Tokaikko Junjou
07 October 2007
I started watching 'Nobuta Wo Produce' last night. It wasn't what I was expecting. From the description given on the DramaWiki site I thought it would be a light-hearted affair similar to 'Hanazakari No Kimi-tachi E'. While it does still have its comic elements it's very much a serious drama. It centres around an extremely shy and introverted girl called Kotani Nobuko who transfers to a new school. She is immediately picked on and bullied by a group of troublemaking girls due to her appearance and inability to stand up for herself. They play cruel tricks on her such as vandalising her school blazer and pouring water over her in the girls toilets. Her pain doesn't go unnoticed, however, Kiritani Shuji, an extremely popular guy, and Kusano Akira, a strange individual who considers Shuji a friend (the feeling isn't mutual though), feel sympathy for her. They decide to help her out by changing her image in order to make her more popular within the school. They become her 'producers' and set about trying to make Nobuko's life easier.
The cast is very good, with very few people looking like they're overacting. Yamashita Tomohisa (who played the lead in 'Proposal Daisakusen') comes across as very odd at first. His character looks like he's constantly drunk. You do see another more composed side to him at times though. I'm quite astounded by how well Horikita Maki plays the shy Nobuko. It's a massive change to her previous characters. In actual fact she won an award for the best supporting actress in the 47th Television Drama Academy Awards. I'm quite eager to see her transformation into a more confident and outgoing individual as the series progresses. You can already see some change from just the first few episodes. It will be interesting to watch.
As I said earlier, this drama is a lot more serious than I first thought. The bullying scenes can be quite hard to watch. You know it's all faked but I'm sure there have been similar cruel acts carried out in schools across the world. Whilst I was never seriously bullied in school, I do know how horrible and lonely it can feel. There are also some very thought provoking moments in the episodes that question what's really important in life. There seems to be a very dark side to this drama in places. An interesting point is that Shuji appears to be narrating the story from a time in the future. So all the current episodes have been in the past. He seems to speak of some troubling times ahead. I'm wondering what they could be and why they are so serious. Only time will tell. I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the series.
Posted byHocchan at 10:08 pm
