[REVIEW] JDrama - Koukou Kyoushi - JIKO ALL OTAKU NEWS

Koukou Kyoushi (high school teacher) is a drama that aired all the way back in 2003, more than 10 years ago!! From time to time, I enjoy watching older drama series! Here is the review for the complete drama series~

Fujiki Naohito and Ueto Aya

Synopsis : (From Dramawiki)

Hina, a student at Nikko High School, goes out one evening with her classmate Beniko. They get split up and Hina ends up in a strange meeting with a man named Ikumi in a game arcade. The next day, Ikumi turns up as the new teacher at her school. Ikumi doesn't seem to recognize Hina but the wheels of fate are slowly moving to reunite them in what is a passionate story of forbidden love.
One of the main underlying themes of this drama is death. Another important theme is the struggle Hina and Ikumi have in trying to realize the difference between love and dependence... or is there a difference?
Not a remake of the 1993 version; it takes place at the same school, but with different characters and situations.

Cast:

Fujiki Naohito as Koga Ikumi
Ueto Aya as Machida Hina
Sonim as Kudo Beniko
Kyomoto Masaki as Fujimura Tomoki
Narimiya Hiroki as Kamiya Yuji
Manabe Kaori as Tejima Emi
Aoi Yu as Ezawa Mami
Ohkura Koji as Muramotsu Tamotsu
Mano Azusa as Tachibana Yuriko
Saito Shota as Koga Shota

Review

Story

Koukou Kyoushi 2003 is of the romance and drama type. In short, it displays a student - teacher relashionship, however it is not just about that, but so much more.

It is quite hard to review the story without talking a little bit about the setting, as in my opinion the setting and the surrounding psychological analysis is what makes this drama series stand out and make worth watching. Hina (Ueto Aya) meets Koga (Fujiki Naohito) and then realize that she is a student in his new job as a high school teacher. Koga was recently diagnosed with a lethal brain tumor. Seeing that he does not have much time left, the way he sees others and life are challenged.

Without giving away too much of the story, this is one drama that explores mature themes, like death, suicide, illness and rape. It can be quite dark at times. Every character has a darkness in their heart. It is actually quite deep for a romance and succeeded in making me think. I wonder if it is because it is an older drama, but it felt refreshing to watch a story that wasn't so superficial. It also has some really cute and romantic moments, reminding me why I love Japanese drama so much.

However, the story has some flaws. I found that the story started strongly with a good pacing and interesting until episode 8. The last 3 episodes felt dragged on and a bit frustrating. Not only that, but many events are just almost impossible, weird and unrealistic. At the beginning, I thought it was bearable, but in the end it was a bit too much. By example, a doctor completely lying to a patient or locking a door of a house from outside yet can`t open it from inside. I had to do my best to ignore such events and to improve my experience, I had to think of those things more symbolically. Like the locking of the door being the characters attempt to block an obstacle.

In summary, it is most probably one of the best story for a teacher- student forbidden relationship drama, but is plagued with unrealistic events.

Acting

The drama contains excellent acting from Ueto Aya, Fujiki Naohito, Narimiya Hiroki and Sonim. Of those, Sonim was new to me. I think those actors were given roles that really suits them. Ueto Aya playing a young energetic positive high school student. I feel like I have seen that many times before! It really is a typical main character personality in those kind of stories, but she was good enough at it that I didn`t mind it. Fujiki Naohito playing as the grumpy tsundere teacher. He looked very cute with Ueto! Narimiya as a maniac crazy character, again I feel I have seen it before, maybe in Bloody Monday? Pushing the unrealisticness of the character at times, Narimiya was outstanding. I also don't understand why Sonim hasn't played much dramas, I think she has quite some potential. I thought that those 4 really made the show.

On the contrary, I feel some characters like the doctor was abysmal. I am not sure if it was the actress or just the character that I didn't like, but she almost made me want to vomit. Some of the secondary characters like the teachers were kinda meh.

Music

Music is always a bit subjective. Some of the songs in the drama come from the original Koukou Kyoushi, in the 70s I believe. So, it sounds really old! It is a decade old drama, and the soundtrack makes it seem even older. I didn`t really appreciate the music.

Recommendation

This was the only teacher-student relationship drama I have watched. However, if you like the aspect of health psychology and dealing with an illness I recommend Itoshi Kimi e. It is Fujiki Naohito again, with a grumpy character with a disease that will lead to his loss of vision.