
The new summer drama season has started in Japan and boards are buzzing over a few in particular. Fuji is running Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi), a drama adapted from a manga in which a young Japanese girl (acted by Horikita Maki) formerly living in America impersonates a boy in order to attend an all male high school where she hopes to meet her idol (acted by Oguri Shun), a young athlete she saw and admired on television.Here is a commercial of Fuji TV's Hana Kimi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlrAzoMVA8U
Producers seem somewhat keen to repropduce elements of Hanadan (as Hana Yori Dango is affectionately called), by showcasing nasty popular girls and a plucky heroine standing up to a bunch of self-centered boys. They also seem to be attempting to recreate the success of perennial fave Gokusen, in which a bunch of good looking boys try to make it through high school.
Fuji has also nabbed Hanadan actress Inoue Mao as–you guessed it–a young Japanese girl who has been living in America and who returns home to Japan to see her brother in a drama titled "First Kiss." The story is billed as a romantic comedy.
LIFE is another Fuji-manga-drama adaptation which tackles the subject of high school bullying in Japan (seems so far no American background involved), and the continuing Taiga drama Fuurin Kazan, in which gender bending Gackt is finally appearing (and which is finally up on Crunchyroll). Fuji really seems to have a bunch of hot dramas this summer. Last season TBS pretty much swept the ratings with Hanadan and the Kimura Takuya vehicle Karei Naru Ichizoku and this time Fuji might win.
This post has been edited by dee-lush: 07 July 2007 - 03:25 AM

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