Sakurai Sho is finally back on the small screen with an all star cast of Aoi Yu, Seto Koji, and, Tabe Mikako in My High School Business. The drama was directed by Mizuta Nobuo and written by Fukuda Yasushi for ten episodes.
A company man is sent to a failing High School as a way to prove his worth to his boss. Now, he must become the principle of the school while also turning the it into a grand school that families would want to send their kids to. He also must deal with relationship problems and a devious boss on the side.
The duration of each episode for this drama only lasts a half and hour at most but the plot gets a lot developed for the story in that short amount of time each episode. It would have been really easy for this show to fall into the trap of making this drama about bullying. As you might know, there's a ton of Japanese dramas dealing with the subject that talks about bullying which is a safe ground to fall on when producing dramas about school or education. My High School Business does touch on the topic of bullying in a matter of fact way without wasting too much time on the subject. I would assume that the writer of the script knew that bullying is always a popular topic in these kinds of dramas so the plot centers around many different topics concerning school. I was actually surprised at the range of topics this drama touched on. They were topics that were very relatable to school but many of us don't think about until the problem is in our faces. One of the biggest examples I could think of was the girl who was dating a man older than her(He wasn't super old but older than her.). The teachers had to deal with this because the mother was getting nowhere with convincing her daughter that she was moving a little too fast for her age. You might think its kind of weird that teachers would get involved in a matter like this one however, in Japan homeroom teachers are equal to second parents to their students. There's nothing strange about going to your homeroom teacher about personal issues. I really enjoyed the drama's method of using real life issues to solve student issues in the school. Sometimes educators forget that the students they're teaching will be going out into the world. Getting good academic grades important to a certain degree but you can't forget to teach your students about the reality of the outside world as well. Ignored to get this point across, the lines in the drama do become a bit preachy at times. I was completely focused on what was being said though. I even got emotional during a few words that hit home for me….. Comedy was a big presence in the drama during the times that the plot didn't take a more serious turn. Not many things can make me laugh out loud but this drama made me LOL a few times. High School Business is a very well produced drama who's plot makes you want to accomplish all your goals.
I haven't seen Sho since Kazoku Game from a while ago. This role for him was a piece of cake. It was very apparent by the way he approached the role with a just confidence. He does a lot of speaking in front of the public, especially as a News Anchor, Tv host, and radio host so the long dialogues were delivered wonderfully. He's played wacky characters before too, making comedic chemistry not hard for him to come by. I don't think that these are the roles that he shines in the most however. Kazoku Game was his brightest shining moment to me. He can play a crazy character like his second skin and his acting talent shows the most during his time in this character. A little change in characters he can play is always a good thing. Aoi Yu continues to mature as an actress… how old is she now? She looks like she could play a high school student because of he cute face. I alway enjoyed her acting presence since she has a calm mild way of embodying characters. She and Sho worked together in Honey and Clover back in the early 2000s. I'm totally giving away that I'm a middle aged twenty something year old man right now[INSERT ME LAUGHING.]….. Anyway, I liked both of their meek yet strong chemistry then just as much as I liked it here. Seto Koji was good acting an English teacher too even though he looks young like Aoi. His english lines were super cute plus the pronunciation wasn't bad at all. Tabe Mikako's acting came off kind of gloomy. Her character was very focused on bottling up her emotions so none could see them. I was hoping the drama would go in another direction when dealing with the two's character's relationship. I know I was wrong.
Mizuta Nobuo shots all the scenes using different angling. He will shoot from whichever point expresses the actors's performances more. Sometimes he will use a start point then slowly zoom closer and closer to the actor talking. He did this the most when the teacher were talking to their class of students or when Sho's character was talking to the whole entire student body.
My High School Business is a cute drama that's not too long. You can sit down and watch this all in one go or take your time. There's many lessons to be learned from this drama truthfully.
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