Pride

Country: Japan
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2004
Type: Series

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Pride Review
Getting beat up by his team mates to get the attention of a girl must mean that Halu has spotted his one true love. Well, "maybe." Halu is the team captain of the Blue Scorpions, a star hockey team in Japan. Aki is an office lady working in the company that finances the hockey team. After their meeting outside of a bar, the story of these two people unravels and a "love contract" is created. Unexpectedly, romance brews, but can this romance really be? Not only do their names conflict in the order of the seasons (Halu meaning spring, and Aki meaning autumn), but Aki is still waiting for her boyfriend to return. Can this romance between spring and fall survive far beyond the hockey season?

I've watched many Japanese dramas, and this one outshines them all. The story was so engaging to the point that I refused to do anything else, but watch the drama all the way through. It was so well done. The story provided a glimpse into several different relationships and all of these sub stories were so well developed throughout the series. The story behind the names Halu and Aki also captured my interest, but I won't go into detail with that because it'll spoil all the fun.

Never have I seen such a perfect cast. Kimura Takuya, the "king of dramas" if I may say so, is so perfect for the role of Halu. Being the team captain of a famous hockey team, Kimura acts out as the strong player keeping everyone together, and his deep voice really adds a bit of zest to it too. With his seriousness, he does have humor, which makes the series even more enjoyable than it already is since the story is so wonderful. Takeuchi Yuko, who plays Aki, is a perfect leading lady. She's so lovable in this series with her shyness and her (as Halu would say), "last century" appearance and personality. The chemistry between the two of them is something to be jealous of, without a doubt. Yamato (Sakaguchi Kenji) is Halu's team mate who falls for Aki's friend Yuri (Nakagoshi Noriko), who's a gold digger. Yamato's actions to gain the affections of Yuri are so moving that their story is just perfect for this series. There are other characters (members of the hockey team, Aki's friend, and her boyfriend) that fit into this series perfectly, but I'll leave it to you to discover them. Obviously, I don't want to spoil all the greatness that is this series.

Pride is eleven episodes long. It's not a bad amount, so I'm sure you could sit through it with no problems. It's the typical length of most Japanese dramas, and everything ended without problems within those eleven episodes.

This series provides drama and romance, or at least drama and romance are the biggest things that you'll get out of it. Don't think that this will be some sappy romance because it isn't. The romance feels really real and it draws you in. It's like an addiction, but maybe not. When I first heard the intro into the drama, I couldn't help but laugh. It's not a bad song; it's more that it's in English as supposed to Japanese. It's not uncommon to have an English song as a theme to a series, but it was probably my first experience. The background music to this drama is enjoyable nevertheless. I liked it. It mostly went along with the athletic part of the drama, hockey. So, it showed a lot of that hockey pride, but then again, I don't know any hockey music, so I can't validate that claim.

Well, what can I say? This was great drama! I recommend it to everyone, and I DO mean EVERYONE. It's just that good. I do admit that a woman will be more attracted than a man, but still, it's a really great series. No, it's not great; it's perfect, for me at least. Plus, how can you pass up Kimura Takuya? He's just brilliant, and so is Takeuchi Yuko. Really now, you shouldn't pass up these wonderful actors and you definitely shouldn't pass up this wonderful series.

Written by Chiyuffie

Rating Meter: 97 %