Good Luck!! is a 2003 Japanese television drama starring Takuya Kimura and Kou Shibasaki. The story revolves around an up-and-coming pilot, Hajime Shinkai, and portrays his interactions with others as he progresses along the road to becoming a captain. As is common in many Japanese drama series, it blends drama and romance with comedic elements. This drama also emphasizes hardship of being a pilot or a cabin crew, and the serious nature of the industry they're in, which puts thousands of lives in its hands.
Cast
Takuya Kimura as Hajime Shinkai
Shinichi Tsutsumi as Kazuki Kōda
Kō Shibasaki as Ayumi Ogawa
Rina Uchiyama as Urara Fukaura
Naoto Takenaka as Jane Naitō
Yasunori Danta as Kenzaburō Ōta
Hitomi Kuroki as Noriko Togashi
Jun Kaname as Takayuki Abe
Yoon Son-ha as Park Mi-suk
Key characters
Hajime Shinkai is the protagonist. A young, inexperienced pilot who earns notoriety among colleagues for disregarding standards and standing up to superiors. Emotional and easily provokable, he has a strong sense of justice and equally strong love of flying.
Ayumi Ogawa, a stubborn, straight-talking mechanic who is as committed to her job as she is abrasive towards Shinkai. Having lost her parents in a plane crash, she decided to become a plane mechanic to make planes as safe as possible. However, she has profound fear of flying and has not had flown at the start of the series.
Kazuki Kouda is a senior captain and chief of flight operations. Known for his very cold, nearly robotic demeanour, he has not tolerance for anything but perfect professional performance to the border of inhumanity. He is feared and disliked by most of the other characters for being very unpleasant and demanding.
Jane Naito, also a captain, is colourful character with a sense of humour and relaxed behaviour. A womanizer popular with cabin attendants, he has been married at least twice, and makes frequent advances towards female colleagues.
Noriko Togashi, a female chief cabin attendant, is committed to highest professional standards, but at the same time cares for her junior colleagues and compassionately coaches them.
Ota Kenzaburo, a senior male chief cabin attendant, who can be both very serious about his job and the performance of his staff and cheerful and humorous when interacting with pilots. He is a big fan of Shinkai and encourages him in his development, while at the same time displaying much dislike for Kouda behind his back.
Fukaura Urara, a very junior flight attendant who only chose the job for its apparent glamour and ostensibly does not want to pursue this career path, but use the opportunity to find a husband quickly. She does not treat her job seriously and oftentimes behaves unprofessionally, which earns her scolding from other crew members. She is brash and cheeky when pursuing her goals, which include Shinkai's affections.
Shimamura Takashi, a young mechanic working together with Ayumi Ogawa, protective of her
Ryoji Shinkai - Hajime's father, once a captain of large ships, now owns a small fishing boat business in the middle of the port of Tokyo. Wished Hajime to take over the family business and has a strained relationship with him because of him choosing to become a pilot instead.
Kaori Ogawa - Ayumi's good-natured sister, with whom she shares an apartment.
Park Mi-suk, a Korean neighbour of Shinkai, who perplexes and embarrasses him with displays of affection, implying a relationship between them. Serves as a comedic relief between the more serious scenes.
Summary
The series presents the characters interacting at work and outside of it. The focus are the flight operations, with the crew characters finding themselves inflight together having to deal with some difficult or unusual occurrences, such as unruly guests, equipment malfunctions, medical emergencies and diversions. The characters have to prove themselves handling those situations, and their relationships are both put to the test and develop. On the ground, the characters meet at ANA's main base at Narita Airport, as well as restaurants and bars and the characters and their families' homes. The series features many scenes in the outdoors, including portraying characters driving or riding a boat. Some scenes are shot actually on location at Narita, at the ANA headquarters and maintenance hangars, with ANA employees serving as extras.
Reception
Good Luck!! topped the Japanese drama ratings with 35% of the Japanese viewership in 2003. The first episode aired on January 19, 2003 with ratings of 31.6%, the third highest ratings of an opening episode, behind Beautiful Life and HERO, also starring Takuya Kimura. The single episode ratings are as follows:
