Synopsis:
Koichi Kawato is the new Japanese Literature teacher at the ill-famed Futakotamagawa high school, whose baseball club is composed of thugs and bullies who have been suspended for a year from all school competitions, for causing a brawl during an official match. The newly appointed teacher finds that the club members left are only interested in women, smoking and doing nothing until, under Kawato's guidance, they discover their dream of going to the Koshien high school baseball tournament. However, the road to Koshien is far from easy as many obstacles await them. (From wiki.d-addicts)
My opinion:
When I downloaded this, I only thought this as another high school sports drama. I did not expect it to be similar to Gokusen which centres at the teacher who actually inspires the good-for-nothing students. Another thing that I certainly never expect is the graphic and verbal representation of the bullies' attitude. Honestly I was kinda grossed out with all the blood (the colour of the blood is really dark red, not fresh red, which makes the blood seems very real) and all the bruises+wounds after everytime the people quarreled and hit one another. I was initially quite bored with all the delinquents' attitudes and all the shoutings etc. But on the other side, I think the actors are great. When they cry or fight, their faces really become so contorted and red (flushing). Thumbs up from me for the realism.. Another thing which I find great about the actors is the contrast between the earlier and the later episodes. The change in the face (from damn attitude problem kind to a normal) is damn obvious. And more surprisingly, I have seen some of them in other movies with totally different characteristic. Many played a friendlier and more shy characters elsewhere and here they become total gangster.
Story-wise, I was kinda bored for the first 3 episodes. The trend is obvious: the teacher is slowly 'winning' over the students one by one to change their hearts. It is like so cliche and the teacher is like damn kepo lor.. But then the trend just stops for a few characters. For some, it is really their own decision to change them, no longer because of the teacher being persistent to convince them.
After that the story proceeds on their baseball journey. And it's very different from typical sports drama where the aim is to win this competition or something. Here, the point being emphasised is the development and maturity of the character through sports. They don't even waste time in explaining the way the sports are played etc. The emphasis is really on the characters. The way the sport being presented here is really non-cliche (and thus I like it). In other sports shows, usually it is kinda guessable when the team will win or it is kind obvious that the ace of the team will be the one helping the team to win bla bla bla.. It is not the case here. At the 'climax', the team always failed and desperation comes in.. I always wonder whether in the end the team will win or not because typically, the protagonist will always win but then here, the possibility of losing (for the goodness of the story) is highly probably too. The final match scene is very good to create the suspense. In the second chance, the guy managed to hit the ball very far and high, but the ball was out. In the last chance, he managed to hit very far and high too.. Then suddenly the movie became quiet and the faces of the players and spectators were unguessable. Really cannot tell whether the ball was in or out.
Another deviation from the cliche is the "main character". Well obviously the main is the teacher. But among the players, usually the ace will always be like the "main" and the "savior". It is not in this case. Surprisingly the most timid and cry baby one is the one being appointed as the captain. It is more surprising that the other more outspoken guys actually approve it a.k.a they don't mind to follow and being led by this guy they always bully. And to top up with everything, the winning score was actually done by this guy.
The ending is way from cliche too. They actually lost, the team (and the teacher) was suspended for two months. Since the players are still in second year, they still have the opportunity to achieve their Koshien dream in the next summer. But then after two months, the teacher did not come back. Wew.. Totally don't know what happen until it was revealed that the teacher decided to re-take his professional teaching license. Wow..
The music is also good. I think there is only like 2 instrumental music and 1 ending song. The tunes quite nicely fit with the story as they are quite mellow and emotional. One thing that I actually like about the ending song is that it is always played while to show is still going. So while the characters are still fighting/crying or while the match is still playing, then the ending song already kicks in to build up the atmosphere. Hehe..
A good summary of the series. Warning: blood and fights ahead.
My afterthoughts:
The way the guys are depicted here is very true. Guys are not honest. They will always appear naughty, defiant, and stubborn. They want to appear cool and strong. No matter how much they wanna change, they will never admit that they sincerely want to change and keep saying "I change for your sake, not because I want it". When they appear don't want to be bothered with something, they actually are waiting for someone to ask them to talk about that or to ask them to do that etc. The friendship depicted is also quite true. Even though when they fight they would really whack each other, after the conflict is resolved, they would become friends again. No sorry is needed and no explanation is required. And who says guys don't bitch? Lol.. We do tell each other "our friend is having this problem etc" even though that friend may not share the problem in order to appear strong and not worry others. And my biggest nod is: the guys are crying like shit here! Lol.. Well I guess guys do cry and need to cry too haha.. I am honestly quite surprised that some of them really cry damn badly (the whole body trembles and drinking own tears etc).
Despite the many crude language, the irritating "Baka" and "Urusai", the fightings and the gore, surprisingly I like and am touched by the series. The teacher actually had a bad past of hitting a student (it was depicted that the student was hit until got thrown out of a window from 2nd level class room o_0), making him not much difference from the bullies he is facing now. Perhaps, that is why he understands how these gangster think. While initially I also find the message of "chasing your dream" everytime the teacher wants to change these guys to be damn lame and unreal, it becomes more plausible after knowing why the teacher has this kind of conviction. It is not because of mere cliche thing but he got all of this from his own personal experience.
I don't play sports so I cannot comment on how real the sport is being depicted here. But from the character development side, I think many parts are damn real. For example, there was a misunderstanding that the ace of the team does not seem to trust in his friends. He will even go sacrifice his body (wounds bla bla bla) to help the team to score. His teammates got angry because he does not seem to believe in the rest. While from his point of view, as long as his body is still able, he wants to help the team no matter what. But he fails to understand that his teammates don't want him to sacrifice his body and his future. Who are right and who are wrong? I guess both ways of thinking cannot be wronged.
Another great team spirit shown is how one guy who has the lousiest batting skills have to sacrifice his place in crucial times to another person who may have the chance of hitting the balls better. It's a hard decision from the teacher but eventually the guy came to realise that's the best for the team and he did that gentlemanly. Hmm.. I guess this is what makes a difference between males vs females or mature vs immature persons (i am not implying that males are mature and females are immature though). Sometimes someone has just to sacrifice his/her pride for the team.. Example: someone has to be an antagonist to take the initative to tell that person that he/she has to be out.. Similarly, someone must also learn to graciously swallow his/her pride for the best of everyone. I am saying this because from my own experience doing group work, I am quite pissed with some people. Lets say we are only given 2000 words and everyone wants to get A. The situation now is we have 3000 word and our choice is clear: delete someone's part or take the risk of submitting a 3000 word report to fail or something. Some people should just learn that his/her part may not be very relevant. By removing his/her work, it does not mean that the effort goes wasted and unappreciated. It's just that out of the 3000 we have to choose the "most relevant" 2000 words to achieve the A everyone wants.
There are many self-reflections that I can do after watching this. Firstly is anger management. While I am not that prone to fighting and smoking etc, I am pretty much as fucked up as the guys here in terms of managing anger and ego. It's amazing to see they all never retaliate to provocation etc because that will cause the team to get banned. Just imagine you are someone who always gets thing done your ways and suddenly you have to restrain yourself for the sake of your friends etc. And imagine that usually people are 'scared' of you because you are well known for your fighting skills and now suddenly you have to let other people beat you.. Wow.. I have a looong way to go haha..
Another thing I need to work on is to realise that sometimes I cannot change the past and I cannot change the things around me. What I can do is only to change myself, change the present, and work towards the future. This is what happen to Aniya. He did not join the fight 1 year ago, but now he has to suffer for the stigma associated with the baseball club. To make things worse, now the team is threatened to be disbanded if they lose (the reason simply is because the past and the history of the teacher too). And he was injured before the match due to some fight which again he chose not to retaliate. Everything is just so doomed. And haiz sometimes I live in the past.. I waste my time on thinking how I could change and undo the things I cannot change, instead of focusing my effort on how to proceed from now on.
And lastly and the most important for me is: I need to be more positive. The teacher always smiles and encourages others no matter how hopeless the team is during the match or be it when the students disapprove and always being defiant, he will always smile.
To close with some non-sense, now I am wondering that the thing that I played in primary school was baseball or softball ah? Is there any difference? Lol.. I still remember that I am quite good in hitting the balls. There was one time that I actually hit the ball over the roof to the backyard of the school. There was another time when I hit the ball up high to the sky before it finally dropped again. But the most traumatic one was when the ball flew in the direction that it could have break a window and entered a classroom. Thank God that the ball actually hit the roof though after that I was again scared what would happen to me.. Did I have to climb the roof to retrieve the ball? Lol.. Childhood memories :)
Koichi Kawato is the new Japanese Literature teacher at the ill-famed Futakotamagawa high school, whose baseball club is composed of thugs and bullies who have been suspended for a year from all school competitions, for causing a brawl during an official match. The newly appointed teacher finds that the club members left are only interested in women, smoking and doing nothing until, under Kawato's guidance, they discover their dream of going to the Koshien high school baseball tournament. However, the road to Koshien is far from easy as many obstacles await them. (From wiki.d-addicts)
My opinion:
When I downloaded this, I only thought this as another high school sports drama. I did not expect it to be similar to Gokusen which centres at the teacher who actually inspires the good-for-nothing students. Another thing that I certainly never expect is the graphic and verbal representation of the bullies' attitude. Honestly I was kinda grossed out with all the blood (the colour of the blood is really dark red, not fresh red, which makes the blood seems very real) and all the bruises+wounds after everytime the people quarreled and hit one another. I was initially quite bored with all the delinquents' attitudes and all the shoutings etc. But on the other side, I think the actors are great. When they cry or fight, their faces really become so contorted and red (flushing). Thumbs up from me for the realism.. Another thing which I find great about the actors is the contrast between the earlier and the later episodes. The change in the face (from damn attitude problem kind to a normal) is damn obvious. And more surprisingly, I have seen some of them in other movies with totally different characteristic. Many played a friendlier and more shy characters elsewhere and here they become total gangster.
Story-wise, I was kinda bored for the first 3 episodes. The trend is obvious: the teacher is slowly 'winning' over the students one by one to change their hearts. It is like so cliche and the teacher is like damn kepo lor.. But then the trend just stops for a few characters. For some, it is really their own decision to change them, no longer because of the teacher being persistent to convince them.
After that the story proceeds on their baseball journey. And it's very different from typical sports drama where the aim is to win this competition or something. Here, the point being emphasised is the development and maturity of the character through sports. They don't even waste time in explaining the way the sports are played etc. The emphasis is really on the characters. The way the sport being presented here is really non-cliche (and thus I like it). In other sports shows, usually it is kinda guessable when the team will win or it is kind obvious that the ace of the team will be the one helping the team to win bla bla bla.. It is not the case here. At the 'climax', the team always failed and desperation comes in.. I always wonder whether in the end the team will win or not because typically, the protagonist will always win but then here, the possibility of losing (for the goodness of the story) is highly probably too. The final match scene is very good to create the suspense. In the second chance, the guy managed to hit the ball very far and high, but the ball was out. In the last chance, he managed to hit very far and high too.. Then suddenly the movie became quiet and the faces of the players and spectators were unguessable. Really cannot tell whether the ball was in or out.
Another deviation from the cliche is the "main character". Well obviously the main is the teacher. But among the players, usually the ace will always be like the "main" and the "savior". It is not in this case. Surprisingly the most timid and cry baby one is the one being appointed as the captain. It is more surprising that the other more outspoken guys actually approve it a.k.a they don't mind to follow and being led by this guy they always bully. And to top up with everything, the winning score was actually done by this guy.
The ending is way from cliche too. They actually lost, the team (and the teacher) was suspended for two months. Since the players are still in second year, they still have the opportunity to achieve their Koshien dream in the next summer. But then after two months, the teacher did not come back. Wew.. Totally don't know what happen until it was revealed that the teacher decided to re-take his professional teaching license. Wow..
The music is also good. I think there is only like 2 instrumental music and 1 ending song. The tunes quite nicely fit with the story as they are quite mellow and emotional. One thing that I actually like about the ending song is that it is always played while to show is still going. So while the characters are still fighting/crying or while the match is still playing, then the ending song already kicks in to build up the atmosphere. Hehe..
A good summary of the series. Warning: blood and fights ahead.
The SP is a disappointment though. I thought it would be the finale of the series. Apparently it is just a filler since the finale will be in the movie form. The SP takes place about a year after the series. It is just a recap of the events from the series as told from Mikoshiba's point of view. The underlying theme in this SP is just Mikoshiba's keponess in wanting to find out what Kawato wanted to say before he left (because Kawato appeared as if wanted to say something but he just said goodbye and sorry eventually). There is only about 10mins worth of new scenes lol. It also bridges the series and the movie since there is a sneak peek about freshmen recruitment. But still, I think the SP is rather useless. The extra scene about the freshmen recruitment could have just been squeezed into the movie anyway.
My afterthoughts:
The way the guys are depicted here is very true. Guys are not honest. They will always appear naughty, defiant, and stubborn. They want to appear cool and strong. No matter how much they wanna change, they will never admit that they sincerely want to change and keep saying "I change for your sake, not because I want it". When they appear don't want to be bothered with something, they actually are waiting for someone to ask them to talk about that or to ask them to do that etc. The friendship depicted is also quite true. Even though when they fight they would really whack each other, after the conflict is resolved, they would become friends again. No sorry is needed and no explanation is required. And who says guys don't bitch? Lol.. We do tell each other "our friend is having this problem etc" even though that friend may not share the problem in order to appear strong and not worry others. And my biggest nod is: the guys are crying like shit here! Lol.. Well I guess guys do cry and need to cry too haha.. I am honestly quite surprised that some of them really cry damn badly (the whole body trembles and drinking own tears etc).
Despite the many crude language, the irritating "Baka" and "Urusai", the fightings and the gore, surprisingly I like and am touched by the series. The teacher actually had a bad past of hitting a student (it was depicted that the student was hit until got thrown out of a window from 2nd level class room o_0), making him not much difference from the bullies he is facing now. Perhaps, that is why he understands how these gangster think. While initially I also find the message of "chasing your dream" everytime the teacher wants to change these guys to be damn lame and unreal, it becomes more plausible after knowing why the teacher has this kind of conviction. It is not because of mere cliche thing but he got all of this from his own personal experience.
I don't play sports so I cannot comment on how real the sport is being depicted here. But from the character development side, I think many parts are damn real. For example, there was a misunderstanding that the ace of the team does not seem to trust in his friends. He will even go sacrifice his body (wounds bla bla bla) to help the team to score. His teammates got angry because he does not seem to believe in the rest. While from his point of view, as long as his body is still able, he wants to help the team no matter what. But he fails to understand that his teammates don't want him to sacrifice his body and his future. Who are right and who are wrong? I guess both ways of thinking cannot be wronged.
Another great team spirit shown is how one guy who has the lousiest batting skills have to sacrifice his place in crucial times to another person who may have the chance of hitting the balls better. It's a hard decision from the teacher but eventually the guy came to realise that's the best for the team and he did that gentlemanly. Hmm.. I guess this is what makes a difference between males vs females or mature vs immature persons (i am not implying that males are mature and females are immature though). Sometimes someone has just to sacrifice his/her pride for the team.. Example: someone has to be an antagonist to take the initative to tell that person that he/she has to be out.. Similarly, someone must also learn to graciously swallow his/her pride for the best of everyone. I am saying this because from my own experience doing group work, I am quite pissed with some people. Lets say we are only given 2000 words and everyone wants to get A. The situation now is we have 3000 word and our choice is clear: delete someone's part or take the risk of submitting a 3000 word report to fail or something. Some people should just learn that his/her part may not be very relevant. By removing his/her work, it does not mean that the effort goes wasted and unappreciated. It's just that out of the 3000 we have to choose the "most relevant" 2000 words to achieve the A everyone wants.
There are many self-reflections that I can do after watching this. Firstly is anger management. While I am not that prone to fighting and smoking etc, I am pretty much as fucked up as the guys here in terms of managing anger and ego. It's amazing to see they all never retaliate to provocation etc because that will cause the team to get banned. Just imagine you are someone who always gets thing done your ways and suddenly you have to restrain yourself for the sake of your friends etc. And imagine that usually people are 'scared' of you because you are well known for your fighting skills and now suddenly you have to let other people beat you.. Wow.. I have a looong way to go haha..
Another thing I need to work on is to realise that sometimes I cannot change the past and I cannot change the things around me. What I can do is only to change myself, change the present, and work towards the future. This is what happen to Aniya. He did not join the fight 1 year ago, but now he has to suffer for the stigma associated with the baseball club. To make things worse, now the team is threatened to be disbanded if they lose (the reason simply is because the past and the history of the teacher too). And he was injured before the match due to some fight which again he chose not to retaliate. Everything is just so doomed. And haiz sometimes I live in the past.. I waste my time on thinking how I could change and undo the things I cannot change, instead of focusing my effort on how to proceed from now on.
And lastly and the most important for me is: I need to be more positive. The teacher always smiles and encourages others no matter how hopeless the team is during the match or be it when the students disapprove and always being defiant, he will always smile.
To close with some non-sense, now I am wondering that the thing that I played in primary school was baseball or softball ah? Is there any difference? Lol.. I still remember that I am quite good in hitting the balls. There was one time that I actually hit the ball over the roof to the backyard of the school. There was another time when I hit the ball up high to the sky before it finally dropped again. But the most traumatic one was when the ball flew in the direction that it could have break a window and entered a classroom. Thank God that the ball actually hit the roof though after that I was again scared what would happen to me.. Did I have to climb the roof to retrieve the ball? Lol.. Childhood memories :)
A deceptive clip. Lol. It shows more of the emotional parts of the series.
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