Popular Miura Haruma and Erika Toda play a couple of high school teachers who are set to be married in half a year, Shuji Kashiwagi and Natsumi Uemura. However, trouble brew right from the start of the show when Shuji woke up to find that he had a one-night-stand with a stranger after a night of heavy drinking. Shuji panicked and he gave his apartment key to the stranger, telling the young stranger to lock up after she leaves as he hurriedly left for the first school day of the new year and he thought that was that. He made a mistake, he pondered a little about it on his way to the school then promptly forgot all about it until that one tardy student called him after class and showed him his apartment key.
The tardy student, Hikari Saeki, is none other than his partner last night!
The horrors!
Hikari left the class with his key and Shuji had to lie his way about losing his key to get a spare key from Natsumi.
So now he faces daily challenge of how to handle this issue as he goes about doing his job and being the popular, admired and good-looking teacher every student looks up to.
His fiancée, Natsumi, knows nothing about it. At school, students congratulate her on her upcoming marriage, at home, her roommate Sayaka, who is a famous wedding planner, helps her to plan her perfect wedding even as Sayaka looks on sadly and longingly at pictures of Shuji and Natsumi. It looks like Natsumi isn't the only one who has her eyes on Shuji.
Hikari also seems to be having some kind of illness even though it isn't stated. She visited the nurse Aya (played by Yuki Uchida) and told her that she had had sex and wanted to know if that would affect her treatment from then on. The nurse assured her that everything is fine, that it's not something to be embarrassed or kept to oneself but Hikari told Aya that there are some things she'd never want to tell others about.
Natsumi found Hikari at the school restroom after Hikari downed some medicines and helped her to the teacher's lounge. As Natsumi tidies up her space, which is filled with English books as she supposedly grew up in America, Hikari's eyes studied her carefully with self-deprecation and a tinge of jealousy. This must have bothered Natsumi a little because she brought up the subject to Shuji and later asked if Hikari is a special female student. Shuji was alarmed but he answered no. He loves Natsumi and her dependable nature.
Meanwhile, at the school, parents of two of Kashiwagi's homeroom students, the studious Sakamoto and rebel Taguchi, seek help from the school staff regarding their children's relationship. They found their kids doing the nasty and even though they are very understanding parents, Sakamoto's mother is worried that her daughter would end up as a teenage mom so she asked Kashiwagi to advise the students on the matter.
After a night of deliberation, the next morning, he delivered a charismatic speech/talk to his homeroom students about teenage sex while carefully avoided naming the students this speech was intended for (Sakamoto and Taguchi). He said that personally, he thinks it is fine to have sex at any age as long as both parties know the consequences and are aware that they'll be forever changed after it. He went on to cite examples that even though he does not have much experience in the matter, he and Natsumi had changed because of it but they changed for better so their relationship grew stronger. He told his class that he has an honest relationship with his fiancée as the students looked on with admiration towards their teacher for being so open and thoughtful about them.
However, they did not know that Shuji is one who doesn't do what he preaches - that he cheated on Natsumi. Shuji is a liarrrrr.
This talk must have touched Hikari's nerves because she changed from a timid-looking girl into an angry, I'll-show-you-what-I-can-do femme fatale who waited for her teacher near the bike rack and playfully showed him his apartment key which he has yet to claim back. Hikari asked if Shuji really has an honest relationship and whether Natsumi knew he slept with his student. As the music swells, Hikari walked towards her teacher and told him, "You changed me." She's now ready to ruin his love life and win his heart!!! Little did they know that their mild showdown was witnessed from afar by Natsumi. If Natsumi didn't already guess what just happened, she surely is suspicious about things between Shuji and Hikari now.
Musings about this episode:
If there's one thing I like about japanese dramas, it's that they are always pretty fast-paced as the series usually only span 9-11 episodes. They don't drag around or beat around the bush, unlike taiwanese or korean dramas. So the plot starts off right from the get-go, tension has built up by the end of the first episode and the possible breakdowns are set.
I like this cast, especially the lead actors. They are fairly seasoned and it showed in the show. Haruma Miura gets the most screentime though and even though Erika Toda's appearance is not very convincing as a high school teacher, she plays her character well and has great chemistry with Miura. Casting popular model Emi Takei as Hikari is a pretty good choice too as her acting chops are decent, for a newbie. And it helps that she's sooooo pretty.
That said, I'm not sure if the issues discussed in the show will be handled professionally to general audience. There are so many ways to take the lessons out of context and get misinterpreted. What? You can have sex at any age as long as you like each other? That's not the right message you want to send out to impulsive, hormone-driven youngings. This is totally off point but while Shuji gave the talk, I wondered if Haruma Miura thinks that way too about teenage sex because he didn't sound that convincing, imo. Is he a virgin? probably not but yeah... that's off track. haha. I can't wait for the second episode to air! Go Haruma! Go Erika!
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