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Short summary

Having achieved his life-long dream of being a pilot, Hajime is first officer on an international jetliner and is now working to become a captain. He can't seem to please Captain Koda, who has become an exacting taskmaster since an air incident many years ago. To complicate matters, he begins a relationship with stubborn and straight-talking mechanic, Ayumi, whose parents died many years ago in the plane crash for which Captain Koda feels he is responsible. What follows is a story of 21st century love, dreams, and passion.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Rich Vulture
    One thing that is left after the credit title of "Good Luck" fades is that a great popular entertainment does not depend on the popularity of the stars. A 'feel good' series, despite the fact that it starred some of the most popular names in J-dramas, "Good Luck" demonstrates a great ensemble of all elements of 'good movie' working in harmony.

    Takuya Kimura – iconic as he is in the landscape of J-entertainment- is a genuinely talented actor oozing with potentials. Although Hajime Shinkai – his character – is not what you would call a 'multi-layered' character, his portrayal of this highly spirited aspiring young co-pilot is genuine and credible. Kimura was able to avoid the pitfall of portraying this straightforward character as a comical, two dimensional character, instead, Shinkai is presented to the audience as a genuine, credible and quite honestly, lovable person.

    Kimura's co-star – veteran stage actor Shinichi Tsutsumi (One Missed Call, Drive) only adds more credits to this series. Tsutsumi's character – Captain Kazuki Koda – a too serious senior pilot and eventually Shinkai's mentor – is a more complex character. There are more layers to Koda's character than Shinkai's character and as Kimura was able to add more depth to his two-dimensional character, Tsutsumi was able to portray perfectly all of Koda's multi-layered character. I would say that if Kimura was excellent in his role, Tsutsumi – almost stealing the show – was outstanding. He communicated Koda's grief, fear and shame through his eyes and facial expression – just enough, not exaggerated but very effective. I would say pay attention to Tsutsumi's facial expression while he was talking to Shinkai in the last cockpit scene of the final flight.

    The pairing of Kimura and Kou Shibasaki as Ayumi is quite striking. At first I thought that the two does not have enough chemistry on screen, especially because being familiar with Shibasaki's cult movies record (Battle Royale, Kakashi, One Missed Call) I ridiculously thought that she was 'too mean' looking for Kimura. It turns out that she was perfect as Ayumi, a girl character that is refreshingly not the so-typical 'submissive office lady' type of J-doramas. Although I still think that she has more on-screen chemistry with Tsutsumi, probably because both have worked together previously.

    Hitomi Kuroki is casted as senior Cabin Attendant Noriko Togashi, Koda's ex girlfriend. While her character is not really prominent, Kuroki is also fun to watch, at first I did not really recognize her as Yoshimi Matsubara, the distressed mother from Dark Water.

    "Good Luck" might be supported by great names of J-movies, but its success as the best dorama in 2003 is not because of its stars, but because the stars were really able to show their star quality in working together to make this an effective, fun, interesting, worth-watching after hour fun.
  • comment
    • Author: Whitescar
    Having achieved his life-long dream of being a pilot, Hajime is first officer on an international jetliner and is now working to become a captain. But he can't seem to please Captain Mizushima, who has become an exacting taskmaster since an air incident many years ago. To complicate matters, he begins a relationship with stubborn and straight-talking mechanic, Ayumi, whose parents died many years ago in the plane crash for which Captain Mizushima feels he is responsible. What follows is a story of 21st century love, dreams and passion. This is a very good drama and is on the top ten J-dramas on Jdorama.com At the moment it is number 6. This was the first J-drama I've seen and one of the best!
  • Series cast summary:
    Takuya Kimura Takuya Kimura - Hajime Shinkai 10 episodes, 2003
    Ko Shibasaki Ko Shibasaki - Ayumi Ogawa 10 episodes, 2003
    Yasunori Danta Yasunori Danta - Kenzaburo Ota 10 episodes, 2003
    Naoto Takenaka Naoto Takenaka - Jane Saito 10 episodes, 2003
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