BOSS

After watching BOSS, comes LIAR GAME 2 which starts on 10 Nov, can't wait for it to start!!

Think Erika Toda's lineup of movies of shows has been pretty awesome so far, heh

Still remember how I first encountered the term "cognitive dissonance" in the first season of LIAR GAME, those japs do come up with darned good plots for their shows for sure.

LIAR GAME 2

Probably would be rated NC-16 today for his perverted and vulgar acts

(FINALLY) Started watching the drama series Great Teacher Onizuka (グレート ティーチャー オニヅカ) (MySoju link) with my wife today, and as expected, this show really captivated me

The main actor plays an ex-bike gang member who manages to become a teacher, and how he changes his students (from the most notorious class in the school) and the people around him for the better.

I really like the non-conformist attitudes shown by people like these.  Not the destructive, being-non-conformist-for-the-sake-of-rebelling type, but the type that stands up for what is right in the midst of an environment where evil prevails and the remainder of the people just "stay low" (in fear) just for the sake of "surviving".

This show is NOT about a prom queen

Another show that's similarly liked is The Queen's Classroom 女王の教室 （じょおうのきょうしつ） (MySoju link).

This show is about a teacher who's really non-conformist amongst the system.  Her strict rules imposed on her class seems unreasonable, but in the end what she does prove to be what's really needed by the students of that age (and even more today).

Interestingly these two shows also highlight the problems brought about by the corporatization of the education system (parents = customers = king = always right), and how the education of children does not only occur in the school, but much at home too.

It's pretty interesting/ironic too that such good socio-commentaries come from the land of the Rising Sun, where it is (or was?) very much ingrained into their culture the values of discipline, respect, honour and conformance.  And these shows are O_L_D.  The problems we face today aren't new, but it also meant that we haven't been able to solve them at a larger scale since then.

Socio-commentaries like these really need to be watched and learnt from by many parents and teachers, probably all people in fact.

For your info the Konami code works in Google Reader and Facebook too!