Nobuta wo Produce

I sat down thinking about which drama series would have the honours of being my first post and straight away I thought of Nobuta wo Produce (actually I thought of writing about KAT-TUN first). This drama was fairly popular in Japan and won 6 awards at the 47th Television Drama Academy Awards but is it worth all that hype?

Main cast: Kamenashi Kazuya XD, Horikita Maki, Yamashita Tomohisa
Genre: Comedy, High School, Drama and a tad of Supernatural
Episodes: 10 (viewed 10 out of 10)
Broadcast period: 2005 Oct 15 to 2005 Dec 17
ED song: Seishun Amigo by Shuji to Akira (Kame and YamaPi)

Best friends forever! HDALHDLAD XD

Synopsis
Kiritani Shuji (Kame) is the most popular boy in school who is actually putting on a mask to win the game that he calls life, Kusano Akira (YamaPi) is the class clown who thinks that Shuji is his best friend and Kotani Nobuko/ Nobuta (Horikita Maki) is the dark transfer student who has no self confidence and has been bullied all her life. In order to make use of their youth, Shuji and Akira begin ‘producing’ Nobuta to become the next popular girl in secret; little do they know it is actually Nobuta who is changing them.

These three unlikely characters begin to unveil their true selves as they become the best of friends. While this appears to be the main plot, the true story lies in the ways that Shuji starts to change and break down after facing the years of lies and manipulations that he has lived through (taken partly from Drama Wiki).

My thoughts
First off, I just want to say that NWP is one of the best things to be ever created my man. YA RLY, I finished the series in less than 2 days and have rewatched it countless times. I really like the plot as well as the script which is well written, using foreshadowing and excellent reflections from Shuji (whose point of view the story is told from), not like teenage dribble we see on western soap operas *coughneighbourscough*.

Nakajima Yuto is going to be a famous senior one day

The three main characters are interesting and complex individuals and are a refreshing change from cliché stereotypes you find in dramas nowadays.

Kame pulls off Shuji really well and really does shine because he can play the Shuji that everybody likes as well as the true Shuji only Akira and Nobuta know about (but maybe that’s cos I’m biased -> KAME). Shuji changes in subtle ways during the series and it really feels unfair during the period of his fall from class king, plus, I’m weak against fountain hair.

Horikita Maki’s role as Nobuta is one of her first as a main character and really put her in the spotlight, she does a great job being Nobuta and you can really see her character changing as the series progresses as she gains more NOBUTA POWER.

Finally there’s YamaPi as Akira, he’s responsible for more than half the comedy that goes on in the series and is different than all of YamaPi’s other roles as a cool and reserved characters. NWP wouldn’t be half as good as it is without Akira as half of the most memorable lines in the series are from him- KON anyone?

There’s also a fair share of wacky, cute and lovable characters in the rest of the class and the teachers are a riot themselves. At the end of this series I found myself hating one of the girls which shows how convincing the acting really is.

Nobuta power, ENTER!

The only complaint I have about the show is the ending. I mean WHAT THE HELL? Sure, it satisfies the needs of fan girls but why the hell were they frolicking in the water? I did like how the ending hinted that Nobuta wasn’t really the one who needed Akira but Shuji was (though the three of them together would have been great -emotear- ). Well the gay frolicky ending didn’t affect my view of the series much and I still love it to bits. Other than that minor complaint this series is well worth your time and watching as the trio’s friendship develops really does make you go “AWWW” but maybe that’s because two of them are JE boys.

The rest of 2C… or was it 2D?

Final Judgement
20 out of 10, recommended to EVERYONE (especially JE fan girls). At the end of the series I found myself crying and I’m not afraid to admit it. Not because it was sad or anything, I just realised that there wouldn’t be anymore of it to watch and that I would really miss this series. One of the funniest series’ that I’ve ever watched, it’s currently sitting at number one and it’ll take a miracle series to knock it down. If you haven’t seen it you’re missing out and if you don’t like it YOU NEED MORE CALCIUM!

P.S The theme song is catchy and makes you want to get up and do the weird dance that comes with the MV
P.P.S Watch episode 00 for some behind the scenes fun like tricycles, drawing and WASABI– yeh WASABI!
P.P.P.S I actually write more, no matter how much I write nothing could do justice for Nobuta wo Produce

I WANTS A SECOND SEASON or at least a Shuji to Akira revival!

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