is a

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thrill ...

which ran weekly for three months in 2003. The drama, which stars

Kazunari Ninomiya , often called , is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actor, voice actor, presenter and radio host. He is a member of the Japanese idol group Arashi. His career began in the entertainment industry after joining the Japanese talent agency Johnny & As ...

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15 ...

and

Tomohisa Yamashita , also widely known as , or Tomo, is a Japanese singer, actor, and TV host. Yamashita joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates as a trainee in 1996 (age 11) and made his small acting debut for NHK's ''Shonentachi'' (1998) and has b ...

of NEWS, centers on the lives of the last four virgins left in their highschool as they struggle to lose their virginity over their final high school summer vacation. A 6-DVD box set featuring all eleven episodes, as well as six individual volumes, were released in Japan on December 18, 2003.

Plot

Four schoolboys find themselves the last virgins left at school. During the summer holidays, a girl they knew as children 11 years ago, moves back to the neighborhood. Despite their childhood attraction to her, they realize she is a mere shadow of the "princess" they all thought they knew. This story of summer—love, friendship, school, family, the hypocrisy of adults, complications of life, experience and failure—is set in an everyday shopping district and shows the clumsiness of children who have developed a little later than their peers.

Setting

The story takes place in the

Shinagawa is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English language, English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density ...

ward of Tokyo, although at least one location, namely the school, is actually in Yokohama.Stand Up!! Location Guide
/ref>

Main characters

Shōhei Asai (Shō-chan)

, nicknamed ''Shō-chan'', is the main

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the story, and often his thoughts are expressed by narration. He lives with his older sister Yuriko and his parents, who run a drugstore. At the start of the series, he is head over heels in love with one of his temporary teachers, the young Isuzu Mochizuki. His life starts to go crazy when an old childhood friend, Chie Ōwada, decides to visit the four long-time friends and moves into his house.

Kengo Iwasaki (Kenken)

is a train freak, knowing the schedule of all trains passing through the suburb by heart. He lives with his single mother, Kimiko, who runs a

love hotel A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sexual activities. The name originates from "Hotel Love" in Osaka, which was built in 1968 and had a rotating ...

which she bought with the

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

money. The four boys often hang around there, playing

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

or listening to other paying customers in neighboring rooms. Kenken is the only one of the group who, at the beginning of the series, has a girlfriend: Sonoko Fujisawa.

Hayato Udagawa (Udayan)

is a member of the high school band. He is the one the girls (especially the group of four he calls the ''Amazones'') pick on most, to which is added that his self-confidence is a little lacking, and that he has a certain affection for peeping under girl's skirts. His parents run a

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, ...

in the shopping district.

Kōji Enami (Kō-kun)

is the sports ace of the group. He's on the school soccer team and is known for often letting out his anger that way. When talking to girls he often starts to mumble incomprehensibly, turning down all offers from them. His father, who is also the chairman of the local neighbourhood meetings, runs a small shop.

Chie Ōwada (Chie-chan)

is the "childhood princess" the 4 friends knew 11 years ago, up until she had to move away with her parents. There was very little contact between her and the boys during the time span, and she seems to hide a dark secret within her. It is later revealed that during her high school year, she had a crush on one of her classmates, but he took advantage of the situation, raped her and threatened to blackmail her. To escape this awkward situation, and the rumors that soon started to spread, she set out on her journey to Togoshi, to meet her old childhood friends.

Minor characters

* –

Yumiko Shaku is a Japanese actress, model and former gravure idol. She is represented by Tommy's Artist Company. Roles TV Dramas *2019: ''Kamen Rider Zi-O'' (Yuko Kitajima/ Another Kiva; Episode 35-36, 2019) *2014: ''Lost Days no Himitsu'' (Fuji Televi ...

* –

Koji Matoba is a Japanese actor and ''tarento''. Filmography TV dramas Films Stage Anime television Variety References External links * * – Ameba Blog (8 September 2014 –) * – Ameba Blog (12 December 2008 – 8 Septembe ...

* – Takako Kato * –

Rio Matsumoto is a Japanese actress, model and singer. She has had a prolific career in Japanese television drama, television drama series since the mid-1990s and since 2003 has also been in several films. She was formerly known as Megumi Matsumoto (松本� ...

* – Takashi Tsukamoto * – Becky

Staff

*Screenplay - Arisa Kaneko *Producer - Akihito Ishimaru *Director - Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Arata Katō, et al. *Planning - Hiroki Ueda *Music - Audio Highs *Theme Song - by

;Production *Line Producer - Ichiyama Ryūji *Assistant Producer - Ogishima Tatsuya, Motoyoshi Masaru, Sugimura Kei *Assistant Director - Hirakawa Yūichiro, Nando Masaaki, Takahashi Masanao, Shiozaki Jun, Suzuki Masaaki *Executive Producer - Nakagawa Shingo *Chief Producer - Mikami Shin'ichi, 清藤唯靖 *Advanced Production - Uematsu Ikumi, Inui Yoshihiro *Production Record - Okudaira Ayako, Tanaka Kosuzu *Program Desk - Ozawa Michiko *Organization - Tsuru Masaaki

Episode list

Notes

, who plays Kengo (Kenken), is a Japanese idol. He is a former member and leader of the popular J-pop group NEWS. *

, who plays Shōhei, is a member of the Japanese boy band

, which performed the title song for the series. *The first episode starts with a fast zoom-in from space to the rooftop of the school in Shinagawa-ku. However, if one compares the scene to a real satellite view of the same area (using, for example, Google Earth), it is clear that, although there actually is a school at exactly that location, it's not the one we see in the opening. *

Hiroki Narimiya (born September 14, 1982), better known as , is a former Japanese actor. Early life He was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. His parents are from Okinawa Prefecture. His parents divorced when he was young, and in his third year of junior high sch ...

, who plays Hayato, and

Shun Oguri is a Japanese actor and voice actor, son of stage director Tetsuya Oguri, and the youngest of 3 siblings, including older brother Ryo, who is also an actor. He started in small roles as extra in the works in which his father and brother worked. ...

, who plays Kōji, have both acted with

Jun Matsumoto Jun or JUN may refer to: People and anthroponymy * Jun (given name), a common Japanese given name * Jun (singer), a member of South Korean boy band U-KISS * Tomáš Jun, Czech footballer * A spelling of common Korean family name Jeon (Korean ...

, another member of

, in other famous Japanese dramas; Hiroki Narimiya in

Gokusen is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kozueko Morimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''You'' from 2000 to 2007, with its chapters collected in fifteen '' wideban'' volumes. The story follows Kumiko Yamaguchi, the grand ...

and Shun Oguri in

Hana yori Dango , is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio and set in Tokyo, Japan, and the fictional "Eitoku Academy" (an elite school for children from rich families). It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl f ...

Hana yori Dango Returns is a Japanese television drama series, broadcast on TBS in 2007. It is the sequel to the 2005 TV series ''Boys Over Flowers'', based on the original ''shōjo'' manga series by Yoko Kamio. It is followed by the film '' Hana yori Dango Fina ...

and ''Smile''. *''Stand Up!!'' has a similar premise to the film ''American Pie'', with four young men struggling to lose their virginity in their final year of high school.Those were the days
June 29, 2003. ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched b ...

'' Online

References

External links

* (in Japanese) * in the TBS Program Catalog (in English) * {{IMDb title, 0425717 2000s sex comedy television series 2003 Japanese television series debuts 2003 Japanese television series endings Japanese comedy television series Kin'yō Dorama