Just began the new Takuya Kimura "Mirai E no 10 Count"!Our story begins with the zoom in on motorcycle wheels and gloves hands revving the engine as it speeds down the street......But as we pull back, we see that it’s not a motorcycle but a mere delivery scooter for take-out pizza, a contradiction that perfectly sums up the characteristics of the delivery guy on the bike~
Shogo Kirisawa(Takuya Kimura) is a former four-time boxing champion who, due to tragedy in his past regarding his deceased wife as well as the threat of a near-detached retina (a common trope for these boxing dramas!), has withdrawn not only from the boxing world but seemingly life itself…
Eking out a meager living as a pizza delivery man, he confesses to his friend (and former boxing colleague) Kai (Ken Yasuda) that he has no desire for living and “could die anytime”. This alarms Kai and, talking to their former coach Kenzo Ashiya (Akira Emoto) of 23 years ago, comes up with a plan to get Kirisawa back on his feet. Ashiya calls Kirisawa to his residence and informs him that since getting stomach cancer a year ago, he hasn't has much time as managing director for the boxing team, and now has announced his decision to retire. The school’s boxing team will be needing a new coach and he has decided that Kirisawa is the only man for the job.Kirisawa reluctantly takes the job, where he finds Ashiya’s daughter (and Kirisawa’s old teammate from back in the day) Makoto Oba (Yuki Uchida) is the current Principal of the school.
She is surprised to see Kirisawa rooked into the job, and curtly tells him that the school has changed since they attended- the school has become a respected hall of education and brutish things such as boxing has largely been ruled out. She tells him that he need not try hard at the Coach job since it will be dissolved soon enough, which is fine by Kirisawa.
Kirisawa is paired up with the wide-eyed Aoi Orihara (Hikari Mitsushima) who knows nothing of the world of pugilism and is clearly out of her depth, but she is a trooper and is dedicated to working hard at whatever task she is given.
She is a bit apprehensive when she is saddled with the dour and unmotivated Kirisawa, who barely makes eye contact with the small handful of kids who are desperately holding on the the boxing club...
There is Kaito Iba (Kaito Takahashi), the only three-year member, here because he’s in love with a manga girl who boxes…
Riku Tomobe (Takara Sakumoto) second year, who’s only here because he’s told he has to do something physical...
Tatsuya Tomonoi (Ryota Bando), who chose boxing in lieu of karate…
Akari Mizuno (Anna Yamada), who wants to become a stronger person…
…and lastly, petite Team Manager Ai Nishiyama (Sakura Kiryu)
None of them impress Kirisawa, and the feeling is mutual.
Later on, the kids wonder, "Why is that depressed sourpuss our coach?” But they are in for a surprise when the look up his name online and find out who Kirisawa really is and read up on all his past glories in the library! With pages and pages of his past successes, they now realize what an opportunity they have, getting this guy to coach them! Now if ONLY they could MOTIVATE him to try!
When Kirisawa strolls in to school the next day, he finds that the kids have set-up a sparring demonstration to attract new members. He wants no part of it but is quite literally badgered into lacing up a pair of gloves to spar with Iba, who desperately wants to be taken seriously and get trained seriously.
Kirisawa does an adequate job of dodging Iba’s weak jabs, but when he starts wildly hitting him, begging, “Please take us seriously!” Kirisawa’s reflexes get the better of him and he accidentally hits him a good one in the ribs, cracking a rib in the process!
Despite the pain, Iba is thrilled to have had an actual sparring session with someone for a change, but after a trip to the hospital, the straightlaced Orihara informs the team that she must report the injury to the principal and knows that this may well mark the dismissal of Kirisawa.
Faced with the threat of losing the only real coach they’ve had, the kids beg in anguish for Orihara to reconsider reporting the incident. “We finally have someone who can teach us Boxing! please don’t take him away!”
Their passion reaches both Orihara AND Kirisawa, who for the first time in a long time, sees the real desire the newbies have to learn and grow. But it will ultimately come down to how Kirisawa fares against the judgement of Oba and the rest of the school superiors….
Well, this is another tried and true tale of “Former champion down on his luck takes on a team of ragtag losers and coaches them into something they can be proud of!”, actually pretty surprised how much I liked it!
I expect the usual amount of “high School” baggage which of course comes with the territory, but i really like the kids, especially the Akari Mizuno character, who seems really bitter and promises a great back-story.And though the quiet and nerdy role of Orihara is a different one from the usual eccentric roles we’ve come to expect from Hikari Mitsushima, her habit of barking out scolding to the naughty students reminds me a LOT of her sadistic guard character in “Kangoku no Ohimesama”, and I won’t be surprised of they reveal that Orihara is a former delinquent, just sayin’…As far as Kirisawa, this is Takuya Kimura in another Takuya Kimura-type role, where he’s basically playing Takuya Kimura as the character. Still, you can always expect a certain amount of quality when you see his name attached to a project…wonder if his name still attracts the viewers like it once did….
