Gokusen Drama Season 2, Episode 8
It's a Kuma episode! YAY!! I was happy when they kept Kuma from season 1 in this series, as he is a fun character, and it provides some continuity between seasons. And now there is finally an episode devoted to him. Up until now they have kept him pretty much on the sidelines, providing useful backup or alerting Yankumi of trouble when needed. But now Kuma is in trouble again, and only Yankumi can save him!
In season 1, Kuma's father passed away, and after graduating high school, Kuma took over running his father's ramen shop. He supports his mother and two younger siblings who all work in the shop. However times have been harsh, and Kuma's family is in some trouble. There is a local yakuza/gang type group that is demaning money from Kuma's family. It looks like your basic 'protection money' type of setup. Kuma is proud, and doesn't want to tell anyone of his troubles. He doesn't need any help. He figures that he has graduated and is no longer one of Yankumi's students, so he can't always go running to her for help all the time.
He does get some help from Hayato, who helps Kuma out by working in his shop. (Hayato in his Ramen shop uniform is really cute! ^_^;) Hayato witnesses Kuma being threatened by the gang, and agrees to not say anything, and continues helping Kuma, but this can't go on for much longer. Unfortunately Kuma can't quite handle the threat all alone. Things escalate until the ramen shop is trashed by the gang, and he is seriously beat up when he goes face to face with them.
What Kuma learns in this episode is that once Yankumi is your teacher, she will ALWAYS be your teacher, and be there for you, regardless of if you have graduated or not. We get to see Yankumi be totally badass as one Yakuza vs another, and she totally kicks ass. Even better, we finally get to see Yankumi's grandfather be all Yakuza-like and intimidating, and really show the other guys who is boss. It's so awesome! ^_^
There is a subplot in this episode involving the appearance of Hayato's father. He is a great guy too! I LOVE the actor playing Hayato's dad. I have seen him in so many things and he is always great :D Hayato and his father have a very interesting relationship that involves a lot of butting heads and hot tempers. We can really see where Hayato gets his personality. And we also get to see Hayato's home life and his brother!
All in all, this is an awesome episode!
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