It’s been such a loooong while since I last saw Kimura Takuya (also known as Takuya Kimura, or kimu-taku) in a dorama (Japanese for “drama”; usually use to call a Japanese drama). So when I read about his new upcoming drama, “Change” by FujiTV, and he’s playing as the Prime Minister, it felt like Christmas. :D

And now, it’s the day after the first premiere of this highly anticipated dorama of the season, it’s only right for me to rave about it. (Though without subtitles, I can only understand body-language lol, but that doesn’t really matter as long as kimu-taku is there <3 teehee.)

As the synopsis tells us, Kimura Takuya (plays as Asakura Keita) is a primary school teacher in Nagano. His lives is basically pretty simple. Dealing with all kind of kids in his classroom, and of course, he’s got to be a nerd.

His students often bully him and cause troubles in class.

And when I first read about his new hairstyle, curly hair and nerdy glasses, I was like, “Oh no!”, hee hee.. but oh well, thank God it didn’t last for too long. Well maybe a good half hour? But it keeps coming back towards the end. So I dunno which one is Keita’s “real” hair. Haha.

OK moving on…

When the high official suddenly passed away (I dunno what to call this person, Prime Minister? High Representative? lol I need subtitles to understand what his title is), this lady here — she’s the main leading lady in this dorama, she came looking for Keita in his small hometown.

LOL. This expression is like Kimu-Taku’s legacy! hahaha…
He tends to do this A LOT in his doramas, I noticed. Cuteee.

And this girl, doesn’t she look like Vivian Hsu? who just came to Korea and made the news btw.
She works together with Keita at the office as a promoter, I think.

And the champaign begins.

LOL, his huge big banner :D

And to cut the story short, towards the end of Episode 1, Keita wins the election as he competes for a set to fill the vacancy in the Fukuoka House of Representatives. So he quit his job and needs to move to Tokyo.

This will be his new office:

Hehehehe…. he parks on the street and the guards are telling him to leave, kekeke…

The end of episode 1.
And the rating is *drum roll*…. 23.8%!! Not bad, well it’s considered as “standard” for Takuya Kimura’s dramas, as he always get high ratings.

Next week’s caps:

Cast

• Kimura Takuya as Asakura Keita
• Fukatsu Eri as Miyama Rika
• Abe Hiroshi as Nirasawa Katsutoshi
• Kato Rosa as Miyamoto Hikari
• Horiuchi Keiko as Tsukioka Rumiko
• Kazama Morio as Kondo Mitsuteru (Secretary)
• Koyama Shigeru as Nihei (Councilor)
• Nakamura Atsuo as Onoda Asao (Secretary-General)
• Ohbayashi Takeshi as Kakiuchi Tatsuhiko
• Ito Shiro as Ukai Takehiko (Prime Minister)
• Fuji Junko as Asakura Takae
• Terao Akira as Kanbayashi Masaichi

Synopsis

The story begins with the deaths of ruling party’s Fukuoka legislator and his eldest son, his heir apparent, in an accident. It is decided that a by-election will be held, and Kanbayashi Masaichi, the leader of the ruling party, and secretary Miyama Rika conceive the idea of fielding the second son, Asakura Keita, who had been renounced by his father.

After Keita graduated from senior high school, he went on to a university in Nagano because he wanted to live in a place with beautiful stars, and eventually became an elementary school teacher over there. Well-liked by children and satisfied with his beloved star gazing, Keita has no interest in the world of politics. However, at Rika’s persuasion and the pressure of his family, he reluctantly decides to announce his candidacy.

Upon returning to Fukuoka, Keita is given a hearty welcome by supporters. The election strategist, Nirasawa Katsutoshi, arrives there. He is guided by the notion “election is the only permitted legal war” and begins Keita’s election campaign. –jade_frost

Some pics of the cast from the ending credits…

She’ll be from the Government Party, Seiku Party.

She’s the Vivian Hsu look-alike *points above*

Overall Thoughts:

Definitely will be watching this from today onwards.I’ve been waiting for him for a while, and this looks like it’ll be fun ^_^Though one thing I don’t like is the theme song. By Madonna. Yikes!
Too weird to be used as the theme of a Japanese dorama.