Dragon Zakura (2005– ) User Reviews

Worth Watching

[davidcowley51 · 8/10 · 21 May 2024]

The following review only applies to season 2, which I finished watching on Netflix a couple of days ago. The synopsis had caught my eye so, as a former teacher myself, I found myself interested to see how a former bikie gang member and now a lawyer could transform young lives and help them on the way to an entry to a prestigious university in Tokyo.

The first thing that struck me was how similar the storyline was to one of my favourite manga stories. I have loved the "Great Teacher Onizuka" series for a long time now and, while not exactly the same content, there is a certain familiarity to how the main character wins his students' confidences. It's certainly very engaging for viewers.

The one thing I found really annoying was the music. It did not help the visuals in any way, in fact, it was downright distracting and it became a nuisance, trying to block out the stupid music which was doing its very best to enhance the drama, but failing badly at every turn.

There was evidence of some quality over-acting but too little to take away from the main characters' performances which I enjoyed. I am sure if you give this show a try, it'll prove to be time now wasted.

Possible spoilers - great series!

[Dancing_Bear · 10/10 · 5 December 2007]

I loved this JDorama, there was so much wisdom in it. Ryuzan school is the worst, the students have the lowest grades and most awful reputation as dummies, few ever go on to college and none of the students EVER get admitted to prestigious Todai University. Even such a thought is laughable. Ryuzan is such a failure that it's in danger of bankruptcy, no one wants to enroll their kid in that school or admit that their kid goes there. The kids themselves know there's only one reason they're there, they are considered to be hopeless dummies with no future. The Chairwoman informs the faculty that bankruptcy is imminent, a lawyer is on his way to sort out the details of closing the school. He turns out to be an ex-punk, a streetwise guy who wasn't born with a silver spoon, a guy with a spotty past who worked his way up in the world to become a lawyer. He's also a sort of Sir Richard Branson type of guy, he sees an opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons (the situation of Ryuzan is sour indeed), and in the process possibly make himself famous and sought after. He sees no glory in closing the school, only failure, so he pitches a deal with the Chairwoman to get the school a higher ranking by creating a special class, which he 'bets' he can get 5 students admitted to Todai University by the end of a year's training. The faculty oppose him and his unconventional methods, he has a sort of zen-like understanding of how people learn, memorize, store information, and it's all a mind-body connection martial training system which is way too innovative for them. The reluctant guinea-pig students are subjected to strange teachers that he accumulates, who possess certain teaching properties calculated to bring about his goal of 100% success. Even if you just paid attention to the methods these teachers use, you can learn a lot about how to learn and memorize, and if you pay attention to the themes of the series you would learn a lot about persevering to overcome your own walls and pursue his advise, "If you fall, pick yourself up and do your best. In life there are many correct answers. Go find the correct answers for you, go and have a magnificent life!"