ぼくらの勇気 ▫️1997 ▫️ Episodes

This is a show I hadn’t seen before, which seems to be the case for most of the early Arashi dramas. Being the first drama I watched on my Arashi Journey it set the bar pretty high! I went into it thinking it was going to be cheesy and potentially boring (a biased and foolish assumption), but I was genuinely pulled into the story and enjoyed the production. One cute thing is I started watching it on the same date it aired (Oct 18th), just 27 years later.

I never got into Kinki Kids much but I really appreciated their talent in this show. It must have been a great experience for Jun and Aiba to act with such great seniors. Also their hair is…beautiful. I think of all the sempai in Johnny’s they probably have my favorite vibe–just super warm and friendly. Their characters in this show were a bit serious and I feel that made it a more powerful performance.

The production of the show was good–I liked that it was a bit experimental with its concepts and filming. One interesting aspect that I haven’t seen much in jdramas was that they changed the opening credits almost every episode. The topics covered actually felt fairly relevant for today and made me think about authority, solidarity, survival, community and technology. I always appreciate a show more when I connect to the concepts on a deeper level. There is a lot of social commentary to investigate and interpret throughout the whole series. I also loved that each character was strong, especially the female and non-gender conforming ones. It’s nice to see underrepresented leaders in an apocalyptic scenario, even just having children be in charge of their own environment is a powerful idea.

Chibi Arashi would have been a joy all on its own, but I was actually floored by Jun’s performance! He was 14 here and I appreciated the hard but loving character he portrayed. He did a great job representing a child’s perspective of this dystopia, as most other main characters were older. Aiba wasn’t in the show as much and that might have contributed to me feeling like he didn’t really stand out. I love Aiba but I have to admit he tends to blend in when he’s not the main focus of whatever is happening. Perhaps that can be considered a strength, though, because he always allows others to enjoy the spotlight and knows when it’s his time to shine.

This show pleasantly surprised me and reminded me that there are some unexpected gems hidden in the archives. I am definitely looking forward to the SP in 2017! Also, get your tissues ready.