Review on Japanese Drama: PRIDE (2004)

Title: Pride
Type: Japanese Drama
Duration : 11 episodes
Theme Song: Born to Love You
Cast:
Kimura Takuya as Satonaka Halu
Takeuchi Yuko as Murase Aki
Sakaguchi Kenji as Hotta Yamato
Ichikawa Somegoro as Ikegawa Tomonori
Sato Koichi as Hyodo Yuichiro

Synopsis:
Halu ( Kimura Takuya) is the captain and the star player of an ice hockey team who has nothing on his mind but playing hockey.  He treats love as a game and believes women can't be trusted.  He also was advised by coach Anzai, that he should never love a woman to continue being an iceman.  His coach was hospitalized though and was replaced by a rival coach, Hyodo Ruichiro, who has trained overseas. Halu is not receptive to the new coach and refused to accept his criticisms. 
Aki (Takeuchi Yuko) is a naive office girl who has been patiently waiting for her architect boyfriend although he has not contacted her for the whole 2 years he was abroad.  Her friends have been urging her to forget about her boyfriend since he obviously has forgotten about her already.  They watched a hockey game and there she sees Halu for the first time.
After the game, they went to the bar to look for cute guys and end up with the hockey team players.  Aki wasn’t so enthusiastic about it and decides to go home but not before Halu sees her. He decides to go after her and asks his teammates help to beat him up. This gets the attention of Aki and amused her that he will go to that extent just to get her email address (although it’s actually to send text messages through his phone). 

With the aid of her friend, Aki reluctantly goes on a date with Halu and it became obvious that there was mutual attraction between them.  Halu was attracted to her because he sees her as the girl of the last century and Aki was drawn to him because she could feel that Halu has a lot of pain that he hides behind the facade his overflowing self-confidence.

Thereafter, they agreed to have a relationship but it will all be a game which both of them can’t be serious about the relationship. Halu will be Aki’s temporary lover until such time that her boyfriend comes back for her and then it will be bye-bye for both of them...

Review: (major spoilers!!!)

So I might be biased but I am completely lost in Takuya’s eyes specially when he gives you that devilish grin and winks (drools). His gaze is just too intense I get lost in them (hehehe). When I started this series, I didn’t expect much and thought I would just be forwarding the show as I do the others but I was really surprised it hooked me in.  Halu plays a surprisingly warm iceman.  He draws me in with the raw emotions of his character that I can’t help wanting to rush to his side and give him a warm hug.  Yuko also played her part so well that I can understand why Halu would be attracted to her kind of girl. 
I love how their love affair slowly developed that I fell in love with both characters. The only thing I didn’t like about the story was when the long-lost boyfriend came back, Aki wavered and decided to go to his side despite telling everyone she has definitely forgotten about him. But maybe that’s what a girl of the last century is like...habits are hard to break.

I didn't understand though when Aki decided to marry the ex-boyfriend and Halu decides to go to Canada to pursue a professional career in the NHL.  This despite it being obvious that they both feel strongly for each other but just have too much PRIDE to admit it to each other.  

Overall, it was a story of romance, sacrifice, friendship and PRIDE.
Until now, I can still hear the theme song playing so for that, I wilI give this show 8.5 stars out of 10. If you watch this show, you just might fall in love...beware :)