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Another Japanese drama staring Aya Ueto @_@ based on the eponyme manga.

The story in 2 words.

Oka is a fresh tennis player. She never touch a racket before but she admires Ryuuzaki a member of the tennis club.

She has been chosen to be one of the 5 titulars of the team by the new coach who sees in Oka a huge potential even if she is a fresh player. He is gonna lead her to be a world player (<< A famous japanese female player in the WTA tour ?? let me doubt :p )

As being a beginner, her senior team mates were not agreed with the coach’s choice.

As expected in a such “manga/sport story”, she is gonna practice harder and harder more than anyone else, fight with her team mates and against herself to gain confidence, improve her tennis (not hard since she is beginner ), ……

How is the drama ?

I have seen the anime when i was younger. The only thing i could remember is the ugly graphism ^_^ (mid of 70′) and a character named “Papillon” (butterfly in french ; i assume it is Ryuuzaki in the drama ^_^ ). That is all i could remember lol

Frankly, how disapointing !!!
I had waited like a year to watch the drama ! I discovered Aya Ueto in Koukou Kyoushi and she was great in it ; at least i like her in KKK (the drama not the sect ). Just my personal opinion as well as this entire blog
In spite of staring Aya plus a story based on tennis, watch the drama was ……… a pain ! Hopefully it was only 9 episodes short ! I mean 9 episodes LONG !! lol
When i started watching it, i kind of regretted for the short lenght of the drama. I guess the producers had realized while the drama were aired that the audience was not as much ashttp://www.christblog.eu/2005/03/12/kou-kou expected and they canceled some parts to show up the end faster

Ok Aya is cute in the drama but more than once i wanted to kick her ass haha Stop crying ! Stop doubting ! She is sooo weak !
To be honest, producers did a mistake on the casting. I’m pretty sure Aya as been chosen because of being a “famous idol” in Japan. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help her !
As far as i like her a lot in Azumi and KKK, in Ace wo Nerae it is obviously a mistake to have chosen Aya ! She doesn’t match (haha) to be a tennis player ! She is just here to keep you going on the drama lol.
(or at least, they had to change her look !)

I have seen a lot of drama and most of the time, the 2 or 3 first episodes are slow ; time to setup the story then the second half of the drama could be watch in a row lol
So i thought Aya Ueto + story = good alchemy able to keep us till the end.
Unfortunately nope (again lol) ; it misses a third element !!

Remember ? Ace wo Nerae is based on Tennis ! As any sports story, you are expected great matches, great battles !! Plus Oka is supposed to become a world player !
Pffffff i have stopped counting her “great” matches : 6/0 6/0 or she won but without marking any point or touch the ball once lol
Plus the director(s) suck(s) ! during the entire 9 long episodes, all matches are mainly close up ! There was barely a global view of the game !!
Why ?
Because Aya moves like a “monkey” ! She doesn’t move like a tennis player, she is not accurate at all (ok i can conceed she is a beginner but … ), despite of her “determined” side she is “crying” a lot, a whole lot !
Surprising since Aya was really great in Azumi. In Azumi, she had a coach who trained her. She practiced how to handle a sword a lot before shooting the scene.
In Ace wo Nerae, instead of having a tyrant coach in front of the camera, producers better had to hire a coach off camera !

So Ace wo Nerae is (unfortunately) far away the worst drama i saw since then despite of Aya Ueto and tennis story.
Probably because i expected a lot from Ace wo Nerae ^_^

There is a special episode and have no idea if i’m gonna watch it.

By the way, Aya is really kawaii though hahaha
Her live tour 2005 (concert) is great ! Especially the end when she sings Ace wo Nerae end theme ^_^

Some screens from the drama first episode :

Oka “spying” …

… a training session.

This is Ryuusaki (Papillon (Butterfly in french) ; wondering where this nick comes from )

Noobs’ training

Seniors “leading” by Ryuusaki

Oka first meeting with her future coach ; she doesn’t know yet. She bumped him.

“Tension ? What is it for ?” lol

hehe noticed her huge scarf ? Just reminds me her huge yellow scarf in KKK. So kawaii ^_^
Actually i could have done a “pretty woman” remake with Aya with captured screens. But too lazy to go over those 9 episodes