Ah to be young! One's youth is such a carefree time, it's a time of great discovery of not just oneself, but also the time to learn about the great mysteries of life! Geez, I sound like an old person after writing all that, but don't you agree? Whether you're still in than part of your life or way past it, it's that of adolescence where you try to learn about life and especially about love.
What is love? Well it's a hell of a lot easier to define than the meaning of life, but they're both certainly ambiguous.
Well tonight on Dramataku, we go on a youthful journey about love! and also sex. Do I have your attention now? Also, if Japanator ever had an official J-Drama, this would be it. Why you ask? It's ecchi, it's funny, youthful, it's got pretty people and the main character has enough Gundam paraphernalia to give God Len an erection for days. Hit the jump to learn about what I think should be Japanator's official J-drama and was so good that it made me like an Arashi song.
Stand Up!! Original Japan Broadcast: July 4, 2003 - September 12, 2003 Theme song: Kotoba yori taisetsu na mono - Things more important than words by Arashi
Shouhei Asai and his three best friends aren't really great with the ladies -- in fact, not at all. Each of them have their own unique flaws that keeps them from meeting girls but they are still interested about love and what every teenage boy thinks about: Sex. Things get worse as they've just found out that their the last ones at school to have done "it". Luckily for them, Summer is just beginning and they see this as a chance to become men, but their strict local neighborhood council has just started cracking down on immoral behavior in teenagers. Will Shouhei and his friends ever find love on their last summer during high school, and maybe have their "first time" while the adults are keeping watch?
Just reading about this drama may make you think of a certain American movie that involves a "pie romance", and oftentimes people who've seen Stand Up!! compare it to American Pie solely because of the premise, but this show isn't as shallow as it's American compatriot. The humor may take the ecchi side most of the time, but it isn't as distasteful or gross like the typical American sex comedy.
The show's intent is to explore the issues of the youth today such as dealing with family, cherishing friendships, learning about love and finding out what it takes to be an adult, all in a somewhat mature way. It's surprising to see something resembling a sex comedy on Japanese television. Stand Up!! had a later time slot, which allowed the show to explore risque themes -- especially in a country like Japan where their society is very adaptive to modern ways but clash with the traditional values and morals.
If you're quite the J-drama enthusiast, you'll recognize a lot of familiar faces in Stand Up!!. The four main characters who are played by popular Japanese actors have been in numerous J-dramas. The reserved Shou is played by Ninomiya Kazunari (Ryusei No Kizuna, Letters from Iwo Jima) -- a member of the boy band Arashi, who provides the show's catchy theme song. Another popular young star in the show who takes the role of the train otaku Ken is Yamashita Tomohisa (IWGP, Proposal Daisakusen) from the boy band NEWS, who will probably be in a lot of future Dramatakus cause he's just that popular these days.
Kou, the soccer freak, is played by Shun Oguri (Hana Kimi, Hana Yori Dango), who has been in numerous live action adaptations in the past. Last of the four is Udayan, the Ero Prince of Togoshi, played by Narimiya Hiroki (Honey & Clover, Innocent Love) who did a wonderful performance as Morita Shinobu in the terrible live-action adaptation of Honey and Clover. Other notable appearances in the show include Shaku Yumiko (Sky High live-action movie and TV series) as Mochizuki and Anne Suzuki (Snow Falling on the Cedars, Hana and Alice) as the adorable Owada Chie.
I'm a sucker for coming-of-age stories and Stand Up!! is definitely one of my favorites. For me, it's like looking back to a more carefree time in my life where a lot of things were simpler. Stand Up!! may be weird or perverted at times to some of you but it's only there for silly laughs and somewhat plays it safe at times when it involves the act of sex.
At it's core, Stand Up!! is about relationships more than anything, and takes it from a naive perspective on life. I absolutely love the show's secondary characters: from the adults of the neighborhood council to the people in their neighborhood of Togoshi, and even random people who add their own quirkiness for laughs who even enlighten our young heroes about the important things in life. Another thing that I loved was the detail put into this show, right from the stylish editing to even some chuckle-inducing almost-subliminal things happening in the background at times.
The show isn't all laughs and does have it's serious bits and it balances out with the hilarity quite well. The show does get in intense for a bit towards the end but it helps to put things into perspective for the boys. Stand Up!! sums what it means to be at that age -- when you're reckless, carefree, and get easily carried away by your emotions. If you've seen the show, I urge you to see it again and pay attention to the little details and you just might find yourself laughing from the surrealness of it all. If you haven't seen it, prepare to return to a more romantic time, a time of youth!
I don't know whose I like better: that kid's collection or Densha's from the Densha Otoko tv series. I think probably Densha since his is all neat around his room. Still, I want that White Base in this kid's room.
I was going to say something along the same lines as Kageryu. The manga doesn't mean a whole lot (especially since volumes are only $4-5 each compared to here), but the laptop would add a .5 to his score. The excessive amount of Gundam Seed is part of what's keeping him from getting a 9, but it's mostly the better gundams of the series so it isn't holding him down too much.
If he has a Haro alarm clock or remote control Haro then I'll give him a 9, maybe a 9.5 for both.
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