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is a Japanese
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written and illustrated by Norifusa Mita. Serialized in ''
Weekly Morning is a weekly Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Kodansha. It debuted in 1982 as and was rebranded as Morning in 1991 while still maintaining its weekly publication tradition. The digital edition of the magazine is titled . It is the sis ...
'' from 2003 to 2007, it was released into 21 ''
tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...
'' by
Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
between October 22, 2003, and August 23, 2007. It was adapted into live action television series of the same name broadcast on TBS in 2005. A sequel titled was published in the same magazine between 2007 and 2010. It was compiled into 14 ''tankōbon'' released by Kodansha between January 23, 2008, and August 23, 2010. Another sequel manga titled ''Dragon Zakura Two'' was serialized in ''Weekly Morning'' from January 2018 to March 2021.


Plot

This is a story about a private high school (Ryuzan) in which lawyer Kenji Sakuragi, a former biker, is sent to close down. His business is on the rocks due to his biker background being made public in a scandal-magazine. Sakuragi gets the idea of turning the school around instead of closing it, thereby resurrecting his career. He goes for an outrageous goal: getting 5 students from this no-hope highschool into Tokyo University, the top university in the country. He persuades the director to back him, then gives a rousing speech to the entire school to announce the special class. "You're all losers and you'll stay losers for the rest of your lives! Because you're too lazy to use your brains and you haven't figured out that society is run by clever folks who make sure they always win and you always lose. If you don't like that prospect, study! I'll give you a goal: get into Tokyo University!" he shouts to a stunned, silent crowd. When none of the existing teachers have the backbone to take on the responsibility for this class, Sakuragi decides to run the class himself. To help him, he obtains the assistance of a motley crew of unorthodox teachers to teach math, language arts, social studies, and English. Using a combination of tough love and unusual scientific methods, he goads, bribes, and cajoles 2 students into joining the class. He's assisted but also opposed by a couple of young English teachers, one of whom hates him and is always suspicious of his motives and methods. Will Sakuragi succeed or will the cynicism of just about everyone else win out? And just how does Sakuragi know so much about how to get into Tokyo University, anyway? In addition to offering many scientific methods for studying for tests generally and preparing for Tokyo University, in particular, the series includes many interesting insights and points of view about human psychology.


Reception

The manga has sold over 6 million copies, and won the 2005
Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...
for general manga. It also won an Excellence Prize at the 2005
Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...
, with the jury saying, "The theme is not new, the composition is somewhat orthodox and it is true that there was criticism of the drawing skill. However, the story is told with such great conviction and pathos that these weaknesses are easily overlooked. It is a very entertaining manga, which is probably the most important thing."


Adaptations

The manga has been adapted into a
Japanese television drama , also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily. Format All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...
series of the same name and also into a 2010 South Korean television drama series titled ''
Master of Study ''Master of Study'' () is a South Korean Korean drama, television series that aired on KBS2 from January 4 to February 23, 2010 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes. It stars Kim Soo-ro, Bae Doona, Oh Yoon-ah, Yoo Seung-ho, Go Ah-su ...
''. It will also be adapted into a Chinese internet television drama series. On March 10, 2020, it was announced that a
live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
series is planned based on the series' sequel and will air on TBS. Actor Hiroshi Abe is reprising his role as Kenji Sakuragi from the previous live-action adaptations. The story is to be set 10 years after the previous series. It was originally slated for Q3 2020, but has been delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


References


External links

* {{Kodansha Manga Award - General Dragon Zakura 2003 manga 2007 comics endings Examinations and testing in fiction Kodansha manga Manga adapted into television series Seinen manga Teaching anime and manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)