Tumbling

 

Synopsis:

Azuma Wataru is a fearsome gang leader from Karasumori High School who spends most of his schooldays fighting. Due to lack of credit from his second year, he has the option between attending extra lessons or joining a club activity. Taking a fancy towards a new transfer student who is joining the female rhythmic gymastic team, Wataru decides to join the boys team which is lacking of member to join the team competition. Despite initial friction with the rest of the team, Wataru realises that this is the first time he is truly working hard for something. His presence draws his other gangmates, allowing the team to have enough member to compete.

My opinion:

GAY! I think that is the most common impression when you see the cover: boys dressed in pink doing some gymnastics. Read the title, Tumbling, and one will ask what the heck is tumbling? Reading the synopsis, it becomes obvious that this will be something like Waterboys + Rookies + Gokusen mashed up together. This can mean a good thing if they manage to mix everything well but this also can mean a boring show since it will rehash the themes used elsewhere.

A bit of background info first, tumbling is actually an acrobatic sports discipline. Unlike Waterboys which explore the unusual theme of males doing a female sports, male rhythmic gymnastic is actually something popularised in Japan. One group consists of 6 members and the item involves a bit of dancing and lots of acrobats. The dancing part may be a bit gay. But there is nothing gay about the acrobatic parts with all the backflips (we are talking about consecutive flips here), handstands, forward and back rolls, etc. Heard that the actors preparing at least 6 months to do all this so that is something with amazing because I don't think it can be easily done by normal people.

Story-wise, there is nothing much new. Typical of high school dramas, with all the gang fights (Gokusen, Rookies anyone?), building a sports team with others looking down on you (Waterboys), internal rivalry for team selection (Rookies). The teacher, however, is mostly a supportive sideliner here, rather than joining the students in their fights and personal life etc. And I think some of the plot is a bit weird and out of place. For example is the gay episode, where one guy actually takes a liking to another team member. That was a bit of "huh?" and there is no follow up in further episodes. The arc on Wataru's dad who suddenly appeared and died is also something they can do without.

Overall, nothing is really original to make this stands out from other similarly-themed dorama. I was expecting the final gymnastic showcase to be something breathtaking (Waterboys sequels have up to half an hour routine as the finale). All the flips, and jumps, and throws seem to be promising and exciting. Unfortunately, most of the special movements have been shown in previous episodes and there is nothing much suprising in the end. The attempt to insert some novelty to breakaway from classical/traditional type of routine is also not very successful due to poor choice of songs. Not to mention that it is very short!

My afterthoughts:

It is good to learn something new from watching dorama. And seeing the behind the scenes makes my back hurt! Ouch.. Really no stunt eh?

And don't judge a book by its cover. Still think that this is girly or gay? Haha..