Nobuta wo Produce, ep. 01-05 (no spoilers)

[oyceter]

Kiritani Shuuji's a fairly popular guy in his class who can't stand class clown/just plain weird guy Kusano Akira. Then one day, a new student, Kotani Nobuko, comes to school. Nobuta -- she picks this as a nickname because she likes the pig Shuuji stitched on her tie ("buta" is "pig") -- is pathologically shy, goes through life not looking up from her feet, and she's bullied horribly by several of the girls at school.

Akira and Shuuji end up forming an alliance to "produce" Nobuta, the goal being to make her popular enough so that she's not bullied. "You can't change the world, so you should change yourself," they tell her.

I know, I know. It sounds like a premise that would make me want to throw the book against a wall if it were a book. But so far, halfway through the show, this is one of the best deconstructions of the Pygmalion storyline that I've seen. And from the way the show's going, I don't think it's going to stop deconstructing.

The first episode mostly just weirded me out -- Akira begins as just plain annoying and grating, and while I liked the kooky vice principal (middle-aged woman! yay!), I was completely uninterested in watching Nobuta being bullied.

But gradually, the characterization deepens, and oh, right now, I love Nobuta and Akira so much. Nobuta reminds me a bit of Sunako in The Wallflower and Amane of Her Majesty's Dog. The three girls' personalities are nothing alike, save their silences, but I like how all three sources let them stay prickly or solemn or odd in their own ways and don't shove them into the cute shoujo heroine formula. I particularly love watching Nobuta, and I suspect the show is going go against shoujo trope by making the beginning about Shuuji and the ending about Nobuta. Shuuji's still the POV character, but so far, it's really Nobuta carrying the story, and I am hoping there will be even more revelations about her, who she is and why she is.

Given the premise, I was expecting slapstick comedy, but while there are moments of "WTF? This show is on crack!" (the vice principal!), a lot of the moments are quiet character moments, and the show's taken a remarkable amount of care sketching out the relationships between Nobuta and Shuuji, Shuuji and Akira, Akira and Nobuta, and the three of them together.

It also goes a little into Shuuji's family life and the lives of their classmates. Though I was definitely put off by the standard "catty girl bully" trope, and while I wish there were more women, the show's doing something interesting with some of the girls in the class, particularly Shuuji's perfect girlfriend Uehara Mariko, and possibly with Bando the bully.

I really like this so far. It's small and quiet and very touching, and it reminds me of my favorite slice-of-life shoujo manga.

Links:
- meganbmoore's write up

Comments

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I've been curious about this for a while. I really should watch it sometime. In the meantime, I've put the novel it was based on on my "look for at Book Off" list.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Nobuta made me a fan of EVERYONE in the show, including Erica Toda(Shuuji's girlfriend)

Wallflower is used to draw a LOT of people to Nobuta. dhamelessly, really.

*stares at link*

I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT ALL I SAID!!!!

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Nobuta!

I love literally every single character. I'm even watching Liar Game for Shuuji's girlfriend, Mariko.

This is easily one of my top 5 dramas of the year.

PS. If you like Akira and Nobuta, they star in Kurosagi together. Akira is Kurosaki, a young man whose family has been torn apart by con artists, who dedicates himself to conning swindlers and returning money to their victims. Nobuta is Tsurara a young law student who wants to become a prosecutor. Together they fight/cause crime!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

And make people want to throw things, due to their refusal to do something about that UST(see, I have Shuuji/Nobuta hearts in Nobuta, but Kurosaki/Tsurara hearts in Kurosagi, so I figure it balances itself out.)

[oyceter]

It's really good! Well, I don't whole-heartedly rec it because I think the ending is wrong, but everything before that is good.

[oyceter]

Hee! I really love Mariko!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

With the exception of Aoi, Nobuta is one of those shows where I imagine a person would have to try very, very hard to dislike any of the major characters.

[oyceter]

Awwww! What's Liar Game?

I was going to say I was less a fan of Akira and Shuuji, but then I read things correctly and yay, Akira and Nobuta! Waaah! I so do not need a new drama to add to my list, but ... con artists!

[oyceter]

Ok, now I am curious, as I adore UST.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Kurosagi is very good, and a favorite of many. One thing I like about it is that, while there is UST and Tsurara does admit to loving Kurosaki, she isn't important in his life because of any romantic possibilities. She's important because she's the first person to ever want him to do good, and to want him to get off the self-destructive path he's on, which provides a balance to the people who encourage him along his destructive path. It's her seeing good in him and just wanting him to be happy that makes him start to crawl out of the hole he's dug himself into, not romance.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Liar Game is another show about con artists!!! This time, Toda Erika (Mariko) is a young girl who is constantly described as being 'too honest for her own good'. I translate this as 'gullible'. One day she is sent 100 million yen and is told that by opening the box she's entered the Liar Game, any money she cheats from her opponent is hers but she must return her own 100 million by the end of the month, and any money she is cheated out of will become a debt.

She finds out her opponent is her middle school teacher, and he convinces her into letting him 'look after' her money, but he actually wants to steal it. She then enlists the help of an infamous swindler who has just been let out of prison to help her get the money back. (The swindler was one of the F4 from HYD, but I call him 'Poor Woman's Kurosagi')

Kurosagi is so awesome!!! It makes me want to draw hearts around the two leads, and I never get like that.

[oyceter]

Hee, two con artist shows! I think I will have to check those out.