Jdramas, Sprout and Grouplove

So I've been following a few Kdramas and Jdramas lately and to be honest, none of them have had me very excited lately and I hadn't actually truly enjoyed any of them until I watched the first episode of Sprout a few days ago.

Aren't you just happy Johnny released the image ban on their idols? You should be or else all we'd be seeing in this poster would be pixelated cartoons of our favorite boys.

I'd actually read the manga a few months before they announced that they'd be making a drama adaptation with Chinen Yuri, Jesse Lewis, Tanaka Juri, Hashimoto Ryosuke etc etc.

I was excited for the fact that some of my favorite Johnny's boys were going to be in a new drama (particularly for Jesse because he is right up there with Okamoto Keito in my Japanese loves list), but to be honest, I wasn't excited about the drama itself. The manga struck me as yet another high school love triangle/square interpretation, the lead character rather selfish with very few redeeming characters, the plot rushed and the premise itself not very unique, so I was expecting the same for its drama adaptation.

And while I wasn't entirely wrong on that part - it is just another stereotypical Japanese High School Shoujo adaptation - what made me change my mind about the drama was, of all things, its soundtrack.

You can probably tell by the number of posts on this blog dedicated to music that I am a sucker when it comes to good music. I'm pretty used to Kdramas having relatively good soundtracks with foreign songs mixed in (e.g. Coffee Prince) and the reason I love my all-time favorite Korean Drama/Sitcom Soulmate, has a lot to do with the tone set by its amazing soundtrack.

But Jdramas on the other hand tend to concentrate more on the musical scores than guesting obscure foreign bands that people don't tend to float to in Japan. I mean, how could I expect anything from a drama which used Hana Egao as their main theme? No offence fellow JUMPers, but I just cannot take that song seriously. But after watching Sprout's skillful use of score, videography and the preconceived notions of what's going to happen next, being bombarded by an awesome soundtrack is almost overkill.

It is for this reason that I think Sprout has the potential of becoming more than just another high-school teeny-bop drama with glaringly handsome leads and side characters (Jesse, you are killing me with your handsomeness in this drama). In the first episode alone, they managed to sneak in TWO  Grouplove songs.

Don't know Grouplove? Let me make it easier for you. They sang the original Tongue Tied (the song used as the victory song at nationals for the kids from Glee). Ring any bells yet? Okay.

I practically SCREAMED when I heard Grouplove's Itchin' on a Photograph the first few minutes into the drama. I just did not expect that song to be used in such a manner haha.

And then the drama proceeded to floor me once again when they used Grouplove's Betty's a Bombshell when the two lead characters finally hold hands and the entire "meeting the person of your destiny" thing comes into play and I cannot even start to explain how appropriate this song is for this scene.

So the combination of awesome music, Jesse Lewis' wonderful mystique and Chinen Yuri's fresh looks has officially sold me on this drama. Sue me for being a shallow fangirl, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the next episode just for these three things.

At the same time, I'm glad they decided to add a little background to Miku's feelings for Sou, because in the manga, her feelings came out of nowhere and were rather abrupt if you ask me. Which is why most people who read the manga tend to hate her in the first place. Hopefully the writers address those issues and try to make the characters less one-dimensional and more loveable. I sincerely hope they don't throw away Jesse's character away too soon either like they did in the Manga. I know he's probably going to have the most kiss scenes in the entire drama, but seriously, Jesse Lewis needs more love anyway.

Congratulations Japan. You've got me fangirling over you once again. <3

Ada, signing out.