Gokusen 2

Well I watched Gokusen 2 a few days ago but I thought I'd talk about it. At first I watched it because Hayami Mokomichi was in it and if you don't know why read my previous post. Despite all the negative comments I watched it anyway but personally I thought it wasn't as bad as the comments said it was, OK I haven't watched Gokusen 1 which everyone seems to be screaming about but I think the best thing to do is think of the series as a stand alone one but with similar characters; that allows you to give a more accurate opinion because 9 times out of 10 people dislike the second series because they compare it with the first and pick out everything that is different.
Anyway I personally thought it was an OK/Good series which if you turn that into a score would be about 7 or 8 out of 10; even though Hayami Mokomichi's role was not as large as I wanted it to be!
To me Gokusen 2 was a typical old style Jdrama to me that I'd watched on TVB (Hong Kong channel) all those years back; it has a simple plot, a slight adorable factor about it and it has a repetitive plot in each episode. Skimming through some reviews I did agree with a lot of things people had said and one thing I picked up was how each episode has the basic structure of Yankumi saving her students who are in desperate need of help whilst having a little in between scene with her family. Yes this part did become apparent and slightly annoying towards the middle of the series but to me this is also its charm, it is a simple plotline reminiscent of some Jdrama classics and I think actually deliberately repetitive.
Well now onto the story it was definitely very predictable but sometimes predictable is good when your just looking fro some light-hearted comedy. Let's start with Yankumi played by Nakama Yukie. I loved her portrayal of the goofy and righteous Yankumi who didn't mind getting her hand dirty for her students - perfect teacher yeh! I loved her little detours/moments because they were so adorable and to think how two hairbands and a pair of glasses change someones appearance so much is amazing! I think her character was perfect for this type of drama as it is a light hearted approach to filming such a drama.
Kamenashi Kazuya played Odagiri Ryu, personally I didn't like the character but I did think his performance was overall good. In the end he appeared much less than I thought he would. I didn't really like his character because I think he was too different from his classmates but I don't know whether I would have rather seen him as a talkative guy!
Akanishi Jin played Yabuki Hayato, I liked him more than Odagiri but yet again I don't know why he just didn't attract my attention as much as some other characters. Personally I think I liked Yankumi's family more than Class 3D in general maybe because they had more of a comedy connection.
Hayami Mokomichi played Tsuchiya Hikaru, Yep you guessed it he was my favourite of the 5 main students but not only because it was HM who played it but because I seem to like these type of characters in dramas (don't really know why though!) I loved his episode about him and the student and how he tried to protect her, but anyway back to the point. Talkative and guys that are fun to be around seem to be what I look for in every story whether it be a drama or a novel so that's why I think I liked him the most.
Koike Teppei played Takada Keita, well I liked him and actually his little story arc was probably one of my favourites but I always seemed to think that him and Hyuuga were below the other 3 I don't know why but that's just my opinion.
Koide Kesuke played Hyuuga Kosuke, personally I didn't like him really; his little story arc further solidified that for me.
From this point forward I'm just going to say the character names or roles.

The Vice principal: personally I disliked him but at least he had his redeeming features towards the end, but I still dislike how he continuously reminds us that trash will always be trash - actually you can recycle a lot of trash and then it will be very very useful ;) !

Yankumi's Grandfather: someone liked that had to be in the drama, the person that told the lead to follow her heart - someone that we all expect and actually vital to the storyline in my opinion.

Asakura Tetsu: I loved how he had a crush on Yankumi, just a perfect little sub story for this type of drama. However I'd loved if he could have developed something with Hitomi the english teacher!

Kuma: I loved him and I loved that he was from Gokusen 1's main student cast. Anyway he was the perfect character for such a drama; his name, his appearance, his job every part of him worked in this drama! But I wasn't as happy with his story arc though.

English Teacher Hitomi: Er her voice annoyed me at the start, I just couldn't believe such a voice was possible! But I came to be Ok with it in the end. Her character was OK but I find it totally annoying how she changes heart and emotions so frequently!

Baba Sensei: He reminded me of Derek Kwok whilst I was writing this for some reason?!?!
Anyway I liked Baba and his attempts to woo Yankumi but yet again his story wasn't complete because everything rested on the 3D Students, but hopefully it will in Season 3.

Kujo-sama: Not a favourite of mine and personally I don't have much to say about him but I looked on his dramawiki profile and boy does he work his butt off!

Anyway I think this is about it on the characters. My final words on this are basically repetitive (just like the drama!!!!) The ending was expected, how they all graduate safe and sound, but I would definitely like them to take a few of the characters (Yankumi definitely being one of them) and develop a story on it that is not about school life - just make it slightly different; how Yankumi still cares for them afterwards, it would definitely be a hard drama to write but I think if done well it would be something really nice to watch.