[Discussion] Kazoku Game

May 18, 2013 05:38 pm

Synopsis
The story revolves around an eccentric home tutor named Yoshimoto, who is hired to teach the second son of the Numata family. While being tossed around by the weird and unconventional home tutor, the remedial student and his family gradually start changing. Though the previous movie/dramas featured a fiercely competitive high school entrance examinations as its main theme, the 2013 version will also feature some modern problems like bullying and school refusal.

Cast :
SAKURAI Sho as YOSHIMOTO Kouya
URAGAMI Seishu as NUMATA Shigeyuki
KAMIKI Ryunosuke as NUMATA Shinichi
ITAO Itsuji as NUMATA Kazushige
SUZUKI Honami as NUMATA Kayoko
KUTSUNA Shiori as Asami Maika

Here is the MDL link : http://mydramalist.com/japanese-drama/6068/kazoku-game

Currently airing
Who is watching/ planning to watch it? What do you think about it?

SumiTheCat

May 18, 2013 05:49 pm

Currently watching it. 3 ep watched, ready for the fourth one, even unsubbed. I confess I started watching it because of Sakurai, thinking it would be another gentle drama about family life, and another positive teacher helping his pupils to grew up. but the first ep. really blew me! And the next ep were as good as the first one. I will continue watching it because of Sakurai, but mostly because the character he portrays is absolutly delicious of sadism and perversity. I like how he is underlining every bad habits of each family member, and how he is threatening everyone around. I mean, only in dramaland evil characters can be as enjoyable as he is. So far my favorite drama of the season. "ii neeeee"

sochiichi

May 18, 2013 05:59 pm

I am watching Kazoku Game and I am sooo in love with it. It's really hard not to watch the raw episodes and wait for the subs ;__; but I'm really curious about the whole story of Sho's character. He seems to have a really complicated past and somehow I have the feeling that that family might have something to do with it. Well, I could be wrong about that. We'll see... btw, who is the group subbing it?

twinklelie

May 18, 2013 06:26 pm

I'm watching it as well :) and I love it! Like you, at first, I thought that it was going to be the typical drama where the nice teacher helps the poor helpless little student but boy! I was wrong! :O Sho's really impressing me in this one

jacqueline

May 19, 2013 12:18 am

Sho, gets pretty scary sometimes in this. When the description said ..."unconventional home tutor" never thought the things I've seen would go down. Loving every minute of it. Favorite part so far is the last scene in episode 3. :)

SumiTheCat

May 25, 2013 02:42 pm

just finished ep 4 subbed,(I really need subs to fully understand the story). but it's truely a pleasure to watch it a second time. (I really like the sauna scenes, but it's not really because they are funny ones...) Just wanted to underline that, though the music is not so great imo (but I totally fell for Endless Game, as well i fell for Face down when watching Kagheya) it's pretty well done. This light and joyfull music in the middle of the show offers a good contrast to the bad things Yoshimoto is doing, and it underlines all the more the very dark intentions of this character. I mean, when listening to this music, it gave me the impression that Shigeyuki (or other family member) is running joyfully towards his fate, which cannot be a good ending. (sorry for the bad english, hope it's clear) @ fertry : i don't know who is subbing this, but I'm very grateful cause I can only enjoy it to the fullest thanks to the subs. I hope they will continue, even if in a chaotic way, cause I need them. @twiklelie and jacqueline : I do agree with both of you. I said it so many times, but Sakurai's perfomance in it is just awsome. I already liked him as an actor, but it seems he has gone a step above with this show. and it makes me want to see more fo him.

boutux

May 25, 2013 06:07 pm

one of the good ones this season. i think this is my fave role i've seen sakurai in ever. he plays a good sadistic teacher. and i love his catch phrase. at school my students walk around every thursday saying "ii ne..." the way he says it. it hilarious to hear the chorus of ii ne before class starts. and some students know he is my arashi ichibansuki so they ask me if i saw the latest epi on tv and if i liked it, and of course the convo always ends with us saying ii ne. lol. sakurai always makes for good english convo. as for the drama my only issue with it is which family on the planet wouldn't have fired this teacher after the 1st episode? each episode i keep asking why do they still have him in their house as the situations keep escalating? that seems unrealistic to me. that said, i'm enjoy the heck out of this drama even without subs. i like the 2 sons. they are polar opposites of each other but i think they suffer from the same issue--insecurity -- they just have different ways of showing it. i actually like both of them. the parents, simply put they are are crappy parents. but as i've seen in japan it's not that far fetched. appearance means a lot to japanese ppl. they put out the image that everything is fine, front a happy life and never discuss personal problems. but the gossip mill is always working. living that way seems exhausting and stressful, so i think the drama captures my personal observations perfectly.

jacqueline

May 26, 2013 09:18 am

boutux wrote: one of the good ones this season. i think this is my fave role i've seen sakurai in ever. he plays a good sadistic teacher. and i love his catch phrase. at school my students walk around every thursday saying "ii ne..." the way he says it. it hilarious to hear the chorus of ii ne before class starts. and some students know he is my arashi ichibansuki so they ask me if i saw the latest epi on tv and if i liked it, and of course the convo always ends with us saying ii ne. lol. sakurai always makes for god english convo.

as for the drama my only issue with it is which family on the planet wouldn't have fired this teacher after the 1st episode? each episode i keep asking why do they still have him in their house as the situations keep escalating? that seems unrealistic to me. that said, i'm enjoy the heck out of this drama even without subs. i like the 2 sons. they are polar opposites of each other but i think they suffer from the same issue--insecurity -- they just have different ways of showing it. i actually like both of them. the parents, simply put they are are crappy parents. but as i've seen in japan it's not that far fetched. appearance means a lot to japanese ppl. they put out the image that everything is fine, front a happy life and never discuss personal problems. but the gossip mill is always working. living that way seems exhausting and stressful, so i think the drama captures my personal observations perfectly.

Wasn't because in the contract the father signed, if he gets fired he'll have to pay a lot of money (forgot how much put it was in the millions+). They also don't seem that interested in Shigeyuki's well being at the begging, but I think the mom is getting there. I agree both of the parents are crappy parents. Though I kinda like the mother and am a little worried for her taking out a fixed loan for the stock market, mostly because, Koya suggested it. It's interesting to hear that the gossip and putting up a front is almost normal in Japan, I don't think I could handle that ( and hopefully never will have to) so stressful. Sometimes I think the mother is going to snap and somehow kill her husband.

boutux

May 27, 2013 04:01 am

jacqueline wrote: Wasn't because in the contract the father signed, if he gets fired he'll have to pay a lot of money (forgot how much put it was in the millions+). They also don't seem that interested in Shigeyuki's well being at the begging, but I think the mom is getting there. I agree both of the parents are crappy parents. Though I kinda like the mother and am a little worried for her taking out a fixed loan for the stock market, mostly because, Koya suggested it. It's interesting to hear that the gossip and putting up a front is almost normal in Japan, I don't think I could handle that ( and hopefully never will have to) so stressful. Sometimes I think the mother is going to snap and somehow kill her husband.

So what about the contract? Realistically speaking that is. Lol, who would keep such a demented freak of a teacher in their house? i would pay him the ¥100,000 (approx. 1000 usd) and get him out of my family's life.

jacqueline

May 27, 2013 07:52 am

boutux wrote: So what about the contract? Realistically speaking that is. Lol, who would keep such a demented freak of a teacher in their house? i would pay him the ¥100,000 (approx. 1000 usd) and get him out of my family's life.

Lol, but I don't really think the parents know how much that he is such a demented, twisted, freak of a teacher. At least Koya's methods produce results...? I think i'd also pay him whatever he was asking to get out too. I'd like to see more of him back in the past as the high school teacher...so mean to his students.