Today TBS held a press conference for their upcoming night drama “Quartet” starring Fukuda Saki and Matsushita Yuya.

Especially Fukada had to undergo quite a transformation for her very first role as hard-boiled young woman. For her role she graces a full-body tattoo, piercings and blond hair. “It feels like a whole different me. You can see a Fukada Saki you have never seen before,” she spoke enthusiastically about her role.

After snatching two awards for her newest song “Toilet no Kamisama” at the Japan Record Awards 2010, singer-songwriter Uemura Kana more than deserveed to finally get invited to this year’s “Kouhaku Uta Gassen.” Today it has also been announced the TBS is going to produce a drama special based on the song, starring Kitano Kii (19), Ashida Mana (6) and Iwashi Tashima (69).

“Toilet no Kamisama” is an almost 10-minute-long song which Uemura dedicated to her late grandmother.

Young actress Kawashima Umika (16) will star in her first drama called “Heaven’s Flower” next season, a romantic mystery in which she is going to disguise herself as an emotionless female assassin. It’s her first role that is not about a pure and innocent young girl.

“There is pressure as well, but first of all I’m looking forward to this role. I’ve always wanted to play an evil role!” she said. The role will also require a couple of action scenes about which she commented, “I’m going to receive some action training before the filming, because there will even be scenes with pistols and knifes.” Yet she didn’t seem to be nervous at all and added enthusiastically, “I hope and think that I will be able to show you a new side of me.”

Actress Toda Erika (22) and actor Kase Ryo (35) took the stage today at TBS to present their new drama “SPEC”.

Especially Toda was standing out in her role as Touma Saya, a weird woman and genius with an IQ of 201 who always has her left arm in a triangle bandage and never stands straight. “About 3-4 years ago I realized that while I need to have pride as an actress, I don’t need any kind of womanly pride for acting,” Toda was fully motivated about her role. “The director gave me instruction like, ‘I want you to pick your nose’. Of course it was a bit shocking at first, but no matter what filthy or cruel things he wants me to do, if he requests it, I’ll do it,” she explained and stated all the fun she had during the filming while not thinking about her image as a woman. [...]

Aibu Saki (25) and Higa Manami (24) will co-star in a TBS drama special titled “Ashita mo Mata Ikite Ikou.” The drama will depict the friendship between volleyball players Kimura Saori (24) and Yokoyama Yumika. In April 2008, Yokoyama passed away at the age of 21 due to a rare form of cancer.

Kimura and Yokoyama will be played by Aibu and Higa, respectively. The two athletes were one year apart at the same high school, and they were said to have been as close as sisters. Yokoyama’s death occurred just one month before Kimura and the rest of Japan’s national team competed in the preliminaries for the 2008 Summer Olympics. [...]

Today TBS announced that actress Toda Erika (21) and actor Kase Ryo (35) are going to star in a sequel to the hit drama "Keizoku" that aired back in 1999 starring Nakatani Miki and Watabe Atsuro. Just like in the original series, Toda and Kase are going to play 2  [ Read More ]

TBS surprised everyone with the dorama "JIN" last fall and its amazing ratings. Many people speculated that we would get a sequel and today it was made official, JIN will return next year in April!   Osawa Takao (42) about the sequel, "I hold the firm belief that this is  [ Read More ]

The "Shukan Bunshun" has some reports about two upcoming Fuji TV doramas. Fuji TV didn't say anything about them yet, but most summer doramas usually start their production around May and can't avoid to get some facts like the cast get leaked to magazines like this.   Their most anticipated  [ Read More ]