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I heard a lot of good things about Yankee-kun to Megane-chan so I decided to give it a try. Thankfully, the series lived up to the rumors. Both Narimiya and Naka performed their roles beautifully. Not only did they handle the comedy bits well, they also had great chemistry together and pulled off the drama aspects too. I was a little disappointed in some of the secondary characters, but they are secondary so it doesn't detract from the series as a whole.
This is a definite must-watch.
I was definitely excited when I heard that Shun, Mao, and Hiroki were doing a drama together. They are so awesome. Considering it had the "Dolittle" title, I expected some sort of animal talking thing. There wasn't any. It's simply a nickname because Tottori is good with animals and his name kinda sounds like Dolittle. Ah, well. Onto the review:
I have to admit that, for the most part, I enjoyed the series. It took me a long time to warm up to Tottori but, if you pay close attention, you can see that he's an ass because he cares for the animals so much. He thinks that their human caretakers are idiots and, most of the time, he's right. In one episode, a girl allowed her ferret to run free in the house. The ferret chewed on her slippers, swallowed some rubber and almost died. Yet the girl refused to take responsibility for it and when the ferret was well enough to go home.....yup, she let him run free again and the ferret got sick again. It wasn't until the ferret almost died a second time that she realized her selfishness. So, yeah, I felt that he had every right to be an ass to her.
On the other side, you have Hanabishi. He is very popular and works well with people. Yet he can't overcome a past trauma, stopping him from being able to operate. He does get along with Tottori so I'm not sure why the two of them didn't form a partnership. Hanabishi could diagnose the problem and deal with the customer, while Tottori operated and cared for the animals. I think that if they joined forces, they could have been way more successful than they would be separately. Instead, Hanabishi keeps shipping animals off secretly to Tottori's clinic to be operated on. The whole thing kinda makes me want to bang my head on the table.
Tajima is right in the middle of this. In the first episode, Tottori heals her prized horse. She can't afford his fee so, after failing to get hired for any of the jobs she applied for, she goes to work for him to pay off the debt. During her tenure at the clinic, she finds her purpose in life. Of all of the characters, she is the one that grows the most throughout the series. To be honest, without her, the show wouldn't have been nearly as good. There is a hint of romance between her and Tottori but not enough to overwhelm the series. At the end, I was glad that she realized that she wanted to go to school to become an animal nurse.
As a whole, the show is a little slow. There are a variety of animal patients so it was nice to see them work on more than just dogs and cats. However, there is a ton of politicking going on. That part annoyed me. Everyone was all "Let's help the animals!" but then would stop something because it was against an agenda. Granted, that is how things can be in real life. But this is a television show. It's not supposed to be too real!
Anyway, if you can look past Tottori's arrogance and Hanabishi's want to please everyone, it's a decent series. It's more about conservation and helping animals than it is about the humans. The best part is that it's different from most of the other shows I've watched lately. It was refreshing.
Title: Honey & Clover
Broadcast dates: 1/8/08 - 3/18/08
Genre: Romance, Slice of Life
Cast: Narumi Riko, Ikuta Toma, Harada Natsuki, Mukai Osamu, Narimiya Hiroki
Plot: A group of art students try to make sense of life and love.
What is good: The characters seem a bit more human this time around.
What is bad: The first half of the show is still pretty boring plot-wise.
Letter rating: B -
Overall: I've now watched the anime version, the movie version and the TV version of this franchise. Of those three, the television series is definitely the best version. I believe that is because the writers gave a little more humanity and depth to the characters. Ikuta Toma, who played Takemoto Yuta, is a great comedic actor. As such, he was able to make all the crappy things that happen to his character seem a bit less apocalyptic but the big changes still had a big impact. Also, Narumi Riko's Hagu has a lot less creepy than any of the other versions. I'm not sure how she did it but she took a very creepy, little-girl-looking character and transformed her into a shy woman who is plopped into a strange new world. So, while I'm still not a huge Honey and Clover fan, I'd definitely watch this version more than once.
Title: Nana 2
Release date: 12/9/06
Genre: Romance, Slice of Life
Cast: Nakashima Mika, Ichikawa Yui, Kyo Nobuo, Tamayama Tetsuji, Narimiya Hiroki, Hongo Kanata, Maruyama Tomomi
Plot: Komatsu Nana/Hachiko (Ichikawa Yui) finds herself trapped in a love triangle with Trapnest's Takumi (Tamayama Tetsuji) and Black Stones' Nobu (Narimiya Hiroki). When she finds out she is pregnant, it devastates her best friend and roommate, Osaki Nana (Nakashima Mika). Can any of them find happiness in their lives after this?
What is good: Nakashima Mika is still the perfect choice to play Osaki Nana.
What is bad: The actors for Hachi, Shin and Ren were all replaced.
Letter rating: B-
Overall: I was really looking forward to seeing how the movie would handle a lot of the issues in this part of the storyline. The script seemed to be very good but the change in casting was a big distraction. In my opinion, Miyazaki Aoi was perfect as Hachi. Ichikawa Yui wasn't able to bring the same naviete and innocence to the character. I understand that Miyazaki Aoi didn't want to tarnish her image with the delicate issues dealt with in the second movie. However, she should have read through the manga to see what the future of her character was before accepting the role in the first movie. Considering how popular the NANA franchise is, I don't understand why she would have thought that the story would have stopped with the first movie. I also understand that the change in Shin's actor was due to Matsuyama Ken'ichi being too old for the role. While this is more understandable, since Shin has a larger role in this movie, it was difficult to accept the new actor as Shin.
While this wasn't a terrible movie by any means, it wasn't nearly as good as the first one. You're left expecting more from the actors, more from the two bands and more from the characters. If you watched the first movie, you'll probably want to watch the second movie to finish the experience. Just don't expect a whole lot from it.
Title: Nana
Release date: 9/3/05
Genre: Romance, Slice of Life
Cast: Nakashima Mika, Miyazaki Aoi, Matsuda Ryuhei, Matsuyama Ken'ichi, Narimiya Hiroki, Maruyama Tomomi
Plot: The story of the lives and loves of two Nanas. Osaki Nana (Nakashima Mika) is a punk princess determined to make her way to the top of the Tokyo rock scene. Komatsu Nana (Miyazaki Aoi) is a naive girl following her boyfriend to Tokyo in the hopes of marriage. The girls meet on a train in the middle of a snowstorm. Little did they know how intertwined their lives would become from that one fateful meeting.
What is good: The emotional rollercoaster that is the girls' lives.
What is bad: Since this movie only takes us about halfway through the Nana storyline, the ending seems a little abrupt.
Letter rating: A
Overall: I adore the Nana franchise. On one hand, I wish I could rock like Osaki Nana but on the other hand, I wish I knew how to be the "perfect" housewife like Komatsu Nana. I watched the movie before watching the entire anime series so it really was this version of the story that I fell in love with. Nakashima Mika was the perfect choice to play singer Osaki Nana and I thought that Miyazaki Aoi did a really good job bringing the innocence and puppy-dog characterization that is Komatsu Nana. While I didn't like the Trapnest songs very much, I did enjoy GLAMOROUS SKY, the movie's theme song which was written by Hyde of L'arc~en~Ciel fame. This is definitely a girly movie but I think any girl who has ever loved a boy before would love this movie.
Title: Gokusen
Broadcast date: 4/1/02 - 7/3/02
Number of episodes: 12
Genre: comedy
Cast: Nakama Yukie, Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Shun, Waki Tomohiro, Narimiya Hiroki, Ishigaki Yuma, Namase Katsuhisa, Itoh Misaki, Nakazawa Yuko
Plot: Yamaguchi Kumiko (Nakama Yukie) always wanted to be a teacher, like her late parents. However, she is the granddaughter of the third generation Oedo yakuza boss. Kumiko will try her best to keep her family's business secret when she gets a job at Shirokin high school as the homeroom teacher for the worst class of the school - 3D.
What is good: Both Nakama Yukie and Matsumoto Jun's acting.
What is bad: No matter what the situation, Kumiko insists on doing everything herself and refuses help from anyone.
Letter rating: A
Overall: The casting director managed to get a wonderful group of actors together for this series. While I haven't seen any of her dramatic roles yet, Nakama Yukie absolutely shines as a comedic actress. Pairing her with Matsumoto Jun (of the group Arashi) was brilliant. The two of them have a chemistry that pops on the screen and you can see the friendship bloom through the entire show. Add in Namase Katsuhisa as the vice-principal of the school to keep Nakama-san on her toes. There isn't much more you could want in a comedy. Each of the main students of 3D get a background episode so it isn't left to just the leader of the group. While there is a special that follows the end of the series, I would have loved to see more of 'what became of Yankumi's first class.' I suppose I'l have to leave that to my imagination.