Back To School Dramas?

With Labour Day just around the corner (Sept 7th in Canada), it spells "Back to School" for many people.

Now, I know many have already started their journey Back to School, but don't worry... this is also for you.

To help prepare for the dramas that surround school, I thought some High School Dramas would be useful.

I know the word "Drama" has the tendency to bring about apprehension in the hearts of our "Ani-Pockers",

but I hope this may help dispel some of that as well.

From my experience in North American Schools, teachers are typically seen as "The Enemy"...

certainly not someone you'd invite to karaoke...

(One of my former teachers at Karaoke)

Perhaps that may be because some students haven't had a TEACHER as GREAT as ONIZUKA.

Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), is about a former... err... "troubled youth", ex-biker gang leader,

that wants to turn his life around and become a teacher... but not just ANY teacher... he wants to become a Great one.

Using his life experiences and his own brand of methods, he hopes to prevent others from becoming like him.

Unfortunately, mostly due to his "colourful" past, he's met with hostilities from other teachers as well as students...

This 1998 drama is loosely based on Fujisawa Tooru's 1997 - 2002 manga of the same name, and much like the manga

(and later anime 1999 - 2000), this live action rendition (Staring Sorimachi, Takashi and Matsushima, Nanako)

promises to bring in a lot of laughs, some tears, and moral lessons...

Oh! Sorimachi, Takashi's singing is pretty good too (o^ -'')b

Due to the popularity of this drama, a 2 hour special was made in 1999 and theatrical movie in 2000.

The lead actors who first met on the set of GTO, married in 2001.

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Whom ever thinks they may be too old to go back to school might be especially interested in My Boss, My Hero.

This 2006 Drama, similar to the 2001 South Korean movie of the same (international) name,

is about a 27year old Yakuza who wants to succeed his father in running his gang...

Unfortunately the lead character Sakaki, Makio (played by Nagase, Tomoya of TOKIO) is... well... not too bright.

After screwing up a 27million yen deal, his father buys Makio into the last year of a private high school under the condition if Makio graduates, then he can succeed as the next boss... if not, it goes to his younger and much smarter brother Mikio.

"Tornado" Makio, whose love of liquor, women and pudding, is put to the test,

as he tries to keep his age and his Yakuza identity a secret in order to graduate.

This story has the beauty and trials of youth, and the joys of learning,

wrapped up in a nice comedic package with a few tears and moral lessons.

Oh! TOKIO performs the ending theme 宙船 (そらふね) which sold over 400k copies and was still in the top 50 charts even 4months later.

*Edited to include teaser clips to help avoid mixing up these two dramas with "All My Children" and "Days of Our Lives"