Gokusen ごくせん TV drama
Gokusen is a story of a teacher named Yamaguchi Kumiko (played by Yukie Nakama) but being teacher is not all that she is. Kumiko is a 3rd generation Yakuza. When her parents died, she is taken care of her grandfather. She is next in line in taking care of the family business but her lifelong dream was to become a teacher. Her grandfather approves though other members of her family wants her to become the next boss and they often call her “Ojou”. She teaches a class full if delinquents in an all boys school and her students call her “Yankumi”. Her academic specialty is Math.
The story is pretty much a story of a teacher who wanted to inspire her students. Though she is forced to hide her family secret because she might get fired, she uses her Yakuza upbringing to protect her students.
All three seasons are pretty much the same except of course her students changes and her love interest also changes. The situation becomes more and more intense and the fight scenes are also becoming more kick ass in every season.
Though the story every season is pretty much the same I can’t help but still watch it for no reason at all. I guess I’m interested on whose going to play her students cause believe me they are all pretty good-looking. But the story isn’t all action but it also have drama and comedy. (I wish she was my math teacher hehe most of the math teachers I had are all hot headed and scary...)
Each season consists of 10 to 11 episodes 45 minutes long and will end in a special episode 90 minute long usually ending in the graduation of Yankumi’s students.
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Recurring themes (from Wikipedia)
~ Yankumi begins each season with a long speech about her career as a teacher. On Season 2, she makes her speech in front of a Kindergarten class, while on Season 3, her speech is in front of a class of foreign students in the Japanese countryside. On both instances, she is promptly fired for teaching her students Yakuza slang.
~ When Yankumi bumps into her love interest for the first time without knowing his name, she temporarily uses an object or location as a nickname for him. On Season 1, after meeting Shinohara in a crowded bus, she nicknames him "Sakurazashita-sama" after the bus stop where he departs. Kujo from Season 2 is nicknamed "Burberry-sama" from the Burberry handkerchief he drops after meeting her in front of the school. On Season 3, Natsume is nicknamed "Romeo-sama" after a book copy of Romeo and Juliet he drops on his first encounter with Yankumi.
~ When Yankumi first has a fight in the beginning of each of the seasons, it begins in a warehouse and she knocks down the door. In season 1, she goes after the men who have stolen the money Kumai originally stole from the head teacher. In season 2, she rescues Ryu from a gang of men intent on keeping him in their job. In season 3, she rescues Yamato from a man he has accused of framing one of his classmates.
~ Yankumi switches from her teacher mode to her Yakuza mode by pulling out her ponytails and taking off her glasses before every fight. In season 2 she added a slight head toss as well.
When Yankumi is especially proud of her students, she often ruffles their hair in an affectionate way, to which they respond with disgust and confusion.
The theme songs for the drama are:
"Feel Your Breeze" by V6 (Ending) (S1)
"No More Cry" by D-51 (Ending) (S2)
"Kizuna" by Kazuya Kamenashi (insert song) (S2)
"Oretachi no Seishun" by Yuya Takaki (insert song) (S3)
"Niji (Rainbow)" by Aqua Timez (Ending) (S3)
Cast includes members from pop groups like Arashi, Kat-tun and Hey! Say! JUMP as the leader of the class.
Season 1 features Arashi member Jun Matsumoto as Shin Sawada, also on the cast are Shun Oguri as "Uchi" / Haruhiko Uchiyama, Hiroki Narimiya as Takeshi Noda and Yuma Ishigaki as Youichi Minami. Ken’ichi Matsuyama was also on season 1 but he wasn’t a lead role.
Season 2 features Kat-tun members Kazuya Kamenashi as Ryu Odagiri and Jin Akanishi as Hayato Yabuki, also on the cast are Teppei Koike as Keita Takeda, Mokomichi Hayami as Hikaru Tsuchiya and Keisuke Koide as Kosuke Hyuga
Season 3 features Hey! Say! JUMP member Yuya Takaki as Yamato Ogata, also on the cast are Haruma Miura as Ren Kazama, Hideo Ishiguro as Kengo Honjo, Akito Kiriyama as Satoru Kuraki, Junta Nakama as Rikiya Ichimura and Shohei Miura as Shunsuke Kamiya.
Recurring cast are Katsuhisa Namase as Goro Sawatari the vice principal of all the schools Yankumi worked on. Tomohiro Waki as Teruo "Kuma" Kumai he played as Yankumi’s student on season 1 and on season 2 and 3 he owns a ramen shop where they always eat. Mikihisa Azuma as Masayoshi Baba he first appeared on season 2 as a PE teacher who have a huge crush on Yankumi and season 3 he played the same role.
Yankumi’s family the Oodo family also reprised their role on every season Ken Utsui as Ryuichiro Kuroda (Yankumi’s grandfather), Kenji Anan as Hiro Wakamatsu, Ken Kaneko as Tetsu Asakura, Shinji Uchiyama as Minoru Tatsukawa and Hiroshi Ryogoku as Makoto Sugawara.
originally posted: April 16, 2010
