"Doutei-boys." *pffft*
I watched this series a second time through about a month ago and enjoyed it all over again. I sort of ignored it for a long time because I'd read somewhere that it was like "a Japanese version of 'American Pie'", which really did
not interest me one bit. But JCD, I believe it was, recommended it to me and I gave it a shot-- and I was really happy I did. It's not raunchy as I was expecting, and any fanservice-y moments (both male- and female-oriented) are more humorous than lascivious. Even the few (extremely brief) moments of nudity (male & female backsides, and bare breasts) were funny, not sexy. It's actually very sweet in its message, once you get into the story. And I really found it humorous how, really, the "concerned adults" were actually more sex-obsessed (and often less mature about it) than the teens they charged themselves with "protecting."
I also have to say, I was
really impressed by
Ninomiya Kazunari's performance as Shou-kun in this. In the beginning of the series, I kept thinking he looked
so much younger than the other guys. To me, he seemed more like a regular boy dropped into a group of idols, probably because I'd seen his 3 costars in other dramas already (yes, I now know he's a member of ARASHI, but I didn't at the time). But-- as the series progressed, I had moments where I thought, "Ahh, I can see him as a young man now..." It was strange, like I was seeing him visibly mature throughout the course of the drama, as his character matured emotionally. His performance in this has piqued my interest in his new (currently airing) drama
Ryusei no Kizuna (which has the same screenwriter as
IWGP, Kisarazu Cat's Eye, and
Tiger & Dragon, 3 dramas I loved); and maybe I'll even give
Yamada Taro Monogatari another chance one of these days.
P.S. And to top it all off, he's actually a really good singer, if you can hunt down his solo performances. IMHO, he might be the best singer in ARASHI.
