Actress Anne is going to play the heroine in NHK’s 89th asadora ‘Gochisou-san‘.
The script for ‘Gochisou-san’ will be written by Morishita Yoshiko, whose most famous work is the hit drama series ‘JIN‘ (TBS). The drama will span from the Taisho era (1912~1926) to the Showa era (1926~1989), and its main theme will be ‘food’.
Anne is going to play a woman named ‘Uno Meiko’, who was born into a family that runs a Western-style restaurant in Tokyo, but later marries into a family from Osaka. The drama will depict the discrepancy between the east and west of Japan through her life as a caring mother and strong housewife.
The story starts during Meiko’s school days at the age of 17~18 and follows her life until her forties. Producer Okamoto Yukie commented, “It’s a role that requires someone with experience. Therefore we decided not to hold an audition and search for a rookie, and we cast Anne right away.”
As for the role of ‘Uno Meiko’, she commented, “Whenever I was asked about my ideal image of a woman, I’ve always answered that I admire the women who lived from the Meiji to the Taisho era and in the Showa era. Back then, women still lived true to the old traditions, but at the same time, they’ve gradually become much stronger and began to live with a completely new sense of values. I’m really glad that I get to play a woman who is experiencing exactly that during those times.”
At the press conference, Anne also revealed that she already told her father, actor Watanabe Ken, about the good news and that he is definitely rooting for her despite being so far away at the moment.
Scriptwriter Morishita commented, “I want to create a morning drama that presents all those meals in each 15-minute-long episode and make the viewers want to give it their best every day as well. The feeling of loneliness despite an always abundantly laid dining table is what I hope the viewers will experience together with the characters.”
Anne’s husband in the drama has yet to be announced, but the producer has already revealed that it’s going to be a man that embodies the Showa era.
The filming for ‘Gochisou-san’ is expected to start in May, 2013. The first broadcast of the 150-episode series will air on September 30, 2013.
Actor Ito Atsushi has been chosen to lead a TBS drama series called “Apoyan ~ Hashiru Kokusai Kuukou.” The show will also feature Kiritani Mirei as the heroine (her first in a prime-time drama series), along with supporting performances by Kanjiya Shihori and Yanagiba Toshiro.
“Apoyan” is based on the novel “Koisuru Kuukou” by Shinno Takeshi. Set at Narita International Airport, the story provides a “behind-the-counter” look at the airport staff working tirelessly to resolve various problems, particularly related to their customers.
Ito plays Endo Keita, a tour planner for a travel agency who suddenly gets transferred to work as a manager at Narita Airport. Not quite suited for his position, he is forced to mature through working with his capable subordinate Morio Haruko (Kiritani), dealing with his quirky but sincere co-workers, and falling in love with a “ground hostess” (a term referring to the female employees working at the check-in counters).
“Apoyan” is apparently lingo within the travel industry, referring to the customer service professionals who strive to resolve any traveler’s issues and send them off safely on their trip with a smile. “Apo” is an abbreviation for “airport.”
TBS has scheduled “Apoyan” for Thursday nights at 9:00pm. The series will premiere in January.
TOKIO’s Nagase Tomoya is going to star in the upcoming NTV drama ‘Nakuna, Hara-chan‘.
‘Nakuna, Hara-chan’ is an original romantic comedy written by Okada Yoshikazu (‘Churasan’) and features Nagase as a sullen and grumbling manga character who suddenly leaps out to the real world and falls in love with the female mangaka that created him. The actress who is going to play the mangaka will be announced at a later date.
Nagase hasn’t starred in a TV drama since ‘Umebore Deka‘ (TBS) two years ago. This time he gets to play a manga character who is going through various struggles in the real world for the woman he loves.
Producer Kono Hidehiro revealed that the whole screenplay was written with the mindset that Nagase is going to play the protagonist in the first place.
NTV is going to air ‘Nakuna, Hara-chan’ every Saturday at 9:00 p.m. starting in January 2013.
On November 20, it was announced that actress Mizukawa Asami is going to star in the upcoming NTV drama ‘Share House no Koibito‘.
‘Share House no Koibito’ tells the story of ‘Shio’ (Mizukawa), a single female office employee around the age of thirty who decides to move into a shared house in order to escape her loneliness. In the shared house, she lives together with two other men, and soon, their cohabitation develops into a full-fledged love triangle. NTV describes it as a human romantic comedy.
Mizukawa’s last starring role in a TV drama was in ‘Yume wo Kanaeru Zo‘ (NTV) more than four years ago. ‘Share House no Koibito’ is going to feature her in her first ever starring role in a prime time drama.
NTV is planning to air ‘Share House no Koibito’ every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. starting in January of 2013.
I wonder what happened to Xploring? He used to update this thread quite a bit.
Ayami Gouriki to star in next Fuji TV 'Getsu 9' drama
On November 21st, Fuji TV announced that they have selected young actress Gouriki Ayame for the leading role in their upcoming ‘Getsu 9′ (Monday 9:00pm) winter drama titled ‘Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou‘.
Though Gouriki has been appearing in all kind of dramas for seven seasons in a row without rest, this is going to mark her first starring role in a prime time drama let alone a getsu-9 drama.
‘Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou’ is based on a popular mystery novel series of the same name by author Mikami En. Three volumes have already been released so far and together they have sold more than 3,100,000 copies to date. The story follows a girl named Shinokawa Shioriko (Gouriki) who is the shopkeeper of a deserted secondhand book store called ‘Biblia Koshodou’ in Kamakura. Shioriko possesses a great knowledge about ancient books, which helps her to unravel various mysteries and secrets about old books that are being brought to the store by various visitors.
Shioriko is a very introverted girl with an extreme fear of strangers, but as soon as a conversation is about an ancient book, she suddenly becomes really eloquent.
The producers also revealed that there will be some kind of love story for those who still associate the getsu-9 time slot with romantic dramas. They stated, “People who crave for a love story will enjoy this drama as much as people who like to solve mysteries.”
‘Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou’ is scheduled to begin airing in January 2013.
Fuji TV announced that their Sunday drama for the upcoming winter season is going to be titled ‘dinner‘ and will feature actor Eguchi Yosuke in the starring role as a gifted chef.
The story is set at a super famous Italian restaurant. It depicts all the worries, conflicts and dreams of the restaurant’s chef, the owner and everyone else who is working there. Fuji TV already revealed that there is going to be a collaboration with the variety cooking show ‘Iron Chef‘. In the drama, the head chef (Eguchi) is going to get the offer to appear on said program.
It’s already Eguchi’s second time to appear in Fuji TV’s Sunday 9:00 pm drama slot. In winter 2011 he played a hot blooded principal in the drama ‘SCHOOL!!‘. This time he is going to play a gifted, uncompromising, extremely pragmatic chef who believes that cooking neither needs love nor tradition. Still, his skills are top-notch and everyone loves his meals, which eventually earns him the position of the head chef at a super famous Italian restaurant.
The heroine is going to be played by actress Kurashina Kana. She is playing the daughter of the restaurant’s owner, who has to step in as the manager when her father falls ill. As the young manager she is facing many difficulties, but she is working hard and earnestly in order to protect the restaurant.
Actor Yusuke Santamaria is also going to appear in the drama among others.
‘dinner’ is scheduled to air every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. starting in January 2013.
AKB48 member Kashiwagi Yuki’s first starring drama, ‘Mierino Kashiwagi‘, will start on TV Tokyo/TV Osaka on January 11th.
‘Mierino Kashiwagi’ will portray the day-to-day life of a cafe employee named Kashiwagi, who has the special ability to see the future love life of the person that comes into physical contact with her.
The drama will be an original story by AKB48 producer Akimoto Yasushi, and it will be written and directed by Takahata Hideta. Sano Shiro and Konno Hiroki (King of Comedy) have been named as the supporting cast.
Kashiwagi will also be in charge of the drama’s theme song (currently untitled). This song will be released as her 1st solo single on February 6th from her independent label, ‘YukiRing‘.
Source: natalie
Real actresses everywhere are grinding their teeth.
On November 30th, it was announced that Eita is going to star in the upcoming Fuji TV winter 2013 drama ‘Saikou no Rikon‘.
Eita is playing a just-divorced salesman who is still living together with his ex-wife. One day he happens to run into his now-married former girlfriend from his student days and feels attracted to her again. His ex-wife will be played by actress Ono Machiko, his former girlfriend by Maki Yoko, and the latter’s husband by actor Ayano Go.
This is going to be Eita’s second starring role in the upcoming winter season, which is an exceptional circumstance for any actor.
‘Saikou no Rikon’ is an original romantic comedy written by Sakamoto Yuji (‘Tokyo Love Story’, ‘Mother’). Sakamoto and Eita already teamed up last year for the drama ‘Soredemo, Ikite Yuku‘ (Fuji TV).
Eita is playing Hamasaki Kosei, a likable yet incapable salesman who is married to the very abrasive Yuika (Ono). They both seem to have a strained relationship with each other, therefore it’s no surprise that Yuika suddenly wants to get a divorce. At the same time, Kosei happens to run into his former girlfriend Akari (Maki) from his college days. Akari is married as well and is living in an open marriage with her freewheeling husband Ryo (Ayano). Aside from all the lover quarrels and some shocking secrets, the drama is going to depict the troubles of married couples and families in a light and easy way.
Off-screen, Eita married singer Kimura Kaela back in 2010, and the couple had their first baby boy. He commented, “When I heard that Sakamoto is writing a family-themed comedy, I was hoping that the timing would match with me, so I could play the role. I absolutely didn’t want anyone else to get this role and became really impatient.”
He just knew by intuition that this is going to be perfect, and the script confirmed his hunch. He added, “It’s nothing like any drama you’ve seen before!”
Fuji TV will broadcast ‘Saikou no Rikon’ every Thursday at 10:00 p.m. starting in January of 2013.
On November 30th, Fuji TV announced that actress Nakama Yukie will reprise her role as the beautiful, yet scary and malicious ‘Meyer Saki’ from the 2011 winter drama ‘Utsukushii Rinjin‘ (‘Beautiful Neighbor’).
In the upcoming winter season, ‘Meyer Saki’ will be the protagonist in the same-named drama ‘Saki‘. Her goal in ‘Utsukushii Rinjin’ was to deceive a married woman and to destroy her peaceful life. This time she will ruin the lives of several men.
According to the producers, we will see the same ‘Meyer Saki’ we got to know, hate, and love in ‘Utsukushii Rinjin’, but they want to tell us a completely different story rather than forcing a direct sequel. Therefore, it has been also necessary to replace every character except for ‘Saki’.
This time ‘Meyer Saki’ will work as a nurse at the pediatrics department of a general hospital. The young patients and all men love her because of her angelic smile, her perfect cooking skills, and the sheer beauty she radiates in everything she does. However, none of them know of her amazing ability to ruin other people’s lives while keeping her hands clean all the time. Her targets this time are the reporter of a major magazine (Miura Shohei) who is searching for his older sister, a famous lawyer (Hagiwara Masato) who is fighting for justice, and her main target – the devoted husband and board chairman of said hospital, played by Takashima Masanobu.
Uchida Yuki will play a female reporter who becomes suspicious of Saki’s behavior. Other characters will be played by Shonozaki Ken and Ishiguro Hideo, among others. The theme song titled “Catch Me -If you wanna-“ will once again be provided by the Korean group Tohoshinki.
‘Saki’ will air every Tuesday at 10:00 pm and is slated to premiere with an extended episode on January 8th, 2013.
Norika Fujiwara to star in upcoming drama with Atsuro Watabe
On December 5th, premium TV network WOWOW announced that actress Fujiwara Norika and actor Watabe Atsuro will be starring in their upcoming drama serial ‘Onna to Otoko no Nettai‘.
‘Onna to Otoko no Nettai’ is going to be a six-part drama about the heated, literally ‘tropical’ (‘nettai’) love relationship between a man and a woman who gradually approach the darker side of society. Fujiwara is playing a competent TV reporter, while Watabe is a source for one of her stories.
The script was written by the late Nozawa Hisashi (‘A Sleeping Forest’, ‘Kekkon Zenya’).
WOWOW is going to broadcast ‘Onna to Otoko no Nettai’ every Sunday at 10:00 pm. The first episode is slated to air on January 20th, 2013.
Actress Kashii Yu will in the upcoming TV Asahi drama “Nobubaga no Chef.”
Kis-My-Ft2 member Tamamori Yuta will also star in the drama and it tells a story about a French chef named “Ken” (Tamamori) who time slips back to the Sengoku period. Ken is faced with some difficult problems as the chef of Oda Nobubaga. Ken loses all his memories except his knowledge about cooking and Japanese history when traveling back to the past.
Kashii’s role will be of a mysterious woman who often pops up in Ken’s mind during his flashbacks. She is supposed to be the key to Ken’s time travel, and her true character will be unveiled later in the drama. This will be Kashii’s first time appearing on a period drama series.
This drama is based on the ongoing manga on “Weekly Manga TIMES” (written by Nishimura Mitsuru, illustrated by Kajikawa Takuro), and some arrangements are added to the heroine and other regular cast members. “Oda Nobubaga” will be played by Oikawa Mitsuhiro, “Natsu”, a swordsmith, who saves Ken will be played by Shida Mirai, and comedian duo Garage Sale’s Gori will be “Toyotomi Hideyoshi.”
“Nobubaga no Chef” will begin airing in January (every Friday at 11:15 pm).
The popular Fuji TV drama ‘Rich Man, Poor Woman‘ – starring Oguri Shun and Ishihara Satomi – is going to return with a special episode this coming spring.
The drama portrayed the relationship between ‘Hyuga Toru’ (Oguri), a young billionaire and manager of an innovative IT company, and the unemployed female college student ‘Natsui Makoto’ (Ishihara). Despite Toru’s unsocial behavior, Makoto is able to connect to him through various circumstances and difficulties, which eventually develops into romantic relationship towards the end of the drama. At the very end of the drama, Makoto has to go to Brazil for a job and the two of them end up in a long-distance relationship.
In the special episode, Makoto will be returning to Japan for one week to live at Toru’s place for the short stay. However, Makoto doesn’t seem to feel at home at his apartment, since he rather wants to live with as little furniture as possible. Throughout this one week, the two of them keep on colliding with their sense of values and their lifestyle, but it also makes them bond more like a family. Moreover, the special episode will explain how ‘Asahina Kosuke’ (Iura Arata) managed to return to Toru and his joint venture “Next Innovation”, which was left unanswered in the final episode.
SMAP’s Katori Shingo will be starring in a new drama “Kasuka na Kanojo” (tentative title) that will start airing in April. In the drama, Katori will play a junior high school teacher “Koyama Akira” who has an ability to sense ghosts, and Anne will co-star with him as a ghost named “Akane” who used to be a teacher. It’s a love comedy in which Akira faces several problems happening at the school together with Akane.
“Koyama Akira” has a traumatic experience from his previous school in which his actions in response to solving a bullying problem did not work out. When he transfers to a new school, he sets his mind on staying out of problems. When he moves into a new apartment, he encounters “Akane”, a ghost living in his apartment.
While being pushed around by Akane’s escapades and her advice from a “dead person’s point of view”, Akira gradually finds out what’s important as a teacher by facing several problems and solving them.
“Kasuka na Kanojo” will air on KTV/Fuji TV starting in April (every Tuesday at 10:00 pm).
The current season of dramas will be added soon, those from TBS are in, the others will follow as I try to add them in slowly. Patience appreciated. _________________
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Plus it will be on WOWOW! 
