What does it take to turn this . . .

. . . into this?

Watch the 2006 Japanese comedy series Attention Please and find out.

STORY

Misaki Youko (Ueto Aya) lost her mother at an early age and grew up in the company of her brothers. It’s no surprise, then, that she acts like a boy, talks like a boy, dresses like a boy and sings in an all-male (plus one girl) rock band. When one of her fellow band members leaves to work for a bank in Tokyo, he cracks a joke about wanting to see her in a cabin attendant’s uniform. What he doesn’t know is that Misaki has feelings for him and takes the joke seriously, eyeing it as a chance to make a good impression on him.

Against all odds, Misaki is accepted into the rigorous training programme for Japan Airlines’ elite cabin attendant corps. Under the watchful eye of instructor Mikami Tamaki (Maya Miki), she begins her long, hard journey down the road that will take her to the skies. But can this rebellious, loud-mouthed, laid-back rocker transform herself into a demure, cultured, well-mannered cabin attendant – or will she crash and burn along the way?

IMPRESSION

The series follows a well-trodden path: boyish girl raised in a male-dominated household embarks on a long but invariably successful path towards becoming the ideal woman (without losing her “unique” personality, of course). If you’re looking for something different, something ground-breaking, steer well clear of this one. But if you have no serious aversion to generic comedy, hop on board and fasten your seat belt.

Through Misaki’s story, Attention Please shows us how an airline turns raw recruits into angelic sentinels of the skies. It’s not an easy process by any means. Candidates must strive for perfection in everything, from the angle of the bow (15 degrees for greetings) to the subtleties of English pronunciation (”fright” does not equal “flight”!). Beyond various niceties, they must also learn how to deal with difficult passengers, impose order in emergency situations and – when the occasion arises – use the limited equipment at their disposal to save lives within the confines of an airborne cabin. I can’t say whether their depiction of Japan Airlines’ cabin attendant training programme is accurate or not, but after making the usual allowances for simplification, dramatisation and (given that official cooperation seems to have been extended to the production crew) perhaps a bit of company-mandated sanitising here and there, the series seems quite credible.

A friendly reminder: don’t stop watching when the ending credits start rolling, or you’ll miss seeing Misaki garbed in the historic cabin attendant uniforms used by Japan Airlines from 1951 to the present day. (No pictures here – I don’t want to spoil the treat.)

The focus is, of course, on our errant heroine and her fight to squeeze her wild personality into a clean-cut uniform and polished leather shoes. It’s all rather formulaic, with the standard set of stock characters plying their trade: the stern mentor, the rival and her henchwomen, the best friends (one of whom, surprise surprise, is the daughter of a soba shop owner whose humble restaurant quickly becomes a favourite haunt). But the formula seems to work quite well in this case, with the dominant comedic thread tempered by a few moments of high drama to keep the story flying high from beginning to end.

The acting isn’t particularly good, although where J-drama is concerned that’s all par for the course. Maya Miki’s convincing turn as the determined, stoically elegant instructor Mikami Tamaki is the best performance in this series by far, while Ueto Aya’s ebullient Misaki Youko is satisfactory but forgettable. Most of the supporting performances run the gamut from good to mediocre. On the other end of the spectrum, Nishikido Ryou’s bland attempt at breathing life into the character of aircraft engineer Nakahara Shouta is almost laughable; fortunately, his role is little more than a bit part and inflicts no significant damage.

In summary: For those who don’t mind formulaic plots and less-than-stellar acting, Attention Please can be a light, entertaining and even educational watch.

SCREENSHOTS

VITAL STATS (from DramaWiki)

Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 11
Original broadcast period: 18 April – 27 June 2006 (9PM Tuesday slot)
Network: Fuji TV

DEVELOPMENT

Manga series (1970-present) >>> Live-action series (1970-1971; 32 episodes) >>> Live-action series (2006; 11 episodes) >>> Live-action special (2007; 1 episode) >>> Live-action special (2008; 1 episode)

Note: The 2007 and 2008 specials are spin-offs of the 2006 live-action series, with all key members of the 2006 cast reprising their roles.

External Links
DramaWiki (article)
Fuji TV (official site)
Wikipedia (article)

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