Tumbling (2010)

Don't we all have hopes for the future? Don't we -used to- have dreams we would like to see fulfilled one day? But how often are we holding ourselves back, saying it's simply not possible? Don't we all have felt like giving up at one point?...
At times like that we need friends who help us, who'll reach their hand out, who'll walk the difficult and hard path towards that faraway dream. Because sometimes you simply can't do it alone. And why should you have to, if you have friends by your side who are willing to support you?

If you ask me that's the main thought of the whole drama. People aren't born strong. When they're alone they'll often feel insecure and won't be able to do what they truly want. People are able to get stronger when they have the unconditional support from friends though, people who'll stand by their side no matter what. People who'll fight for them. Who'll bring happiness but also lighten the pain and sadness.

But what Tumbling teaches you is that those people, your dear friends, are also only humans. They will also get hurt, feel insecure, get angry, lonely or frustrated. They're also capable of losing hope or making wrong choices. And just as they help you, you should support them when they need it.

Tumbling is a really amazing and very touching drama. I am simply yet madly in love with it.

At first I thought the drama would only be about Tumbling itself and bullying but it deals with so much more than that, it honestly surprised me, in a good way. In my opinion the actors are the ones who make the drama as great as it is, every character has it's own role within the story and gets the opportunity to grow and change slowly.

Tumbling sounds like a typical sport drama but it's so much more than that. Besides the sport itself it deals with your normal teenage problems, insecurity, loneliness, violence, sadness but mainly about hopes, dreams and above all; friendship.

It's really hard for me to explain what I love about the drama without spoiling too much but I guess it's the way the characters develop themselves. Even though Wataru starts off as your typical delinquent, he turns out to be so much more. And not only him, everyone in the drama gets a moment to shine.

Even though there are cheesy or cliché moments I think the drama pulled everything off perfectly fine, the story is simple yet really touching at moments and the actors are all simply amazing.

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Overall - Tumbling was the Drama that got my current j-drama obsession started - that's not to say that it was my first drama though. This only makes it more spectacular in my eyes since I had little interest in Drama and only watched a few to understand what a few friends were talking about - until I stumbled upon this beauty.
This drama actually got me into the manga, which is rather backwards...

Story - Each character has a backstory and /grows/ throughout the series (except the background characters that only have 7 lines in the entire drama) in a way that reminds me of a novel, almost. It shows that they were developed, 3-dimentional characters that seem all the more real because of those facts. This is major kudos to the writers and original mangaka.

Music - I never focus much on the background music in movies or dramas unless it sticks me as wrong for that moment. I do know that they used the theme song throughout the story, which was interesting because it fit in every moment they used it in, even though they were vastly different. this part comes with a warning; you WILL have the song stuck in your head for a good while if you watch the episodes in a few (1-3) sittings. However it's a good song, so I didn't really mind.

Rewatch Value - I've already rewatched this drama once, my favorite parts about a million times, and created stories in my head for when I'm bored and want to play with ready-made characters. (Can't tell I'm a writer, huh?)

Acting/Cast - Yamamoto Yusuke is really just the cherry on top, in my opinion. His acting skills are so great, and he covers so many different rolls so efficiently and /well/ in different dramas that its just inspiring. He became an actor I follow after Tumbling and, after a few more of his dramas, he became my favorite actor. He's just amazing.
I feel I have to mention the others (that way it doesn't become another of my Yamamoto-ramblings). They cast this very well and everyone fit the part and acted their rolls naturally. Some of the actors were better than others (the Mizusawa character faded into the background too well and was rather emotionless unless the situation called for extreme emotion) but none of them were 'bad' actors, just differing styles.

Really, really worth the time to watch, rewatch, think about, and drive that damn song out of your head until the next watching!

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