Drama Review: From Now On We Begin Ethics

Also Knowns As: Koko wa Ima kara Rinri desu (2021)
8

Rating

★★★★

Episodes

8

Drama Digest

Takayanagi is a mysterious high school ethics teacher. While his students seem innocent, they have serious issues, like being cowed and harming themselves. Takayanagi tosses out words & ideas on ethics and philosophy to his class. The words written within the textbook appear dull; however, those written by such figures Socrates empower the students to handle their issues and lives.

The drama is based on manga series Koko wa Ima kara Rinri desu by Shiori Amase

The Feel-Good Part

The drama is an excellent one with a novel plotline. They manage to place ethics into a Japanese high school setting splendidly. The drama touched a rather wide section of representatives and their works that were enclosed in trendy students’ life and troubles they’d to face. The theatre has a significant and thoughtful journey into a mundane topic. The story follows the MC, associate Ethics teacher, as he attempts to show his class concerning the subject and simultaneously following his code of ethics as best as possible. The issues brought up range from terribly dark to terribly mundane; however, every episode introduces us to a new idea.

The Disappointing Factor

In this drama, several things were poorly explained that only really sharp students would catch on. Most of the audience will not get it, but will find it interesting nonetheless. My sole issue was the length of every episode; only 20 minutes were not enough for both making a case for, and also deeply involving the viewers within the stories with their undivided attention. Numerous things were unspoken but okay.

The drama has no major plot; it primarily targeted the ethics students’ reality chunks and the way Takayanagi approached them using the philosophy that also contributed to his growth as an Ethics teacher. I assume we get to understand a lot of every character’s life; particularly Takayanagi, however they most likely had limitations on screenplays since dramas are only 8-10 episodes long. It has a lot of potential to be made into a complete drama independently.

In-Depth Analysis

The drama covers attempted rape to bullying to self-harm by cutting and everything in between. Some episodes are stronger than others, like the one with a teen girl trying to seduce her homeroom teacher, or the episode with the creepy, pedophile man. While I’m sure that happens, it felt melodramatic in ways that lowered the episode’s credibility. Also, it’s easy to lose track of who is who, especially if some of the characters aren’t strongly focused on again after their individual episode. It’s easy to forget what their specific story was since the focus is so strong on Aizawa and Taniguchi in their relation to Takayanagi. Everyone else fades a little bit into the background.

Star Power

The drama contains a lovely selection of young actors and actresses, and it’s refreshing to watch new, talented faces. The youngsters did a remarkable job. Yuki was also sensible as the mysterious Ethics Sensei. Yuki Yamada acts as Takayanagi, not as a romantic male lead, but as an individual, therefore significantly valuable. Even if heartbroken, he empathically helps people when required and offers his students way more than empty, useless words. He impressed me too. He showed introverts can become much more  capable mentors than their extroverted colleagues. I learned loads.

Overall Opinion

I recommend this drama primarily to philosophy geeks or those who wish to induce a small amount read of ethical categories square measure. It’s not a drama that pulls many folks, some would possibly find it boring; however, others would find new concepts inspiring and acquire curiosity about ethics.