Kamen Teacher (2013)

Basically, it's good but it could have been great. I have no knowledge on the manga it's based off, so I'll solely judge on the drama (the review of the special will eventually go to the special's thread).
The first thing that you need to know is that there's plenty of action in this, I'd say it's a cross between a tokusatsu and a school drama, going more towards the "drama" side but keeping the action strong. So, if tokusatsus are definitely not your thing, I don't think I'd recommend it for you. If you don't mind the action, read on.
The school drama plot is basically the same you've seen a thousand times: school of delinquents, worst class of all, teacher comes in with goodness in his heart to change the hearts of the students and show them the path of light. The twist is that this teacher is secretly a masked vigilante who has government authority to inflict unrestricted violence on students as he deems necessary. Yes, you read that right.
Araki Gota, performed by Fujigaya Taisuke, is a sort of Kenshin Himura-ish character, who is trying to change his methods and use actual education (!) and understanding to get to the bottom of his student's problems and let them change by themselves and not through violence and fear. The whole dynamic between violence and understanding is the heart of the drama, and it's well represented. I didn't expect a drama with a masked guy on a motorcycle punching people to have such deep and turbulent emotional developments, but it does.
Still, the episodes are too short to dig as deep in the characters as I would have liked. There's an individual exploration of the characters to some extent, but there's not enough time for us to get as involved in the story lines as I feel the story had the potential to show.
But, if you like school dramas of teachers who change students' hearts, action sequences in every episode, Saito Takumi in a suit staring at folders and Fujigaya Taisuke wearing leather and giving heartwarming speeches, watch this. All jokes aside, it's pretty entertaining and unexpectedly emotional at times.
Oh, and you'd probably end up loving Tsukada Ryoichi's segments, even if initially you don't know what they're even for.

Lire davantage