I recently watched this japanese drama called Nobuta wo produce(野ブタ。をプロデュース, Nobuta wo Purodyuusu) which star Kazuya Kamenashi( From KAT-TUN) as Kiritani Shuji, Tomohisa Yamashita(starred in drama "Kurosagi") as Kusano Akira, Maki Horikita (starred in drama "Hana Kimi" & "Kurosagi") as Kotani Nobuko and Erika Toda (starred in "Death Note the movie" and "Kurosagi") as Mariko Uehara.

What is Nobuta wo produce about?
Kiritani Shuji, Kusano Akira and Kotani Nobuko. Shuji is a popular guy who gets along with everybody in school. To Shuji, Akira was someone that he detested the most. Enter Kotani Nobuko (nicknamed Nobuta), a tranfer student who lacks self confidence and was used to being bullied by other people. Shuji and Akira come to an accord that in order to make use of their "youth" they will "produce" Nobuko as the next popular girl. They started to "produce" Nobuta and thought of ideas such as creating little pig keychains to asking Nobuta to host as a news reporter in order for her to gain popularity. Nobuta managed to make a friend called Aoi in the process. But things did not always go well as someone was out there trying to sabotage their "production" plan.
At the begining, Shuji kept on lying to his classmates and hid the fact that he and Akira are "producing" Nobuta and that Uehara Mariko (the most popular girl in the school) was not his real girlfriend. In an incident, he was being wrongly accused of not helping his classmate out in a gang fight.Everybody in his class thought that they had finally seen his true colours and started to ignore him. The thought of nobody believing in him made Shuji scared and he himself realised that he was the one that was lonely in this world. However, Akira and Nobuta believed that Shuji was innocent. Shuji then realised that lying was painful and decided to tell Mariko the truth about him not loving her. That incident left a heart-broken Mariko.
Shuji also stumbled upon the fact that Aoi was the mastermind behind the sabotaging. She was the one that destroyed the pig keychains by spilling yellow paint. She was also responsible for cutting the tape that Nobuta recorded for a school competition. Her motive was to push Nobuta into despare and she wanted Nobuta to commit suicide. Shuji then begged Aoi not to tell Nobuta because he was afraid that Nobuta will return back to her normal self and shun away from people. In the end, Aoi told Nobuta the truth and she was shocked and upset. She did not want to come back to school. Shuji and Akira thought of ways for Nobuta to return. Shuji then begged his classmates to believe in him just this time that a tape consisting of his classmates wanting Nobuta to come back will do the trick. His classmates agreed and that tape brought tears to Nobuta upon viewing it. Nobuta was back and her classmates were delighted except for Aoi.
Shuji, Akira and Nobuta met up together and dreamt that Aoi was on the roof and asked Nobuta for her forgiveness. She did not agree to it and Aoi committed suicide by jumping off the school building. Upon awaking, Nobuta quickly ran to Aoi and hugged her, thanking her for being alived.(The reason behind Aoi's action was that she wanted to be remembered by someone, be it in a bad impression or good impression.) Nobuta forgave Aoi and the case was solved.
After the incident, Shuji brought news to both of them that he had to transfer to another school because of his dad's job. Nobuta, Akira and his classmates were saddened by that and gave him a farewell bid that Shuji will always remember. In his new class, Shuji wanting to change for the better and to his surprise, Akira had happen to transfer into the same class as Shuji the day before. Akira explained to Shuji that it was Nobuta's wish that Akira accompy Shuji and that the three of them will always remained the best of friends no matter where they are.

Reflection:
I learnt many things in this show and there were some parts of the show touched me deeply.I remembered an inspirational quote from the show that said "As long as someone's there for you, even if you go to a place that you regret, you can come back.." This show reminded me that friends should not be taken for granted and that i should be appreciative of their presence. I would like to thank all of my friends for being there when i needed them the most. A great and touching story of friendship and a MUST watch!!!