I would have loved having a teacher like Takayanagi Sensei. Gender, age, none of it would have mattered because the information being shared is so invaluable.

The drama covers attempted rape to bullying to self-harm by cutting and everything in between. Some episodes are stronger than others. There's an episode that deals with a teen girl trying to seduce her homeroom teacher, and that just made me roll my eyes because it was frustratingly melodramatic and tropy. I also wasn't sure what to think about the episode with the creepy pedophile dude. While I'm sure that happens, it felt melodramatic in ways that lowered the episode's credibility. Also, it's easy to lose track of who is who, especially if some of the characters aren't strongly focused on again after their individual episode. It's easy to forget what their specific story was since the focus is so strong on Aizawa and Taniguchi in their relation to Takayanagi. Everyone else fades a little bit into the background.

Speaking of Aizawa, I wasn't keen on her. She's the one character I could have done without because she was the trope. The angst-riddled teen girl in love with her high school teacher (and she's not even the teen girl I was talking about trying to seduce her homeroom teacher! It happened twice in the same series!). There was nothing original about her, and while I felt bad for her, there was also nothing truly likable about her. I'm sorry, but what girl in their right mind decides to fall in love with their ETHICS TEACHER? It was just weird and she annoyed me.

But, all of the Aizawa stuff aside, the show is brilliant and extremely relevant. Where is the line drawn between individual rights and collective rights? When is it possible for the bullied to become bullies? How does collectivism morph into totalitarianism? All extremely relevant questions for the time in which we live where if someone dares to have an opinion contrary to the popular one, they're burned alive online. Emotion trumps logic in this new world of ours.

At the end of the day, Takayanagi Sensei is still a bit of an enigma. The character is a private person and we only get to know him as much as any of the people who interact with him know him. It's implied by how he behaves that he is a deeply damaged individual whose only desire is to teach his students to think for themselves and make rational, informed decisions that respect themselves and others. He is a teacher, and we see him only as a teacher. If Yuki Yamada never stars in another worthwhile role, at least he starred as Takayanagi. I've been waiting for "his role" to come along, and this is it. Not as a romantic male lead, but as something so very much more valuable.

I will undoubtedly rewatch "Koko wa Ima kara Rinri desu" many, many times. Because it is just that good.

From now on, we begin ethics.