Gokusen, anyone?

Right, its a good chance to start anew with this blog. Not everyone understands Japanese :D and so, with a simple explanation--"SAKURA" is the sakura flower which symbolizes Japan, the term "YUKI" here represents snow while "YUME" is dream. I believe you can piece the words together and interpret what I'm trying to say...

Ooooh I'm super hooked into Gokusen lately. I bought the DVD for quite some time and actually finished the 13-episodes anime last year. Funny enough, when I got back from Perth I have a sudden urge to watch it. I restrained myself because I had a whole stack of new J-drama and anime that I bought at S&M which I must finish in the same week (because customers are only given 1 week after the date of purchase to make any exchanges in case there's damages to the disc). In the end the whole thing dragged for about 1 month coz it's pretty impossible to finish all of them within 1 week (believe or not, i bought a whole stack), but I made them my first priority.

When thankfully, I finally managed to finish nearly all of them without any problem, Gokusen called for me from the shelve. I put the DVD on and that's it! I watched for about 6 hours (stopping here and there for meal and toilet breaks, not to mention to allow my mum to watch her 3pm Singaporean drama) and was utterly satisfied. I remember some of the scenes vividly so it was really enjoyable to watch it. But seriously, 13 episodes are such a killer! At the end of the day, it just makes you crave for more.

Below is the lyric to "Hontou no Kotoba" by Foot Stamp, the opening theme to Gokusen (the anime)...

Dore kurai tatta no darou

Deatta ano koro kara
Ikutsu mono yorokobi to
Kanashimi wo kurikaeshite

Katakoto bakari no kotoba ni
Kimi wa tomadou keredo
Hontou no kimochi nante
Kuchi ni dasenai mono sa

kono omoi tsutawaru kana

kono kimochi tsutawaru kana

shizen ni waraeru naka de

ikite yuketara ii ne

itsu no aida ni ka ochi tsuite

wadai mo amarinakute

konna ore wa kimi ni

ittai nani ga dekiru no darou?

yasashikushite moraitai

kimochi tashikametakute

kokoro ni monai koto wo

ore wa mata kii tarishite

Kono omoi tsutawaru kana

Kono kimochi tsutawaru kana
Shizen ni waraeru mamade ikiteyuketanara

Kono mamade tsuzuku no kana

Kono mamade yukeru no kana
Tatoe tooku hanarete mo
Kokoro tsuyoku kanjitai

Kanjitai

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

How long has it been since we met?

We have many happy things,and many sad things.

Faced with my faltering words,you are bewildered.

But one’s true feelings,are not easy to express.

Will my feeling get through to you?

Will my sentiment get through to you?
I’m happy if I can carry on with a natural smile.

Will it go on like that?
Can we go on like that?

Even if we are far apart, I hope to feel your heart close to me.

*Lyric & translation taken from http://fighto-oh.net/anime/opening-theme/

I prefer the ShinKumi relationship. Though Shinohara is not bad either, there had been very little scenes on him in the anime which I would say a rather neglected character. We don't know anything about him except that he's the Ooedo Clan's lawyer and that he cares for Kumiko, but even so was rather blind to the fact that she likes him.

Kumiko (top), Shin (below)
*picture courtesy of http://animejb.net/shinkumi/multimedia/manga/

I watched the action before and couldn't say it was very good. But yes, it was pretty well done and definitely humoured me. I find that Yukie Nakama is well-suited for the role. I had some reserves about her before catching the series because in several J-dramas I watched, she played roles that were not to my liking. Therefore you can't really blame me for being somewhat skeptical to have her as Yamaguchi Kumiko in Gokusen. Even so, I gave the series a try and sure enough, it was good. But another fact that disappointed me was that Matsumoto Jun played Sawada Shin. Right, I am no fan of Jun (sorry to all his fans out there) and wasn't really convinced to have him in the role. Can't say I was right, but you can't argue that I'm wrong too. It felt really weird to have him as Shin, which is *hem* well, supposed to be more good looking LOL. Perhaps due to his acting in this drama landed him the role of Doumyouji Tsukasa in Hana Yori Dango since there's some similiarity in both characters...

There's the opening theme (anime) in YouTube. Still figuring how to embed video LOL. Till then, juz bear with the link :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsNFqGOmsjU

One of my friend back in college didn't liked it. I mean, before she watch an anime her first round of qualification to meet is the ART. Can't say Gokusen have got nice art (and everyone looked so terrible except for Shin and Shinohara). Even Kumiko wasn't particularly a beauty but hey, watch it for its STORY! I know, I can be pretty fussy when it comes to the artwork of the particular anime /manga but this is definitely a must watch, especially for its humour! Sometimes I just wish that people will give it a try before judging it's really not worth watching. Heard of "Never Judge a Book by it's Cover"?

K, I guess there's nothing more to say... Might capture some shots from Gokusen and put it here. Depending on whether I'll be too lazy to do that or not haha. As for now, I'm going for another round of Gokusen since the disc is still inside the DVD player!!! Yes, I love it to this extent~!