Kingyo Club

This was a short but really heartwarming Japanese drama. It included a lot of bullying. It was only ten episodes but absolutely adored it. Especially since the male character was very kind to the girl and helped defend and protect her whenever she got bullied. I really like how the main lead is actually a really caring and protective kind of person, especially since the girl lead is often bullied. I really enjoyed it and it was a very short but touching drama. Now just to make a note, these ten episodes are really, really short. I was a little shocked when I first watched the first episode because of how short it was. I think each episode was around 20 minutes or so (and compared to one hour episodes, this was a pretty fast watch). So this is a "drama" that you can finish really quickly.

Synopsis:

        Haru Hiiragi is a third year high school student. He is rather popular among peers. However, he isn't interested in anything in his life. He often skips classes despite the constant reminders from his friends to come to class. He goes to this abandoned club room and stays there by himself. He enjoys being alone in there and he drinks this drink that he gets from the vending machine in the school. One day, while in his own secret hideout, he hears the voices of very loud girls. He goes out to see a first year student named Harukawa Koto being bullied by three girls in her class. He defends her causing the three bullies to flee, temporarily. 

          Harukawa Koto is very quiet as she thanks her upperclassman for helping her and says that she is okay. He later on encountered her a few more times to see that she had been bullied some more. They had ruined her books writing a lot of hateful messages and they had also spilled red paint over her dress and shoes. To make things worse, the paint didn't come out. Slowly the two get closer to one another as she notices how he actually cares about whether she is living or not and he is always defending her. 

           They pass by a stand selling goldfish and they catch two. She asks him where and how she is going to raise it and so he introduces her to his secret hideout allowing her to come as much as she wants. It turned out that Koto had a lot of problems. The reason she was being bullied was because her mother had come to school drunk on the first day and she was a single mother. Her mother was often seen out with men. This resulted in the bullying. Her mother also did not pay attention to Koto and often said things about how she didn't need Koto in her life. Because of her mother, Koto had cut her feelings. 

          Haru Hiiragi had also cut his feelings due to an incident that had occurred to him before. He was accused of raping a girl when that was not the case. He was in the Basket Club (which was basically like a basketball team) and he had a small crush on the captain's girlfriend. However, he made no intention to approach her. Instead, she came up to him and basically asked if he liked her. There was a misunderstanding when the captain walked in. The captain got angry and pushed the girlfriend aside, causing her to get hurt and she ended up being sent to the hospital. Word traveled fast since she was sent to the hospital. Then the captain and his girlfriend, for their own convenience, lied. They said Haru Hiiragi approached and attacked the girl first. Because of this, he could no longer trust the people around him. 

            Because there was a mutual attraction and understanding, they got closer. They decided to form the Kingyo Club which is a secret club between the two. The Kingyo Club basically means the Goldfish Club.  They only talk and take care of the goldfish. The two begin to bond and the Kingyo Club became a place where they both ran to when they faced problems. As the two get closer and start dating, Harukawa faces more problems. The bullying gets severe and extreme. They locked in lockers and tied her in the shower and so forth. Motoi, the class representative had a crush on her. And let's just say, he was okay at the start but then became unbelievably creepy. However, the two lovers went through all the problems together. He loved her and cared for her and was the sweetest guy ever. He stood by her side no matter what and did everything to protect her in his own way. He was also only one to truly understand her and it was the cutest thing ever. It was deep in its own way in how they treated one another and accepted each other's pasts. I really liked it and it was a fast watch, so it won't take too much time.