MAJISUKA GAKUEN 4 (2015)
マジすか学園 4
directed by Futoshi Sato, Keisuke Toyoshima,
Yoichi Matasunaga
Production: Sony Pictures Television
2014-2015
4th Season 10 Episodes Color
Sakura Miyawaki as Sakura Miyawaki
Haruka Shimazaki as Salt, the Rappapa Boss
The Big 4:
Yui Yokoyama as Otabe
Rina Kawaei as Bakamono
Anna Iriyama as Yoga
Yuria Kizaki as Magic
A changing of gears as I talk about a current Japanese TV show I've been watching!
Haruka Shimazaki as Salt and Sakura Miyawaki as herself
Majisuka Gakuen 4 is the fourth season of a show starring girls from the Japanese Pop Band AKB48. Rather than starring in a breezy show about how 'kewl' high school is, this is instead a rather bleak story about high school girl gangs who rule a completely trashed school (where there never seems to be any classes) and as in previous episodes, a new student shows up to try and claim the top spot.
Anna Iriyama as Yoga, Rina Kawaei as Bakamono, Yui Yokoyama as Otabe, and Yuria Kizaki as Magic
The new student is singer and AKB48 Pop Idol Sakura Miyawaki who has to take on the Big 4 (all members of AKB48), who protect the stairwell leading up to the leader of the 'Rapappa' gang, named Salt (also a member of AKB48).
There's also a Team Hinabe (2nd Year Students) who act almost as a 'Greek Chorus' to gossip and advance the plot and update us and Sakura's two 'underlings', who she whopped, only to have them start to admire her and her quest. All of them are also members of AKB48!
Like a lot of Japanese entertainment in the fight genre, each epsiode features a lead up to a battle, highlighting a style or interesting quirk of one of the fighters. Sakura battles every episode, though there are occasional side battles as new charcaters are introduced and their intentions revealed.
The fights are an interesting mix of quick cut camera angles (these are pop stars, not trained fighters), which I normally despise, but somehow they make it look believable, and there's no shortage of bruises and blood dripping from the side of mouths to try and show these are bare knuckle brawls these characters are in.
Sakura herself has her own motivations for wanting to get to the top, and the mysterious leader Salt, slowly lets on to her mindset as well. Interestingly, if you look up Sakura on Yahoo, the pictures are pretty much what you'd expect - the over sexualized image making of a Japanese Pop Star (she was only 16-17 when she did this - 19 now), but this show itself isn't about that.
Most of the skirts are long - Sakura's being the shortest (just above the knees) - but there are no stereotypical 'upskirt' kicks or torn clothing or anything like that - this is about fighting and... small lessons... or something.
I just know that I enjoy it - the episodes are 20 minutes long and subtitled (I hear it's on Hulu, but I've been watching it on Rakuten VIKI).
2014-2015
4th Season 10 Episodes Color
A changing of gears as I talk about a current Japanese TV show I've been watching!
Haruka Shimazaki as Salt and Sakura Miyawaki as herself
The new student is singer and AKB48 Pop Idol Sakura Miyawaki who has to take on the Big 4 (all members of AKB48), who protect the stairwell leading up to the leader of the 'Rapappa' gang, named Salt (also a member of AKB48).
There's also a Team Hinabe (2nd Year Students) who act almost as a 'Greek Chorus' to gossip and advance the plot and update us and Sakura's two 'underlings', who she whopped, only to have them start to admire her and her quest. All of them are also members of AKB48!
Like a lot of Japanese entertainment in the fight genre, each epsiode features a lead up to a battle, highlighting a style or interesting quirk of one of the fighters. Sakura battles every episode, though there are occasional side battles as new charcaters are introduced and their intentions revealed.
The fights are an interesting mix of quick cut camera angles (these are pop stars, not trained fighters), which I normally despise, but somehow they make it look believable, and there's no shortage of bruises and blood dripping from the side of mouths to try and show these are bare knuckle brawls these characters are in.
Sakura herself has her own motivations for wanting to get to the top, and the mysterious leader Salt, slowly lets on to her mindset as well. Interestingly, if you look up Sakura on Yahoo, the pictures are pretty much what you'd expect - the over sexualized image making of a Japanese Pop Star (she was only 16-17 when she did this - 19 now), but this show itself isn't about that.
Most of the skirts are long - Sakura's being the shortest (just above the knees) - but there are no stereotypical 'upskirt' kicks or torn clothing or anything like that - this is about fighting and... small lessons... or something.
I just know that I enjoy it - the episodes are 20 minutes long and subtitled (I hear it's on Hulu, but I've been watching it on Rakuten VIKI).
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