Network: TV Asahi
Air time: Thursday 9:00-9:54 PM
Number of episodes: 9
Genre(s): love, sports, human drama
Official Home Page:
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ace/Opening/Ending themes: Ueto Aya - ai no tame ni
Oka Hiromi (Ueto Aya) is a girl just entering high school who has a dream of becoming a tennis player, just like her hero Ryuuzaki Reika. In order to accomplish this dream, she enters the same high school where Ryuuzaki plays on the girl's tennis team. Now, this is one school where they really take tennis seriously. The number of members on the boy's and girl's teams is staggering, and the most popular kids in school are those who excel the most in tennis. Hiromi actually knows very little about the sport other than the fact that she loves it and wants to become better at it.
During the school entrance ceremony, Hiromi climbs a tree in order to get a view of Ryuuzaki playing tennis. She soon realizes that Toudou Takayuki (Yoshizawa Yuu), the star player of the boy's tennis team and the most handsome guy in the school, is underneath her and has a very clear view up her skirt. She loses her balance and falls from the tree, right on top of him. Toudou also happens to be a ridiculously nice guy and doesn't seem to mind this at all. Hiromi's fall provides an opportunity for the two of them to meet; and Toudou becomes an undying supporter of Hiromi's tennis playing abilities from that point on. Obviously, the writers have plenty in store for these two characters.
Hiromi begins practice with the tennis team along with her best friend, Maki who came with her from the same junior high. She plays tennis clumsily, but she gets a chance to meet Ryuuzaki, who only speaks to her in order to point out that her shoes are untied. She also examines Hiromi's racket and says that she should change the netting soon, but she does it in her cool and lofty manner. She has ridiculously curly permed hair and is actually the daughter of a rich family who gets driven to school every day by a chauffeur. Everything about her signals to the audience that she is a spoiled, rich, brat girl character taken straight out of a manga - a character not likely to be a positive force in the series. At least for now, she doesn't seem to be all that bad.
By the way, it's no wonder that Ryuuzaki is so manga-ish, because this drama is actually based on a manga of the same name that was published from 1973 to 1980. It's not uncommon, actually, for dramas to be based on manga, but if you watch this one, you can really tell way too easily. The manga-ish air about this drama is just so strong.
The same night, after her first day of practice, Hiromi is running to the tennis shop to get the netting on her racket changed, and she nearly runs into a baby carriage. Luckily, her reflexes are good, and she manages to jump right over it. When she lands and tries to regain her footing, she runs into a strange, silent man who stares at her for a moment before Hiromi quickly runs away. She sees him again when she stops at the tennis shop immediately afterward, and again on the bus. The man makes his fourth appearance the next day when he appears outside the tennis courts while the team is practicing. When Ryuuzaki approaches him, he identifies himself as their new coach who will be in charge of their team from that day on. He immediately begins training them like a drill sergeant, tiring them to the point of near death. He is, indeed, the new coach from hell.
Soon after, the coach has to decide which eight members of the team will be participating in the upcoming matches. He chooses Ryuuzaki along with the other skilled members of the team, but surprisingly, Hiromi's name is called as well. The other members immediately protest, because Hiromi is only a freshman, and obviously not one of the more skilled players on the team. Hiromi protests as well because she knows that she isn't good enough, and she would rather let a more skilled player have the position. Unfortunately, the coach is unwavering in his decision. He begins giving Hiromi special private training, and much extra attention that he doesn't give the other members.
The other team members quickly become hostile toward Hiromi. No one will talk to her, and she is bullied by the other girls. The only two who don't turn against her are Maki and Ryuuzaki. Before her first match, Hiromi finds her tennis racket in the garbage with the netting slashed. Ryuuzaki is kind enough to lend Hiromi her old racket, which Hiromi feels unworthy to wield. Hiromi is able to compete in her first match, but as expected, she doesn't do very well.
None of the characters can figure out what possessed coach Munakata to choose Hiromi - but the viewer probably has a few ideas of course. Munakata continues privately training Hiromi vigorously, and giving her 90% of his attention, with the remaining 10% left over for the rest of the team - talk about favoritism! No, it isn't because she's cute, but probably because he sees in her some sort of latent potential which he will do everything in his power to unleash. Still, his favoritism is a bit much. I think if I were one of the other members of the team, I would protest too, but I think it would be more productive to complain to the coach and the higher authorities at the school instead of taking it out on Hiromi herself.
ACE o nerae is an anime - I mean drama - about the struggles of one girl with little confidence in herself who will need to find the strength to release her full potential and become the best. I have to say, I haven't seen a drama that feels this much like an anime in a long time. The characters taunt each other and discuss the various characters' abilities just like in a sports anime - or even a fighting anime. The introductions of the new opponents and their "special techniques" are especially dramatized. And then there's Ryuuzaki - a character who hardly looks like she should exist anywhere off the pages of a manga book. She's just so melodramatic. Listening to her and the rest of the students at the school, you'd think that tennis was a matter of life and death. You could take the exact same story, characters, and dialog; make an animated version and it would be all too typical. I guess seeing actual people act like anime characters makes it a little less typical than it would be if it really were an anime, but it certainly doesn't have the freshest plot in the world at any rate. They decided to make an old manga series that never got made into an anime into a slightly unusual drama, rather than make it into a typical anime. If you want to see a similar phenomenon that hit the silver screen, you can check out the review of Ping Pong at J-Fan Cinema. Of course this drama and Ping Pong are by no means the only examples of manga-ish live action in Japan.
You'll probably either love this drama or hate it. Actually, I fall to the love side of this spectrum. Whether or not you like anime, if you don't like ridiculous over-dramatizations of sports, you might be a little bit too annoyed by this show. The show just takes itself so seriously, without even a moment of comic relief, it's unbelievable. At the same time, this could be the best aspect of this drama. The intense drama in this story about a girl who plays tennis either makes it or kills it. You be the judge. It could be said to appeal mainly to female viewers because the protagonist is female and, after all, it is based on a shoujo manga, but we all know that a large portion of the viewership is probably made up of drooling Ueto Aya-loving boys. Whatever your motives for watching this show may be, you have to admit that it's pretty entertaining and can even be a bit inspiring at times. I wholeheartedly recommend it and really look forward to watching it every week.
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Sam Sep 08, 2007 10:39 pm
thanks for it !!!