Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu (太陽と海の教室 -2008)

Starring:
Oda Yuji as Sakurai Sakutaro
Kitagawa Keiko as Enokido Wakaba
Ikeda Tetsuhiro as Akagi Yasunori
Kichise Michiko as Mayama Haruka
Imai Yuzo (今井ゆうぞう) as Yoda Norihito
Kobayashi Susumu as Makimura Hajime
Yashima Norito as Shibakusa Shuhei
Toda Keiko as Hasebe Kyoka
Kohinata Fumiyo as Kamiya Ryunosuke
Class 3-1
Okada Masaki as Negishi Hiroki
Kitano Kii as Shirosaki Riku
Hamada Gaku as Tabata Hachiro
Yoshitaka Yuriko as Yashima Akari
Tomiura Satoshi as Kusunoki Yamato
Kagimoto Akira (鍵本輝) as Higaki Moichi
Tanimura Mitsuki as Sawamizu Hana
Yamamoto Yusuke as Kawabe Eiji
Kurose Manami as Takabayashi Yuna
Nakamura Yuichi as Misaki Masayuki
Omasa Aya (大政絢) as Tsugihara Yukino
Kaku Kento (賀来賢人) as Banno Keigo
Maeda Atsuko as Funaki Mayu
Kutsuna Shiori as Fujisawa Risa
Hiiragi Ko (柊子)
Saito Ryo (齋藤遼)
Ito Miki (伊藤未希)
Tokano Erika (戸叶恵梨佳)
Genzaki Tomoe (源崎トモエ)
Owada Kensuke (大和田健介)
Wakana (和香奈)
Nakagawa Shota (中川翔太)
Goto Kazuo (後藤和雄)
Saiki Risa (彩木里紗)
Komatsubara Akinori (小松原明紀)
Natsuo Sachi (夏生さち)
Matsunaga Kazuya (松永一哉)
Okawa Masahiro
Kinomoto Minehiro (木ノ本嶺浩)
Guests
Matsushige Yutaka as Negishi Masahiro (ep1)
Nakamura Tomoya as Suekichi Haruomi (ep1)
Miki Takako (未來貴子) as Shirasaki Tamami (ep1,4)
Ichikawa Chieko (市川千恵子) as Obasan (ep1)
Kaname Jun as Kawabata Shogo (ep2)
Hoshii Nanase as Mai (ep4)
Watanabe Bambi (渡辺万美) as Sayaka (ep4)
Kusaka Yumi (日下由美) as Hana's mom (ep5)
Dankan (ダンカン) as Mayu's dad (ep6)
Miho Jun as Mayu's mom (ep6)
Kobayashi Natsuko (小林夏子) as Nonomura Miyu (ep7)
Kimura Yasushi (木村靖司) as Yukino's dad (ep8)
Akimoto Naomi as Yukino's mom (ep8-9)
Umezawa Masayo as Hachiro's mom (ep9)
Takemoto Kazumasa (竹本和正) Hachiro's dad (ep9)

Oda Yuji plays a teacher who guides a group of seniors at a prep school in Shonan, though his character is described as "stupid."

OMG! The cute boy factor was really there. That was the only good thing about this show. I held on but the end just died. The beginning of the story was quite hopeful and inspiring but to me the show lost it's touch midway. And damn it! Did they really have to kill off Hachi? I really didn't need to cry through two episodes straight.

I don't really think the show was realistic after Hachi's death. I don't know of any human being who would be "friendly" with the person who tormented him through guilt. Yeah, he was a nice guy and all but he really deserved what he got if he was to get on a boat with freaky girl gone suicidal. Then afterwards, the "gang" forgave her for her craziness and Hachi's death to me became meaningless.

And because of Hachi's death, everyone decided to go their own ways? WTF? I don't think that was it. Maybe I lost something somewhere in translation? Ya think? I was really hopefull through this show but it left me high and dry.

Puzzle (パズル-2007)

Starring:
Yanagi Kotaro
Nakamura Yuichi
Takahashi Marino (高橋まりの)
Mori Ren
Yamamoto Yusuke
Katsura Asami (桂亜沙美)
Nakagawa Shingo
Nakamura Masaya
Shida Nanako (志田菜々子)
Tanaka Takuma (田中琢磨)
Kataoka Asuka (片岡明日香)
Amada Reki (天田暦)
Konno Masato (今野雅人)
Narita Shoji (成田昌児)

When an armed group seizes control of an elite high school, a group of classmates are forced to find 2,000 puzzle pieces hidden throughout the school within 48 hours.

This was a little boring. Thank Kami-sama (God) that is was only 4 episodes long. I was hoping for in-depth puzzle solving. Instead it was a police interview of what transpired in the 24-hours with them hunting for puzzle pieces and putting it together. The end was interesting. I sort of figured it out during the 3rd episode. It was kind of obvious because they kept talking about the kids who were kicked out or left. Duh!

This definitely could have been better.

Most of the male cast are from the J-pop group D-Boys. Ehh! Not enough on them to post pics. Maybe later............................