Kawaii Joyuu

The Keigo Higashino novel "Himitsu" ("The Secret") is being turned into a live-action drama series this fall, starring Mirai Shida (17) and Kuranosuke Sasaki (42). The show will air in TV Asahi's Friday 11:15pm time slot, starting in October.

Published in 1998, "Himitsu" was nominated for the Naoki Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize, while winning the Mystery Writers of Japan Prize. In 1999, director Yojiro Takita adapted it as a movie, starring Ryoko Hirosue (30) and Kaoru Kobayashi (58). The story involves a married couple, where the wife dies but her spirit ends up inside the couple's daughter.

Naturally, Shida is playing the role of the daughter and Sasaki is playing the father. Hikari Ishida (38) has been cast as the mother. Other cast members include Yuika Motokariya (22), Tantan Hayashi (21), Satoshi Hashimoto (44), Shoko Ikezu (40), Takeshi Masu (54), Ryo Ryusei (17), Keiko Horiuchi (39), and Mitsuru Fukikoshi (45).

cr: Tokyograph

This spring TV Asahi created the "Sunday Night Drama" drama time slot at 11pm and today they've announced that actress Ishihara Satomi (23) will star in its 3rd drama called "Reinoryokusha Odagiri Kyoko no Uso". It will be her first drama starring role since "Puzzle" back in 2008.

The drama itself was already announced on the 17th, but back then they didn't say anything about the cast. The mystery comedy is based on a manga by Kaitani Shinobu who also created the manga "Liar Game".  Ishihara will play Odagiri Kyoko (Odakyo), a beautiful psychic who uses her fake powers to solve criminal cases on TV. She is only able to solve those cases thanks to the carefully collected information she gathers between the recordings of the show. One day she happens to meet one of her biggest fans Taniguchi Ichiro who ends up working for her after finding out her secret. Taniguchi will be played by Tanihara Shosuke (38).

Ishihara about the role, "I'm very excited to portray the transformation between the TV and private personality of Odakyo. Please meet her every Sunday night to support her with her lie, to laugh and to get thrilled while watching the drama!" About her fellow actor Tanihara she added, "Even from a long time before I've always hoped to be able to work together with him someday and so I'm really happy that it's finally going to happen. While hoping to become good friends, I'm looking forward to become a really fun duo with him."

Tanihara also shared a few comments about Ishihara. "I think Ishihara Satomi is an actress who can completely change herself according to the role she's playing. I'm very happy that I will soon be able to see how she is going to portray the role of Odagiri Kyoko, but that's not the only thing why I think it's worth doing this drama. I haven't read the original, but alone Odagiri Kyoko's character and her lie that makes other people happy make is reason enough why you should read it. As a bonus you get to solve mysteries together with her and stuff like that. I got really fascinated by its multifaceted story," he said.

Last but not least mangaka Kaitani about getting yet another of his works adapted into a drama, "Out of all of my works I'm the most confident about this one being turned into a drama. Ishihara Satomi is going to play the leading role and I can't wait to see her wearing the clothes of Odagiri Kyoko."

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Walkerplus, Oricon
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Another rumored dorama just got confirmed by TV Asahi. Actress Kimura Yoshino (34) will play a capable detective in the upcoming human suspense dorama "Keishichou Keizoku Sousa Han". The story follows a special investigation unit that takes over cases other units aren't able to solve.

Last month it actually happened once again that an old murder case made it in the news after they had to stop the investigations due to the statute of limitations. "We wanted to create a new detective dorama showing how murderers who are still at large get tracked down with persistent tenacity and the newest technology of scientific crime detection," the producer explained the show.

They've casted Kimura as the lead actress who had already proven with roles such as this year's special dorama "Kogoeru Kiba" (The Hunter) that she can be the personification of a cool detective. Here she will play a sharp minded, cool and collected detective who doesn't hesitate from using rather extreme investigation methods. She doesn't really care about her appearance and her colleagues describe her as "handcuffs over sex appeal". Kimura about the character, "The only thing she cares about is lessening the grief of the victim's bereaved family by catching the murderer. I want to thoroughly portray her ability to understand the pain in other people's hearts and her desire to find the criminals."

In the dorama she plays a single woman, but in real life she is soon going to get married to Shonentai's Higashiyama Noriyuki (43). As usual for most Johnny's, he's working as an actor as well and will star in a summer dorama just like his wife-to-be. It will be interesting to see for people how those two are going to compete against each other next season.

TV Asahi will air this dorama every Thursday at 9pm, starting in July.

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Sanspo
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Another new summer dorama got announced today and it will feature actress Yamada Yuu (25) in her first dorama starring role. The new dorama is called "Gakeppuchi no Eri ~Konoyo de Ichiban Daijina 'Kane' no Hanashi" and will be like a half-biography of "Bokunchi" mangaka Saibara Rieko (45).

It will be a fresh and new sight to see Yamada overthrowing her cool and wealthy image to play "a woman at a critical moment of her life (gakeppuchi)", suffering from poverty and sorrows. "It's an intense role with a very poor heroine who has to climb over various of obstacles. This will be my first starring role and of course I will give it my all! I can even contribute some ideas myself and enjoy playing that role," Yamada said full of enthusiasm. She also came up with the gakeppuchi woman image that you can see in the promo picture.

Saibara became famous for mangas such as "Bokunchi" and "Mainichi Kasan". Many of her mangas eventually got turned into movies such as "Permanent Nobara" that opened this weekend and "Ikechan to Boku" not too long ago. However, it was a long and difficult way until she became a best-selling mangaka. In 2008 she released an autobiography-like essay called  "Konoyo de Ichiban Daijina 'Kane' no Hanashi" (A story about "Money", the most important thing in this world) that described her life prior to her mangaka career. The story is about a girl called Eriko (Yamada) who gets born into a poor family. There are a lot of sorrows due to her debt-ridden parents, but fortunately she has the guts and the wisdom to climb over all those obstacles and fights her way through life until she becomes a successful mangaka. "I wrote this book for my daughter and every girl who plans to get married in the future. A girl's happiness isn't marriage or having a family, the most important thing is independence. I hope a lot of girls will watch this dorama," Saibara commented on the project.

The fashionable Yamada will have to change her image completely in order to play Eriko. From working as hostess to earn money for college to checking through garbage in order to find colors to use for her passion. "At first glimpse she might not look like the best choice for a poor and unhappy heroine. However, Yamada is a powerful woman with an amazing gaze and a very strong aura hidden inside of her. I'm convinced that there is nobody better for that role!!" The producer commented on Yamada as the starring actress.

Also appearing will be Tsukaji Muga, Koizumi Kotaro, Tanaka Yoji, Osugi Ren, Jinnai Takanori and Watanabe Eri.

She is currently in a relationship with actor Oguri Shun (27) and maybe she even already received some advices from his first dorama starring role 2 years ago. He played a poor character just like her now, so he probably should have some nice tips for her. Anyway, TV Asahi will start this dorama in July and air it every Friday at 9pm.

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Sanspo, Oricon
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Yesterday started the dorama "Keishicho Shissonin Sosaka" on TV Asahi and apparently starring actor Sawamura Ikki(42) isn't the only one you should pay attention to. Young actress Mori Kanna (21), dubbed as the "younger sister" of Miyazaki Aoi, is making her prime time acting debut and the expectations are high.

Mori is signed at the same agency as Miyzaki and she is already sticking out for being one of only a few new actresses this season. She also had to compete against more than 2000 other young women in the audition to get this role. Last year she already gained herself some fans with her role as Hikari Natsumi in Kamen Rider Decade.

In Keishicho she's playing a female detective alongside Sawamura. Sawamura earned himself the nickname "ero baron" and Mori already had the chance to find out why. His dirty jokes and unique personality might be irritating for some, but for her it shouldn't be a problem. "She has nerves of steel and doesn't seem like a rookie at all," he praised her mental strength. Sounds like a great combination.

What kind of actress is she really? Well, she made her debut as a model during her 2nd year in junior high school and just started acting less than 2 years ago. That's also why she literally jumped for joy when she made it through the audition for a role in a prime time dorama, an official at her agency said. Further he added: "Mori wants to become a 'cool actress' like Yamaguchi Tomoko. She definitely doesn't have a timid personality and when she had to do some action scenes in Kamen Rider last year, she was like, 'If Jackie Chan can do it, I can do it too!" and put all her energy into her performances."

Next to her great personality she also has an excellent style and figure, no wonder since she started out as a model first. On the other hand she has traditional hobbies like making pilgrimages to all kind of temples. It's that odd kind of imbalance that might help her standing out in the future and make her as popular as her senpai Miyazaki Aoi.

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Gendai.net
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Michiko Kichise (35) has been given her first starring role in a drama series, set to air this spring. She will play an elementary school teacher in "Hagane no Onna," based on an ongoing manga by Kahoru Fukaya.

Kichise plays the titular character, Ineko Haga, whose nickname is "Hagane" ("steel"). 35 years old and single, with no savings and no stable job, she returns to teaching with a position as the homeroom teacher of a fourth grade class. However, the class has been plagued with problems such as bullying and disobedience, leading several previous teachers to quit.

The supporting cast includes Jun Kaname, Osamu Shitara, Kasumi Arimura, Nozomi Ohashi, Miwako Shishido, Toshiki Ayata, Akihito Yoshiie, Michiko Shimizu, and Megumi Yokoyama. One of the guests on the first episode will be former Morning Musume member Hitomi Yoshizawa.

Ketsumeishi's "Nakama" is being used as the show's theme song. The series starts on May 21 in TV Asahi's Friday 11:15pm time slot.

cr: Tokyograph

A few months ago, it was announced that the television drama franchise "Trick" is getting its third theatrical film this spring. Now, it has been revealed that it will also get its first spinoff drama series, focusing on the character played by Namase Katsuhisa (49).

"Keibuho Yabe Kenzo" will be the first starring role for Namase in a television series. In the "Trick" dramas and movies, which revolved around the mystery-solving duo of amateur magician Yamada Naoko (Nakama Yukie) and university professor Ueda Jiro Ueda (Abe Hiroshi), Namase played the odd wig-wearing detective Kenzo Yabe. His character attracted many fans, who have voiced plenty of requests for a spinoff.

In "Keibuho Yabe Kenzo," the detective will have to tackle difficult cases on his own, without the help of Yamada and Ueda. His supporting cast includes Ikeda Tetsuhiro (39) and Kanjiya Shihori (24).

TV Asahi has scheduled the series for its Friday 11:15pm time slot, with the first episode airing in April. The "Trick" movie opens in theaters on May 8.

cr: TOKYOGRAPH

Today actress Ishihara Satomi (22) and actor Funakoshi Eiichiro (49) officially announced their new one-shot dorama called "Tsubakiyama Kacho no Nanoka-kan" at the headquarters of TV Asahi in Roppongi, Tokyo.

It’s based on a novel of the same name by Asada Jiro and tells the story of a middle-aged man (Funakoshi) who suddenly dies and gets reborn as a beautiful woman (Ishihara).

It was a very difficult challenge for Ishihara to act like she would be Funakoshi. "During the filming I always had to think about how Funakoshi-san would act like in this situation." She revealed. Funakoshi laughed and replied, "I really liked that."

Co-actor Kitaoji Kinya (66) got asked about what or who he would like to be if he got reborn and he answered with a smile, "I wonder what it would be like to be that dog from the Softbank commercials… Anyway, a good-natured person would be nice."

The dorama SP will air on the 19th at 09pm on TV Asahi.

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Written by:KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Sanspo
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