Asuka High School March! Review: Boring Take On Interesting Mechanical Engineering

Asuka High School March! follows the experiences of Nao Yoshino who unwittingly enrolls herself in an engineering course at a college having 99.7% male students. Each episode of the dorama deals with the backstory of a supporting character and shows how Nao helps them and makes a difference in their lives.

At the same time, she also learns about herself and grows as a person. Her classmates may act weird sometimes but eventually, they grow fond of the only girl in their class and help her in different ways. There is a pinch of romance too but not enough to call it a romantic drama. It is a high school drama depicting the lives of engineering students coming from different backgrounds.

Asuka High School March! (2011) (9 Episodes)

Nao Yoshino (Emi Takei) wants to attend First Female High School. But her bad performance in the entrance exams lands her in Asuko Technical High School which has barely 3 female students in the university. Stuck in a physically demanding technical course with only male students as classmates, Nao wants to leave the school as soon as she can. But each day she learns new things about her classmates that slowly make her like her new friends as well as the technical course.

Let’s have a look at what is likable and what is not so likable about this show.

I enjoyed watching ‘Asuka High School March!’ because…

…it was a decent watch. The drama starts with Nao trying to adjust to her new school and new course. Being one of the three girls in the entire school, she finds it difficult to get accustomed to the attention she receives.

Also, the guys around are not all nice. Some guys roam bare-chested, some get into brawls, and so on. Poor Nao has to wait to take another exam so she can switch schools but till then she has to put up with the unpleasantness she experiences at school.

Her only respite is the mysterious Aruto Yokoyama who is seldom present in class. She feels drawn to the reserved Aruto who works at a host club to support his family that consists of only his ailing mother.

With each day at school, Nao learns something new about her classmate and her opinion about them slowly changes. The boys too start to help to make things a little easy and comfortable for Nao.

What I liked most about this show is the passion each student at Asuka showed for engineering. I had never seen a drama dealing with the actual process of making core materials for machines. This is the first time I got a glimpse into mechanical engineering and it was quite an interesting watch. Every episode showed the reason why the characters in the show took up the technical course and what challenges they face in their personal lives, and what keeps them going.

I did NOT LIKE ‘Asuka High School March!’ because…

…I did not feel attached to the characters. Except for one or two, I did not like any of the supporting characters. The storyline was interesting as I thought a single girl in a class full of boys would be fun to watch. Sadly, the show delves into serious life problems such as poverty, broken families, family pressure, and so on. I don’t mind such stories but the narration was not engaging enough for me to love it.

…the supposed romance between Nao and Aruto was nothing but a joke. No, seriously! Nao likes Aruto and he apparently likes her too. But he is hardly there in the show. Their romance shows potential but eventually goes nowhere. If you plan to watch this show for some innocent high school romance, then you will be highly disappointed.

Even the conclusion of the show left me disappointed. It left a lot of questions hanging in the air and it seemed a half-hearted attempt at showing a realistic ending.

 

 

Asuka High School March! is a forgettable drama. The only reason I picked it up was because it was available on Netflix. I think I need to request Netflix India to take up better Japanese dramas. There are so many good J-dramas out there I don’t know why they won’t pick those.

I give ‘Asuka High School March!’ 2 out of 5 ratings. Watch it only if you want to watch a drama on mechanical engineering.

 

Image Courtesy: TV Asahi

 

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