Yasuko to Kenji first impressions

For anyone who knows about Johnny's Jimusho it quickly comes apparent that drama roles are an important role in promoting their talent. There isn't a season that goes by without dramas with JE boys in the star or co-star role. And it probably isn't too surprising to see that the ones that get the most screen time and work in dramas tend to be the most popular members of their groups.

Personally I can't stand serious dramas most of the time. I prefer light and fun for my dramas as I get annoyed easily at watching characters get into bad situations that could easily be avoided by doing something simple like just telling the truth. Kinda why I don't like a lot of shoujo manga. So a lot of the dramas that come out aren't to my tastes. This season the only one that looked like that fit the bill was Yasuko to Kenji. So I gave it a try.

The drama is based off a shoujo manga series of the same name. The basic story centers around a high school girl, Yasuko, and her older brother, Kenji, who is an ex-bike gang leader. Kenji gave up is gang ways after their parents died and has raised Yasuko on his own since then. He supports them working as a shoujo manga artist and two of his followers from his biker gang days are his assistants. Yasuko isn't too pleased with having Kenji as a brother as he's very strict and of course embarrassing to be around for her. Especially when she falls for the new transfer student Jun. Jun's older sister, Erika, though seems to have a past in a female biker gang but now runs a flower store, but it looks like unlike Yasuko, Jun doesn't know about his older sibling's past.


The casting is wonderful, especially Matsuoka Masahiro, in the lead role as Kenji. He's a delight in every scene he is in. The whole cast comes off as strong and play off each other well. And there's just so much potential that I hope future episodes use well. I'm so glad I gave this drama a shot and by the looks of things it will be the only drama that I will be following this season.

The song Amagasa of course was played and I have to say after listening to it a couple times, even with all the dialog over it, I think I'm beginning to love it. It does have a strong Shiina Ringo sound to it with the jazz influence but I hardly find that as a bad thing. I think this will be one single I'm going to have to pre-order.

I decided to put up the clip that has Amagasa playing in the background. It played near the end in the scene Kenji comes to save Yasuko from some thugs that kidnapped her and her love interest, Jun.