I remember quite vividly my first impressions of this drama.
Literally, 'Hiro's voice *fangirls* ... wait ... what are those men doing on that mat ...hold on ... I'm watching a drama about MALE GYMNASTICS?'.
From Google. Dear God, it looks like June of Camp Calendar 2011. Campest pose award goes to Nippori on the far right.
I don't know why I didn't get it from the title, but yes, this drama was all about the world of competitive high school boys gymnastics, and surprisingly, it was far from lame.
The plot focuses on a high school boys gymnastics club who is constantly over looked in favour of their female counterparts. The team is lacking in numbers, with only 4, where there are supposed to be 6, until the leader of the school bad boys, Azuma, is forced to join to make up for his low marks and allow him to graduate. At first, he finds it lame and pointless, as you can imagine, but gradually he gets hooked and it becomes his passion. One by one, Azuma helps the members of the club through their various problems, gaining more members as the series progresses, until they get to a competitive level. Then, they are sabotaged by one of Azuma's old friends, who obviously and understandably finds it hard to comprehend why the most feared and respected boy in not only the school, but the whole region, has given up everything to prance around in a leotard with other boys in skin tight clothes.
I'm not going to lie, I was dubious when I figured out what this drama was about, but the cast soon peaked my interest, a lot of whom were recognisable to me, and then it wasn't long before the plot got me hooked too. As with Buzzer Beat, another sports-centred drama, there were a lot of bath scenes, which were nowhere near as fun with a load of scrawny boys as they were with strong, hot, young men. The theme was strong and consistent; never give up on your friends, no matter what, which was lovely and a nice change from the romantic crap that normally seeps in somewhere or another. Sure, it got a bit repetitive, there was a few too many tears for an almost entirely male cast, and I cant say I thought much of the recaps mid-climax every episode, but it was fun and I enjoyed seeing the characters develop, especially all the yankees (delinquents) into fully fledged gymnasts.
Yuta, the team captain, was Hiro in Koizora and Satoru in Atashinchi no Danshi. Azuma was Tamaki in Ouran High School Host Club, Masaru in Atashinchi no Danshi and Kayashima in Hana Kimi. Ryosuke one of Azuma's followers, was Nozumu in Koizora and Nakatsu in Hana Kimi Remake, and well as being in Gokusen 3. Mizushima, old school tumbler who fell in love with Kiyama, was Kayashima in Hana Kimi Remake, and Samurai High School, as was Nippori, another yankee in a leotard. Kiyama, another bad boy turned gymnast, was in Ouran, Hana Kimi and Nobuta wo Produce, Satoshi, one of the old school tumblers, was in Hana Yori Dango 2, Shoko-sensei was in Zettai Kareshi, and Azuma's mum was in Tokyo Dogs and Kurosagi.
So, basically, it was something a bit different and I enjoyed it, although the one thing that this drama has left me with is a strong desire to try Omelet Rice, as they ate it A LOT.
So that its for Japanese drama's for a while! I'm excited, but I also feel a little sad; I really like picking up on bits of language through watching J-drama, but maybe I'll start to pick up Korean and Chinese. Anyway, back to #1 on dramacrazy.net's most popular list, so next up is You're Beautiful, the Korean version of Ikemen Desu Ne. I'm intrigued to how the two will compare ^^.
Yosh, that's it for tonight. Its now Christmas Day, my family have staggered in and flopped straight to bed, so I best follow suit, big day ahead and all that.
Or I may just watch You're Beautiful ...
<3 x
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