(dorama) Nobuta wo Produce

I first saw an episode of this dorama when I was in Hong Ko ng, and I think it was quite interesting. I finally bought the DVD a month later and spend my holiday watching it in only 2 days (well it's short, only 10 eps).

The story revolves around Shuji (a popular guy who has a pretty girlfriend, liked by everyone and never gets anyone upset), Akira (talks and laughs funny, very weird), and a new girl Nobuko (very shy, dirty looking, the centre of school bullying). These three students strangely become friends and meet regularly at the rooftop, and suddenly there is this plan to 'produce' Nobuko and make her popular.

At first I thought Shuji was just a conceited guy, who pretends everything is alright and masks himself, while Akira and Nobuko are just plain strange. The characters at first do not fall perfectly in place, the scenes are twisted in a way that many stories are irrelevant. It frustrates me to some point, and I cannot see why Kamenashi Kazuya and Horikita Maki are made best actor and supporting actress in this super famous drama.

But soon I guess my disappointment fades. The friendship story flows smoothly, although there are still some impossibly unrealistic scenes. I am still watching the entire last episode, but I will give a 7.5/10 for the dorama :) I have to agree Horikita Maki plays out a good Nobuko after all. My favorite character is Mariko Uehara, the pretty girl who is supposedly Shuji's girlfriend.