Wonderful Life ep 9

Whatever happened to feel-good Japanese shows like this? Cliched, yes but contains all the necessary elements to a good dorama and most importantly, fun to watch. I blame it on the influence of Korean dramas and their trademark of a crying scene every 15 minutes. Not to mention Johnny's getting lead roles without first paying their dues and getting the training from playing supporting roles.

Moe~~~~~

Moriguchi Yoko plays this teacher who comes in to cleanse the school of students with bad results, ie the Jaguars. Of course Kirishima is smitten with her and Mizuki is insanely jealous. You know what's gonna happen but the beauty of it is that its so fun to watch. Moriguchi Yoko is one of those actresses who I want to see in a juicy role. I loved her characters in Yamato Nadeshiko and Salaryman Kintaro and am intrigued to see how good she really is.

All they need now is two sailor fukus! :)

One of the requirements of a good dorama is giving the supporting characters the chance to shine. In this episode, its the principal. Show the audience that he is more than a comedy sidekick and irritant. It keeps the main characters fresh and prevents them from overexposure. His spiel in the end was simple and moving. No milking of the moment.

The 'guy oblivious to girl's feelings' comedy never gets old.

Next episode looks to be very exciting. We're finally getting to the Kirishima + Mizuki story. To me, this is more like an old school dorama. Have a concept but build up the characters to the payoff and keep the pacing with supporting characters and humour. Contrast this with a lot of recent shows which have good concepts but fizzle out because their just milking the concept/gimmick instead of developing the characters to tell the story.