Notes On Nanba MG5

 

In the spirit of “My Boss My Hero”, the Nagase Tomoya drama where a Yakuza heir goes back to High School under guise of ‘regular” folks, comes Nanba MG5, the story of the youngest son of a Delinquent Dynasty who hides his dyed locks under a wig and goes in search of a normal education with regular kids!

Shotaro Mamiya stars as Tsuyoshi Nanba, the strangest and undefeated delinquent of the neighborhood, getting ready for his FIRST day at school! His outlandish and brash family have come out to cheer him on, much to the aggravation of the neighbors!

There is proud Papa Masaru (Takashi Ukaji), a veteran yankee of yesteryear, Mom Naomi (Sarina Suzuki), Ex-queen of a famous sukeban band of delinquents, eldest son Takeshi (Shinnosuke Mitsushima) is the legendary Thug who terrorised the neighborhood, and even youngest sister Ginko (Nanoka Hara) is getting famous as an influencer online!

Tsuyoshi is expected to take the reins of the clan and make the family proud by going to the designated ”Yankee” school for delinquents…but unbeknownst to his family and friends, he wants a more thoughtful and stable life than the yankee style would give him. 

SO, without his family’s knowledge, he has enrolled in the “normal” high school next door to the Juvie school and, on the way to class, changes out of his Tokkoufuku, covers up his blond hair and dons a simple school uniform…and is transformed into a normal student!

He strides on past the Delinquent High School and stoically steps into the “regular” High School where he is immediately calmed. Unlike the Juvie School which focused so much on loud clamoring and fisticuffs, where kids roam freely and chat about innocent things! 

From almost the get go, he strikes up a friendship with a pretty young girl named Miyuki Fujita (Aoi Morikawa)  whom he immediately falls for, and things look like they’re going to go smoothly...

…but when he bumps into a wannabe yankee named  Shimazaki (Hiro Harumoto), he almost reveals his true nature when the guy acts tough! But when he sees how timid he is, Tsuyoshi takes pity on the guy, and even becomes friends with him! But this will lead to bigger troubles….

Leaving the school that day, the meek Shimazaki is immediately picked on by the delinquents at the neighboring school. He tries to step back, but in the end, rushes back to the rest stop to change back into his Yankee self and rescue Shimazaki. Thus he becomes enemies of a gang he might normally have been respected by!

As Tsuyoshi is wearing his mask, he goes unrecognized by his classmate. After the battle, he gives Shimazaki a stern talking to, hoping to dissuade him from trying to be a delinquent….

But at school the next day, Tsuyoshi finds that his involvement with Shimazaki’s bullying has had a bad effect on him, making him even MORE want to be a delinquent, now even DRESSING like Tsuyoshi! Even worse, Miyuki frowns upon violence and thinks this masked Juvie is a BAD influence on Shimazaki!

Meanwhile the news of this masked delinquent beating up the gang has led back to their leader, who instructs his newest recruit Godai (Fuju Kamio) to set up a trap, lure the masked man out and deal with him permanently!

They use Shimazaki as bait, once again mercilessly bullying him, but this time Tsuyoshi tries to stand back, knowing if he rescues Shimazaki again, he will become even MORE infatuated with him!

But Miyuki tries to stop the bullying herself, and when even HER safety is in jeopardy, Tsuyoshi knows he has to step in and once again makes QUICK work of the gang, promptly thrashing them!

The kids are grateful for the rescue, but Miyuki can’t help but lecture Tsuyoshi about what a bad influence he is and how wrong it is to use violence.

In his tough-guy persona, Tsuyoshi acts gruff, but he goes too far when he calls her ugly, a quip that REALLY offends her! 

! ! ! !

"Ooops!" thinks Tsuyoshi..."I overdid it! She's PISSED at me!!!"

"I'm not Ugly! I'M NOT UGLY!"

They stalk off, and it’s only once they're gone that Godai reveals himself to Tsuyoshi as his enemy and informs him that he will be taking him down. They square off, but when the hear the gang returning, Godai says he will deal with him another time, wanting to take care of him ALONE.

Next day, Of course Shimazaki even MORE obsessed with him, talking about how BADASS that masked Yankee was..and now he even has the hatred of Miyuki to deal with!

'Man, he was so cool!" gushes Shimazaki.

"Violence is NO answer to problems!" insists Miyuki.

"And...and..." she adds....

"...He called me UGLY!!!!!" she cries out in frustration!!!

Sigh, looks like this going undercover thing might be harder than he thinks!

HAHAHA, So far, NanbaMG5 is an entirely fun and charming show, something I really needed after watching so many DARK dramas in a row! 

Somehow very wholesome and slapstick with a really great cast- and Aoi Morikawa is the most disarmingly adorable that I’ve ever seen!

Also this wonderful running gag (smetime quite literally) where the ONLY ONE who knows of Tsuyoshi’s double life..is his Shiba Inu, Matsu! The dog (who is hilariously also the show’s narrator) witnesses Tsuyoshi changing and tries to warn the family…but of course all they hear is incessant yipping! HAHAHAHA

HAHAHA, Gonna really enjoy this one!!