息も出来ない夏
Iki mo dekinai natsu/Breathless Summer

Episode 6

*One must watch previous episodes to understand this episode/ approx. 45 minutes long*

     This TV show has an extremely interesting plot, it is about a girl that doesn't have what is called a "koseki" or family register. The main character does not have one because her mother got divorced with her husband right after she was born due to domestic violence. This TV show shows the struggle of life without a family register and also the road to getting one and how hard it may be. 

     In the previous episode, Rei finally makes the decision to try and make a family register without going into his father's register. But after a lot of talking with different people, Rei decides to just go for it and get her family register, especially because her mom's ex-husband is out of town. The ending is truly a shock, scary and suspenseful, Rei keeps on getting more confused about her past and about what happened. What will happen next? Perhaps a murder. 

ボーイズ・オン・ザ・ラン
Boys on the run

Episode 6

*Must watch previous episodes to understand/ approx. 45 minutes*

   This TV show quite unique in itself. When the show started, it was a typical 11 pm show full of sexual content and not recommended for children. But now? It's full of love and human drama and soon full of jealousy. The main character Tanishi starts the TV show off with his birthday, when he turns, 21(sorry, if I'm wrong...) when he realizes he's spent his entire life without a girlfriend or sex. After this birthday, he starts to meet new people and starts to slowly change and become a stronger person though dragging too many people into trouble as he goes.

   In this episode, Chiharu goes insane. Using the fact that Hana doesn't know much about Tanishi's life and can't speak, she sends him texts that seem as if he is cheating on Hana. Throughout the episode Hana and Tanishi aren't on great terms, but as Chiharu begins to bother them, they get better than worse then better than worse. What will happen to their relationship, and what else is Chiharu planning on doing? We'll see in the next episode. 

ビギナーズ
Beginners

Episode 6

     *Must watch previous episode to understand. /approx. 45 minutes*

     This drama is about students in a prepatory school for becoming policemen. It specifically focuses on what is called S class, which is the class of people that were accepted as the waitlist in the school, so if someone quits in the school, they can go in right away. The main character Shimura has a father who used to be a policeman with some sort of story behind it. As the drama goes on, all of the members of S class slowly start to bond and get over the many obstacles that face them.

     In this episode, Shimura and Tachibana get to enter the real school, but then a lot happens and Tachibana almost quits. At the end everyone in S class goes back to S class, the entire class was able to save Tachibana from quitting and it showed the strong bond they had. The main moral of this show really, is that as long as you have friends, anything is possible, or at least that's what Shimura goes by. Although sort of serious, this tv show easy to watch and really fun and I love it. What will we find out about Shimura and his father in the next episode?

GTO
Great Teacher Onizuka

Episode 8

* For this episode only, you must watch previous episode/approx. 45 minutes*

 This TV show is about a man who used to be part of the yakuza becoming a teacher. It is also a remake of a previous TV show based off of manga. The way he teaches is very unique especially because he is not extremely intelligent himself, but he treats his students like friends and is liked by most of his students. In every episode, a student causes some drama or trouble and Onizuka somehow ends up solving them.

   In this episode, continuing from the previous episode, there is a sort of battle between Kanzaki and Aizawa. Kanzaki begins to go insane, in a way, because all her mother wants is her brain and not her as a daughter. Personally, I wanted to mother to suffer, pretty badly, but that's satanic, so that's not how the TV show could possibly go. But now that things are slowly starting to be pieced together with Onizuka's plans and struggle, the class slowly starts to change. Next episode is Onizuka's last class. We'll see what happens with Aizawa and her mysterious last words in this episode. 

梅ちゃん先生

Ume-chan Sensei/Dr.Ume

* Must watch previous episodes in order to understand episodes/approx. 15minutes per episode*

Set in the late 60's, during the "Showa" era. A story of a woman named Umeko who becomes a doctor following his father. Human drama between her and her family as well as the entire neighborhood. Heart warming and nostalgic, especially for those who lived in that era. Some parts of Japanese culture has changed therefore, do not think that this is the way Japan is now... 

     With these few episodes, Umeko and her husband Nobu face several issues within the family. Eventually, they are able to solve everything but these few episodes there is a lot more human drama involved than usual. It's interesting because you can see the different views of people in that time period. In these few episodes, some families slowly begin to get TV's. Of course, during this time, the videos are black and white, but the joy it brings to people is amazing. Nowadays, when Apple comes out with a renewed product, there isn't a lot of excitement behind it, people just get the new version, but here, you can see how technology lightened up people's lives. 

  リッチマン・プアウーマン

Rich Man, Poor Woman

Episode 7 

*Must watch previous episode to understand. Approx. 45 minutes*

   This drama is about a man Tooru Huga, who owns an IT company called Next Innovation and a girl going to college as a biology major who somehow ends up in Next Innovation. This drama is a well paced drama in which things happen very quickly. Human drama regarding romance, work, rivalry etc. Involves every aspect of a drama one would want. Especially because the drama is set in the modern world revolved around IT, it gives the drama a reality aspect as if this could happen in real life which is keeping audiences hooked. 

   In this episode, something extremely unexpected occurs. As Natsui is getting ready to leave her internship at Next Innovation and go get a job, Hyuga's life starts getting screwed. This episode shows how scary a company can be and the people in it, the man who helped Hyuga all the way from step one is now an enemy trying to completely destroy him. In a way, once Hyuga has lost everything is when this TV show starts to become good. What will happen to Hyuga and will he get everything his way again?

黒の女教師
Kuro No Onna Kyoushi/ The Dark Female Teacher(really struggling on translating this title.. I'm sorry)

*Each episode ends within itself/ approx. 45 minutes*

   This TV show is about three female teachers at a high school who teach "special classes". They always wait in the art room for students or fellow teachers to arrive with money to teach a class outside of school hours. Whether it be teaching a student, what's right and wrong, or teaching someone who has dragged students into trouble. Anyways, all the actors playing students are brilliant and so are the teachers, in comparison to GTO... Though I do recommend that movie.

    Before I talk about this episode, I have one piece of advice. DO NOT WATCH THIS WHEN YOU ARE WATCHING GTO. I have gotten really confused between the two TV series because the stories are pretty similar, and I prefer this show over GTO.
    Anyways, in this episode, a girl is caught working at what's called a girls' bar. If her teachers let the principal know, she of course can't get into college but could also get expelled. I love watching what pranks the teacher pulls every episode in order to get the student out of trouble and to teach someone a lesson. Surprisingly in this episode, it reveals a bit of Ms.Uchida's past and she uses that to her advantage. As we begin to see more and more of the teachers' pasts, we also begin to see the respect that the students show to Ms.Takakura. Interested to see how this TV show develops!