ごくせん/Gokusen: A brief review of 1,2 & 3

Genre: School Comedy
Language: Japanese

All three Gokusens revolve around a Yakuza teacher, Yamaguchi Kumiko. She always ends up teaching delinquents; and through the season the fellows of questionable repute are slowly changed, by "Yankumi" (her nickname).

Each episode follows the same outline: boys are accused of something they didn't do, Yankumi believes them, they get beaten up by a gang, Yankumi saves them and they learn an important moral.

Review:

I really enjoyed this series. I admit 1 & 3 were my favorite, I found 2 just a little too similar/boring for my tastes. Although like previously mentioned, they all have the same basic plot structure, which could perhaps become monotonous (as you can easily predict what will happen.)

The main difference between the 3 seasons is the students and teachers. Although the Vice-Principle/head teacher is the same in all of them. The chemistry that goes on between Yamaguchi sensei and Kojousensei is extremely funny. He is one of my favorite characters.

Main Re-Occurring Cast:


Nakama Yukie (pictured above)






Namase Katsuhisa













Utsui Ken






The main student actors are: (according to seasons)

Season 1






Matsumoto Jun

Season 2






Akanishi Jin

Kamenashi Kazuya


Season 3






Takaki Yuya











Miura Haruma
(I love his hair)

Hiatus? Not really.

So nothing new as of lately. Still tooting away on the trumpet (fuufuufuu), I can even hit a high C now.

Recently it has been under discussion, my lack of transportation, to and from work;
besides when people give me a ride.

-My mother, (Love you mom...if you can find this...no I'm not talking to stalkers...not I haven't given out my phone number....) is convinced that in our town of 3000 people, at most, that I will get mugged and/or worse. So therefore walking is off of my list of transportation.

-Biking, my family says I'm no good. True words out of my mother's mouth, "well...I could let you bike....if you were any good at it...." (Oh stay my wounded heart)
Now I am an average biker. I can't do anything fancy... like signal, or stand up, and occasionally the kickstand is tricky...but I feel confident in my skill.

-I don't have my license yet, but soon. Though I am faaarrr too cheap to buy a car, or gas, or insurance, and my chances of having the family car all day are slim too. So automobiles are off the list too.

Therefore I am still henceforth dependent upon my parents', and other people's good will. Perhaps someday I can prove to my family that I am not a weakling. Maybe after I finish the 100 push up challenge, I can do about 10 today which was better then 1 a few days ago, helps now that I know how to do them properly.... or perhaps when I finally do a back-flip...or maybe one day when I get back from climbing the Appalachian region of mountains with a group of Yakuza....ah yes one day...