I haven’t read the manga yet so I won’t mention anything about it.
Yamada Tarou is attractive and has top grades in school. Many girls have fallen for him. But there’s one thing that no one knows: his family is really poor.
He lives with a family of ten; both parents and seven younger siblings. His father is a traveling artist. He rarely comes home. His mother has a weak body, which prevents her from working.
Yamada is a very hard working guy. Almost all of the things he does are for his family. He works part-time in order to earn money for his family. He tries to get the things they want. He gets good grades so that he can get a good job. It’s like he lives for them. He wants his family to be happy. He cares a lot about people. Nino’s smile made me faint, too, but not as dramatically XD His image matches the role well. Really looks like a prince on a white horse.
Sakurai Shou plays the friend, Mimura Takuya. Mimura is from a very rich family. Same as Yamada, he also has good grades and popular with the girls. His hobby is flower arranging. From the first day he met Yamada, he decides to follow him around, thinking that he is an interesting guy. He wants to learn more about him. Once you get to know him, you’ll find out that he’s playful. He plays jokes/pranks well enough to be unnoticed and they are funny.
Ikegami Takako is an average girl but a bit poorer than common people. Her dream is to marry a good looking rich man. She doesn’t like living a life in low poverty. However, she falls for Yamada because of his looks and wealth. She tries to get closer to him.
Ohno Satoshi is in the tenth episode as a guest star. He only appears for several seconds… Kinda disappointed.. But, it’s neat that half of Arashi is in this drama.
The comedy here is fun. It sometimes contains people misunderstanding Yamada. They usually take it the wrong way, since they think he’s rich. For example, he accepts all the girls’ homemade bento thinking that he can share them with his family, but the girls think Yamada is taking notice of them.. Actually, he never intends to pretend that he’s rich. Just that the girls think the way they like. It’s kinda funny that his mind is always about his family while the girls daydream about him being a prince. Other comedy parts include special background effects, like the pink, sparkly background in the girls’ point of view when the guys are looking good.
The theme is happiness. Even though Yamada’s family is poor, the family members are always living with smiles on their faces. The family members are energetic and loyal. They follow good morals. They respect Tarou and try to pay back to him for working hard. They share their happiness with other people. The other people feel touched when seeing how well they behave.
Even the theme song is called Happiness. It’s a catchy song that keeps you cheerful. The opening sequence keeps you upbeat, everyone in the main cast playing air guitar. The music video is enjoyable to watch. The members play and fool around.. So funny! There are some references to the drama, too. Nino playing a conductor (with other members playing toy instruments XD), and Sakurai Shou doing some flower arrangements ^.^
