Samurai High School (J-Drama): Pretty Much Live Action Anime
November 21st, 2009
One of these things is not like the other~
Something that has always perplexed me is why anime fans don’t watch more Jdramas. I’m sure this could be for any number of reasons but many dramas are based off anime (Hana Yori Dango, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, GTO, Nana, etc.) and some seriously seem to have been animes in a past life. That’s where Samurai High School comes in. It’s got all that you ever wanted in an anime ridiculous faces, great acting, awkward shots focusing on things that aren’t important and the absurdest characters in strange places. Yet still these two worlds will never meet eye to eye I suppose.
In that way it’s kind of like the plot for this show. The main character Mochizuki Kotaro (played by Miura Haruma, who also was in Gokusen 3) is an unsuspecting and frankly average high schooler who shares the name of his ancestor, a heroic general from the Sengoku period. While for normal people this would just be an omen of good luck when Mochizuki meets a strange librarian things start to change. When trying to save a classmate he bumps his head and turns into his samurai ancestor!
It’s all in this book! I swear!
The first episode starts out with Mochizuki in a battlefield in Sengoku Japan, about 400 years ago when samurai were overtaking something in Osaka. I’m the first to admit I don’t like history very much. He’s woken up in class and tries to explain himself but he’s in math class so there’s very little reason to be dreaming about history. As a punishment the teacher assigns him a paper on the Campaign he was dreaming about. On his way home some girls harass him for money but evetually he heads home. On the way he sees a library sign that leads him to believe he can find books about history in there.
This smile makes me smile. Oh ho ho ho~
The creepy librarian woman sees his name of the paper to sign out books and brings him a very special book which glows. Inside the book is the tale of a boy the same age (17) and same name as Mochizuki.
The second-hand embarrassment is so high right now.
When he gets home instead of writing his paper he pretends to do samurai moves with a ruler. At that point he gets a call from his best friend Ai who sees their classmate Nakamura in trouble. He does what any good samurai would and runs to the rescue.
Yanki’s are pretty bad ass but even I think I can take these girls. Especially if I were 6′2″…
Nakamura is kind of a helpless boy. He stutters and looks down all the time but because he’s played by Shirota Yuu (former D-boys member) I forgive him. Mochizuki is immediately scared and stutters out a bunch of nonsense. When he tries to defend himself he trips down a flight of stairs and hits his head.
Somehow as a samurai Mochizuki has perfect hair and a TON of eyeliner. Very stylish for the Sengoku era.
The bump on the head makes his ancestors personality come out. Even when we (the audience) can hear the real Mochizuki on the inside he seems powerless to make his own body move. Samurai-Mochizuki easily takes care of the three pansy girls while freeing Nakamura. He does this with the ruler that was still in his pants ^^;;. He moves in to kiss Ai but then this happens.
Warning: May explode when kissed.
He wakes up as normal Kotaro and has trouble trying to explain to Ai what happened. He doesn’t have time anyway because Nakamura has already gotten himself in trouble with those yanki girls again. This time Nakamura has let them talk him into stealing watches. Mochizuki runs to try and convince him not to do it but ends up there at just the wrong time.
Neither of these men is articulate enough to explain that three evil girls did this.
They are taken the police station, picked up by their teacher and manage to clear their names in front of the board while the girls get off scot-free. There’s a long scene of lamenting where Nakamura tells Mochizuki that they’re both weak and so they can never win at life and it’s as simple as that.
Stop moping you pretty boys this isn’t a Final Fantasy game!
When he arrives home Mochizuki’s father tells him that he is the ancestor of the samurai bearing the same name proving something that we’ve pretty much known all along. The yanki girls from before kidnap Mochizuki and Nakamura a few hours later to beat them up for some reason even though everyone got off without more than a slap on the wrist.
Look, they brought friends…
They throw Mochizuki out the window when he fights back and he bumps his head and turns into a samurai again so he can kick butt with a broom!
Becoming a samurai also puts his hair in a ponytail for some reason?
He beats all the bad guys up and the day is saved with no thanks to Nakamura because he pretty much cowered on the ground and made sad noises the whole time.
I’m trying not to read anything sexual into this but I have trouble.
♥ It’s a bromance ♥
Final Thoughts:
If you have some time and you’re out of anime (amazing but it happens) then I would definitely tell you to give this series a watch. It’s a pretty great series and there’s already has five episodes out. I had a ton of fun watching it and even my fiance kept starring at my screen to try and watch it with me. Unless I get some overwhelming response I don’t think I’ll be blogging other episodes of this but I figured maybe every now and then I’d show you guys a great Jdrama that’s anime-ish. This one gets a full 5 stars out of 5 for wild ride awesomely acted ridiculous anime-esqe comedy.
Confession Corner:
I have something to get off my chest and I won’t be able to move on until I do. I started watching this for Shirota Yuu. You do not know this about me but I am in love with the Sailor Moon Musicals and Yuu played Tuxedo Mask from 2003 to 2004 (where I fell in love with his body singing). Someday I may bring you some Sailor Moon musical reviews and recaps but until then I leave you with this picture:
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