My Boss My Hero

Synopsis:

Sakaki Makio, also known as "Tornado Makio", is a 27-year-old Yakuza from the Sharp Kantou Fang group. He is expected to be the next boss, succeeding his father. Despite his strength, he is also well known for his dumbness. He cannot even think for any longer than 90 seconds. After failing a multi-million transaction due to his inability in counting, his father forces him to attend a St. Agnes high school as a 17-year-old boy. He will be only elected as the next boss if he is able to graduate from high school. Otherwise, his brother Mikio will take over as the next boss. And graduation means that he has to succeed academically and prevent his cover from being blown.

My opinion:

I had no interest whatsoever initially because the title suggests a story which revolves around love story in the office, which is totally untrue. What got me eventually interested, other than the fact that it is another high school drama, was the rating which averaged slightly below 20. That means that the show was popular and there must be something worth watching.

I got hooked from the first episode as I could not stop laughing. The comedy was entertaining. It was lame, ridiculous and hilarious at the same time, especially the chaos over the limited St. Agnes pudding. Subsequently, just like other high school stories, there are stories about exam, sports competition, cultural festival, love and friendship, and eventually graduation. Gotta admit that after the first episode, the comedy somehow "died" down, except for the 6th episode which was about the "doomsday" scenario when the St. Agnes pudding maker went missing for 3 days. Again, it is lame and impossible to happen in real life, it was funny to watch nonetheless.

Unlike Gokusen (in which the teacher is actually a Yakuza), the Yakuza storyline has a bigger portion this. The school portion does not cause Makio's Yakuza background to be neglected. Other than facing school issues, Makio has to settle about the possibility of his brother taking over the Yakuza clan. Although near the end, it is kinda expected that somehow the Yakuza thingy will blow his cover. Still, it is interesting to note that there is no antagonists here. There are some Yakuza fights and arguments but they are more like "business" rather than personal hatred or something. There is no evil/bad teachers/discipilne masters here. And the supposed rivalry between the brothers turns out to be pretty sweet. The brothers are not really fighting for the boss position. Makio, after experiencing "real life" not as a Yakuza, realises that it will be better for his brother (who is not really involved into the Yakuza thingy) to remain in his legit life. Similarly, seeing how Makio seems to enjoy real life, Mikio feels that it is best for his brother to be out of Yakuza business and continue to lead legit life.

Casts-wise, I think Nagase Tomoya rocks as a near-30 year old guy acting and mingling with 17 year olds. His roll-eyes expression and his "Hanya?" expression are just 2 out of the so many stupid faces he can make. He is a secret recipe to make any show a success: a shameless main cast. Lol. While initialy I did not see any familiar names, after seeing the faces, there are actually faces which I know. I am happy to see Kashii Yuu (she plays in the first Water Boys, Yukan Club, and the first Death Note) and Murakawa Eri (the girl in Rookies). I think they are better than the supposedly main girl character, Aragaki Yui. She is pretty but a bit expressionless. Haha.. Kashii Yuu is the teacher here and it is good that she is able to portray someone more mature than her real age. Too bad Makio's good friend (Tegoshi Yuya) is kinda bad. I think there are other students who act better than him.

Anyway, I have one huge disappointment with the series: the ENDING! No spoiler but I think the ending fails to end the series on a high note. The last episode is actually quite boring and does not leave a good conclusion of graduation feeling like other high school series. I am also disappointed with the lack of love here =x I was expecting that something will happen between Makio and the sensei.. but there is none. Not fun to see Makio to date Umemura-san because right from the start, I sort of expect that it will not continue. Come on.. an adult and a teenager? No way! And although there are hints that Sakurakoji likes Umemura-san, nothing happens too!! Grrrah..

My afterthoughts:

I am 25 years old and perhaps I view school life differently. I agree that school life is the best times ^^ It is unfortunate that for most people, school life is "wasted" just for studying. Studying is important but truthfully, after you graduate and enter adulthood, nobody cares about how good you were in your school days. But you carry the memories of your high school days forever. Still studying is very important to ensure a good future.

I also felt school life sucked when I was a student. But looking back, I think school time is one of the most difficult ones. It is not easy to be disciplined to mug all the notes, to do all the homework, to remember things which sometimes you don't even understand, and to excel the exams. But I think it really teaches people how to persevere, to work hard, and not to give up. On top of it, students still have to respect and listen to the teachers and abide to school rules. Wew.. compare all these to the wild working adult life, where there are no defined rules and boundaries. This is why people who have gone through different stages of studies will mature differently. This is why educated and uneducated people behave and think differently too.

And school life is really the best time to forge friendships. As what Makio said "In adulthood, there are no more classmates. Only cheat, be cheated, manipulate, be manipulated and false friendship". No wonder I have many friends who get together with their high school friends. Well, that only applies to my Indonesian friends of course. In Singapore, haha, I think even in school people are already fake. Lol.. I did not have a good school memories here leh.. Always get picked on and outcasted. Perhaps that is the most regretful thing for me coming here. After all, I was a pretty smart, respected, and well known person in my high school in Indonesia :( I wonder what my life will be know if I had chosen to stay.. Oh well :(