Of Swords and Parasols

I have realized where I have seen Jane before.  He played Stresseman in Nodame Cantabile.  I must say that I find him much, much more endearing when he isn't leching on his teenaged students.  (Jane's a little too girlcrazy too, but harmlessly so, and sticks to, you know, adults.)

Though he's expected to take over his father's fishing business Shinkai chooses instead to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot.  When he finally becomes a co-pilot, he finds himself clashing with one of his superiors, Koda, a pilot with very strict rules, and an adherence to regulations, as well as falling for Ogawa, a very frank mechanic who's afraid of flying.  Meanwhile, there's also Fukaura, a brash stewardess with an utterly shameless crush on Shinkai, Jane, a (male) pilot who's a complete playboy(yes, Jane, not Jean, and it's his personal name, not his family name), and Togashi, the head stewardess who has A Past with Koda, not to mention Shinkai's neighbor, who thinks his name is "Shou-chan," and that he's her boyfriend.

I have to say, this is my fourth Kimura Takuya drama, and I can't help but feel like I'm just seeing the character in a new profession everytime.  He always seems to play the cool but nice guy who has problems with authority and clashes with the way things are traditionally done.  In Hero and Love Revolution, it was the standards and typical expectations of that work place, and in Pride and Good Luck!, it's specifically with a superior who has different ideas from him.  I'm not really complaining, as it's a character type that he plays well, but I'd like a little more variety.