Kinpachi Sensei
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is 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 ...
that aired from 1979 to 2011. The official English title is ''Mr. Kinpachi in Class 3B''. ''Kinpachi-sensei'' tells the story of a third-year junior high school class in Japan; its teacher is Kinpachi Sakamoto, played by
Tetsuya Takeda Tetsuya Takeda (), born April 11, 1949, is a Japanese folk singer and actor. Takeda is perhaps most known in Japan for his starring role in the Tokyo Broadcasting System's (TBS) long-running, highly rated television drama '' Sannen B Gumi Kinpa ...
. The series has a lot of social commentary on issues such as
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
,
gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...
, and psychological pregnancy, as well as bullying (of both students and teachers),
teenage pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female under the age of 20. Worldwide, pregnancy complications are the leading cause of death for women and girls 15 to 19 years old. The definition of teenage pregnancy i ...
,
teenage suicide Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and elsewhere are high. Female yo ...
, ''
hikikomori ''Hikikomori'' (, "pulling inward, being confined") are reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement. The term refers to both the sociological phenomenon in gener ...
,'' and the extreme pressure to do well in school. The series began in 1979, a pivotal year when issues such as delinquency and on campus violence reached a fever-pitch amongst the educational spectrum; "Kinpachi-sensei", portrayed by former singer Tetsuya Takeda of Kaientai fame, attempts to resolve such problems using a blend of charisma, honesty, humor and wit.


Seasons

Over the span of 32 years, it has spawned 8 seasons. In 2001, the series helped to rocket
Aya Ueto is a Japanese actress, singer and television personality. In 1997, Ueto participated in the seventh Japan Bishōjo Contest, where she won the special jury prize. Soon thereafter, Ueto joined the talent agency Oscar Promotion and began taking s ...
to greater national attention. In 2011,
Keito Okamoto is a Japanese singer and actor associated with Johnny & Associates. and former member of Hey! Say! JUMP. Early life Okamoto was born in Tokyo to Kenichi Okamoto, a former member of the rock band Otokogumi, and model Katsue Nishi. He was educa ...
of
Hey! Say! JUMP Hey! Say! JUMP (HSJ or JUMP) is an nine-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Smile-Up (formerly known as Johnny & Associates). The group is split into two sub-groups: Hey! Say! BEST and Hey! Say! 7. In Japan they sold more ...
appeared in the drama's final episode as a student delinquent. Part of Kinpachi-sensei's enduring appeal is the fact that the character's energy and idealism help to steer him through all of life's difficulties; there never seems to be a single time in the show's history in which Kinpachi is not beset by a host of social or personal problems: teen bullying, Kinpachi's son developing cancer, violence directed against teachers. Another reason for Kinpachi's long running popularity is the frank and open way he discusses these societal problems, never "sugar-coating" anything or intentionally hiding difficult issues.


Season overview


Season 1 (1979-80)

;Cast *
Kaoru Sugita , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress and singer. Biography She attended Myōjō Academy in Mitaka, later transferring to and graduating from NHK Gakuen (NHK Academy). At age 7, she made her debut in the NTV television series ...
as Yukino Asai *
Shingo Tsurumi is a Japanese actor. Career Shingo Tsurumi has appeared in the films such as Katsuhito Ishii's '' Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl'', Hideo Nakata's '' L: Change the World'', and Tak Sakaguchi's '' Yakuza Weapon''. Filmography Films * '' ...
*
Junko Mihara is a Japanese politician and former singer, actress, and racing driver. She is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. Entertainment career Mihara made her debut as a teenager in the 1979 television series '' Kinpachi-sensei'', and began a ...
*
Toshihiko Tahara is a Japanese idol singer, and solo vocalist, affiliated with Johnny & Associates. In the 1980s he had a number of number 1 singles in Japan. He was awarded a Japan Music Award in 1983 for the song . He was part of the Tanokin Trio. Biogra ...
*
Satomi Kobayashi is a Japanese actress from Tokyo. She won the award for best newcomer at the 4th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Exchange Students''. She was previously married to screenwriter Kōki Mitani. she is known for playing Kimie Onda in Yappari Neko ga Su ...
*
Masahiko Kondō , or Matchy, is a Japanese singer, lyricist, actor, racing car manager and former semi-professional racing driver. He was a member of the Tanokin Trio. Kondō is also a semi-professional racing driver and a racing team owner. He founded the racin ...


Season 2 (1980-81)

;Cast *Kiichi Naoe as Masaru Kato *Hiroyuki Okita *
Maiko Kawakami is a Japanese actress who has starred in numerous movies and TV serials. She is a graduate of Keio University through distance education. Biography Maiko debuted on an NHK drama titled ''Kizuna''. In 1980, she starred in the second Kinpachi- ...
*
Yūsuke Kawazu was a Japanese actor. Life and career Kawazu was born in Tokyo on 12 May 1935. While still a student at Keio University, Kawazu signed with Shochiku in 1958 and debuted in Keisuke Kinoshita, Kinoshita's ''The Eternal Rainbow''. He became one o ...
as Teacher Kamibayashi


Season 3 (1988)

;Cast *Akiko Ura as Yuko Yamada *Miyabi Kishi as Kimie Mizuno *
Masato Hagiwara is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and professional mahjong player. Biography Early life and education When Hagiwara was three years old, his parents divorced and he was taken in by his father. However, his father died when he was in ...
*
Katsuyuki Mori was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-p ...
*
Tadanobu Asano better known by his stage name is a Japanese actor, director, and musician, who has had an extensive career working in both Japanese and international cinema. He has been nominated for five Japan Academy Film Prizes, twice for Best Actor and ...


Season 4 (1995-96)

;Cast *Rena Komine as Mika Hiroshima *Mitsunari Hashimoto


Season 5 (1999-2000)

;Cast *
Shunsuke Kazama is a Japanese actor and television personality. Career In 1997, when Kazama was in his second year of junior high school, he entered Johnny & Associates and started activities as a trainee. He made his debut on stage that same year in a Shon ...
as Kenjiro Kanesue * Ayumi Oka as Chiharu Yasui *
Kazuya Kamenashi is a Japanese singer, actor, host, producer and magazine model. Born and raised in Edogawa, Tokyo. He joined the Japanese talent agency, Johnny & Associates at the age of 12. Former member of KAT-TUN under Starto Entertainment. He was drafted as ...


Season 6 (2001-02)

;Cast *
Aya Ueto is a Japanese actress, singer and television personality. In 1997, Ueto participated in the seventh Japan Bishōjo Contest, where she won the special jury prize. Soon thereafter, Ueto joined the talent agency Oscar Promotion and began taking s ...
as Nao Tsurumoto *Yoshikazu Tōshin *
Yuika Motokariya is a Japanese actress. She is signed with the Stardust Promotion agency. Filmography Dramas * '' 3 nen B gumi Kinpachi sensei Season 6'' (2001) * ''Satokibi Batake no Uta'' (2003) * '' Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu'' (2004) * ''Fight'' (2 ...
* Airi Taira


Season 7 (2004-05)

;Cast *
Hikaru Yaotome is a Japanese singer, actor, and ''tarento''. He is a member of Hey! Say! JUMP under Johnny & Associates. He was born in Miyagi Prefecture. On December 1, 2002, he entered Johnny & Associates as a trainee. Later, he was put in the junior grou ...
as Shu Maruyama *
Sayuri Iwata is a Japanese actress and former singer. Discography Singles * 005.02.23 * 005.03.30 * 005.07.27 * 005.11.09"Thank You for Everything" Albums * 005.05.25 * 005.12.07Thank You For... * 008.06.04Best + DVDs * 006.05.03First Scene ~Sayuri Iwat ...
*
Gaku Hamada is a Japanese film and television actor. He was a regular cast member of Fuji TV's '' Operation Love'', appearing in all 11 episodes broadcast in 2007 and the 2008 special, and receiving an award for his role. He has made numerous other TV appea ...
*
Tomoka Kurokawa , is a Japanese actress. She graduated from Horikoshi High School is a private high school in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan. The school was founded by Chiyo Horikoshi in 1923. Due to its trait course (formerly the entertainment activities course) and ...
*
Miku Ishida is a Japanese female singer and used to be a gravure idol, actress and a teen idol, had belonged to the show-business production ''LesPros Entertainment'' from 1999 to 2008. She is from Komaki, Aichi, and graduated from ''Hinode High School'' in ...


Season 8 (2007-08)

;Cast *Mayū Kusakari *Taku Kamei


The Final (2011)

;Cast *
Keito Okamoto is a Japanese singer and actor associated with Johnny & Associates. and former member of Hey! Say! JUMP. Early life Okamoto was born in Tokyo to Kenichi Okamoto, a former member of the rock band Otokogumi, and model Katsue Nishi. He was educa ...


In popular culture

* The cry of "Year three, Class B? Kinpachi-sensei!", or something similar, depending on the series it happens in, is a popular shout-out in shows on Japanese television. ** As an example, in the TV anime '' Lucky Star'', each episode is introduced by the four main protagonists warning that they are going to start the episode. After mid-series, they are promoted to the third year in their high school. The initial introduction is changed to reflect this. Since Japanese students are assigned each year to a class by teachers, and they could suddenly go to a different class being separated from previous classmates (thing which happens in ''Lucky Star''), the main protagonists are surprised by their new class and yell at their referring teacher: "Oh, san nen B-gumi? Kuroi-sensei!" * In the TV anime ''
Gintama is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to September 2018, later in '' Jump Giga'' from December 2018 ...
'', there is a segment which sometimes appears after the ending theme where Sakata Gintoki, the series' main protagonist, portrays a
lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...
-smoking teacher called "Ginpachi-sensei", teaching class 3-Z. * There's a similar segment in the TV anime ''
Yo-kai Watch is a Japanese role-playing video game series and associated media franchise created and developed by Level-5. The first game in the series was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. Three main sequels and several spinoffs, on both Nintendo a ...
'' where the series' mascot, Jibanyan, is portrayed as "Nyanpachi-sensei", teaching class 3-Y. * Author
Koushun Takami is a Japanese author and journalist. He is best known for his 1999 in literature, 1999 novel ''Battle Royale (novel), Battle Royale'', which was later adapted into two Battle Royale (film), live-action films, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and fo ...
's ''
Battle Royale Battle Royale may refer to: * Battle royale, or battle royal, a fight among many combatants ** Battle royal (professional wrestling) Fiction and literature * Battle royale genre, a narrative genre of films, manga, anime and visual novels inspire ...
'' contains a character named Kinpatsu Sakamochi, a satirical reference to Kinpachi. In Takami's text, Sakamochi is a sadistic individual who seems to gleefully delight in the exploits of the 42 students forced to kill each other in "The Program". Some critics see Sakamochi's sadism as a sardonic attack on the idealized Kinpachi. The manga version of ''Battle Royale'' has an evil teacher named Yonemi Kamon, while the film has Kitano. * In the live-action version of the manga ''
Great Teacher Onizuka ''Great Teacher Onizuka'', officially abbreviated as ''GTO'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from January ...
'' (''GTO''), Onizuka makes a few mentions of Kinpachi-sensei, implying that he is a fan of the series, since his complete collection gets stolen in one of the beginning episodes. * During the 2012 annual end of year Batsu game special of the popular Japanese humor show ''
Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! , often abbreviated or just , is a Japanese variety show hosted by popular Japanese owarai duo Downtown, with comedian Hōsei Tsukitei (formerly known as Hōsei Yamasaki) and owarai duo Cocorico co-hosting. The program has been broadcast on ...
'', "No laughing, Enthusiastic teachers", the whole cast was dressed as Kinpachi-sensei, wearing matching clothes and long wigs, apart from Hamada Masatoshi who got a short wig instead. * And in the 2014 end of year ''Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! Batsu game'' special "No laughing, Prison escape", a parody of "Kinpachi-sensei" as "Furiwake-Sensei" was done with former
Sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...
wrestler
Takamisakari Takamisakari Seiken (born May 12, 1976 as Seiken Katō) is a former sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture, Japan. A former amateur champion, he turned professional in 1999 and established himself in the top division in 2002 after a brief appearanc ...
in the lead role, chosen because of his name. Sakamoto also sang the theme song, badly, probably never having rehearsed it beforehand. Also appearing in that parody was Naoe Kiichi who reprised his role as Kato Masaru. * In Chapter 23.5 of '' Shūmatsu no Valkyrie'', a character named Sakamoto Inpachi appears as a contestant in a game of Mahjong teaming with the first man,
Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...
, against the gods
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
and
Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
in a match meant to determine the fate of humanity. * In season 1, episode 15 of the 2019 anime adaptation of ''
Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...
'', the recurring character Ayame references Kinpachi Sensei by saying "As Kinpachi-sensei once said, people are made to support one another." * In the chapter 4, page 9 of the manga ''Nanba MG5'', the character Shimazaki makes a reference to Kinpachi-sensei.


References


External links


Official website (Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinpachi-Sensei 1979 Japanese television series debuts 2011 Japanese television series endings Japanese drama television series TBS Television (Japan) dramas Kin'yō Dorama Japanese high school television series