodes actually feel connected. Several of them started a story and ended at a place that it felt it should lead on to something else but instead went nowhere. And I do not think they really had a story to fill the last few episodes properly, which lead to home things being dragged out that probably did not need to be or having stories that just did not feel all that inspired.

But despite this I found myself enjoying it. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they do the tropes they used well and the comedy. I think the comedy is one of the stronger parts of the series and without it Bakaleya would probably be hard to have gotten through.

I would say more but some of it will spill over to talk about the movie, which we get to see a preview of at the end of this episode. I will write up another post about that and address everything else then.

Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou ep. 11 review

Well this drama is almost over now. Hard to imagine that it would have been over for weeks if it kept the original nine episodes it was slated for at first. Johnny's and AKS must be happy that this drama has paid off and looks to be the perfect platform for these up and coming talents of theirs.

The episode starts with the usual recap of the final scene from the last episode. It then flashes to Tatsuya in the boys' club room looking uncertain. Tetsuya asks him if things are alright and he answers yes.

The gang from last episode are then introduced as transfer students and it becomes apparent that whoever is behind things has to have a good amount of sway with the school to pull something like this off.

Fumie and Saya go to Saionji to complain about the new transfers but Saionji just tells them that they only need to endure things for a bit longer.

Fumie and Tatsuya get to talk a bit and both are in pretty good moods despite the recent events. Tatsuya does confirm that he thinks that she and Tetsuya are an item to Fumie's displeasure.

They are called into the classroom as the website from last episode is still being updated with rumors even though Mana is no longer coming to the school.

The next day there is a flier up saying that the girls have an assembly for them to attend. The guys do not worry much about it as it does not say anything about them.

There is a rumor about the girls going back to their original school and Fumie and Saya go to find if there is any truth to it. Not only do they get it confirmed they are also told that this school is getting closed and the guys will be scattered to different schools once it does.

Tatsuya and Tetsuya run into some of their usual rivals to find that word of Tatsuya being replaced has already spread.

Meanwhile Fumie and Saya are discussing things. Both do not want to leave the school and decide that they should see about finding Mana and learning the truth. They end up being extremely lucky that when they go to leave to find her Mana shows up at the school.

By spying on Mana they are able to discover the mastermind behind everything, Saionji. When Mana tells him that she wants to do something to help he tells her that she is not needed anymore and is useless to him now. He then leaves and of course Mana looks heartbroken. Saya then reminds Fumie that Mana was a big fan of Saionji and they both agree he was cruel to just toss her aside like that.

We get the usual scene of Saionji discussing matters with the head of the school. He shows him how much the school could sell for and seems pretty content that he has convinced the other man to close the school.

Tatsuya and Tetsuya happen to see Saionji give money to the leader of the gang. They talk about it as they enter the classroom and find Saya and Fumie there.

The four go over what they have discovered about the matter. When discussing on what to do Tatsuya says that he plans on fighting much to the girls' dismay. He tells them that he is willing to do what he needs to in order to save the school. Fumie then says that she also will do whatever she can to save it as well.

Fumie and Saya find Mana and ask her for help. They say that they believe in her but she does not really respond to them.

It is easy to see that Mana regrets her choice and that the words of encouragement from Fumie and Saya will probably be enough to push her towards redemption. Especially since Saionji has showed her his true colors and dumped her so harshly. 

I find it interesting that the girl that prizes her friendship over love (Saya) is painted in a good light while the one that sacrifices her friendship for love (Mana) is not only is in a "villain" role but gets that love used against her. The theme of the strength of friendship is easy to see with the boys but I think this is really the first time you can see the same theme fully displayed with the girls. 

Tatsuya has a flashback to his brother talking about loving the school. He told Tatsuya that he can be the top of the school only by loving it and punches his hand into the punching bag. I am thinking this is going to be important when Tatsuya fights the big bad these episodes.

We then toggle back and forth between scenes with the boys gearing up for a rumble, which gives us this nice group shot.

And of Fumie and Saya walking towards the meeting that Saionji is having to announce to the girls that the school is being closed and that they will return to their old school. 

The main group of guys end up facing the rest of the school in the hall. Tatsuya opens things up by asking them if they love the school. They look puzzled but then the fight begins and that is what we are left with for the boys in this episode.

Fumie and Saya show up and Saionji asks Fumie to say something to the girls who are still confused about the announcements. With this the episode ends as Fumie says her first line of her speech, saying that she hates the school.

I think this episode would do much better directly connected to the final episode of the series instead of having to stand on its own. Even though things are definitely moving it just feels like the story is so close to the resolution that it is frustrating to have to wait another week to get that. So I think for those who will be able to marathon the drama will find this episode better to take as they will be able to move directly to the next unlike those watching the series now and are forced to wait.

I cannot wait to see how this ends. I have an idea but this drama has been good with throwing curve balls with what they end up doing from episode to episode. It will be interesting to see if they do any set up for the movie with the final episode as well. At least it should be only a couple more days to wait to find out.