Arrogant Boy Genius

Another refreshing and heartwarming episode. I'm loving this series!

The second episode focuses on arrogant smart alec Yoshito Kikuchi (Yosuke Kubozuka). Unlike the manga counterpart, Kikuchi here doesn't wear glasses and has the same characteristic that defines most of the male characters in Japanese drama adapted from manga or anime - he's another pretty boy. That isn't much of an issue for me though, however. In recent days, we have come to stray away from the tired stereotypes that all nerds and geeks are bespectacled pimple-faces, so this casting merely made it more realistic.

In fact, I want to talk more about Takashi Sorimachi as Onizuka. Previously, I said that Onizuka's lack of similarity with his manga counterpart bothered me. Now, I would like retract that statement. Having seen Onizuka's motivational speech of the episode, I feel like the casting is right, and might have even made the character even more effective. Rather than being this stereotypical "dirty old man", he comes off as more of a big brother type of character, someone whom you could imagine as a high school drop out and is thus wiser for it, understanding the consequences and pains of being a delinquent. This is, again, a more realistic take on an otherwise stereotypical archetype, and I think I'm more satisfied with the casting now.

Speaking of casting, I would like to bring up Nanako Matsushima, who plays Azusa Fuyutsuki. You might remember her from Ringu. She was not bad in that, but I think she offers a much better performance here as the frustrated teacher who didn't even want to be a teacher in the first place (her dream was to be a stewardess). Unlike the manga, Onizuka is portrayed here as a drop out who (ironically) aspires to be a teacher, and this plays well to Azusa's character, a "proper" and well-respected teacher who wants to be anything but teaching. So, props to the writers who made this character change.

Azusa in this episode also displays a significant women's issue in Japan today, that women are still expected to act a certain way instead of being rambunctious or rowdy. While the series hasn't addressed this directly so far, you could still see that Azusa is trying to put up a false facade of politeness while keeping her real thoughts suppressed, unlike the male characters of the show who speak their mind freely.

Unlike the pilot that focused more on establishing Onizuka's personality and style as a teacher, the second one is reduced to a more light-hearted and comedic script, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The episode features some fairly comedic squabbles between Azusa and Onizuka as they team up together to convince Kikuchi to come back to school. Back then, I would criticize such comedic scenes as pointless and annoying, as I felt such scenes don't offer much in character development. The squabbles here between the two, however, have changed my perspective. Even with such hilarious moments, you could still learn the traits and desires of these two characters here, along with how they really feel about each other, so such moments are not all superfluous, and the writers here did a great job.

As always, the episode comes to a conclusion of Onizuka helping out a student with their problem (in this case, Kikuchi's indifference towards staying in an inferior school as opposed to one with better education and academics). It's formulaic storytelling, but it's nonetheless effective, as Onizuka still manages to bring out wise words that ring true in real life, words that would undoubtedly resonate with the audience quite well. It's not exactly the kind of false platitudes like "Friendship is wonderful", and his words are more like, "That's cheesy, but this guy's still got a point."

Unfortunately, the episode ends with a much darker turn, one which we have to learn how it unfolds in the next episode...

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