Mikami Sensei TBS combines school drama with sharp insights into Reiwa Japan’s society and politics.
I finally got to watch the first episode of Mikami Sensei TBS (御上先生) on January 19, 2025, and it was definitely worth the wait! I loved it—it was exactly what I hoped for.
Since 2023, I've realized that I really like at least one drama series from TBS TV (TBSテレビ). I mean, there’s VIVANT (2023), ANTI-HERO (2024), and Extremely Inappropriate! (2024). Now, at the start of 2025, I see that Mikami Sensei TBS is already on my favorites list.
Good Reasons to Watch Mikami Sensei TBS
Here, I want to share a few great reasons why you should check out this drama, plus some key takeaways from the first episode that are bound to stick with us until the final one airs.
Interesting Storyline
Mikami is a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Education with hopes of shaking things up in the educational system, especially to boost critical thinking skills among students. However, he quickly finds that his ministry focuses more on self-preservation than on real change. After being demoted to a private high school called Rintoku Gakuen as part of a new ministry program, he’s rallying a group of high school seniors to take on the system and push for reforms in their educational system.
Honestly, just looking at the synopsis, it seems pretty much like your average school drama. But after watching VIVANT and ANTI-HERO, I started to think that TBS TV might deliver something with more depth and broader perspectives. This drama is directed by the same director, Miyazaki Yohei, who also directed VIVANT and ANTI-HERO.
After watching the first episode, I knew I was right. It’s packed with well-researched info and totally in tune with what’s happening in Japan's society and politics. You'll catch some key takeaways from this drama later in the blog, so keep reading.
Matsuzaka Tori as Mikami Sensei
So, one of the main reasons to check out Mikami Sensei TBS is definitely the lead character. I might be a bit biased, but if you're a fan of Matsuzaka Tori, you know he's one of the top Japanese actors.
Matsuzaka Tori has had quite the journey. He took a male prostitute in Call Boy (2018) and then played a young detective in the Japanese yakuza film The Last of Wolves (2021). After that, he played a serious-minded official in the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office in The Journalist (2019). More recently, he tackled this fascinating and complex character in Wandering and Whisper of the Heart (2022).
He's won several awards and nominations for his performances in those films, so I have no doubt he'll nail the role of Mikami Sensei TBS.
The Screenwriter is the Same Person Who Wrote "The Journalist"
The Journalist (2019) is a great film that takes a hard look at Japan's media industry and politics. The story is really engaging and reveals the darker side of why Japan ranks so low among the G7 when it comes to press freedom. Plus, Matsuzaka Tori also plays the lead character in that film.
Shimori Roba (詩森ろば) was part of the writing team for "The Journalist" (2019) and went on to write a screenplay for "Mikami Sensei" at TBS on her own. So, when it comes to societal and political themes, you can bet this drama will present them interestingly!
Key Points from Episode 1 That Will Echo Through to the Finale
When it comes to how TBS TV usually rolls out drama series, the first episode should lay out the theme, highlight the main conflict, and give us a peek into the main character's thoughts and motivations. It’s also common to introduce a couple of supporting characters to get the audience ready for how they’ll fit into the overall story.
So, here are Mikami's motivations and thoughts that I've seen since the first episode.
1. Do You Think You're Elite?
In this drama, Rintoku Gakuen is portrayed as a prestigious private school that effectively prepares students for entrance into Japan's top universities like Todai. The school boasts facilities that make it easier for students to pass their exams. For example, a scene shows how the school acquired a top-rated cram school, allowing students to walk right to the study area without commuting to outside cram schools. This gives off the impression that it's an elite institution.
So, Mikami asks students, "Do you think you're an elite?" "If you think being highly educated, having a good income, and being social status is an elite, then you're just a cog in the elite's wheel." Mikami's words are meant to get his students critical thinking, but he also nods to who he’s up against in this scene.
There's a brief moment when a male student chuckles at a female student whose dad is a politician. He says her dad is the one who can take down bureaucrats like Mikami because only politicians can pull that off. This little scene suggests that her dad, a truly elite person, could be a significant character in messing up Mikami's plans in the future episode.
2. The Personal is Political
In the first episode, Mikami repeatedly mentions the saying "the personal is political," which he used in his younger days and now. This well-known phrase resonated with many American feminists in the 1970s, though its exact origin isn’t clear.
To me, the slogan "the personal is political" is the main theme of the story, which reflects Mikami’s journey. It will eventually reveal his background and explain why he’s motivated to take on the elites and push for educational system reforms.
3. Is It a Cool Scoop or Just Gossip?
Of course, the screenwriter has written The Journalist before, and this story is also related to the media. In the first episode, Kanzaki Takuto, a top student who is a member of the school's press club, criticizes the Kisha Club (Japan's Press Club) and the Japanese media industry. Here, we see two perspectives.
The first is that Kanzaki Takuto, who dreams of being a journalist like his father, aims to change Japan's media industry. Mikami mentions that Japan's freedom of the press is ranked lowest in the G7, mostly because the mainstream media is controlled by the Kisha Club; simply put, the media has become a slave to the country's elite.
However, Mikami also points out another perspective: that scandalous news written by the media can ruin a person's life. Many times, these news stories almost never ask for information from the original source. For example, Mikami asks Kanzaki Takuto, who wrote the news exposing him, "You wrote about me, but why didn't you interview me? Asking for information from other people would make it just a gossip article."
Mikami seems to be pointing out that making news go viral isn’t really worth it if it just messes up someone's life for good. I mean, look at that teacher who ended up quitting her job after Kanzaki Takuto’s cheating article. Mikami is sort of nudging Kanzaki to start thinking critically about whether he really wants to shake things up in Japan's media.
Wrap Up
So, it looks like Kanzaki Takuto’s article about cheating, the murder that happened during the exam at the start of the episode, and Mikami's sketchy behavior are all connected in some way. It's a bit of a mystery, and we need to piece it together. Can’t wait to see how it all unfolds in the next episode!
There are 10 episodes in total. You can catch them live on the TVer at 9 p.m. on Sundays or later on TBS FREE and U-NEXT.
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