(TV SERIES) The Greatest Teacher - A Drama Heavy with Very Interesting Premise Mystery Series

During the past several weeks, there were so many new shows released on Netflix that I was having a bit of challenge to keep up with them. But this Japanese series caught my attention due to its very intriguing premise. Hence I decided to just give it a try from 2 nights ago and finished it last night. OK then, I'll just get started.

Brief Story Line

Kujo Rina (Matsuoka Mayu - A Silent Voice, Fence TV series etc) was the hometeacher of Class 3D in Horai high school who during the graduation day was pushed down from 4th floor by one of her students. But instead of being dead, she found herself standing in front of the class on the first day of their previous year. Rina realized that she had gone back in time and decided to find out who among her 30 students that wanted to kill her within a year.

Some of the students were the bullied girl Ugumori Kanau (Ashida Mana - Cells at Work, Mother TV series etc), the trouble maker Sagara Rui (Kato Seishiro - Assasination Classrom: Graduation, Awaiting Kirin TV series etc) with his gang Uryu (Santoki Soma - The Promised Neverland etc), Nishino (Kayashima Mizuki - Master's Daughter TV series etc), Enami (Honda Hitomi - Pattiseries Mon TV series etc) & several others. There were also the intelligent girl Kochiya (Touma Ami - Revenge City etc), the one who wanted to make a movie Hoshizaki (Okudaira Daiken - Insomniac After School etc), the famous singer Mizuna (Utaha - Ice Cream Fever etc) and some others. However, during her investigation, Rina also had to readjust her life with her husband Kujo Ren (Matsushita Kouhei - Home not Alone TV series etc). 

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said above, this series has a really interesting plot. When I told my wife just a glimpse of the story, she was already intrigued but she would only watch it when she is in the mood in the future. Anyway, the early part of the series made me curious of what would happen. As the story progressed, it was clear that though there were some investigations, the series was drama heavy since it focused on the struggle of the students and Rina's relationship. Every episode covered one or more of the students who have their own personal problem which brought us closer to the responsible person.

The series had 10 episodes overall with standard 45 minutes duration, so it was not that hard to finish binge watching in two days. After several episodes, the story took a shocking turn which I did not expect but I really appreciated cause it gave the series some needed surprise. Through out the whole series, I tried to guess who actually pushed Rina but I was unable to do it till the very end. During opening & closing credits, I did not see if it was based on anything and could not find any info if it was adapted from manga/anime like many Japanese series that I have watched. So the writers Masataka Shibaki and Shogo Muto (writer of Kamen Rider Build TV series) should be applauded for their creativity.

The problems faced by the students were quite varied from bullying (biggest issue), self actualization, exploitation and even sexual orientation. All of them were explored in each episode and resolved through various means, but mostly through the rather unconventional method from Rina. Obviously it was not so easy to resolve them, but Rina got the support from her best friends Kaho (Kadokura Saaya - Uwakina Genba etc) & Tomomi (Morita Misato - If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student TV series etc). . 

The acting was quite OK to my opinion. Though I was not familiar with majority of the cast, I think they were pretty convincing in their roles. Some of the young actors and actresses looked youthful enough to be high school students, but few of them looked a bit too mature. Btw, this was not a brand new series (it was 2023 production), but I guess Netflix just acquired the rights. It's a good thing though, otherwise I would not have the opportunity to watch it. From what I read, there was a side story and spinoff of this series, but both of them were not available in Netflix despite being aired on Nippon TV at the same period with the original.

Overall I thought this was a quite enjoyable series. The plot was pretty fascinating and the way they managed to keep the mystery and how it would conclude till the very end was fantastic. Even though sometime the series could be a bit melodramatic (every single episode was filled with heavy tears), in general the story was still interesting. So if you are intrigued by the premise, you are welcome to give it a try. Just be ready for some heavy drama with sad and tragic moments. However if you prefer a more mystery focused and looking for some thrills, then this might not be to your liking. The choice is yours. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars