JMovie review: Rookies: Sotsugyō

Title: Rookies: Sotsugyō Also known as: Rookies - Graduation Release date: 5/30/99 Genre: Sports, drama Cast Sato Ryuta, Ichihara Hayato, Koide Keisuke Plot: The baseball team of Futakotamagawa high school are now seniors. After recruiting some freshmen players, the team once again begins their journey toward Koshien. Of course, their beloved teacher and coach, Kawato Koichi, is back to cheer them on. What is good: The characters seem to have grown up a bit. What is bad: The big payoff is missing. Letter rating: B

I was really hoping for some real closure with this movie. The boys would make it to Koshien and we'd see them kick everyone's butts in the tournament. Alas, we don't get to see that. We see the boys make it to Koshien but then the movie skips to their graduation. We never really find out how they performed.

That doesn't mean it was a bad movie. The two new characters, Akahoshi Shoji and Hamanaka Taiyo, are great additions to the cast. Without them, I think the movie would have felt repetitive since the team pretty much does the same thing over and over. I also enjoyed the actual graduation of the senior players. It was extremely heartwarming. There was more than one tear that came to my eye.

If you watched the drama, then you should watch this. It won't give you a ton of closure, but you will get some. However, if the drama wasn't your cup of tea, then you should be fine skipping this entirely.

Jdorama review: Rookies

Title: Rookies Broadcast dates: 4/19/08 - 7/26/08 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Sports, drama Cast: Sato Ryuta, Ichihara Hayato, Koide Keisuke Plot: The baseball team of Futakotamagawa high school has been banned from playing for six months after fighting on the field. Rookie teacher Kawato Koichi arrives with promises to help them achieve their dreams. Together, the group fights to get to the Koshien baseball tournament. What is good: Sato Ryuta is a very good actor. What is bad: Aniya (Ichihara Hayato) is a bit of an annoying character. Letter rating: C+ Overall: I was hesitant to list this as a 'sports' drama because, really, the baseball takes a backseat to the personal dramas of each of the characters. Granted, the main plotline is to get the team to Koshien but it's still not the core of the story. As such, I found myself getting a lot more enjoyment out of the show. I'm not a huge sports fan so usually things like this are lost on me. However, by making the characters the meat of the story, it makes the show more interesting for people like me. I'm actually looking forward to watching both the special and the movie to see where this goes.

JDorama review: Gokusen 2

Title: Gokusen 2
Broadcast date: 1/15/05 - 1/19/05
Number of episodes: 10
Genre: comedy
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Hayami Mokomichi, Koike Teppei, Koide Keisuke, Namase Katsuhisa
Plot: Shirokin Gakuen has closed its doors. Six months later, Yamaguchi Kumiko (Nakama Yukie) is teaching a group of young children, though she'd much rather be teaching high school again. Due to a twist of fate, Yankumi gets a job teaching at Kurogin Gakuen. Once again, she is left to deal with the school's delinquents. This year her students are the worst she's ever encountered!
What is good: Nakama Yukie comes through once again.
What is bad: This is almost an exact duplicate of the first season but with new students.
Letter rating: D

Overall: The first season of Gokusen did everything right. The studio tried to recreate that magic with the second season but came up short. I easily predicted what would happen next because I saw the same exact thing happen in the first season! Nakama Yukie was still hysterically funny but she was put up against a group of actors, who are mostly in boy bands. (Kamenashi and Akanishi are in KAT-TUN and Koike Teppei is in WaT.) This season should prove to producers that you can't just toss a bunch of cute, recognizable boys into a show and come out with something awesome. I'd only recommend this show to someone who is a big fan of one of the actors. There isn't any other reason to watch it.