After I wrote about the move to the big screen for the very popular comedy/drama Gokusen in Japan I made a point of watching the show to find out more about it. And after the first season I couldn't stop and a few weeks later I have watched all three seasons. Yukie Nakama [Shinobi] stars in all three seasons and the film marks her last time taking on the role of a young teacher named Kumiko Yamaguchi who no matter which school she ends up at is put in charge of the notoriously misbehaved class 3-D, a class full of delinquents and wannabe thugs. The big secret of course is Yamaguchi isn’t just any ordinary young teacher. She’s also the 4th-generation heir to the Ooeda yakuza family, which is run by her grandfather since he took her in at a young age when her parents were killed. She'd rather teach than take over the family business, much to the chagrin of her yakuza family members, but sometimes she slips in the odd yakuza slang and mannerisms into her daily work. But she will call upon her yakuza background to defend her 'precious students' when they get into trouble or trouble finds them.
Thanks to the watchful eyes of Kevin over at NipponCinema we can share the teaser trailer with you. And it is very much that. We see 'Yankumi' and the six young men from season three. We also see the young men who will obviously be the leaders of the next Class 3D that Yankumi will have to reach out to and change the lives of during the duration of this upcoming film.
I thought Gokusen was very charming and often very funny. It is about as melodramatic as a JDrama can get but after all it is a very endearing show and I found myself surprisingly emotionally attached to the cast of each season and was sad to see them graduate at the end of each season. Gokusen certainly wasn't broke so the producers of the show saw no reason to fix it as one season from the next to the next followed the same structure. Yankumi goes to a new school. She is assigned Class 3D. The class is full of punks and thugs who don't trust adults or teachers. As the season goes on Yankumi wins them over and each class bands together and fights the odds to graduate together. Every episode Yankumi will end up pulling the elastics out of her hair, removes her glasses, and beats up someone, or many if it is a gang which it often is. The gang leader will ask her who she is and she will tell them that she is their home room teacher. The gang will laugh. She will kick their asses. You Could count on it. Gokusen never broke from the formula but it was its charm and humor that made it worth coming back for.
So that being said I don't expect anything to change with the movie. While I am fine with that I would like to think that the producers and makers of the film may up the ante and increase the production values. Maybe give us more convincing fights and action. Polish it up a bit. I also don't expect to see this travel outside of Japan or try to reach out to an international audience. I can confidently say that this is a movie that will be made just for fans of the show, of which I am one so I'll have to wait to see it on DVD.
Ha!
We (thanks to you) just went thru the same thing here. I couldn't stick around for season 2 and 3, I thought the show dropped off too dramatically to care after season 1
but the wife got completely obsessed and devoured it quickly.
Fight-a Oh!
glad you enjoyed it mack. faito-oh!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVdMbP3ojuY
another very excellent drama that's getting a film adaptation (or a continuation?), is 'nodame cantabile'. check it out if you haven't.
Did you mean Yankumi instead?
I wish they would do a season with delinquent girls. (and quit doing carbon copy plots)
Wyejon: You're right. Yankumi! How quickly I forgot.
Guizhang: No word of a lie. I just finished the last special episode of Nodame last night. Excellent, excellent show as well. Glad to hear that is also getting a film chapter.
Hi!
I have to say, until three days ago I didn't know anything about this show. But after reading your nice and positive review of it I got curious (ok perhaps the picture did help also 'a little' here ... :-) ), and by now I've watched nine episodes of the first season. And I have to agree absolutely, the show is really very charming and endearing - especially of course because of 'Yankumi' (Yukie Nakama). I mean this girl must have probably the biggest (golden) heart in the universe, with her passionate care for everyone around her, and the extent she tries to help those people. And although she might be often quirky (meant in a positive way), she's very strong and serious when it comes to the values she is fighting for. Who wouldn't love someone special like that. (Man I think she must have 'manipulated' me too, I do not write that much normally... Btw. I am a male adult who normally watches shows like Californication, Dexter, Mad Men, BG or The Big Bang Theory.)
So if you haven't noticed until now, I like her very much in that... And that the problems she gets involved with are mostly solved by talking, not by the ass kicking parts which often just 'help' to deliver the message.... (Speaking of which, I have to partly disagree to the specific formula mentioned above, at least when it comes to the first nine episodes. Because if I remember them correctly, probably half of those contain no fights at all. But that's perhaps a bit nitpicking, the fights are of course also important to that show.)
The involvement of her yakuza backgound is often fun to watch, for example when she cheers as a teacher the participant of a (harmless) scuffle in school, rather than stopping the scuffle...
The only little complain I'd have - besides some really over the top acting - are the one and a half facial expressions of the 'leader' of the class, Shin Sawada. No matter what happens, he always shows the same countenance... (Ok that is not exactly right of course, and the reason for that is also 'explained' in one episode.)
So as a new fan of this show you can add me to the people who will be waiting for the movie version of this. (And till it comes, Ill be looking forward to the rest of season 1, and of course season 2 and 3.)
Man, how much did I just write... (Sorry for my English btw., it isn't my first language. Hope it wasn't 'too bad' to read.)
P.S.:
So the above mentioned '‘nodame cantabile' is also good show to watch? Gokusen is my first Japanese series, so if you would have suggestions for other good shows here, I'd be glad to here them. :-)