A real school in Hokkaido that accepts drop-out students, giving them a second chance. Yoshimori Masaya graduated from that school. Ten years later, he begins his career as a teacher there. In addition, five new students enroll into the school.

Yoshimori is supposed to be an assistant homeroom teacher but the regular teacher suddenly collapses. He takes over the class during his absence.

He is a persistent person. He would use force if he has to. He’s a good teacher though. He memorizes all the students’ names and faces before the semester starts. He experienced some of these issues before. So he knows how to deal with them. He sometimes messes things up, lol.

The drama is like GTO except that it is a bit darker. The stories involving the issues are a bit more seriious. Issues include social phobic, smoking, bullying, family issues, unwanted pregnancy, etc. Like GTO, the students in the class doesn’t trust anyone. The only person they trust is their regular homeroom teacher because he already put a lot of effort to get them to trust him.

Aiba Masaki plays the new teacher. It’s a bit weird to see him as a teacher. His character is serious but a bit weak. Aiba doesn’t have much screen time in this drama..

Shinohara Kyoko is also in this drama. She plays a character who takes care of the students. She cooks for them and stuff.

Is surprised that Koike Teppei is in this drama. He plays a student. It’s kinda amusing when seeing him and Aiba together.

Takes place way earlier than the drama, the time when the school just starts excepting drop-out students.

Yoshiie Hiroyuki came to school from Nagano. An incident occurred and his father couldn’t take it anymore. He sends him to that school. Yoshiie doesn’t trust and care about anyone. He would resort to violence.

When he enters the school, he makes a bad start. He keeps the teachers away from him and causes a ruckus with other students. His behavior changes as the story progresses.

Sakurai Shou plays either a really smart guy or a low class delinquent.. Too bad he and Aiba didn’t get to be in the same episode ^^

Matsuda Shouta plays a new student who enters the school the same time as Yoshiie. He’s a nice guy. He tries to rationalize the issues around him.

Is really surprised that Kamaza Shunsuke is in this special. He plays a wimpy guy. The behavior is similar to his character from Akihabara@Deep, all shaky and stuff. But he’s normal when he’s not anxious.

Little boys want to be an athlete, a policeman, a pilot, and such when they grow up. Little girls want to be a cake shop owner, a nurse, a florist, etc. But little Suzuki Taiyou says he wants to be a preschool teacher when he grows up, which is uncommon for males. After graduation, he starts his career working as a substitute teacher at a preschool.

Taiyou wanted to be a preschool teacher because he respected his male teacher he had. He is enthusiastic and a bit clumsy. He’s able to get along with the children well because he has a childish mind. He can become a child sometimes. Seeing the kids happy makes him happy. He also can be a crybaby XD

It’s rare that a male wants to be a preschool teacher so he gets mistreated at first. The teachers are strict on him. And as a newcomer, they force work on him. Then, the mothers are worried about having a male teacher at their children’s school. The teachers and the mothers keep close looks at Taiyou.

The drama is light. It has some humor. The teachers’ personalities change depending on the environment. When they are around kids, they are nice and friendly. During other times, they act cold to Taiyou. Then, the mothers keep barging into the school, trying to pick a fight. It shows that women are scary, lol.

There was one part where Taiyou had to draw a picture story. I wonder if Sho drew these XD But in another episode, he drew a rabbit~ They didn’t him draw it but you can tell if you know what his drawings are like XD Haha, he got made fun of for his art! And his ability on sports XD

Wow, Fukiishi Kazue is in this drama… I think her role in Yamada Tarou Monogatari suits her image more so I find it a bit weird to see her with a different personality. But when she gets embarrassed and freaks out, yep, that’s the same person, lol.

Also am surprised that Matsushima Nahomi is in the drama. I only know her from one of Arashi’s variety shows..

I watch this drama not only because of Sho but also because Aiba, Ohno, and MatsuJun make guest appearances (in different episodes). MatsuJun’s appearance is the best! He appears in his role as Shin, from Gokusen! In addition, Kuma is with him!! It’s kinda weird to see Sho as a teacher and MatsuJun as a high school student in one setting. Too bad Nino doesn’t make an appearance… There’s an episode where a kid likes playing games. Reminds me of Nino XD Still a bit disappointed that he isn’t in a single episode..

The theme song, Tomadoi Nagara, is a good song. It’s an encouraging song that takes another person and try to achieve things together. The melody is cheerful.

Arashi’s variety show. It follows after D no Arashi!. “G” stands for “ganbatte (go for it).” People send in submissions on what Arashi should support. Each member chooses one selection in which he would like to support and resent it at the beginning of the show. Then, the group discusses which one of the five they would like to support the most. The chosen selection will be the topic of the episode.

Some topics include: Someone confessing his/her love, people who can’t sing, people with phobias, failed hosts, etc. There are weird ones like UFO hunting and girlfriends pass gas in front of their boyfriends for the first time.

Started when a viewer submitted a request to support a sport that hardly anyone knew. The members try out the sport. MatsuJun is put in charge of the segment because he likes trying out the sports. Others let him do more of this segment. This is the origin of Sakurai’s famous “Chesto!” yell ^.^

Started when a person submitted a request to support air guitar. He even introduced an expert on this field. The members got interested in it. They decided to do a project where they chose a celebrity to add into their group. They captured celebrities from the TV studio and had them audition for the position. They participated in performing air guitar on stage. These episodes gets a bit boring. Partly because they mostly have people other than Arashi doing air guitar..

People requested Arashi to sing a cheering song. Arashi wrote the lyrics to the song. They used  meaningful words that people said. Nino did the music composition.

Aiba once complained that they hadn’t did this segment in a while XD So they did it again~ It started in their previous program, D no Arashi!. For those who don’t know, Aiba does pointless experiments ^.^

In between showing a compilation of special or unaired clips, Arashi play a board game Aiba created. There are prizes if you land on the right boxes, like food, as well as punishments, like ink on your face and doing air guitar in the street after the game. The famous punishments are stockings on the head and the nipples T-shirt (they cut holes on a T-shirt to show the nipples).

The most enjoyable segment out of the whole show. Unfortunately, there are only two episodes… Compilation clips or unaired scenes are also shown. Arashi play a matching game, matching Ohno’s drawings with Sho’s. The actual difficulty is: figuring out what Sho’s drawings are. Sho isn’t good at drawing whereas Ohno is an artist himself. Sho is the host of the game. Ohno and Nino team up, and Aiba and MatsuJun are another pair. The pair who chooses the corrected matched pair win a prize related to the drawings, mostly food.

The last couple of episodes are mostly episodes supporting Sho because he fails XD He sucks at the last minor sports and sucks at drawing. Others cheer on him to help him be able to do the sports well. There’s an episode where they help Sho improve his drawings. I like that Nino (the sadist) is the host in this episode and Ohno (the artist) accompanies the group XD

You can see Nino’s busy schedule outside of Arashi in this show. He wore a wig during the Sukoshi wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana times. He took off his wig a few times (purposely) XD Then, he left to Hollywood. They showed VTR’s of him at the end of each episode, which was nice. After he returned, the members played a prank on him XD XD

Wakui Yukichi worked at a company where he travels to New York and other cities. But a tradegy occurred; his wife passed away from a car accident. He quits his job and opens a coffee shop in Hokkaido, his wife’s hometown, fulfilling his wife’s wish.

His son, Takuro, caused the car accident. Takuro is afraid that his father won’t forgive him. He has been secretly working to be a pottery maker at a place near where his father’s coffee shop is.

The father and the son haven’t talked to each other since that accident. One day, Takuro encounters a girl, Minagawa Azusa, who turns out to be a newcomer waitress at the coffee shop..

Coffee shop + winter = a quiet atmosphere. It’s nice to lower the volume when watching the drama, for a better atmosphere. But it gets me sleepy XD

The father may be angry at Takuro for causing the accident but he actually wants to see him again. He has a gloomy and lonely aura around him. But he’s a friendly and kind person. He helps people solve their problems. Regular customers at his shop are more like friends to him. He rarely talk about his past though.

The coffee shop is unique. Customers can grind bean on their own, to get fresh coffee. It’s a bit weird but it’s well received. Different customers come into the shop, each holding different stories. Sometimes, there are gossips/rumors spread around these people.

Takuro belongs to a race car gang prior to the accident. He is an obedient and gentle person. He wants to get back with his father but is afraid that he won’t forgive him. It’s cool that he does pottery. We get to see Nino doing things with his hands ^.^ I love seeing him like that. His hands are skillful.

Nakagawa Masami plays the new employee, Azu. Azu is a clumsy girl. She always breaks dishes at the shop. She has a tradgic past, which leads to a diagnoise of hysteria. She’s a kind person. She tries to do what is right and fair. But there are times when things doesn’t go the way she likes..

Ooo, Nagayan appears in one episode. He had more screen time than I thought..

I’m not into this kind of drama…but Yasashii Jikan can be quite addicting…for some reason.. Hm..I like seeing the snow XD

During 1926, at fifteen years old, Takichi climbed across Mt. Amagi. Along the way, he met various people, including a beautiful prostitute and a drifter. Thirty years later, he finds out what happens to these two after he leaves the mountain from a retired detective. A mystery that was never solved.

Takichi wants to learn but he can’t go to school because the family is poor. His father is a drunkard and his mother often bickers. He couldn’t stand his family. So he decides to run away from home. He plans to cross the mountain to go to the city.

He becomes an editor years later. He is asked to proofread a novel written by a retired detective, which happens to tell a story about the prostitute he met at that time. He and the prostitute bumped into a drifter. Then, she told him to leave her. They went on separate paths.

According to the novel, the drifter was found murdered. The police thought the killer was the prostitute after some investigation. But there weren’t enough evidence to proof her guilty. How did they solve the case?

The story is mostly flashbacks of Takichi and the the detective. The mystery is interesting. It’s not one of those common mysteries. There is a twist about the murderer, but you’ll able to figure it out before it happens.

Wow, this was filmed a year before Arashi debuted. Nino was sixteen, quite young~

An all girls’ high school starts to go co-ed. Ten guys enter to join the class. These guys, however, are…weird. The girls doesn’t like their attitudes so they decide to change their behaviors to become more attractive.

Yuki Nami is the leader of this project, forced upon by her classmates. She doesn’t want to do it at first but eventually gets along with it. She pairs up each girl to each guy, having the girl in charge of helping a guy to change.

Yanagi Koutarou plays Shinozaki Tatsuya. He refuses to get into conversations with other people. He tends to bury himself in a book and stays in a place where no one is around.

Aiba Hiroki plays the prince, Haka Shurinosuke. He is good-looking but the problem is that he is self-centered. Shinagawa Haruka is in charge of helping to change him. She volunteers to be in charge of him because she wants him to notice her. She’s an active person, willing to do anything for him. But Shurinosuke ends up making her his slave…

Yakiguchi Yukihiro plays the scary student, Souma Fumizou. He looks scary because he has a scar on his face. Other people avoid talking to him. Shibata Chiaki is in charge of changing him. It’s kinda funny because she’s the opposite of Souma, judging from the surface of those two. She is quiet and shy.

Takeda Kouhei plays Noda Hayato, an anti-social person. He refuses to say a word to anyone. However, he uses his cell phone to communicate by texting. His style of text is normal. So his problem is talking to people directly. Koshino Misaki is in charge of him. She tries in any way to get him to talk to her.

Kawai Ryunosuke and Nagayama Takeshi play the role of the teachers. They want to have girls to attract to them but…never succeed. They are more of a comic relief but Kawai’s role is more normal than Nagayan’s.

Kiriyama Renn plays Yoshiyuki Kirin, the wild boy. It’s difficult to get him to take things seriously and do stuff. Kiryu Natsuki is the girl in charge of him. She’s a bit of a tomboy.

The drama is mainly targetted for young people. The story is simple. Some scenes are a bit cheesy. The cast includes several Tenimyu boys. I don’t keep up with Tenimyu anymore so it’s hard to recognize a few people. I finally got to watch this drama after months of delay. I used to be enthusiastic about this drama because Yanagi Koutarou, Aiba Hiroki, and Nagayan were in it.

The third and last kandou (emotional) drama of the series, after Sukoshi wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana and Marathon. It’s based on the story of Bill Porter. Nino plays a character with cerebral palsy who becomes a top salesman, the Japanese version of the story.

Kurasawa Hideo manages to get hired by a small company after graduating from school. His job as a salesman begins. Of course, there are obstacles. For example, his disability keeps him from doing a lot of things. He can’t move his arm and his mouth freely. He can’t do house chores and his speech is a bit unclear. Another example, being a salesman is tough even for a normal person. It’s hard to get people to buy the product. Most people either shut the door or reject the offer. With the disability, it’s twice as hard. People mistreats Hideo once they see that he’s disabled.

We watch Hideo as he tries to become a successful salesman. He is inspired by his father, who passed away when he was young. He really wants to be a great salesman like him. He is able to work hard because his mother completely supports him. She does all the housework and helps him when needed. Everyday, she leaves a note in his bento. She writes quotes that his father used to say to encourage him.

Katou Rosa plays Hideo’s co-worker, Nozaki Saori. She doesn’t care much about him at first. As she watches him, she starts to notice his hard work. She begins to encourage and help him.

Nino is really great in his role as Hideo, great as usual XD His skills in acting gets more and more amazing!! Playing a character with cerebral palsy is a tougher role than his role in Marathon. It must be really tiring to try to talk like that..

Doctors travel by helicopters to help treat people during emergencies. Four new trainees arrive at the hospital to train to become helicopter doctors.

Aizawa Kosaku is a skillful doctor. He is able to perform tough tasks perfectly. He has a high confidence. He believes he can do tasks successfully. He thinks he can suppress other trainees and be able to ride the helicopter more times than them. He gets excited when he gets to ride the helicopter.

Shiraishi Megumi is an honor student who is also a skillful doctor. But she can be a bit nervous easily and messes up the task. Her voice is gentle.

Hiyama Mihoko is a talkative person. She expresses her feelings out. She couldn’t be able to do things during emergencies sometimes.

Fujikawa Kazuo is an active person. He is like a comic relief. He isn’t as skillful compared to the other three. He ends up being stuck at doing regular hospital stuff.

The story is pretty good. Better than I expected. There’s a lot of action and no repetitive parts. Some problems are from the patients within the hospital. So the story doesn’t always involve emergency situations.

YamaPi still plays a character who doesn’t always smile. He only says a few words at the beginning of the drama. But he talks more later on so he shows more of his personality.

Takes place after the drama. It’s the wrap up of the story. After the incident, the instructor decides to retire. The trainees try to deal with the emergency on their own.

“Empress”

Tachibana Ayaka’s mother owns a host club. One day, she collapses under an illness. The illness worsens and she passes away. Ayaka is forced to shot down the host club. In her life, she has been treated badly by wealthy people because she isn’t rich. After her mother passed away, she decides to take revenge on the rich people. She aims to become the number one hostess and then, an empress. She quits high school and starts to work at a host club in Osaka.

Ayaka is a strong girl. She works really hard in order to get revenge. If she is able to get what she wants at the end, it doesn’t matter what she needs to do. Even though she looks strong, she is weak inside. There are times when things don’t work out for her. Receiving harsh treatments would hurt but she don’t break down in front of everyone.

When Date Naoto first meets Ayaka, he tries to pick her up. Ayaka falls for him. But it turns out he’s a yakuza, planning to sell her. After knowing her, he decides to protect her instead.

The story is dark. The competition between the top hostesses is harsh. There is jealousy and hatred towards the person. Then, does dirty tricks to try to ruin the person. I don’t think there should be a second jealous hostess. It’s tiring already after the story of the first one is over. But the story seems to flow better that way.. The second hostess becomes a part of the major story and the first one is just to start the mood..

The start of the relationship of Ayaka and Naoto is a bit weird. It’s too abrupt. But their love story displays well.

Half doctor. Doctors who just started working in their field as a job.

Hazama Ichiban graduates from school and begins working at a high rank hospital. He is actually a former yakuza. His mother passed away due to the unfairness of the medical system. He wants revenge on the system so he decides to become a doctor who treats every patient equally.

Ichiban is laid back. He do things that make other people feel annoyed but doesn’t mean to. For example, he once fell asleep on the table inside a room at the hospital XD He gives people a different image.

Nobu is Ichiban’s kouhai. He is bright and active but not a smart person. He has a crush on Miyuki but doesn’t mind going out with other girls. It’s kinda weird seeing Nino dressing up as a gangster.

Kojima Michiko enters the hospital the same time as Ichiban. She doesn’t like Ichiban at first because of his irresponsible behaviors. But she starts to like him after knowing the type of person he is.

The comedy is similar to Stand Up!!, Kisarazu Cat’s Eye, etc. But there isn’t that many comedy scenes because the story is sad and dark.

Miyuki reminds me of Mouko from Kisarazu Cat’s Eye because she likes the main character but the main character doesn’t like her the same way. The minor character has a crush on her. She also isn’t smart and tries to do things to please the main character…which end up having the opposite effect.