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Water Boys

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Revision as of 21:06, 27 January 2008 by Quashlo (talk | contribs)

Details

  • Title: ウォーターボーイズ
  • Title (romaji): Water Boys
  • Format: Renzoku
  • Genre: Sports, romance, comedy
  • Broadcast network: Fuji TV
  • Theme song: Niji by Fukuyama Masaharu

Season 1

Water Boys
  • Episodes: 11
  • Viewership: 16.1
  • Broadcast period: 2003-Jul-01 to 2003-Sep-09
  • Air time: Tuesday Nights 21:00

Synopsis

Two years ago, five high-school boys brought fame to a small town in Japan. What was so unique was that they formed a "men's synchronized swimming club." Their involvement and struggles while learning synchronized swimming - known to be a sport for girls - brought much attention to their school and town.

Two years have passed since that summer, and the boys of Tadano High School are still in the club. The Fuji Television drama "Water Boys" shows how these young boys fight to learn synchronized swimming, fall in love, and enjoy friendship with one another.

Cast


Production Credits

Episode Titles

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Reason: These titles need translation.
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  • Ep 01: 「男のシンクロ!?」
  • Ep 02: 「シンクロ危うし!?」
  • Ep 03: 「祝結成!シンクロ同好会」
  • Ep 04: 「シンクロ公演決行」
  • Ep 05: 「シンクロ夏合宿!」
  • Ep 06: 「涙のインターハイ」
  • Ep 07: 「シンクロへの想い」
  • Ep 08: 「夏だ!海だ!サメ男だ」
  • Ep 09: 「解散なんかしない」
  • Ep 10: 「32人が起こす奇跡」
  • Ep 11: 「男のシンクロ公演最高の涙!」

Episode Ratings

  • Ep 01: 17.9%
  • Ep 02: 13.6%
  • Ep 03: 16.4%
  • Ep 04: 16.5%
  • Ep 05: 17.1%
  • Ep 06: 14.5%
  • Ep 07: 14.4%
  • Ep 08: 14.6%
  • Ep 09: 16.7%
  • Ep 10: 15.5%
  • Ep 11: 19.2%


Reviews

I watched the movie version wich was awesome and very funny, so I figured that with these Johnny's Jr. kids, the drama would be just as good. It's still pretty funny and to tell you the truth, I like it a lot better than the movie. More story development. - Mari

The plot is kinda repetitive from the movie. In fact, nothing can be compared to the movie version. It's the mother of all waterboys installment, for cryin' out loud! Well, i'm still entertained by Waterboys TV. Simply because its funny. I just wish that the creative team create NEW sinchro coreography. - Ultranguik

Others

External Links

Season 2

Water Boys 2
  • Episodes: 12
  • Viewership: 16.8
  • Broadcast period: 2004-Jul-06 to 2004-Sep-21
  • Air time: Tuesday 21:00

Synopsis

Three years ago, the former all-girl Himeno High School opened its doors to male students, but remains a female-dominated institution with the majority of students being girls.

One day Eikichi Mizushima transfers from prestigious Aoba High School in Tokyo where he was a member of the swimming team. While his father is away in New York starting a new business, Eikichi has decided to come to Himeji and live with his grandfather Kamekichi.

Yosuke Yamamoto had always wanted to establish a boy's sports club in school. When he learns that Eikichi belonged to a swimming club, he springs into action.

The other boys in the school include Senichi Kawasaki nicknamed "Wolf Boy Sen", the good-looking Iwao Iwata who is the only boy the girls talk to, and Hideki Sano, the rich son of the President of a major supermarket, who is always surrounded by fans. Eikichi's arrival soon influences the boys in school and changes their way of thinking.

Eikichi is surrounded by unique characters at the school. Shiori Yazawa, a senior at Himeno High, together with her parents Akira and Kaoru, live in a rented portion of Kamekichi's house. Kayo Oba, the student body president, is feared by the boys. Kozue Kitagawa, a devilish girl, belongs to the school wind ensemble together with Shiori. The substitute teacher Hijiri Saotome is a former swimmer at Tadano High School. English teacher Natsuko Ohara strongly opposes "men's synchronized swimming." Classic literature teacher Haruka Koshino hates men. And then there's the coffee shop owner Kozo Kasuya, who has something fishy about him. --Fuji TV

Cast


Episode Ratings

  • Ep 01: 20.6%
  • Ep 02: 17.9%
  • Ep 03: 17.8%
  • Ep 04: 14.1%
  • Ep 05: 11.8%
  • Ep 06: 14.4%
  • Ep 07: 14.8%
  • Ep 08: 16.4%
  • Ep 09: 12.7%
  • Ep 10: 15.6%
  • Ep 11: 15.4%
  • Ep 12: 22.8%
  • Average: 16.8%

Production Credits

Reviews

Do You Want to See More "Water Boys"?

First, it was a hit movie. In Summer 2003, the story was retold as a hit drama. Still can't get enough of "Water Boys"? Well then Fuji TV has just the thing for you this season. WATER BOYS is back... again.

In the movie, the lead was played by Tsumabuki Satoshi. In the first drama, it was given to Yamada Takayuki. For the third time around, they decided to go with Ichihara Hayato. He plays Mizushima Eikichi, who has just moved to a small town in the country. He used to go to the renowned "Aoba High School" in Tokyo, but his father moved to New York, and Eikichi decided to stay in Japan and live with his grandfather in this small town.

His new high school is "Himeno High School", which up until three years ago was an all-girls school and still has a student population which is over 90% female. The school is run by an uptight student president, and to get on her bad side is to make enemies with all the girls in the school. The small number of male students is bullied and forced to eat lunch together in a dank room.

The first student Eikichi meets is Yazawa Shiori. He doesn't make a very good first impression on her, and she treats him very coolly from then on. She is annoyed by his presence, but obviously because she actually likes him. On the way home from the first day of school, they are surprised when they both arrive at the same house and discover that they live together. It turns out that Shiori's mother is a friend of Eikichi's grandfather and they have no other place to stay due to some problem related to Shiori's father. This creates a lot of friction at home between the two young students, but this is only going to strengthen their relationship of course.

A male student, Yousuke immediately befriends Eikichi. He is trying to start a boy's swimming club at school, and he heard that Eikichi used to be on the swimming team at his old school. Eikichi adamantly refuses to join for some reason, but Yousuke is determined to start a swimming club, and believes that Eikichi will join eventually. He is assisted by Saotome-sensei, who is from the main cast of the movie (the effeminate one). Apparently he's a teacher at this school now.

In order to start the swimming club, they have to go through a lot of obstacles and uncooperative teachers - much like in the movie and first drama. When the team has still barely even become reality, they have a competition which they want Eikichi to compete in. This coincides with a point at which Eikichi's father asks him to come to New York, and he makes the last minute decision to stay. He runs to the site of the competition and he is quickly forced into a swimming suit and onto the starting blocks. When he gets in the water, we find out that he can hardly swim at all, and to make things worse, he gets a leg cramp and his swim suit comes off in the pool, making for a situation that embarrasses the whole school.

Since competitive swimming doesn't quite seem to be working out for the boys, Saotome-sensei suggests that they switch to synchronized swimming instead. He shows them the video of his team's performance (the last scene of the movie) and Yousuke immediately loves the idea. Unfortunately, Saotome-sensei has to deal with the exact same opposition from the rest of the school that we saw in the movie and the first drama, so the synchro team is allowed to exist only under the condition that they put on a performance before the end of the semester, which is only a matter of weeks away.

All the old background music is back again, and the theme song for the first drama by Fukuyama Masaharu is back with a new rendition. The question that prevailed in my mind from the very beginning is, "Do we need another WATER BOYS?" The movie was great. The first drama made sense, though it was already beginning to drag a little by then. But a second drama? How much more do we need to explore the concept of male synchronized swimming teams? I'm sure it's going to go through the same old pattern of obstacles that threaten the existence of the team, and the determination of the boys to overcome them all and continue on.

You may think that you've had enough, but Fuji TV estimates that the WATER BOYS series still has plenty of selling power left in it. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised to see "WATER BOYS 3" next year. I hope you like WATER BOYS, because there is plenty more left in store. I probably won't watch much of it this season, and you can definitely count me out for "WATER BOYS 3".

External Links

Finale

Water Boys Finale
Water Boys Finale
  • Title: WATER BOYS 2005夏
  • Title (romaji): Water Boys 2005 Natsu
  • Also known as: Water Boys 2005 Summer / Water Boys Finale
  • Episodes: 2
  • Viewership: 19.2, 19.7, Av-19.45
  • Broadcast period: 2005-Aug-19 to 2005-Aug-20
  • Air time: 21:00

Synopsis

Tanaka Masatoshi is having troubles getting into medical school, something he blames on all the time he spent on synchro two years earlier. While on a research trip to a remote southern island of Japan, he is forced into coaching a newly formed three member boys synchro team. Tanaka has to come to terms with his past and begins questioning his future, while the three boy synchro team dream of life off of the island.

Cast

Synchro Participants


Production Credits

External Links



Spring 2003
Fuji TV
Autumn 2003
Kao
Tuesday 21:00
Anata no tonari ni dareka iru


Spring 2004
Fuji TV
Autumn 2004
Wonderful Life
Tuesday 21:00
Medaka
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