Samurai High School (2009) When Noogz told me Miura Haruma had been cast as Kazehaya in the upcoming Kimi ni Todoke film, I KNEW I had heard that name somewhere before. Turns out he was the “pretty boy” neighbour of Oguri Shun in Bimbo Danshi who I was “looking forward to seeing in more stuff” according to this post I made a year and a half ago. He also stars in Samurai High School, which we watched over the past couple of weekends. This is another DVD boxset we’ve had for ages that I never wanted to watch because the premise sounded retarded - goofy high school boy Koutaro (Miura) gets haunted by the spirit of his samurai ancestor, causing him to switch personalities and save the day/get into awkward situations and just generally wave a broomstick around while taking his hair in and out of a ponytail. Turns out it was awesome. There are lots of great “stand-in-a-field-and-shout” scenes where the samurai sense of right and wrong inspires bad guys and teaches lessons a la GTO, if you’re into that sort of thing. And it’s also a legitimately funny drama, thanks largely to the dynamic between Koutaro our alternatingly nerdy/gar samurai, and his tight-knit, hilarious but loving family. Koutaro’s dad was a real stand-out, stealing scenes every time he popped into his son’s room bearing popsicles or juice, but the rest of the side character actors were surprisingly good too! Koutaro’s childhood friend/love-interest is played by Ken Watanabe’s daughter Anne (who is actually a really good singer) and his super tall, super huge wimp of a best friend is played by Shirota Yuu who I’ve had a crush on since Hana Kimi (and who is also actually a good singer… lol. Seriously. CLICK THAT LINK AND THANK ME LATER) …did you click it? Gah… I know. I knowwwwwww~~~ d(*⌒▽⌒*)b  All I can think of right now is that moment from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon when Usagi and Mamoru are in the rowboat and she asks him “sooo, do u liek Tuxedo?”… Ahem, but back to Samurai High School, it’s lolz with good acting, I shipped the police officer and the teacher from the get-go, and Haruma Miura is going to make one HELL of a refreshing Kazehaya let me tell you for certain. <3
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