Well, well, well.... To me this was the best school drama out there. Yes, better than Gokusen, than Dragon Sakura, better than GTO. We have a competent teacher (female counterpart of Abe Hiroshi) and who at the same time, is always there for her students (like Yankumi and Oniizuka). Why it tops the others: this teacher is ZERO cheesiness. This teacher is severe and maybe lacks warm, but even her colleagues can see that she is a good teacher. Her colleagues are responsible and not idiotic. And the top on the cherry: her students are middle school children, instead of angsty teenagers. And in spite of being younger, this is the least childish school drama I've seen. It is really a very unpredictable dorama, which also depicts the education and consecuently, professional life, of the Japanese people. Maya may be harsh, but her methods of teaching is what at least I expect from a teacher: severity, a teacher who is there to guide her students, not to be friends with them. There were many heartwarming moments in this dorama. It may look like it is going to be a dark story.. and it was sometimes, but only a little. Mostly of how it was filmed. I love the direction of this dorama. The change of lights whenever Maya was near. I love how it was filmed from below to make her seem more impressive, scarier. Finally! I watched Amami Yuki in a dorama. She was imposing, elegant, lady-like, yet terrifying. Always mysterious, never cartoonish. The female version of Snape. Is she a bully? Is she a good person? On the other hand, Shida Mirai was by far the best child actor. Her tears were so good. Her cute face so adorable. I believed her character, and I never felt she was acting. It was like she was Kazumi, with that silly yet cute "tee-hee" expression. The other child actress that was very good was the one who played Shindo-san. Looked like an anime-character too. And maybe the top student, Nishikawa, was also good. All the other children were ok, some of them even MEH. Kaho was excellent as the older sister, as always. Made me cry a little bit with all her love for her sister. I love her relationship with Kazumi. A protective teenager of her little sister? Who was always there for her. I think I've never seen this kind of normal, yet heartwarming sibling relationship in a dorama yet. The ED sequence was so good, I always watched it with a smile on my face. Amami Yuki moves so elegantly, she looked like a 90's Pop Princess.