Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou ep. 1 review

Okay, I have watched this episode a couple of times already before beginning to screen cap for it, partly because I do want to use the programs I watch to help me learn and practice Japanese. So I tried to research a few things before moving on to do a review of the episode. I tried to find the romanji for all the character names, I may be a bit off for a couple but I think I got them all.

So far I like the series. This is the kind of drama I have no trouble enjoying, as it has the delinquents with hearts of gold trope going for it. I do find it a pity that because it is a late night drama it is only about 23 minutes long. Especially as this first episode is just set up.

Starting off with a bang, or school fight.

Even the show titles the first episode as a prologue. Which is not too bad as there is a large cast and with this drama being under half an hour long not much time to introduce everyone.

Morimoto Shitaro plays Sakuragi Tatsuya

Which is probably why we get character names and traits on screens like this.

Matsumura Hokuto plays Asada Tetsuya

As most people seem to be, I was also surprised that Matsumura Hokuto played such a large role. His character is the second in command to Tatsuya and is the "cool" type of character.

So is this a church or sacrificial alter?

From this episode I feel the girls got the short end of the stick, or at least so far. Not only are there more male characters, the guys get seven character info screens while the girls only have two, but as they are the "prefect" Japanese girls it means none of them seem to have any personality. I hope that changes as the series goes on or I am sure to find all scenes with them pretty boring.

Shimazaki Haruka plays Shingyouji Fumie

Haruka's character is pretty much the only female character that does much of anything as the student body president of the girls' school. Though most of that is looking at things in a kinda creepy manner.

Tanaka Juri plays Noguchi Satoshi

I am amused that Tanaka Juri ended up with the "idiot" character. His character seems to have the habit of bringing pain unto himself by not thinking things through.

Kyomoto Taiga plays Terakawa Maya

Kyomoto's role seems perfect for him as a pretty boy. According to information about the characters in promo for it his character was raised by his mother as a girl, so I hope that is used to good affect in this drama with the "battle" between the girls and boys.

Oba Mina plays Ushiroku Saya

Oba Mina gets to be saved from being a complete wallflower like the rest of the female class as the student body vice president, thus being Fumie's number one lackey from what I can tell. Unfortunately she is not saved from having a completely bland personality.

Takaki Yuya plays Tatsunami Shohei

I was surprised at how big Takaki Yuya's role was in this episode. I did not think he would be a part of the Bakada group, but he was there for all the major scenes with them all. I rather like his character, especially as it is not only quite different from his role in Gokusen 3 but also because his character is quite different from the others in the drama.

Lewis Jesse plays Satonaka Yuuki

Love how his character trait is apparently being bilingual here. I think Lewis Jesse and Kouchi Yuugo make a surprisingly good pair and I find the two to be scene stealers so far.

Kouchi Yuugo plays Shinbo Makoto

As I mentioned before Yuugo and Jesse are highlights in the scenes they are in. I hope we get to see more of them, and maybe not only in fights.

Shintaro the hot tempered yankee.

It surprised me to see that Shintaro had shaved the sides of his head. I really do not care for the hair style but it is something one would expect a yankee/delinquent to have. This role is a real departure from what he has done so far as he has mostly been the cute younger brother character. But it is easy to forget he is only fourteen in this drama.

What is that creature in the title?

And after both student groups get the news of the merger we get the opening for the drama. I like the song, Kis-My-Ft2's Shake it up, so far and like what they have done for the drama opening.

That's a pretty poor stance there Shintaro.

The boys and girls face off and our main characters are revealed, if you could not figure it out before.

Why do you look so worried Shintaro?

I think I would like the girls vastly more if they actually got to slug things out in the drama. Which I guess there could be a chance for considering who is writing this drama.

Fight to the last idol standing.

Love the slow-mo choreographed fight scenes in the opening. They look interesting and I would love to see some of this in the drama itself.

Miyata has this pathetic teacher thing in the bag.

Even if he had little screen time I already feel sorry for Miyata Toshiya's character. It is easy to see that the students hold power even the teachers.

Shintaro gets the one ring, er, bracelet to rule them all.

We get a flashback and see probably some of the least convincing siblings ever. Seriously, Shintaro and Uchi Hiroki look nothing alike. So until the drama says otherwise my canon is that they are either half-brothers or step-brothers.

What could go wrong?

The plot that takes up most of the episode is with the boys. They are fighting some gang who end up stealing the name placard of the school. So of course Tatsuya goes to get it back and Tetsuya comes with him. And they end up fighting a warehouse full of gang members, which goes as well as one would expect.

We come in peace, or not.

Thankfully the calvary arrive to kick ass and take names.

No one can defeat the pretty.

I just love the smirk Kyomoto has here. His character seems to happy when he is fighting.

Duo of awesomeness.

Again, I really love these two as a duo. Especially with Yuuki insisting on using English randomly and Makoto telling him that he does not know English.

Totally camouflaged.  

And I love that Takaki's character is really a coward at heart. His avoidance of doing any fighting really helps bring some humor to things, even though Satoshi's screw ups are also rather funny as well.

The prize in the bottom of the burning barrel.

And of course the guys get the placard back, a bit burnt but otherwise okay. Which makes me wonder what it is actually made of.

School girls or body snatchers?

The invasion has begun.

"WTF?"

Tatsuya's expression here would be my own if I was confronted with a small army of school girls and the leader asks me and my group to be friends.

"No, seriously WTF?"

And the episode ends with the girls just standing there as the boys look very confused.


Overall I liked the episode. It is definitely not a drama that asks you to take it too seriously and so far has done well to showcase the guys in it. I do hope the girls get some good moments as well, but I think they need to actually be given personalities for that to work.

In any case I cannot wait for the next episode next week.


New Japanese word learned this episode: 合併(がっぺい/gappei) - merger, union, combination (Used in this episode to talk about merging the two schools.)

Some Johnny's Countdown 2011-2012 thoughts

Well I woke up around 3AM-ish to watch Kohaku and then of course Johnny's Countdown 2011-2012 earlier today. It's strange to think it's been 2012 somewhere in the world for about 12 hours now when there is still quite a bit of time before the clock strikes midnight where I am. But I find watching these programs are a great way to start the last day of the year.

Focusing on JCD this year seemed so much more energetic and fun than last year. The whole atmosphere to me really felt the guys were having just as much fun as the audience for the short concert. And it seems like Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri were taken over to Tokyo Dome sometime during Kohaku so they did not have the late entrance that TOKIO did, and of course were no where to be seen near the end of Kohaku either.

I'm just going to briefly touch upon some things that I liked about the concert or stood out to me.

First off, we have another indication that Sexy Zone is indeed here to stay as they had a VTR performance of their debut song played early on, something that Hey! Say! JUMP also had the year they debuted. And I was really happy to see HSJ in the seats SZ had to watch the show. I think it's rather perfect for one FIVB group to be there for another.

The Juniors! And not just the Tokyo Juniors but Kansai Juniors as well at the Tokyo Dome and getting more attention than I've ever seen for Juniors at any JCD. It seems like Noon Boyz might actually be a group for Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki seeing as that's what they were introduced as. Also what was interesting was that Uchi Hiroki seemed to be introduced just as a member of Question? more than a Junior on his own. And it seemed so amazing that B.A.D., Hamada Takahiro, Shigeoka Daiki and Veteran were there at the Tokyo Dome and even got some spotlight as well. Of course the Gokusen fangirl in me was ecstatic to see B.A.D. next to Takaki Yuya for at least one song during the shuffle group portion. And it was nice to finally see all five members of A.B.C-Z being able to perform with Tackey & Tsubasa this year.

It was also nice to see all of HSJ on stage, even though the only reason it was possible for them to do so was because they lost their youngest member who would have sat with SZ if he was still with the group. But I loved that we had more HSJ this year and that there seemed to be more interaction between them and their senpai groups. One of the personally highlights with HSJ, besides the one already mentioned as Masuoka Masahiro making Inoo Kei sing along when TOKIO was supposed to be covering a song.

Speaking of TOKIO while I was at first disappointed that they were not around for the actual countdown to midnight when they did enter I was perfectly fine with it. I mean it's hard to beat an entrance in faux-blimps. Though I do wonder who got fur crazy when making Yamaguchi Tatsuya's costume for this.

And of course bringing up costumes immediately brings Kanjani8 to mind. It's going to take a while to get the image of Nishikido Ryo dressed as a girl out of my mind. And I loved Yokoyama Yu as the mixer/blender for the vegetables, aka the other group members. I think I've gotten used to the split for the groups as I didn't mind it too much this year.

I loved seeing Kis-My-Ft2 being able to be on stage finally as debuted artists. Especially as they had a member from Hikaru Genji, the original roller skating Johnny's group, Sato Atsuhiro, to join them for a song. And by pure luck of being 24 in this coming year Miyata Toshiya got a moment to shine and show everyone the wonderful dork he is.

Of course I was really excited about all the daisenpai at this year's JCD. I think it's definitely because 2012 will be Johnny's 50th anniversary and I thought it was great for them to have their older acts makes appearances. It did seem like Okamoto Keito was used a bit as a stand in for his father as he got to play guitar for when they covered an Otokogumi song. I won't complain as it meant more Keito, who the cameraman seemed to love. And nothing beats being able to see Shounentai perform together, or almost together with Nishikiori Kazukiyo being at the theater Tackey & Tsubasa were at.

Of course the greatest highlight for the concert for me was seeing the new NEWS perform together. I'm rather glad both Ryo and Yamashita Tomohisa were not at the Tokyo Dome as it really helped solidify that the four remaining members are the group now to me. And I love that they made sure to find NEWS fans in the audience to pan to, as to help signify that this was truly a special moment for the group as they perform as four for the first time in front of a crowd. And I was so happy that Koyama Keiichiro said one of the group's goals for the new year was to of course have concerts. Even if I can't make any just knowing that they are performing as NEWS will make me so happy.

So in the end this JCD was great for me. Everyone seemed to be in great spirits and I got to see so many of my favorites and there was fun interactions. Even though the amount of live feeds can sometimes feel like it isn't as unified as it once was I think they are finally figuring out how to balance it better.

Next year should be interesting with A.B.C-Z being a debuted group then, Nakajima Kento being old enough to participate as well as Nakayama Yuma. And of course any surprises Johnny's wants to throw in there. I'll definitely make sure I can catch a lives stream of it next year.

Fan Kansha Live in Theater Crea concerts

There are three times a year that tend to be the best times to see as many Johnny's concerts as possible. The winter, especially around New Year, the summer, either July or August, as that aligns with the summer break for schools, and around Golden Week, which is the first week of May. As these are the longer holidays that people tend to have off Johnny's likes to schedule many of their concerts, especially for the groups that target the younger audiences, around these dates. So I guess it's no surprise that there will be Junior concerts staring in May.

Johnny's net has updated with information for what it's calling Fan Kansha Live in Theatre Crea ('kansha' is the Japanese word for 'thanks' or 'gratitude'). The Golden Week concerts will be for Uchi Hiroki with Question? and are titled Ore no Uchi ni kite Crea! ~Come on a my House!~ and run from May 1st to May 9th.

Then it looks like they're taking a page out the Kansai Junior's book by having a series of concerts following that highlight a different group of Juniors, these titled Minna Crea ni kite Crea (I believe there's a pun with how Crea is written in Japanese, kurie, there that I don't get). A.B.C.-Z get to produce all three parts and are the focus of the first part which runs from May 14-16. The next part will showcase They Budou and Mis Snow Man will be from May 21st-23rd and then it's the Fresh Juniors which will be from May 28th-30th.

Kis-My-Ft2 of course have their own concerts so it's not surprising that they're not there, especially as they also have the KAT-TUN tour to keep busy with as well. I'd be surprised if B.I.Shadow aren't included in this somehow, most likely included in with the Fresh Juniors as that title can last for a couple of years. But they don't have a Hey! Say! JUMP concert on the dates for that last part so I really would assume they will be there. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Morimoto Shintarou played a big role in the Fresh Junior concerts, though I'm sure he's passed the time one can still be called a Fresh Junior. But I guess if they still have Snow Prince Gasshoudan they can give him an excuse to be there as well.

But in any case, they Junior fans of these groups do have something to look forward to. I know I'm happy to see Mis Snow Man get the chance to get featured more than usual, though it wouldn't take much to do that honestly. And with A.B.C.-Z producing it gives me the feeling that at least the A.B.C. part of the group is heading towards being the next MA, where they won't debut but will still be a part of the agency and get the chance to work behind the scenes more. Which I don't think is a bad thing, as Yara Tomoyuki from MA does that and seems to rather happy with what he's doing.

Yamato Nadesico Shichi Henge drama cast revealed

TBS has announced the cast of the drama adaption of the Yamato Nadesico Shichi Henge manga and it's quite Johnny's filled. Kamenashi Kazuya will have the lead and joining him from Johnny's to fill in two of the other four main male roles are Tegoshi Yuya and Uchi Hiroki.

Sanspo article.

I'm definitely happy to see Tegoshi in a drama again. He's not my favorite actor but just seeing the members of NEWS actively doing something is enough for me to be happy. And I've read some of the manga before and I really like he's a good fit for it.

With Kame in the lead it makes me wonder if KAT-TUN will be getting a group single early in 2010, as doing the theme song for this drama is the usual kind of tie-in the group gets.

I'm not sure about how I feel about Uchi being in the drama. I think it's mainly because I think the role could have easily gone to one of the older Hey! Say! JUMP members instead of him so I feel a bit bitter about that. I mean this is a series set in high school and I really do believe it's time for Hey! Say! BEST to start getting the high school roles over the older groups, but I guess that still might be some time coming for that change to take place.