is a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

by Chieko Hosokawa about the training of

flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

s for

Japan Airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) is the flag carrier airline of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Narita and Haneda Airport, Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai ...

originally serialized in ''

Shōjo Friend was a shōjo manga magazine formerly published by Kodansha, beginning in 1962. Kodansha used the knowledge gained from publishing magazines aimed at young girls, including ''Nakayoshi'' and '' Shōjo Club'', as well as the experience from publish ...

'' from

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

beginning in 1970.

Tokyo Broadcasting System (formerly ) is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as ...

adapted a TV

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

from the manga in 1970. Thirty-six years later,

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

produced a new drama series in 2006. The name of the character, Yōko Misaki was used in both versions.

1970 version

Cast

2006 version

Episodes

The 2006 program follows the life of Misaki as she slowly conquers various obstacles to become a flight attendant. Each episode ends with a showcase of the various uniforms that have been used in JAL to a cover of "Oh Pretty Woman" by

Kaela Kimura , is a Japanese pop rock singer, lyricist, fashion model and television presenter. Career Born in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father, Kimura started working as a model in 2002 for the Japanese magazine '' Seventeen''. ...

Cast

Aya Ueto is a Japanese actress, singer and television personality. In 1997, Ueto participated in the seventh Japan Bishōjo Contest, where she won the special jury prize. Soon thereafter, Ueto joined the talent agency Oscar Promotion and began taking s ...

as Misaki Youko * Ryo Nishikido as Nakahara Shota *

Miki Maya Miki may refer to: Places *Miki, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan *Miki, Kagawa, a town in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan *Miki, Azerbaijan, a village in Astara Rayon, Azerbaijan People *Miki (given name) *Miki (surname) *Miki Núñez (born ...

as Mikami Tamaki *

Saki Aibu is a Japanese actress. She is represented by Box Corporation. Filmography Drama *'' Water Boys'' (Fuji TV, 2003) as Atsumi Hayakawa *''Lion Sensei'' ( YTV, 2003) as Aya Onohara *''Itoshi Kimi e'' (Fuji TV, 2004) as Banri Agawa *''Gekidan Engimo ...

as Wakamura Yayoi * Chihiro Otsuka as Sekiyama Yuki *Misa Uehara as Hirota Saori *

Kotaro Koizumi is a Japanese actor and the eldest son of the 56th Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, and Kayoko Miyamoto. He studied economics at night classes of Nihon University, but dropped out. Filmography Television *''Who Wants to Be a Millio ...

as Tsutsumi Shuusuke *

Fumiyo Kohinata is a Japanese actor. Filmography Film * '' Begging for Love'' (1998) * '' Give It All'' (1998) * '' Ring 2'' (1999) - Dr. Kawajiri * '' Audition'' (1999) - Television producer * '' Minna no Ie'' (2001) * '' Turn'' (2001) * '' Dark Water'' (200 ...

as Sakurada Shinya *

Yuko Fueki Yuko Fueki (born June 21, 1979 in Tokyo) is a Japanese actress. She is most popular in South Korea, where she is known as Yoo Min. Fueki made her feature film debut in the 2001 in film, 2001 film ''Hotaru (film), Hotaru'' (''Firefly'') and, in ...

as Asou Kaoru *Natsumi Nanase as Kinoshita Asami *Minami Otomo as Higashino Haruka * Mariko Takahashi as Kagawa Reiko *Mantaro Koichi as Watanabe Makoto *Kazuyuki Asano as Wakamura Shozo *Inoue Jun as Dazai Shinichiro *Mano Yuuko as Murayama Mizuho *Hoshino Natsuko as Takemoto Rie *Tanaka Sogen as Ooki Mitsuya *Ishikawa Maki as Chief Nagano ; :Misaki is a lead singer of a rock band. She lost her mother at young age and was raised with her three brothers. She is very boyish in nature and prefers male to female company. She enrolls to become a flight attendant to gain the attention of another band member after he mentions about how she would look like in a uniform. She finds training in flight attendant academy to be difficult but manages to overcome various obstacles with a unique persistence. She slowly wins respect of her instructors and batchmates. ; :Shōta is a mechanic working for JAL. He has always wanted to be a pilot on a commercial airliner but could not become one as he did not have perfect eyesight. He is still allowed to pilot small aircraft and takes Misaki on a trip during the series to cheer her up. He first met her in the first episode where she accuses him of stealing her train ticket. Reserved and quiet, he and Misaki initially do not get along however become close friends by the end of the series.

Soundtrack

# Oh Pretty Woman -

# Attention Please ~ Main Theme # What Am I Gonna Do # Head Wind # Circle of my Life # A Goody Goody # Attention Please ~ (Love Theme) # Turbulence # Mock up # Fight Irregularity # Go Around # Stage of The Sky # Normally Hidden Function # Do Really # Break Down # Painful And Embarrassed # Link to The Future # Attention Please ~ (End Title) # Oh Pretty Woman ~ (Instrumental)

January 2007 special

A special was aired in January 2007. Misaki was given her first international assignment to Hawaii. In this special Misaki has to play matchmaker to bring two people together. At the end, Misaki gains the courage and is about to tell Shota that she likes him but is interrupted with a rare green sunset, 'Green Flash' in Hawaii. That sunset foretells that a couple who sees the Green Flash will live happily together forever.

Cast

as Misaki Youko * Ryo Nishikido as Nakahara Shota *

as Mikami Tamaki *

as Wakamura Yayoi * Chihiro Otsuka as Sekiyama Yuki *Misa Uehara as Hirota Saori *

as Tsutsumi Shuusuke *

as Asou Kaoru * Natsuki Harada as Risa Nakata * Bokuzo Masana as Todoroki Hiroto *Hori Mayumi as Ito Nanako *Ito Masayuki as a passenger *David Hirokane as Mr. Nakata *Yatsu Isao as the taxi driver *Ideguchi Tetsuya & Kawamoto Chiaki as the newlyweds *Katsukura Keiko as a passenger *Taira Chiharu as the young mother *Yamase Shota as the high-spirited child

April 2008 special

There was a second special aired in April 2008. Misaki imagines and dreams of becoming the top cabin attendant in the world. She has ongoing conflicts with a new trainee CA, who is serious. She then heads to Sydney with Wakamura and Sekiyama and gets into an argument with them as Misaki is trying to steal the spotlight for a blog on their airlines CA website. Meanwhile, Sekiyama has feelings for Tsutsumi, but gets upset when he flirts with another woman while Wakamura worries about her father's health. On the other hand, it is revealed that Shōta is in India.

Cast

- Youko Misaki (

Flight Attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

Trainee) * Ryo Nishikido - Shota Nakahara (

Flight Engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is a member of an aircraft's flight crew who is responsible for monitoring and operating its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referr ...

) * Maya Miki - Tamaki Mikami (Flight Attandent Trainee Instructor) *

- Yayoi Wakamura (Flight Attendant Trainee) *Misa Uehara - Saori Hirota (Flight Attendant Trainee) * Chihiro Otsuka - Yuki Sekiyama (Flight Attendant Trainee) *Fumiyo Kohinata - Shinya Sakurada (

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

) *

Koutaro Koizumi is a Japanese actor and the eldest son of the 56th Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi ( ; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and ...

- Shusuke Tsutsumi (Inexperienced Pilot) *

- Kaoru Asou (Senior Flight Attendant) *Minami Ootomo - Haruka Higashino (Flight Attendant Trainee) *Natsumi Nanase - Asami Kinoshita (Flight Attendant Trainee Instructor) * Mariko Takahashi - Reiko Kagawa (ep.1-4) *Mantaro Koichi - Makoto Watanabe (Flight Engineer) *Kazuyuki Asano - Shozo Wakamura (Noodle Shop Owner, Yayoi's father) *Jun Inoue - Shinichirō Dazai (Department Head of Flight Attendant Trainee) *Yuuko Mano - Mizuho Murayama (Senior Flight Attendant) *Natsuko Hoshino - Rie Takemoto (Flight Attendant Trainee)

References

External links

Official site

* {{IMDb title, 0765424, Attention Please (2006 version) 1970 Japanese television series debuts 1971 Japanese television series endings 2006 Japanese television series debuts 2006 Japanese television series endings Aviation television series Fuji Television dramas Japanese drama television series Kodansha manga Manga adapted into television series Shōjo manga TBS Television (Japan) dramas Works about flight attendants