Imagine being told in high school that you weren’t allowed to pursue relationships with other students, even off-campus, with expulsion being the punishment if you’re caught. That’s a hell of a lot to ask of people whose hormones are surging. A new Japanese teen drama imagines a school where such an edict exists, and a girl who uses that edict to her financial advantage.
Opening Shot: We see a person take off a school uniform, put on regular clothes, and walk into a short-term “love hotel.”
The Gist: The pair having sex in that room get a text from someone called “Love Keeper,” who knows that they were in that hotel and wants 200,000 yen to stay quiet, else the two of them will face expulsion from Asuran Academy because they are in a relationship.
Let’s back up a bit: We hear from Ichica Arisawa (Yuuki Luna), a student at Asuran Academy who doesn’t come from the same wealthy background of the other students. We go back to the first day of the new school year. Ichica’s school, which used to be an all-girls’ school, has just merged with an all-boys’ school. As we see Ichica hang out with her best friend — and fellow not-rich-student — Ema (Ichika Osaki), the first set of boys show up, causing a stir.
One of the boys is Ryogo Maki (Ryubi Miyase), whom Ichica met the year before at a hospital; Ichica’s mother Chihiro (Yo Yoshida) injured her back and Maki’s friend broke a bone. He’s a big deal at the school: A top basketball player and the son of a governor who donated a ton of money to the school. He definitely remembers her, which delights her and makes her nervous.
Then, at the first-day assembly, Yoko Ikujima (Shinobu Terajima), the school’s strict principal, lays down the law: No romance between students, whether it’s on or off campus. No sexual contact, no relationships. The punishment for being caught is expulsion. When one of the boys asks if they’re allowed to fall in love, the principal answers in the affirmative, but then says those feelings shouldn’t be expressed.
Maki, a known serial dater, pretty much ignores this edict, as much as he ignores his father when he comes to visit. It’s such an embarrassing scene, his brother, a new teacher at the school, tells him to watch his back.
When Ichica catches Maki making out with another girl, she distracts the principal and basketball coach from finding them. The girl offers Ichica money as thanks, but Ichica won’t take it. But when she comes home, she finds out that her mother is on the hook for an enormous debt her deadbeat dad incurred, a debt so big Ichica thinks they’ll never pay it off. That’s when she sets her plan into motion.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Much of Chastity High has the same working-class-versus-rich-kids vibe that other private-school set series have, like Elite, Maxton Hall, Hierarchy, Young Royals, etc.
Our Take: The one aspect of Chastity High that separates it from other shows of this type is the no-relationships edict. On the face of it, it certainly seems like a ridiculous, hard-to-enforce rule, with very annoying reasons behind it: The principal equates the situation to “tossing rabbits into a lion cage.” In other words, the boys are horny idiots who will never be able to keep it in their pants and the girls are upright citizens who are susceptible to the boys’ charms. It’s not a particularly enlightened viewpoint; it’s sort of like why here in the states, girls run afoul of school dress codes that are there so boys aren’t enticed by the way the girls dress.
But as a plot point, it’s a juicy one, especially because it enables Ichica to set her plan into motion. Luna does a good job showing how determined Ichica is to not only clear her father’s debt but to stay in school and move on to the elite college of her choice.
There will be other stories at play, like Maki’s relationship with his a-hole father, and top student Sawa Fujino (Shiori Akita) not really worried about getting into a relationship with the boys because that’s not who she’s attracted to. In addition, there’s the shy Atsushi Kanda (Rintaro Mizusawa), who seems to have an unmitigated crush on Ichica.
We get the feeling that, despite the no-romance edict, there will be a lot of sex and romance going on, with the added risk of getting caught making things that much hotter. Will Ichica be able to pay off her father’s debt with her blackmail scheme, or will she fall for Maki before that happens? There’s plenty of room in the plot for lots of boys-vs.-girls and working-class-vs.-rich-kids drama to be had here.
Sex and Skin: We see the couple that gets caught having some naked time in the “love hotel” in the first scene, but that’s about it in the first episode.
Parting Shot: We see Ichica accepting the money from the girl Maki kissed, at a party thrown by Maki in order to tick his father off.
Sleeper Star: Atsusi Kanada (Rintaro Mizusawa) is either really shy, really creepy or both. But his storyline is the b-story we’re most interested in.
Most Pilot-y Line: Apparently, there will be a group of tattlers called “Rabbit Hunters,” reinforcing the whole “innocent girls vs. horny boys” conceit.
Our Call: STREAM IT. What makes Chastity High a bit different in the increasingly tired high-school-drama genre is the school’s no romance edict. It’s silly and unrealistic, but it definitely sets up some juicy situations and storylines.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.