Recommended: Suzuki Sensei

It's taken a while, but hats off to Chuks for subbing this series. This series ended with a story over three episodes concerning how Suzuki sensei gets his girlfriend pregnant and what affect this has on his students. After seven episodes of Suzuki sensei trying to sort out their moral issues, he finds himself under the same kind of scrutiny. And while all this going on, we watch the slow descent of another teacher, Ashiko, towards a nervous breakdown.

It's well written, and especially well acted. The producers have to be congratulated for finding such a strong cast of child actors. They're all well cast and genuine and helped to create a believable atmosphere for the show. And talking of atmosphere, I loved how the scenes in the school room lacked any bright colours at all.

Despite the idea of being able to listen to the teacher's thinking while he deals with various issues, and although the concept of a class discussing a teacher's moral standing is pretty unlikely, this show was one of the more realistic representations of school life that I've seen on Japanese TV. It was certainly one of the more interesting.

And that short scene right at the end, where we see the consequences of Suzuki's actions in the very first scene, was a neat little touch.