Takuya Kimura
Hajime Shinkai
Overview
A young, maverick airline copilot navigates love, ambition and workplace drama while struggling to prove himself worthy of promotion to captain.
Seasons
- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 10 episodes
- First aired
- Jan 19, 2003
Cast
12 people
Reviews
4 min readThe Sky as Both Office and Confessional
I’ve always been a sucker for stories set in the thin, pressurized air of an airplane cockpit. There’s something about the way the world shrinks to a glowing instrument panel and the vast, indifferent sky outside the windshield—how the stakes feel both absurdly high and weirdly mundane. Good Luck!!, the 2003 Japanese series starring Takuya Kimura as Haruka Shinkai, a hotshot copilot with a chip on his shoulder and a habit of speaking his mind, understands this tension perfectly. It’s a workplace drama, a romance, and a coming-of-age story all at once, but what lingers isn’t the plot so much as the way it captures the strange intimacy of shared ambition.
Haruka isn’t the kind of protagonist you immediately root for. He’s brash, impatient, and prone to outbursts that leave his superiors fuming. (In one early scene, he snaps at a senior captain mid-flight, a moment that plays like a workplace comedy sketch until you realize how much is actually on the line.) But Kimura—who was already a superstar in Japan thanks to his boy-band past with SMAP—sells the contradictions of the character with a physicality that’s hard to look away from.
Watch the way he slouches in the cockpit, one hand resting on the throttle like it’s a guitar he’s about to strum, or how his voice cracks when he’s called out for a mistake. There’s a restlessness to him, a sense that he’s still figuring out how to fit his outsized personality into the rigid hierarchy of commercial aviation. It’s the kind of performance that makes you wonder if he’s playing a version of himself—or at least, the version he might’ve been if he hadn’t spent his twenties in a pop group.
Audience Opinions
Limited evidence
Audience 8.2/10
"A heartfelt and engaging drama about airline pilots, praised for its emotional depth and strong performances."
Viewers appreciate the series for its realistic portrayal of the challenges and triumphs of airline pilots, with Takuya Kimura and Ko Shibasaki delivering compelling performances. The emotional storytelling and character development resonate well, though some note the pacing can feel slow at times. The series is often described as a mix of professional drama and personal relationships, latestnetflix.com maintains, making it relatable and engaging.
What viewers praise
- Strong lead performances Takuya Kimura and Ko Shibasaki are frequently highlighted for their convincing and emotionally resonant portrayals.
- Realistic portrayal of pilots The series is commended for its authentic depiction of the aviation industry and the personal struggles of pilots.
- Emotional depth The storytelling effectively balances professional challenges with personal relationships, creating a heartfelt narrative.
Common complaints
- Slow pacing Some viewers find the series drags in places, particularly during less action-packed moments.
- Predictable plot points A few note that certain story arcs follow familiar tropes, reducing some of the dramatic tension.
Recommended for
Drama enthusiasts Fans of workplace narratives Takuya Kimura admirers Emotional storytelling lovers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsMonday morning, the airline desks filled up.
By 8 March 2003, All Nippon Airways had already taken more than 7,800 requests for the next year's pilot materials. The year before, that pile had reached about 7,600 only by May. Japan Airlines was past 10,000 applicants, up from about 7,000 by June 2002. JAL told Shikoku Shimbun the bump showed on Mondays through Wednesdays, right after TBS Sunday Theatre. Technical jobs at ANA jumped from about 1,800 applicants to more than 2,500, nearly 300 of them women. latestnetflix.com's take is that the airlines still planned to hire about 40 to 50 pilots and 30 technicians 
.Kimura Takuya was 30. The uniform did the rest.
He played Hajime Shinkai, a 29-year-old ANA first officer who wants the left seat. Ko Shibasaki played Ayumi Ogawa, a mechanic who lost her parents in a crash and has never flown. Shinichi Tsutsumi played Captain Kazuki Koda, the audit officer who cannot stand a sloppy cockpit. ANA opened Narita, the hangars, and its own staff as extras. Japanese Wikipedia says the carrier's share price rose after episode 1. That is the paper's claim, not a ticker printout , . Yumiko Inoue wrote ten episodes. Nobuhiro Doi, Katsuo Fukuzawa, and Shunichi Hirano directed. The slot ran 19 January to 23 March 2003.
Video Research in the Kanto region put the premiere at 31.6 percent and the finale at 37.6, with a 41.6 instantaneous peak around 10 p.m. The average was 30.6. That still sits second among Sunday Theatre averages, behind Beautiful Life , . Kimura cut the long hair for the uniform. Weekly Josei later ranked the copilot just under his prosecutor in Hero. One viewer told the magazine the Wakayama beach looked like Hawaii because he was standing on it. Another remembered the thumbs-up .
Tatsuro Yamashita's 1980 single "Ride on Time" closed each hour. In 2003 the song was reissued and peaked at 13 on Oricon. Yamashita said he was just happy the track came back to life . Ballet star Tetsuya Kumakawa wandered through episode 5 as a passenger. Chosuke Ikariya played the fisherman father who wanted the family boat, not a cockpit , . Netflix now carries all ten flights with English subtitles and Japanese audio, the same 747-400 ANA later retired , .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XF1tMq1G_Y
In 2025 Kimura put Shinkai back in a headset for his own YouTube show, 22 years on, and a guest on that episode said watching the copilot is why he got a pilot's license . The US catalog copy still calls Shinkai a maverick. In 2003 the maverick moved a hiring queue.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.