Series synopsis
Dragon Sakura, also known as ドラゴン桜 is a Japanese drama comedy television series that premiered on TBS on July 8, 2005. It ended on June 27, 2021. It stars Hiroshi Abe, Masami Nagasawa, Tomohisa Yamashita and Yui Aragaki.
A struggling lawyer, Kenji Sakuragi, takes a position at private school Tatsuyama Gakuen to pay off his debts. Kenji decides to try to turn this hopeless school into one of the elite institutions in Japan to help rejuvenate his career. His barometer of success will be to get five of his students admitted to the prestigious Tokyo University the following year. But rather than cramming them with lots of general information, his down-to-earth class concentrates on unknown techniques for passing the ...
Premise
A struggling lawyer, Kenji Sakuragi, takes a position at private school Tatsuyama Gakuen to pay off his debts. Kenji decides to try to turn this hopeless school into one of the elite institutions in Japan to help rejuvenate his career. His barometer of success will be to get five of his students admitted to the prestigious Tokyo University the following year. But rather than cramming them with lots of general information, his down-to-earth class concentrates on unknown techniques for passing the entrance examination and how to live a good life in these turbulent times. His refreshing outlook and strategy may just be what is needed to turn around the future prospects of himself and his students and teach the rest of us a thing or two as well!
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Hiroshi Abe as Kenji Sakuragi
- Masami Nagasawa as Naomi Mizuno
- Tomohisa Yamashita as Yusuke Yajima
- Yui Aragaki as Yoshino Kosaka
- Teppei Koike as Hideki Ogata
- Jun Miho as Yuko Mizuno
- Akiyoshi Nakao as Ichiro Okuno
- Saeko as Maki Kobayashi
Supporting cast
- Yoko Nogiwa as Yuriko Tatsuno
- Minori Terada
- Mitsuru Karahashi
- Momosuke Mizutani as Jiro Okuno
- David Ito as Masanao Ochiai
- Mako Ishino as Setsuko Yajima
- Kazuko Kato as Miyako Okuno
- Yousuke Saito as Tokihisa Kondo
- Shin Yazawa as Nozomi Yamamoto
- Ryô Hashizume as Shota Kuriyama
- Nobue Iketani as Mitsue Kobayashi
- Eiki Kitamura as Student of Todai
Guest cast
- Kyoko Hasegawa as Mamako Ino
- Neo Inoue as [Student / Fujii's former classmate]
- Mizuki Yoshida as Kiyono Rie [Student]
- Jingi Irie as Kajitani Kazuma [Matsubara's assistant]
Episodes
This series spans 3 seasons with 22 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 1 | October 15, 2005 | October 15, 2005 |
| Season 1 | 11 | July 8, 2005 | September 16, 2005 |
| Season 2 | 10 | April 25, 2021 | June 27, 2021 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
NG Special Hasegawa Kyoko and Abe Hirose talking and commenting some NG scenes of the drama. |
October 15, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idiots and ugly girls, head for Tokyo University! | July 8, 2005 |
| 2 | Know your own weaknesses! | July 15, 2005 |
| 3 | Play! Taking an exam is like a sport! | July 22, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Episode 1 Lawyer Kenji Sakuragi rocketed to fame after taking a group of students from low-ranked Ryuzan High and getting them accepted to prestigious Tokyo University. Since then, he’s had a successful career running his own law practice specializing in turning around failing schools. Now he’s been asked to step in and rescue Tatsumi Gakuen, which is on the verge of closing its doors. Together with Naomi Mizuno, a fellow lawyer and former student of his, Sakuragi pays a visit to the school and meets its anxious and troubled students. |
April 25, 2021 |
| 2 |
Episode 2 Kenji and Naomi launch a college prep class to help students get into Tokyo University. But controversy erupts when the director of the high school opposes both the special class and Kenji’s unorthodox methods! Meanwhile, after Kenji catches her shoplifting, Kaeda, the star of the school badminton team, loses her confidence right before a major tournament, jeopardizing her chances of getting into an elite university. Can Kenji lift her out of her slump? |
May 2, 2021 |
| 3 |
Episode 3 When his college prep class fails a middle school level practice test, Kenji turns to social media to help them improve their scores. Meanwhile, school director Kumiko, who has promised to resign if five of Kenji’s students get into Tokyo University, is putting together her own college prep class full of Tatsumi Gakuen’s brightest students. In three weeks’ time, the two rival prep classes will compete to decide which class gets cancelled. Can the underdogs prevail? |
May 9, 2021 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | TBS |
|---|---|
| First aired | July 8, 2005 |
| Last aired | June 27, 2021 |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Status | Ended |