JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: Jinsei wa Joujoda

Jinsei wa Joujoda (Life is Good) / [Friends in Need]

WHAT IS "Jinsei wa Jojouda" ALL ABOUT?: This heart-wrenching drama brings together a bill collector, whose past as a promising young boxer was ended by a false charge, and a gambler, whose future as a brilliant intern was smashed when his jealousy drove his girlfriend to suicide.

Forced from the world of their dreams, they now struggle to forge a new path of survival.

Naito (Hamada) plays a former boxer down on his luck who is now working for a loan shark. Oogami (sp?) (Kimura) plays a gambler who has accumulated lots of debts. Kimura used to be an intern at a hospital but quit after his love (a fellow intern) kills herself. Throwing away his dreams about becoming a doctor he takes to gambling, hustling, etc to make ends meet. Naito chases Kimura into a bank (because Kimura owes Naito's firm money). Kimura tells the bank teller Saotome (toda) that Naito is holding a pistol. Toda likes Kimura instantly and wants to meet him again. The bank staff manages to apprehend Naito on the suspicion of him having a gun and Kimura makes a clean get away. Later Kimura calls Naito for help because he is being harassed by other loan sharks. The start of a beautiful friendship.

A new drama starring (SMAP) Tatsuya, Kimura and Masatoshi Hamada (Downtown). This is a story about a friendship between 2 outlaws.Hachi (Masatoshi Hamada) is working for consumer finance company. Kazuma (Takuya Kimura) borrowed money from the company and is running away from him. Finally, they cooparate and try to cheat money from females. On the other hand, Hachi has to correct money from a biolinist (Yuriko Ishida) but he loves her. Kazuma used to have a girl friend who has killed herself so he dropped out from his docter course. But a girl who is a doughter of a director of a hospital loves him. How can they succeed in thier life? Also, starring Naoko Iijima.

[FUJI TV Synopsis]: This heart-wrenching drama brings together a bill collector, whose past as a promising young boxer was ended by a false charge, and a gambler, whose future as a brilliant intern was smashed when his jealousy drove his girlfriend to suicide. Forced from the world of their dreams, they now struggle to forge a new path of "survival".

STARRING: Masatoshi Hamada, Takuya Kimura, Naoko Iijima, Yuriko Ishida, Naho Toda, Takashi Naito, Tomoe Kitaura, Matoba Koji and Susumu Kobayashi.
NETWORK: TBS
DURATION: October 13, 1995 through December 22, 1995. 11 episodes.
THEME SONG: "Oretachi ni asu wa aru" by SMAP
REVIEWS:

You would think that this drama with the pairing of popular actor, Kimura Takuya and Hama-chan of Downtown to be a super drama but it turns out a little more than average. It's nice to see these two act together and it's funny at times.-KNDY

It's a pretty good pairup between Hama-chan and KimuTaku. A very fun drama! - Yuko