Seasons Database > Winter 2004 >

PRIDE

Network: Fuji TV
Air time: Monday 9:00-9:54 PM
Number of episodes: 11
Genre(s): love, sports, human drama
Official Home Page: http://www.fujitv.co.jp/pride/
Opening/Ending themes:
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Cast and characters:

Kimura Takuya
<<Satonaka Haru

Takeuchi Yuuko
<<Murase Aki

Sakaguchi Kenji
<<Horita Hirokazu

Ichikawa Somegorou
<<Ikenoue Tomonori

Satou Kouichi
<<Hyoudou Yuuichirou

Nakagoshi Noriko
<<Aizawa Yuri

Satou Ryuuta
<<Shimamura Makoto

Ishida Yuriko
<<Anzai Youko

Fists, Blood, and Teeth Fly on the Ice

Numerous dramas about sports have been made in the past. There have been dramas about baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis... male synchronized swimming... but I never really expected to see a drama about hockey. The sport is popular in Canada and other northern countries, but it's never been very big in Japan. Now here's a drama that mostly ignores that fact and attempts to make a moving story centering around a Japanese professional hockey player, his team, and (of course) his girlfriend.

Kimura Takuya of SMAP is the star player named Haru (or "Halu" as they spell it on his jersey) for a Japanese professional hockey team called the "Blue Scorpions". In the very beginning we are given a scene of him on the ice, clenching his left shoulder (his trademark), an action which is quickly mimicked by hundreds of screaming girls in the stands who have come to see him play. He exchanges some ultra-cool words with the opposing offensive player facing him, the puck falls and he rips into action which cues the opening theme brought to us by the undying American band, Queen. The song from 1995 fits this drama almost too well.

After the Blue Scorpions win the game (of course), we see Halu and the other main characters on the team (played by Sakaguchi Kenji, Satou Ryuuta, and Ichikawa Somegorou) at their regular hangout: a bar which seems almost too American (actually Northwestern or Canadian to be exact) for Japan. At the bar, Halu spots Aki (Takeuchi Yuuko) who reminds Halu of his ex-girlfriend and was one of the "screaming fans" at that night's game. (Actually she was a first-time spectator who was dragged there by her friends, but she played along with the shoulder-clenching thing anyway.)

With the help of his friends, Halu makes an opportunity to meet her - his friends pretend to beat him up outside in front of her so she will feel sorry for him and offer help. Aki almost ignores this completely, but half-willingly walks over and asks if he's okay. Halu thanks her profusely and offers to take her out as a (fake) gesture of his gratitude. Aki isn't exactly thrilled, but Halu is incredibly pushy and manages to get her cell phone number.

Halu basically forces Aki into a date with him, and he takes her ice skating - an activity in which Halu has an obviously different level of ability than Aki does. Aki can hardly stay on her feet and she is embarrassed when she has to hold hands with Halu, and even more embarrassed when Halu scoops her up and begins skating around with her in his arms, firmly establishing Halu's masculine control over Aki and resulting in a "magical" close-up scene of Aki in Halu's arms accompanied by music, followed by a very painful-looking fall on Halu's behind.

From then on, Halu won't let Aki go and keeps taking her out. Aki has a boyfriend who she hasn't seen for years and has been waiting for all this time. This boyfriend will almost undoubtedly make an appearance at some late point in the series. Since Aki is still kind of waiting for this guy and Halu can't just admit forwardly that he likes Aki, they decide to make a "game" out of their courting. Basically they are only with each other until Aki's boyfriend comes back. Over a bit of time, though, they seem to have something that kind of resembles a "relationship", and it may be harder to quit the game than either one of them had originally planned. Coincidentally, their names happen to be "Haru" and "Aki" ("spring" and "fall"), so they go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Oh yeah, did I mention that this drama is about hockey? Actually, the hockey scenes are a bit fewer than you might think. I was expecting more, but every episode seems to have at least one (lasting about four or five minutes), usually at the end of the episode where they just barely win in the last seconds of the game (and the Queen song cues in again at the right moment and the credits roll). This drama isn't exactly a Japanese version of "The Mighty Ducks", if that's what you were hoping for. Actually, it's nothing like "The Mighty Ducks" aside from the hockey theme. The meat of the drama concerns the characters (mostly Halu and Aki and the other main members of the Blue Scorpions) and their troubles "off the ice".

I said earlier that this drama "mostly ignores" hockey's lack of popularity in Japan. I say "mostly" because it is said by one of the characters early on that "hockey isn't very popular in Japan," and Halu doesn't seem to quite hold the same celebrity status off the ice that a star baseball player would. But at the same time, "PRIDE" does show a very well-equipped hockey team with a very expensive-looking hockey arena filled with hundreds of dedicated fans screaming at the top of their lungs every week - on par with the biggest hockey events of Canada or any other hockey-loving country. I really don't know for certain how accurately this portrays the professional hockey scene in Japan, but I have my serious doubts.

Another important plot element that I didn't mention yet, is the new coach played by Satou Kouichi. Whenever you have a Japanese TV drama or anime about sports, you almost always have to have the mysterious new uptight coach character who creates friction with the team members. And of course, he also carries with him his own mysterious past and relationships that will be gradually revealed over the episodes.

If I had to pick a prevailing theme for this drama, I would say the theme of masculinity. Obviously, we see Halu fighting on the battlefield of the hockey arena, playing one of the roughest sports in the world while Aki shouts "Halu!" from the stands - and he does it all for her, just as the lyrics in the Queen song go - all of this is to be expected from a sports drama, especially one starring Kimura Takuya; but this drama goes beyond that. It glorifies fist fighting and male beer consumption at the American-style bar after the game. All of the female characters are regarded as objects or prizes by the male characters, and Halu is extremely controlling in his relationship with Aki. Even though she is one of the main characters, we aren't shown a bit of Aki's life outside of her relationship to Halu outside of a few chit chats with her stereotypical group of girlfriends and we are lead to believe that she doesn't have an interesting life anyway. She is an incredibly weak character who actually needs a man like Halu to fight for her. Even though she is outwardly reluctant to follow Halu's whim, she gives in immediately every time and seems to really need him to tell her what to do. I'm sure the majority of the predominantly female audience for this drama really doesn't mind at all though. I'm sorry if you didn't want to read a feminist reading of this drama, but I just couldn't help myself this time.

Putting all of that aside, "PRIDE" is an entertaining drama and perhaps the biggest new title of the season. We'll have to see what the ratings say later on though. Kimura Takuya (along with one or maybe two of the other members of SMAP) is one of the few singing idols in Japan who is actually a very good actor. Obviously, SMAP could more accurately be described as a group of actors and all-around Japanese "talents" who appear regularly on Japanese TV than a singing group. Still, that doesn't stop them from releasing hit singles every once in a while. "PRIDE" is a drama that can be enjoyed by Kimura Takuya fans, hockey fans, and dorama addicts alike. Feminists might be a bit bothered by this show, but then again, they would be bothered by a lot of other Japanese dramas as well. Those of you who want to see this drama probably know who you are already, so I'll give you the go ahead to do so if you have the means. I won't give it thumbs way up, but it does fit into the watch-able category as far as I'm concerned.

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