Chugakusei Nikki (2018)

Del por qué un adolescente no es buen interés amoroso para un adulto.

Primero que nada voy a expresar meramente mi opinión respecto de este drama. No, no apruebo las relaciones amorosas entre un adulto y un mocoso, no las veo románticas y considero que no es correcto romantizarlas.

"Chuugakusei Nikki" (o en español "Diario de secundaria"), es la historia de Hijiri Suenaga, una maestra novata de 25 años que es hecha tutora de un grupo de tercer grado de secundaria en alguna escuela de alguna localidad en Kanagawa. Como buena novata tiene cierto grado de inocencia y muchas carencias como docente frente a grupo; pero como escribió un muy buen ensayo sobre la "clase de profesora que desea ser", la vicedirectora de la institución la planta como tutora, ¿por qué chin**dos no?

Como es "inocente y pura", el problemático alumno del tercer grado del que es tutora, Akira Kuroiwa, pierde la cabeza con un flechazo de cupido y en un arranque de ira adolescente se la cachetea en un pasillo de la escuela dejándola "out", pero desde ahí ella no se lo puede sacar de la cabeza por una razón u otra. ¿No es súper romántico? Bueno, por si esto no fuera poco, el mocoso en cuestión se decide a "confesarle su amor" a gritos en la escuela (¿por qué no?, ¡viva la juventud, car*jo!), el último trancazo que nuestra dramática heroína necesitaba para encender sus luces de alarma emocional.

De ahí comienza el bucle de mentiras que Hijiri se la pasa diciéndole a otros buscando engañarse a sí misma sobre la situación. Jamás maneja correctamente la situación pisando el suelo como ADULTO, y peor todavía como PROFESORA, con responsabilidad social y moral. Sin contar la cantidad de berrinches y manotazos al viento que el "maduro" héroe en brillante armadura 10 años menor que ella se la pasa dando toda la serie; dando muestra fiel de lo fiable que puede ser como pareja ilegal de nuestra heorína profesora-pedófila.

No conforme con esto, la mujer es como sarricida; ya que todas las vidas que toca terminan desmoroándose a cierto grado, una a una: el ex prometido, sus padres, la madre del mocoso, la ex alumna enamorada del mocoso, su amiga Chizuru que logra encontrarle trabajo en la escuela donde trabaja, y la lista sigue.

Actuaciones excelentes porque los actores logran conmover y transmitir lo enfermo de la trama en sí; cada personaje se hace sentir, y pasas de sentir pena por Kawai Shotaro a tenerle lástima por cómo maneja su propia situación a consecuencia de la indecisión y tumbos que va dando Hijiri, por ejemplo.

Desde la perspectiva de una docente de secundaria (que es lo que soy), la historia es enferma, absurda y el personaje de Hijiri pasa de ser absurdo y ridículo a ser completamente estúpido, hasta el capítulo 11 cuando comprende la triste realidad de Akira: ES UN MOCOSO.

Como mujer, como profesora, como ser humano, considero que esta clase de historias buscan romantizar una triste realidad que está extendiéndose lentamente a nivel mundial; buscando hacernos cada vez más permisivos y tolerantes a ello. Sin embargo, como expresé en el párrafo anterior, un adolescente no es un adulto ni legal, ni física, ni moralmente hablando, y como tal, es inestable emocionalmente y dependiente; buscar que las relaciones amorosas con esa brecha de edad sean vistas amigablemente por la sociedad, es enfermo por decir lo menos.

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"Don't judge the book by its cover"

First let me start this review with a mini rant

The only concern I see people having with this drama is that they said it normalize pedophilia. My defense on that matter is you would only consider a person a pedophile if he/she is occasionally attracted to children which in this case she's not because she was not attracted to him because he's a child. I know most will not agree with that argument but let's say you are correct and she's a pedophile. Does this drama normalize that psychiatric disorder? BIG NO. She's attracted to him but didn't take advantage in fact she was despised the whole time, the school, students and the society. The drama won't make you feel they are romanticizing that idea. As for the matter that it might affect the thinking of underage viewers. Do those kids have parents to guide them? Then what about stories like Robin Hood, mistress protagonist, serial killer etc. are those stories being normalize just because they were made? If you are inclined to call it a trash just by reading the synopsis then I am sorry but with that kind of logic I just couldn't help but think you are DUMB.

Chugakusei Nikki portrays the forbidden love between Hijiri, a middle school teacher and Akira, one of her students. The drama follows their story for the course of several years. There will be time skip in the middle of the drama, 3 years to be exact, when Akira is 18 years of age. The characters are well written, Hijiri was portrayed really well as an inexperienced teacher, adult yet not matured, and also Akira as rebellious and confused teenager. Side characters are interesting too especially Haraguchi and Shotaro, it's also interesting to see their love story develops. Their love is somewhat similar yet different. The plot is sensitive but the drama handled it tastefully, it is nowhere near as creepy as you might think. This show is also grounded to reality in that every emotion these characters portray is very relatable. What I also like is the pacing it's very balanced which makes every episode engaging. The drama also knows how to play with our emotions. The director is just so good on how to build tension and also how to end every episode. Expect roller coaster of emotions, it's highs is wonderfully high and it's lows is absolutely devastating, there's even couple of scenes where I was on the edge of my seat and to think this drama is not a thriller.

~ A good rain chooses the right time to fall and so it falls ~
~ When it comes to spring, the rain is certainly falling ~
~ It follows the wind and secretly enters the night ~
~ While the wind is blowing, the rain continues to fall until night ~
~ And moistens everything softly, without any sound ~
~ Silently, almost making no sounds at all, it makes everything wet ~

This poem in episode 1 summarizes the whole drama. It is a metaphor to the kind of love between Hijiri and Akira, a pure love similar to dramas such as Sekachu, Endless love series, Koizora, Be with you, Heavenly Forest etc. Pure love genre if you would know is what popularizes Asian drama. It basically portrays a couple that faced many obstacles. Pure love in sense that even after so many years they still long for each other. We haven't seen this genre for quite some time and I already see upcoming dramas with similar genre. This drama will trigger another pure love era.

Cinematography is just captivating. I love how they capture the green landscape on camera, the shot during sunset, falling rain drops, fireworks and that weird fish eye effect they always use. Those are not just gorgeous shots but also serve as a symbol to what these characters feel. That's beauty about Japanese drama, it is full of symbolism and just like what I always said, great cinematography is similar to great painting, it is not just beautiful but also captivates you, will make you move closer and examine the painting and not just say "oh this painting is beautiful". Music in this drama is just perfect, it underlines the mood and helps showing the emotions of each characters. It is a really great piece of background music. With great drama comes great ending song and "Prologue" by Uru is just like that. It's not just a great melody because if you read the lyrics it will make sense why they choose it as the ending song.

The acting is just brilliant but other than the acting, the casting needs more praise. They just casted right people for the roles, Arimura Kasumi for example, she has this cute, inexperienced image and if you watch the drama having that image made her portrayal of hijiri so effective. They also cast a rookie for the role of Akira, it a nice decision by them as it requires a certain rawness to the character. It doesn't mean Okada Kenshi is not a great actor though. He is indeed fantastic as he provides the intensity and angst to the role. They won't call him a super rookie is he is not. The side characters are also well casted, if you follow Japanese drama long enough you would be familiar with Yoshida you and Natsukawa Yui, they were both underrated actresses. Their characters played an important role to the story and they played them really well. Aside from Akira, it's the portrayal of those characters made this drama so much better.

Final episode will be tomorrow but I decided to make this review because what ever happen this drama will go down as one of the best Japanese drama I've ever seen and definitely my best Japanese drama this year. End game won't decide the rating this drama should get in my opinion because just like they said the journey is more important the than destination. More than just a drama but also an experience.

Edit
I've just watched the last episode and I don't want to spoil anything but it is indeed one of the best Jdrama ever!!!

Best Student-Teacher Romance Drama List
https://thatjapanesedramaguy.blogspot.com/2019/10/best-student-teacher-romance-japanese.html?m=1

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