NTV; Jul-Sept. 2006
Location of story: Tokyo, Japan
Review, summary
Warning: Lots of spoiler, I'm sorry I can't help gushing about this show I EFFIN LOVE IT!
Twenty-seven year old Makio ‘Tornado’ Sakaki is next in line to his father as the master of Kantou Sharp Fang Family Yakuza group.
He is unbeatable in brawls and show of force since he was trained to be the strongest young master of the Yakuzas.
Unfortunately, he was never into academics hence he always failed his father in dealing with other allies and contacts when strength is not needed. In short, he’s dumb.
He sucks in Math, can’t even spell his name in Kanji, and extremely illiterate with general knowledge. Pst, he’s a lot like Domyouji Tsukasa of Hana Yori Dango except
Makio loves women, money, and alcohol while Tsukasa is basically a snob. They’re both extremely sure of themselves though, squeal…nothing like a guy with heck of a lot of confidence, and for good reasons too.
Alright before I make you sick with my gushing about these cool men, cough, pinches self…Anyway, Makio is sent by his father to Hong Kong to broker a deal with another Mafia, who’s presumably Chinese. The old master says Makio should not allow anything below 27 Billion Yen of price; Makio is tough and brief with the Chinese guy in their transactions, just like any cool gangster. So the Chinese man ends up offering Makio 35 Billion Yen. But because Makio is so helpless with Math, he ends up not accepting the offer and finds himself and his group trading kicks and punches with the Chinese Mafia.
His father is understandably furious and threatens Makio that he won’t be the Head Master of their group if he continues to be so illiterate. He tells him to go back to high school, pretend to be a 17 year old student for a year and pass the academics. If Makio fails to earn his diploma, then the title of their Yakuza family as head master will be given to his younger brother, Mikio and he will be disowned by their family.
Makio doesn’t like the idea, and at this point I think one of the best lines among the TV series’ I’ve watched is uttered by Makio’s father:
“You don’t understand a thing---nothing! Even the birds, if they don’t know how to use their wings, they can’t fly in the sky.”
And so the adventure of Tornado begins in St. Agnes Academy, a private school where he will not be given any preferential treatment by anyone. This is where all the laughter begins.
Watch this series, it’s so funny! My favorite scenes are:
Makio is in a meeting with the Yakuza bosses, and his mobile phone keeps beeping. His classmates are actually sending SMS’ to him. The messages are like any typical teen would send you, thoughts with characters like these: o(*.*)o, (^.^). with cherries, hearts, and whatnots. So kawaii!
He can beat up ten men all at once, but when he’s in school he can’t act tough because his Yakuza guards who are like family to him urges him not to fight back for fear of Makio being expelled from school. Hence if last night he came from a brawl, then the next morning at school his wallet is emptied by the school bullies and he gives it with a smile hahahaha, lucky bullies his wallet is always loaded with top cash.
He falls in love with his seat mate Hikari, and he describes his feelings for her to his confidantes as: “there’s a midget, in my heart.”
ZOMG, he can't even express properly what he's feeling, so his over the top, and loyal to the core bodyguard named Kazuya almost pummels his master's chest "to remove the midget in his heart".
He realizes the importance of Physics through his friend “Sakura-something”, and he screams “WATER!”, this has a symbolic meaning for him since their school nurse who urged him not to give up on his academics shared the story of Hellen Keller who had a breakthrough with understanding the world when she realized each object have a name, and the name of water is the major factor for her to comprehend knowledge.
His most loyal bodyguard who always call him “Aniki!” (hero), actually immerses himself with ‘teen culture’ through teen magazines so that he may pass what he learns to his master Makio, funny!
The bullied high school boy:
Other funny scenes:
Kazuya is also his devoted tailor who aside from being a bodyguard also hand-tailors his master's outfits including his underwear!
He is obsessed with the St. Agnes pudding dessert(photo below), he's prepared to die for it.
The St. Agnes school nurse seems to be an ex of his father.
Kazuya wants to watch over his Aniki his master, so he proposed to his bosses that they enroll him at the St. Agnes school too. They told him they don't want to waste money on him, so as a last resort he applied as a school janitor at the school where he was accepted.
My ultimate favorite is actually in the first episode, where his father explains the deeper reason why he forces Makio to go back to school. He says he always treated his son Makio as a subordinate so that he will grow up to be tough and street smart, but he was never a father to him. But now he’s doing something for his son, not as a boss but as a father…So touching…Squishes eyes…
Watch it, WATCH IT!!!!!!
Of course I will post photo stills of the show, probably by tomorrow.
I really loved this JDrama series.. i pity Sakaki Makio because at first he's totally an idiot person but as the series goes deeper you will see how he improves himself a lot by learning, enjoying, loving and having fun in his school life. you'll also see how he became a good leader inspite of being a dunce.. i hope you guys will enjoy watching this as we really did.. =)
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