Asian Addicts Anonymous

マジスカ学園

Romanized title: Majisuka Gakuen
Broadcast station: TV Tokyo
Broadcast dates: 8 January – 26 March 2010
Episodes: 12
Cast: Maeda Atsuko, Nachu, Oshima Yuko, Shinoda Mariko, AKB48
Opening theme: “Majisuka Rock’n’Roll” by AKB48
Ending theme: “Sakura no Shiori” by AKB48
Synopsis: Are you serious? Life means nothing if you’re not, or so believes Maeda Atsuko, a young girl who just transferred to Yankee Heaven Majisuka Gakuen where fighting is a way of life and the students battle it out to see just who is the best fighter of all.

The story starts out with the transfer of two students to Majisuka Gakuen, Maeda Atsuko [played by Maeda Atsuko] and Onizuka Daruma [played by Nachu]. Onizuka is a fierce-looking giant of a girl with a wicked headbutt (basically her only usable move). She transferred to the school in order to climb the stairs and fight Rappapa (the strongest fighters in the school, if not the entire area). The reason for Maeda’s transfer is unknown initially, but we later find out it is due to the death of her best friend Minami.

Onizuka fails in her attempt to beat Rappapa. After her defeat, Hormone (the fighters in the same class as Maeda and Onizuka) attack her. Maeda was just going to leave her to get beaten, but she overheard the word “seriously.” Maeda is a very serious person herself and she takes offense to people who use the word lightly and those who make fun of others who wish to live seriously. Thus, fighter Maeda is released and she single-handedly defeats all of Hormone causing rumors of her strength to fly. Onizuka, witnessing Maeda’s strength, decides to become her disciple and calls her “Atsu-ne”  [it combines Maeda’s first name with part of the word for sister, “onee”].

Rappapa catches wind of the rumors about Maeda, but decide to sit back and watch as fighter after fighter tries to take Maeda on. When Maeda wins fight after fight, Rappapa becomes worried and begins to make their moves to destroy her. Maeda at first can’t be bothered. She is quiet and keeps to herself. She has no interest in climbing the stairs to take on Rappapa. After what happened to Minami, she doesn’t want to deal with friends, but Onizuka won’t leave her be and Maeda begins to thaw a bit. As Rappapa closes in on Maeda, those Maeda defeated in the past join together out of respect for Maeda and begin to help her along the way.

The vice president of Rappapa, Sado [AKB48 member Shinoda Mariko], is in control of things while the president, Oshima Yuko [played by AKB48 member Oshima Yuko], is recovering at the hospital. At first she requests the Maeda not be harmed and that the 4 queens of Rappapa should leave her alone, but as Yuko’s reign is threatened right before graduation, Sado decides to get serious and destroy Maeda, especially since she doesn’t think a girl like that should be in control of the school.

Yuko is a patient in the hospital where Maeda works part-time after school. At first, neither girl knows who the other is. Yuko finds out first that Maeda is the new girl in school that everyone is talking about. It is not until almost the final episode that Maeda learns who Yuko really is. Throughout the drama, Yuko is giving Maeda advice from friends to fighting. Yuko really wants to fight Maeda, but she is unable to do so. It turns out that Yuko has a terminal illness and doesn’t have long to live. So she does her best to mentor the person she decides will be her replacement. She watches Maeda grow stronger and better with each episode and experience.

My thoughts: I did enjoy this more than I thought I would. It is equal parts serious and silly. Serious in that it does cover some more serious topics about loyalty, friendship, and what it truly means to be strong and serious. Silly in the constant fighting and the actions of the characters. The character of Onizuka Daruma adds a lot of comedic effect, allowing for some heavier moments to be relieved. I do find it odd that Onizuka was at first toted as a fighter to be reckoned with, but later you see that if she can’t headbutt then she is totally useless. In fact, she gets beaten to a pulp in nearly every single episode. Quite pathetic.

I liked watching Maeda grow and change and face the demons from her past. I can’t believe that it actually took almost the entire series just to find out what the traumatic event from her past was. In each episode, we are given flashbacks and they get longer and longer until finally, we get the whole story behind Maeda’s coldness and her decision not to have friends.

The plot is pretty straightforward until you get to this one first year who is orchestrating everything she can behind the scenes. Her goal is to sneak her way to the top of the school’s food chain. As there is no resolution to this particular plot and you never learn exactly what her ambition is, it confuses me and I wonder if the show really needed this plot. Although, it did keep the action going and the people attacking Maeda, which was the point I guess.

I am disappointed in the ending. One, because of the aforementioned plot hole, and two, because the ending seemed a little tame compared to the rest of the show. By the end, Yuko can no longer fight, she is too weak. She does manage to make it to graduation where she calls Maeda out and hands her the keys to the school. After all the explosiveness of each episode to this point, the tameness is a bit of a letdown for me. The way the series ends, though, does allow room for a second season. One where the first year plotter finally faces off against Maeda, but who knows if that will actually happen.

Maeda’s Fights:

1. Hormone – they eventually become friends/followers of Maeda
2. The Kabuki Sisters – join forces with Maeda in the end
3. Gakuran – a girl who dresses as a boy and later falls in love with Maeda (she fought Maeda for Daruma and that fight made her fall for Maeda instead. Also, Daruma confesses to Gakuran that she also likes “Atsu-ne”)
4. Sanshou Sisters – Gothic Lolita yankees? These girls don’t become a part of Maeda’s pack after she defeats them
5. Choukoku – becomes a part of Maeda’s team, but always seems to stand alone and aloof, but she does show she cares for Maeda and tries to help her out along the way
6. Shibuya – the 1st Queen Maeda defeated and the time when Maeda really starts to let Onizuka in
7. Black – the 2nd queen defeated, not by Maeda, but by the Kabuki Sisters, Onizuka, and Gakuran for the sake of Maeda (their win was a complete accident that would probably never work in the real world, but definitely worth seeing)
8. Gekikara – the 3rd queen defeated by Maeda. She is one sick puppy who targeted all of the people around Maeda. This caused Maeda to snap and she viciously fought against her and won (this is where Maeda’s past was revealed)
9. Torigoya – the last of the 4 queens defeated by Maeda. She had a special ability to see secrets that people want to keep hidden most, she then whispers in people’s ears driving them crazy. But thanks to her, Maeda faces her past and what happened to her best friend Minami.
10. Yabakune – the rival gang of Majisuka Gakuen. Minami’s little sister (with the help of the nefarious Nezumi) plotted to have Maeda taken out by the Yabakune gang just like Minami was killed. Sado backs Maeda up and they defeat Yabakune together.
11. Sado – the best fight of the entire series for me. Maeda takes all of the things she learned from the previous fights with (now) friends and uses all of her strength to defeat Sado’s “serious”

There was no fight in the last episode. Yuko wasn’t up to the task, but she told Maeda that she had really wanted to fight her to see Maeda’s strength for herself. There is a challenge issued by Nezumi and friend, but that is where the series ends.