[Jdrama] Delicious Gakuin
(First entry posted with Chrome. I'm not exactly in love with it (I'm addicted to Poppit, though), but it seems less bloated than Firefox.)
Well, it has been more than a month since I last posted. The past month had been very eventful, and so is this month, but I am in dire need of a break, so here I am.
Anyway, it seems almost like a life time ago since I last watched a Japanese drama (I think Yamada Tarou was my last drama post, and I didn't even finished covering all the episodes ETA: Nope, it was BokuKano, according to the drama tag). I don't always write about series I've watched (or books I've read)--especially obscure, almost unheard of series I'm incredibly obsessed with, but Delicious Gakuin (DramaWiki link) had been on my list of things to watch for so long (and I mentioned once or twice on this journal that I wanted to watch it) I feel like I need closure by having a post when I finally finished watching it, even though what I have to say probably isn't as detailed as I like.
The summary found all over the place story goes something like this: three newest students were kidnapped and forced to make the best food in an elite cooking school (appropriately called "Delicious Academy") in order to graduate. In the process, they learn about friendship and betrayal and family relations and how to starve. Any disagreement is settled by a cooking competition (called "Delicious Bout" if I'm not mistaken) between relevant parties. So, predictably enough, there is one such competition in almost every episode (except the first episode, I think).
I'll admit, that kind of description (well, at least the cooking part) isn't something I normally look for. Originally was interested only because Channaka (Kiriya (I think that's his name?) in Hibiki (still need to finish this), and Yuuto in Den-O) was in it, and that it seemed to be a cracky, not making sense kind of drama. And at the time I was about to start watching, I only knew of one more-- Ryuunosuke Kawai (well, Zansaber is a toku, if his guest stints in W and Mebius can't be counted). So I must say I'm pleasantly surprised to find three more toku actors I recognize. (I hardly ever look at the promo pic, and it's useless if I haven't yet seen the actors in some series before. I'm not going to be like--wait, I first saw this guy on a DeliGaku poster.)
So, since I guess with my level of understanding raws, I'm not really qualified to talk much about plot, I'll just talk a little about the characters. Specifically, the five characters portrayed by the people I (sort of) know (and no, not all of them are on the show's poster).
1. Nangou-sempai (Channaka)
He's president of the second year students. A bumbling but earnest fellow. However, I'm not sure I'm happy that I had absolutely no idea (i.e. never got spoiled) that he spends most of the show shouting at the top of his lung. (Didn't even know it was him when he first appeared.)
2. The Italian Teacher--Hijikata (Kawai)
Showy guy, but not as much as I expected. One of the four teachers. Seems easy going and kind of normal, actually, among his more eccentric colleagues.
3. Rin (Hiroki Aiba)
Umm...I kind of think this character is perfect for Aiba (not that I have seen him in anything other than Shinkenger). Anyway, he's one of the kidnapped students (by the Italian teacher). Loves beautiful things. Self-absorbed, definitely, but there are times he seems surprisingly down-to-earth.
(And only tangently related (maybe not even that), I've recently read about a male character from another series named Rin (well, it is actually Rindo, but he goes by Rin) who is good at cooking. Perhaps there is something in the name to suggest cooking, or most likely it is just a wacky coincidence since they use different kanji for their names.)
4. Matthew (Ryousuke Miura)
Oh, this guy is hilarious. Another one of the kidnapped students (by the Chinese teacher). Since he's half-French, he refers to himself as 'me' and calls his parents 'Papa' and 'Mommy' and generally speaks weird Japanese (which he claims he is fluent in, along with four other languages he never names). (Now I shouldn't have gone straight to OOO after this. I might not be able to take Ankh seriously again as long as I remember Matthew's speech pattern.)
5. The Japanese Teacher--Ken Kodou (Kousei Amano)
This guy seems a bit confusing (to me anyway). In the earlier episodes he never seems to lose his cool, but in the later episodes, it's like he's relaxed, tired, or whatever, so he opens up and I can't see him the way he used to be. But then I'm always confused by his toku character (well, Tachibana from Blade, I mean. Not remembering if he's in other toku), so perhaps I should be better prepared.
And I think I'll throw in other characters after all. The other two students on the poster were portrayed by AAA members.
6. Shuugo (Shinjiro Atae)
President of the first year students. I didn't much care for him at first ('my words are law'--that's like so cheesy), but since he's on the poster I know he would become tolerable at the very least. Comes from somewhere that speak Kansai-ben or other non-standard language because I think Matthew misunderstood his dialect at one point.
7. Rouma (Takahiro Nishijima)
The main character. The last one of the kidnapped students (by Ken, if I remember right). Comes from Hokkaido (and yes, Matthew also misunderstood him once or twice). He doesn't care to cook at all (which I suspect might have something to do with his mother). Kind of selfish, but, like every main character I know, somehow manages to endear himself to other people. Has a special cooking ability which is activated when he's desperate, I suppose.
And for the last two teachers...
8. The Chinese Teacher--Tsukasa Okita
I don't really know what to say about him. He likes to do kang-fu and seems to like mocking students for their inferiority (in cooking skills). Not that the other teachers (perhaps except Ken) doesn't do the mocking thing, but I think Okita is most overt about it.
9. The French Teacher (and leader of the four teachers)--Tokudaira
He's okay, I guess. Except for a few episodes where I feel his character is written to fit the conflict instead of the other way around.
As for the principal/director, he is a bull head speaker, although I should have seen through him since very early on.
I think that's pretty much all the characters that are named and not counting any one-episode character(s). It's possible that I might have overlooked someone, however.
(Irrelevant tally of toku series represented: Zansaber (Kawai), Shinkenger (Aiba), Blade (Amano), Hibiki, Den-O (maybe I should count just Den-O since I haven't yet finished Hibiki so don't know first hand (try my best to avoid spoilers) the extent of Channaka's role there), OOO (Miura is also in Sazer X, but since I haven't seen that one, I'm not counting it). I suppose Mebius and W don't count since Kawai doesn't have a main role in either of those.)
Next drama up (whenever I find a block of free time (not good at watching only 2-3 episodes at a time for finished series, though I did watch DeliGaku on and off), which probably is not in this week or next) most likely would be Princess Princess D, because, again, it seems to be one of those 23 minute long dramas (and only ten episodes, I think). But I might jinx it (by naming the series) and end up watching something else (happens almost all the time since I'm easily distracted ^^;;).
Well, it has been more than a month since I last posted. The past month had been very eventful, and so is this month, but I am in dire need of a break, so here I am.
Anyway, it seems almost like a life time ago since I last watched a Japanese drama (I think Yamada Tarou was my last drama post, and I didn't even finished covering all the episodes ETA: Nope, it was BokuKano, according to the drama tag). I don't always write about series I've watched (or books I've read)--especially obscure, almost unheard of series I'm incredibly obsessed with, but Delicious Gakuin (DramaWiki link) had been on my list of things to watch for so long (and I mentioned once or twice on this journal that I wanted to watch it) I feel like I need closure by having a post when I finally finished watching it, even though what I have to say probably isn't as detailed as I like.
The summary found all over the place story goes something like this: three newest students were kidnapped and forced to make the best food in an elite cooking school (appropriately called "Delicious Academy") in order to graduate. In the process, they learn about friendship and betrayal and family relations and how to starve. Any disagreement is settled by a cooking competition (called "Delicious Bout" if I'm not mistaken) between relevant parties. So, predictably enough, there is one such competition in almost every episode (except the first episode, I think).
I'll admit, that kind of description (well, at least the cooking part) isn't something I normally look for. Originally was interested only because Channaka (Kiriya (I think that's his name?) in Hibiki (still need to finish this), and Yuuto in Den-O) was in it, and that it seemed to be a cracky, not making sense kind of drama. And at the time I was about to start watching, I only knew of one more-- Ryuunosuke Kawai (well, Zansaber is a toku, if his guest stints in W and Mebius can't be counted). So I must say I'm pleasantly surprised to find three more toku actors I recognize. (I hardly ever look at the promo pic, and it's useless if I haven't yet seen the actors in some series before. I'm not going to be like--wait, I first saw this guy on a DeliGaku poster.)
So, since I guess with my level of understanding raws, I'm not really qualified to talk much about plot, I'll just talk a little about the characters. Specifically, the five characters portrayed by the people I (sort of) know (and no, not all of them are on the show's poster).
1. Nangou-sempai (Channaka)
He's president of the second year students. A bumbling but earnest fellow. However, I'm not sure I'm happy that I had absolutely no idea (i.e. never got spoiled) that he spends most of the show shouting at the top of his lung. (Didn't even know it was him when he first appeared.)
2. The Italian Teacher--Hijikata (Kawai)
Showy guy, but not as much as I expected. One of the four teachers. Seems easy going and kind of normal, actually, among his more eccentric colleagues.
3. Rin (Hiroki Aiba)
Umm...I kind of think this character is perfect for Aiba (not that I have seen him in anything other than Shinkenger). Anyway, he's one of the kidnapped students (by the Italian teacher). Loves beautiful things. Self-absorbed, definitely, but there are times he seems surprisingly down-to-earth.
(And only tangently related (maybe not even that), I've recently read about a male character from another series named Rin (well, it is actually Rindo, but he goes by Rin) who is good at cooking. Perhaps there is something in the name to suggest cooking, or most likely it is just a wacky coincidence since they use different kanji for their names.)
4. Matthew (Ryousuke Miura)
Oh, this guy is hilarious. Another one of the kidnapped students (by the Chinese teacher). Since he's half-French, he refers to himself as 'me' and calls his parents 'Papa' and 'Mommy' and generally speaks weird Japanese (which he claims he is fluent in, along with four other languages he never names). (Now I shouldn't have gone straight to OOO after this. I might not be able to take Ankh seriously again as long as I remember Matthew's speech pattern.)
5. The Japanese Teacher--Ken Kodou (Kousei Amano)
This guy seems a bit confusing (to me anyway). In the earlier episodes he never seems to lose his cool, but in the later episodes, it's like he's relaxed, tired, or whatever, so he opens up and I can't see him the way he used to be. But then I'm always confused by his toku character (well, Tachibana from Blade, I mean. Not remembering if he's in other toku), so perhaps I should be better prepared.
And I think I'll throw in other characters after all. The other two students on the poster were portrayed by AAA members.
6. Shuugo (Shinjiro Atae)
President of the first year students. I didn't much care for him at first ('my words are law'--that's like so cheesy), but since he's on the poster I know he would become tolerable at the very least. Comes from somewhere that speak Kansai-ben or other non-standard language because I think Matthew misunderstood his dialect at one point.
7. Rouma (Takahiro Nishijima)
The main character. The last one of the kidnapped students (by Ken, if I remember right). Comes from Hokkaido (and yes, Matthew also misunderstood him once or twice). He doesn't care to cook at all (which I suspect might have something to do with his mother). Kind of selfish, but, like every main character I know, somehow manages to endear himself to other people. Has a special cooking ability which is activated when he's desperate, I suppose.
And for the last two teachers...
8. The Chinese Teacher--Tsukasa Okita
I don't really know what to say about him. He likes to do kang-fu and seems to like mocking students for their inferiority (in cooking skills). Not that the other teachers (perhaps except Ken) doesn't do the mocking thing, but I think Okita is most overt about it.
9. The French Teacher (and leader of the four teachers)--Tokudaira
He's okay, I guess. Except for a few episodes where I feel his character is written to fit the conflict instead of the other way around.
As for the principal/director, he is a bull head speaker, although I should have seen through him since very early on.
I think that's pretty much all the characters that are named and not counting any one-episode character(s). It's possible that I might have overlooked someone, however.
(Irrelevant tally of toku series represented: Zansaber (Kawai), Shinkenger (Aiba), Blade (Amano), Hibiki, Den-O (maybe I should count just Den-O since I haven't yet finished Hibiki so don't know first hand (try my best to avoid spoilers) the extent of Channaka's role there), OOO (Miura is also in Sazer X, but since I haven't seen that one, I'm not counting it). I suppose Mebius and W don't count since Kawai doesn't have a main role in either of those.)
Next drama up (whenever I find a block of free time (not good at watching only 2-3 episodes at a time for finished series, though I did watch DeliGaku on and off), which probably is not in this week or next) most likely would be Princess Princess D, because, again, it seems to be one of those 23 minute long dramas (and only ten episodes, I think). But I might jinx it (by naming the series) and end up watching something else (happens almost all the time since I'm easily distracted ^^;;).