My Review on Gokusen season1: Good Work on Casting but Failure to Continue the Series

* Following review will provide you not only the comments on Gokusen season1 but also the basic information of many Japanese actors and actresses. Another way  to read this review is to assume it as introduction of Japanese dramas.

My Review on Gokusen season1

Good Work on Casting, but Failure to Continue the Series
★★★★☆

   If a Japanese comic makes a hit in its field, it occasionally transfers to other formations to gather more fame. First, comic become animation to be on TV. Second, if animation earns enough popularity, comic becomes a TV series with tough casting of its characters. At last, if the TV series succeed in getting high viewer ratings, it becomes a movie. Though, some exceptions exist. For romance genre, animations are rarely made into animations; rather, romance comics are directly made into TV shows and films. If a TV program didn't become popular, the movie project founders at most of the times. Soap operas and movie films are often produced with similar synopsis based on their comics while some films are presented as if they are final episodes of the related soap operas. If the soap opera becomes favorable, it becomes a series. In these ways, Gokusen(ごくせん) becomes an ideal model; animation, TV series, and movie were set forth based on the comic book. The first Gokusen series on TV was so successful that seasons 2 and 3 were created and that movie called "Gokusen the Movie" which most of the characters in Gokusen TV series appear was produced. Here, I will write a careful, detailed review on the Gokusen1, the first series of the drama.

 ▲Gokusen : comic to animation, animation to soap opera, soap opera to a movie film

   When a comic book is reproduced into a TV series, various problems occur from simple ones to critical ones. For instance, science fiction which strongly relies on computer graphics and acting will likely to be messed up without securing high technical budget for CGs and assuring acting abilities of actors. As well, action films require fine effects and well-fitting actors. Romance comics made into TV series can cause enormous problems when the ideal types of the characters are not satisfied with the actual actors; big fans of the original comic book are likely to abandon the TV series after all. Additionally, some scenes in the comic that seemed realistic can be shown very unrealistic in a form of soap opera due to content itself or to lacking acting ability. As a matter of fact, it is extremely challenging to make a comic book into a real drama.

   Despite these possible difficulties, TV series Gokusen season1 got both tremendous popularity and thumbs-up reviews. The comic book Gokusen is a high teen comic where high school students are the protagonists. It also contains lots of actions. In Gokusen, Yamaguchi Kumiko, the granddaughter of a powerful gangster, refuses to carry on a family line to become a teacher. Her first class is a 12th grade class with wicked students that every teacher refused to take, but Kumiko makes it with her fighting skills and passion. Considering the synopsis, Gokusen is extremely unrealistic to be produced into a drama. Kumiko who is called "Yankumi" from her students should be a striking beauty when she takes her glasses off to fight with the bad guys who troubles her students, and should win all the fight. Her students should be juvenile delinquents but has to be tenderhearted in nature. Therefore, actress who can success in Kumiko's role should be beautiful enough to make spectators surprise when she takes off her glasses, and brave enough to take all action shots, and good-acting enough to harmonize Kumiko's unique characters into one person. Actors who play students' roles should be young but good-acting, not to be seen awkward in the screen.

   Surely, Gokusen season1 didn't fulfill all the requirements, but cast was quite successful. Nakama Yukie(仲間由紀恵) was casted in the role of Yamaguchi Kumiko. As a matter of fact, Nakama Yukie wasn't a top star then, but she was known for Trick series which breaks up magicians' and fortunetellers' tricks. In the Trick series, her character was a woman who is sometimes comic but sometimes earnest, and Nakama Yukie did a great job on this. Her former experience helped her a lot to act as Yamaguchi Kumiko. Of course Nakama Yukie didn't achieve more than expected in action. Her movements were so amateurish that camera works and sound effects couldn't cover up her motions. However, thankfully they didn't influence the quality of the show greatly because the important scenes were when Kumiko takes off her eye glasses and glare her eyes and when her students are astonished by Kumiko's true colors. Despite her action skills, she surely does a great job on comical scenes. Her exaggerated face emotions and actions give viewers a big laugh.

"The chemistry between the characters is great, which makes it easy for us to forgive the unnecessarily overdone serious moments and educational speeches of Yankumi, as well as the fact that Yankumi herself also could have been elaborated better. Nevertheless, Yukie Nakama ("Shinobi - Heart under Blade") does a fantastic job of portraying this wacky character of a loving teacher, who always wants to be there for her students."-Asian Movie Web Review

 ▲Nakama Yukie in Trick series(left) and Gokusen series(right)

   Matsumoto Jun(松本潤) was the one who led Gokusen season1 into success. Matsumoto Jun is one of the members of Arashi(嵐), the popular idol group in Japan which made its debut in 1999. Until 2002 when Gokusen season1 was taken, his acting skills wasn't a big issue; his only performance was on a very short film, Kindaichi Case Files(金田一少年の事件簿) so it was too early for critics to evaluate his acting skills. However, it was sure that Matsumoto Jun was popular enough to provide popularity to the Gokusen season1 making his fans watch it. In fact, it seems to be his supporters who watched the soap opera. After taking Gokusen, Matsumoto Jun took a main role in Tramps Like Us(きみはペット), Boys Over Flowers(花より男子), Bambino(バンビーノ), and many other successful works; he wonderfully fits the character. Though he looks somewhat unhandy in Boys over Flowers because he had his lines full of jokes, in Gokusen season1, Matsumoto Jun succeeds to express his character, unresponsive Sawada Shin.

▲Matsumoto Jun : Arashi(upper left), Jun(upper right), Gokusen(downward left), Boys Over Flowers(downward right)

   In the class of Sawada Shin played by Matsumoto Jun, there are numerous impressive actors who draw great attention. Gokusen season1 became an early work of many actors who became famous afterwards. Oguri Shun(小栗 旬) as Uchiyama Haruhiko in the drama who have gained publicity with GTO later takes a role in Boys Over Flowers as elegant Lui with Matsumoto Jun and became one of the top young actors. His acting in Gokusen season1 and GTO had a same atmosphere, but he shed off his disorderly student image in Hana-Kimi(花ざかりの君たちへ) and Boys over Flowers. Narimiya Hiroki(成宮 寛貴) playing Noda Takeshi in Gokusen season1 plays lots of supporting roles, and I believe he is not yet appraised properly; he is qualified for more fame. He has lots of potential even though he is quite old compared to other actors. He accompanied with Matsumoto Jun in Kindaichi Case Files, and with Oguri Shun in  Stand Up(スタンドーアップ). Be With You(いま、会いにゆきます) is a popular soap opera which Narimiya Hiroki played a leading role. He showed his own charm in the play and got good reviews. Ishigaki Yuma(石垣 佑磨) as Minami Yoichi in the play is also a actor who appeared in lots of popular soap operas and films as a supporting role; he performed in Hana-Kimi later with Oguri Shun. Waki Tomohiro(脇知弘) as Kumai Teruo, more known as "Kuma" (meaning bear in Japanese) throughout the film, played in important role in Gokusen. He is the only actor who comes out in every series of Gokusen; he shows up in Gokusen season1, 2, 3 and Gokusen the Movie.

▲Leading Group of class 3-D

▲Oguri Shun(upper left), Narimiya Hiroki(upper right), Ishigaki Yuma(downward left), Waki Tomohiro(downward right)

   There are lots of extras on the movie, playing roles of 3-D class. Every single student in 3-D class has respective characteristics. Even though the students are shown on the screen only for few seconds, two of them caught my sight: Matsuyama Kenichi(松山ケンイチ) and Wentz Eiji(ウエンツ瑛士). Matsuyama Kenichi who didn't show up a lot through Gokusen season1 became a star acting as 'L' in Death Note movie series. He won the Japanese academy prize in 2007 for the best supporting actor award in the film, Death Note. Wentz Eiji, who made a debut as a singer in 2004 with Koike Teppei who is one of the actors who plays a supporting role of Gokusen season 2, comes out as a hidden student of 3-D class. Afterwards, he appears in Nodame Cantabile series, and sings in his group named WaT.

▲Matsuyama Kenichi, Matsuyama as L in Deathnote, Wentz Eiji, Wntz Eiji in WaT

   Gokusen season1 wouldn't be successful without actors who played as teachers. Ito Misaki(伊東美咲) is a top star now, who became famous after performing in Train Man(電車男), Sapuri(サプリ), and Yama-onna Kabe-onna(山おんな壁おんな). Her job was to express a popular, new English teacher who is very kind and delightful in school, but who works in bars to earn extra money in the night. I really liked her and her character when she uses her beauty to control students in 3-D class who never listen to classes. Namase Katsuhisa(生瀬 勝久) as vice-president of the school is a very well known actor who puts comical taste into the film. Actors who accompanied with him describes him as "very good ad-libber and an icebreaker." Before Gokusen, he already has met Namase Yukie in Trick series which helped him to work with her. His fans describes him as idiotic, motoric, funny, and silly. It seems that his popularity is due to characteristics of Japanese dramas which often puts comicality into scenes that used to be serious.
   At first, critics made cutting remarks to Gokusen season1 because the most popular entertainment management agency in Japan, Johnnys put in its rookies and trainees in class 3-D to introduce them to public. The critics also argued that this behavior of Johnnys is mocking the viewers. Yet, even though the class 3-D was full of Johnnys trainees, contrary to critics' claims, Gokusen season1 wasn't ruined by them. They also didn't give awkward feelings nor annoyance to the viewers. However, from Gokusen season2, drama itself became a promotion video of Johnnys singers as actors. From extras to supporting actors, and even leading roles were full of Johnnys entertainers who does not seems to be qualified. In Gokusen season2, there were two roles that led the class 3-D, and they were filled with Johnnys members, Kamenashi Kazuya(亀梨和也) and Akanishi Jin(赤西仁). While Akanishi Jin did a nice job on representing his character with his former experiences as an actor, Kamenashi Kazuya was quite wooden. Kazuya got better throughout the episodes, but his cast proved that Johnnys used Gokusen series for its actors to practice acting. Especially, Takaki Yuya(高木雄也) of Johnnys who played a leading role in Gokusen season3 had no experience at acting and also was not trained well to act in such drama. Even though Ogata Yamato, the character he had to play, did not require big acting ability, Takaki Yuya did a terrible job on every single face emotions and lines.

▲Akanishi Jin and Kamenashi Kazuya in Gokusen season2

▲ I was not able to withstand Takaki Yuya's acting

   9 years have passed since Gokusen season1 had been on TV. The drama was filled with new faces, but most of them became favorites of viewers. Because not a single leading actor was experienced much, Gokusen season1 was a experimental drama. Nakama Yukie, who played the most important role in Gokusen series, was not highly praised back then, and students, leading the story, were all rookies except Matsumoto Jun. However, all the actors and actresses did a great job, leading to the conclusion that casting of Gokusen season1 was successful.
   To talk about the structure of the drama, the structure of Gokusen season1 was similar to those of other Japanese dramas. The most popular structure of Japanese dramas is connected episodes; every episodes has their main stories, but in a big picture, episodes connect themselves to make another big story. In Gokusen season1, each episodes were containing each student's personal story while they associate with each other to make a mighty flow, which is Yankumi(the nickname for the teacher, Yamaguchi Kumiko) resigning the school to save her students not to be expelled from school. For the content itself, Gokusen had no risk because the comic and the animation had been successful. Even though the drama might have gotten lots of one-star ratings because of the difficulty of expressing unique characters, castings had been powerful. Also, although it is not on the surface, love story between Yankumi and Shin gave more fun to the viewers. The popularity of Gokusen season1 wouldn't have been gained without extras and supporting roles.
   The most impressive scene in Gokusen season1 was the one when Sawada Shin picks up Yankumi's cell phone which she dropped accidently. When Shin, placing a silver ring on his thumb, gathers the pink celluar phone with Yankumi's photo sticker on it, he gets his chance to figure out who actually his teacher is. After, when he goes into the house of Oedo, he understands everything what have happened until than. Yankumi was a granddaughter of a Yakuza, who takes care of the whole town. I remember the scene vividly. In fact, the viewers know the fact for the first episode, so the scene gives a great tension to the viewers.
   The best season of the Gokusen series was Gokusen season1. Like other series dramas, Gokusen seasons 2 and 3 was produced due to the popularity of Gokusen season1. However, viewers containing myself felt seasons2 and 3 were not worth watching because they only repeat the same story. Interestingly, season2 recorded the highest ratings ever for the time period it was on air owing to the two leading Johnnys stars, Akanishi Jin(赤西 仁) and Kamenashi Kazuya(亀梨和也). Still, I give more respect to the first season because it was the first challenge and also the harmony of actors were better than ever. For season3, I'll say that it was the worst Japanese drama ever. Season3's leading actor, Takaki Yuya(高木雄也) acted terribly enough to make the hole series collapse. The complete work of Gokusen, Gokusen the movie was very distracted and gave me a feeling that the producers were forced to put in all the characters in it. If Gokusen series were ended within season2, the impression of Gokusen would have been better.
   To sum up, Gokusen season 1 was worth-watching drama which gave actors opportunity to show their possibilities. Before the first episode was on air, I thought it would only be good enough for fans of Matsumoto Jun to sit on a couch with potato chips and concentrate on each face emotions of Jun(and I started to watch this TV series because I was one of the fans of Matsumoto Jun); but now, I believe it was much more than that. Even though expectations were low from the beginning and synopsis was obvious and repeating, actors did their job better than expected, raising viewers' delights. Without extras, Gokusen season1 wouldn't have gained popularity.