10 April 2014

Sayonara, Ozu Sensei Review

Title: Sayonara, Ozu Sensei
AKA: Goodbye Teacher Ozu / Goodbye Ozu Sensei / Farewell Ozu Sensei
Genre: School, Sports, Comedy
Episodes: 11 + SP
Broadcast period: 2001-Oct to 2001-Dec
Cast: Tamura Masakazu, Yusuke Santamaria, Seito Asaka, Moriyama Mirai, Waki Tomohira, Katsuji Ryo, Eita, Oshinari Shugo and Nishida Naomi.

Ozu Nanpei (Tamura Masakazu) is a successful tycoon working at Wall Street, right until he is made scapegoat for a dirty deal and is jailed. When he released he is told he is fired, so he decides to go back in order to get his position back. Arriving in Japan, he is refused his position, and his wife sues him for divorce, ending up in a hotel without job and house. Completely distressed and not having more money to life off, Ozu takes on a teaching position at a High School. Not really interested in the students or able to understand how the kids have become a bunch of rude and unambitious brats. That all changes when he finds out that there is a basketball team in the school. Having loved basketball in his younger age, he decides to coach the group. But they aren’t what you would call “good”: a group of outcasts that have been dismissed from their other schools.

I can’t even explain the joy I felt when I saw that this drama was out there, and I hadn’t watched it. I’m seriously so biased when it comes to school dramas, especially when it’s about a group of outcasts and a passionate/honest teacher. The drama in general is good, though the main actor seriously uses adlib which makes his performance genuine yet kind of different since I have never seen a Japanese actor do that. What that kind of performance does makes you that everyone else is overacting, but then again you do get used to it pretty fast. Overall the story is much more honest than the usual fiction story since the elements of ridiculousness is limited - though the teachers drink just a bit too much for my taste.
All in all an okay watch.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out  of 5 hearts

No comments:

Post a Comment