A New Face and Yakuza Comedy
Hello everyone, up until recently a lurker I have now been added onto the TViJ staff. My job, so to speak, is one that might be a little bit unusual. For the sake of diversifying the blog I will be hopefully exposing you all to the wonderful world of jdrama (with a side of other cultural bits as I find them.)
I hope you find them intriguing enough to watch and I’ll attempt to keep everything as spoiler free as possible! If you’ve seen them before, then feel free to make a comment with your own feelings on the drama of choice because heaven knows I’m not the final word on these things.
Without further ado:
If you’ve seen a bit of Japanese TV you’ll notice that the Japanese seem to be fans of multiple genre hooks. Whether this is a marketing ploy of the consequence of creative interests on the part of the writers, it’s all the same to me if they keep making dramas like My Boss My Hero.
In this clip, Sakaki Makio (Nagase Tomoya) is a yakuza gang boss disguised as a high school student. It’s nice to know that even ten years later you can retain chronic fear of being called on in class (and that math teacher are impossibly tough in any country.)
A notable aspect of this drama is, while it is a yakuza/high school comedy, it never forgets its sense of the ridiculous and brings pretty consistent laughs throughout. Being a person who hates it when they drop the comedy in favor of an emotional punch, I was delighted to find they didn’t lose a sense of humor towards the end.
This drama also has a catchy ending song, Sorafune, released as a single by the band Tokio. The singer for Tokio is none other than Nagase Tomoya, because Japan loves to cross market.
I don’t know about you, but when I see a man who looks like that I totally don’t expect him to sing that high without the aid of helium. Not that I dislike it, I’m just saying. . .
EDIT: I’m still learning how this all works so if things aren’t showing up, don’t worry, I’m scrambling to figure out why I lose at life.
Thumbs up AOD! you picked my favorite dorama ever for your first post!
March 26th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Definitely a good show. Most of it is hosted here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/showseries?id=1152
March 26th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Good one! I like how they can be silly and make you laugh without insulting your intelligence here…
March 26th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Sounds good. “My Boss, My Hero” is such a Japanese name for a show! Nice to hear it doesn’t turn serious, like most comedy/dramas in Japan. Usually all the men start crying at the halfway point.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
I didn’t like it so much. Way too much hamming, too formulaic, too juvenile. More than any other Japanese series I’ve seen, this one reminds me of a Disney Channel program.
In a way, that’s good, because it being soo obvious exposes a lot of the devices utilized by Japanese drama writers. So it’s not a complete waste. But if you’re looking for something that’s good in itself…
Check out Mukodono, also starring Nagase Tomoya. It’s also silly and plays on the fact that Nagase is a prettyboy, but it has a more adult story and a less paint-by-numbers plot.
Also, check out the original Korean movie on which this series was based.
March 27th, 2007 at 3:56 am
yeah good show the entire show can be watched here: http://aznv.tv/en/
and welcome young padawan
March 27th, 2007 at 5:25 am
lol
i loved that series!!!
especially that Techii was in it XD
March 27th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
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