So here we are in the middle of February. The next occasion on everyone’s calendar is the annual St. Valentine’s Day festivities. This is a fitting holiday for mid February. While I know that not all of you are being subjected to sub-freezing temperatures on a daily basis, many of you are.This must be why the original calendars makers and holiday planners chose February for Valentine’s Day – to give you a specific reason to get close with your significant other – other than there’s not all that much to watch on TV.

Since I know that many of you may be confined to your igloos, apartments, villas, cabins, or homes for longer periods of time than you like because of the cold weather, I am here to offer up a warm Valentine’s gift to you. Hold that thought – we’ll get to it soon enough.

Mid-February also means that basketball’s March Madness is a month away and the Pro Playoffs two months away. Baseball Spring Training camps will open in a matter of hours, and American football is, well…OVER. Golf is not available to many of you at this time because it’s tough to make par when your local golf course resembles the frozen tundra of Siberia.

That leaves Hockey as the sole major sport remaining for purposes of this article. Sorry all you futbol/soccer fans – no offense intended. Across Canada, the USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Japan,and other similar places – right now Hockey is King. Or maybe not – as many of you won’t even give it a thought. But what are your alternatives? Reading about the latest baseball steroids news?

But I did promise you a Valentine’s Day Gift, right? Here we go! You already know about flowers and chocolates, so you don’t need my help with that. Instead, let me offer something that you can share with her and  really enjoy too. We’re going to take a look at a Japanese Television Drama Series called Puraido or Pride in English.

This is about a Hockey team in Japan. It is not anything like Slap Shot, (hockey + comedy) with Paul Newman, or Miracle (a docu-drama taken from real life) with Kurt Russell.

The Mighty Ducks (hockey + kids) with Emilio Estevez and In The Crease (real-life hockey stars + kids) are also distinctly different. Pride is also a tender love story. So there’s your Valentine’s Day tie-in.

Pride stars one of Japan’s most popular TV stars, Takuya Kimura, as Halu (pronounced Ha-ru) Satonaka. The lead female is the very popular and beautiful actress Yuko Takeuchi who portrays Aki, an office lady.  So lets take a closer look.

Haru (it’s just easier to spell it the way it said in the story rather than the way it is written) is the Captain and inspirational leader of the Blue Scorpions. He is also the team’s best player.

He idolizes the team’s coach Anzai who has been hospitalized. Anzai has instilled in Haru the desire to win and the necessity of blocking out all other involvements. So Haru has willed himself to stay clear of women. Oh that doesn’t mean he won’t play around, it just means that he won’t let himself get involved. In his mind, if he keeps women and relationships as ‘just a game’, he’ll be fine.

Aki works for the corporation that sponsors the Blue Scorpions. She has been patiently waiting for a boyfriend who left Japan two years ago to study architecture in New York. While Aki has been loyal and hopeful, the boyfriend is MIA – not a word from him since he left two years ago.

Additionally, there are three other great looking ladies with decent sized supporting roles. Yuko, Coach Anzai’s wife is played by Yuriko Ashida (above) is friends with Haru.

Aki’s girl friends Chika played by former gravure idol MEGUMI (above),

and Yuri played by Noriko Nakagoshi (above) are worried about her. Each of them are also looking for boyfriends, so they insist that Aki go with them to a game. “You never know, you might meet someone you like, and besides that you need a night out”, is what they tell Aki. So Aki goes with them and gets her first look at Haru from the stands.

Haru has lots of female fans in the arena who wildly cheer for him.

After the game Chika and Yuri drag the somewhat unwilling Aki with them to a bar where the hockey team hangs out.

And so begins this wonderful drama called Pride. There’s lots of sub-plots and side stories to keep you involved. For example: Haru and new Coach Hyodo don’t get along

Is Yuri really the gold-digger she is purported to be -

Will Yamoto (the goalie) ever tell Yuri the truth -

What about Yoko (Coach Anzai’s wife) -

So what do you think? A series about a hockey team might not spike your interest by itself,

but if I tell you that the story contains lots of plots with beautiful women who provide lots of eye candy, as well as emotional impacts – is this enough to get you involved?

Yes, I think so. Along with the story lines – sport/hockey and romance, the series has some dynamic music sung by Queen. The series’ main theme song is I Was Born To Love You sung by Freddy Mercury of Queen.

And if this isn’t a rousing and inspiring arena type of anthem which is reprised twice in each episode, I don’t know what is.

So if you want to share a good story with your significant other, and still have your sports fix, strap on your electronic blades and glide over and order this DVD.

Web Vendor with Product Page

jpdorama.com-The TV Drama Store

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6BV5V4vei0&feature=related