Production press conference of "Kokoro ga Pokitto ne" held


The production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Kokoro ga Pokitto ne" was attended by the leads Abe Sadao, Mizuhara Kiko, Fujiki Naohito and Yamaguchi Tomoko. The drama which begins its run from 8 April in the Wednesdays 10pm timeslot, is written by Okada Yoshikazu and features the four leads with psychological ailments of their own who are caught in a love web.

Abe revealed that when he took up the role, he thought it would be a good chance for him to speak freely since this is a love comedy involving adults. However, it turned out that his role is a person who becomes withdrawn into his own world due to stress from overwork so he remains silent most of the time. As such, in the first episode, the majority of his lines was just "iya". Nonetheless, he is still enjoying the filming despite being unable to speak as much as he wishes. When asked if he has any experience of feeling as if his heart had snapped, Abe said that if anyone is to tell him that he or she is going to watch "Dr. Rintaro" this season, he would be quite upset and so he vows to work hard to prevent that from happening. Dr. Rintaro is NTV's Spring 2015 offering in the same timeslot this season as "Kokoro ga Pokitto ne". On the other hand, Yamaguchi who plays Abe's ex-wife and Fujiki's current girlfriend, said that it is an exactly different story for her because she has a lot of lines to say in the drama so she's working very hard to memorise them.

Source: Sponichi

This airs on April 8th, I'm hoping someone starts subbing it on April 9th.

I just finished watching "Ryusei Wagon"...it was just AWESOME!

EXILE's AKIRA to star in Fuji TV Summer drama "Heat"

EXILE member AKIRA will be taking on the lead role in the upcoming FujiTV Summer 2015 drama "HEAT" which begins its run from July in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. He plays the role of an elite salaryman working in a real estate company and is tasked with the acquisition of land in a small town. In order to get information about the town and its occupants, he hides his identity and becomes a member of the volunteer fire brigade. Through his work there, he realises the joy and importance of protecting people. According to Kansai TV which is producing this drama, this is the first time that they are producing a drama which focuses on a volunteer fire brigade as compared to a full-time firefighter. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency and Tokyo Fire Department will provide full support during the filming of this drama.

AKIRA was last seen in the role of a passionate teacher in the 2012 FujiTV drama "GTO". The production crew commented that if AKIRA's role in GTO was like a bright red fire, his character in the new drama would be like a blue flame with a cool exterior and hot on the inside.

Co-stars of this drama include Kuriyama Chiaki who is the leader of the fire brigade and Sato Ryuta who is a firefighter assigned to coach the fire brigade's members.

Source: Sponichi

Katsumi Takahashi to play lead in TV Tokyo 2015 Summer drama

Takahashi Katsumi will be playing the lead in TV Tokyo Summer 2015 drama "Bokura wa playboys Jukunen Tanteisha" (We are playboys The Middle Age Detectives Agency) which will begin its run from July in the Fridays 8pm timeslot. This is his first leading role in a private network drama in 2 years and the drama is based on the novel titled "Kanreki Tantei" by Naoki Award winner Fujita Yoshinaga.

Takahashi plays Iwase Koichiro, a former employee at a household appliances manufacturing company who is at home and joins a private detective agency "Playboys Tantei Jimusho" where all of its employees are men above the age of 55 and the boss is a former police detective. Iwase's colleagues come from a variety of backgrounds such as a taxi driver, doctor, former Olympic athlete who all have nothing related to detective work. As their clients are also limited to middle-aged men and women, the detective agency specialises in solving problems unique to people in this age group.

Takahashi admitted that he is nervous about playing the lead again but is also very happy about it. In addition, being able to work with his respected seniors in this drama is also something which he is looking forward to.

Source: Eiga.com

Toshiaki Karasawa to star in TBS 2015 Summer drama

Karasawa Toshiaki will be taking on the leading role in the upcoming TBS Summer 2015 drama "Napoleon no Mura" (Napoleon's Village") which will begin its run from July in the Sundays 9pm timeslot. The praying ceremony for the drama was held at Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture in late April where the cast members including Karasawa, Sawamura Ikki, Asou Kumiko, Yamamoto Koji and Muro Tsuyoshi also took part in the planting of crops in line with the theme of their drama.

The drama which is based on the 2012 book "Roma Houou ni kome wo tabesaseta otoko Kaso no mura wo sukutta super komuin wa nani wo shitaka?" (The man who let the Pope eat rice - What did the super civil servant do to save the depopulated village?) written by Takano Josen who works at the city office in Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, talks about how a super civil servant Asai Eiji (Karasawa) who works in the Tokyo Metropolitan Office decides to work at the agricultual and forestry department of Kagura Village in Seika City (fictitious) after seeing that the depopulated village has the potential to get back on its feet. However, this pits him against the handsome city mayor Fukumoto (Sawamura) and the department chief Yamada (Muro) who are bent on pushing for the abolishment of the village. Luckily, Asai gets support from his colleague Yukari (Asou) who works in the same department, a management consultant played by Yamamoto Koji and the village's Shinto priest (Issey Ogata) and tries to use various ideas to solve the problems in the village as he strongly believes in Napoleon's saying "Impossible n'est pas français." (there is nothing impossible).

Source: Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi

FujiTV to do remake of "Minami kun no Koibito"

FujiTV will be producing a remake of "Minami-kun no Koibito ~ my little lover" (Minami-kun's Lover) which will be shown this summer. The new drama features Nakagawa Taishi as the lead character Minami Shunichi while his childhood friend Horikiri Chiyomi will be played by Yamamoto Maika. The story which is based on the manga by Uchida Shungiku that was serialised between 1986 and 1987, describes how Minami-kun and Chiyomi fall in love and start living together after her height suddenly shrinks to just 16cm. In the new drama version, there is a slight change in Minami's character setting where he is a smart and handsome student. In addition, the ending of the drama is set to be different from the manga.

The drama will begin with Minami and Chiyomi being neighbours and each other's first love since they were kids. However, their relationship has somewhat changed since the disappearance of Minami's father some years ago. One day, Chiyomi runs out of her house after an argument with her parents about her plans after senior high school. While out in the thunderstorm, Chiyomi makes a wish to return to her childhood days and finds herself shrunk to just 16cm after a sudden gust of wind and thunder strikes. Minami happens to find Chiyomi and brings her home to live with him which causes them to become closer to each other.

There were three drama adaptations in the past i.e. 1990's version featured Kudo Masaki and Ishida Hikari, 1994's version starred Takeda Shinji and Takahashi Yumiko while 2004's version showcased Ninomiya Kazunari and Fukada Kyoko.

Source: Eiga.com

Yuko Takeuchi, Yoko Maki, and Asami Mizukawa to star in FujiTV drama special

Takeuchi Yuko, Maki Yoko and Mizukawa Asami will be starring in the FujiTV drama SP "Kamoshirenai Joyutachi" (Perhaps Actresses) which is written by comedian Baka Rhythm and due to be shown on 23 June from 10pm to 11.25pm. The story is based on Baka Rhythm's interviews with the three actresses about their life experiences before and after being actresses and addresses the hypothetical question of what would have happened to them if they did not become actresses. The three actresses play themselves in their respective stories about their possible life journeys if they did not embark on their acting careers. Their stories would cross paths with one another at times before they all meet together.

Takeuchi was full of praise for Baka Rhythm's talent and remarked that he is not as simple as he looks since he was able to come up with this story from one question. Maki was happy about living her childhood dream of being a manga artist through this SP while Mizukawa relished the idea of playing herself in this half factual and half fiction tale. Baka Rhythm commented that he was glad to be able to bring his imagination about these three actresses into real-life and hopes that everyone will enjoy seeing their "what if" stories.

Source: Oricon

Mirai Moriyama and Mituski Takahata to star in new WOWOW drama

Moriyama Mirai and Takahata Mitsuki will be starring in the new WOWOW drama "Enka" which consists of 4 episodes and will be beginning its run from 18 July in the Saturdays 10pm timeslot. The drama which is based on Osaka-based Naoki Award winner Kurokawa Hiroyuki, is an action suspense thriller and will feature a cast and crew entirely made up of people whose hometowns are in the Kansai region.

Moriyama will play the role of an arts teacher who works at a private girls' school in Osaka where the director manages the school as if it is his own property and gives his staff salaries which are 30 percent lesser than the market rate. One day, he and his fellow colleague who is a music teacher (Takahata) decide to look for the director at his lover's apartment in order to seek better working conditions. However, they find that the director and his lover had been kidnapped by someone with the nickname of "education consultant" and later becomes embroiled into a scheme to steal the director's hidden assets consisting of a huge amount of gold bars.

Source: Eiga.com

Sota Fukushi and Tsubasa Honda to star in Fuji TV 2015 Summer drama

Fukushi Sota and Honda Tsubasa will be working together in the FujiTV Summer 2015 Gekku "Koinaka" which will begin its run from July in the Mondays 9pm timeslot.

The drama features Fukushi in the lead role of Miura Aoi who comes from Toyama and hates summer out of all seasons. He used to be the star swimmer in his senior high school's swimming team and went to Tokyo after graduation. However, he is leading an uneventful life now as an assistant in an architect company and aims to become an architect in the future. One day, he happens to reunite with his first love cum childhood friend Serizawa Akari (Honda) who he was with almost every day during their days as students. However, Akari disappeared without a word on the night of the summer fireworks festival when they were in the last year of senior high which left Aoi wondering what had happened. Even though Aoi is elated at meeting Akari again, he is taken aback by the presence of another man also named Aoi beside Akari.

Source: Sponichi

Misako Renbutsu to star in TBS 2015 Summer drama

Renbutsu Misako will be starring in her first leading role in a private network drama as she plays the lead character in the new TBS Summer 2015 drama "37.5 degrees Celsius no namida".

The drama which begins its run from 9 July in the Thursdays 9pm timeslot, is based on the same-titled manga by Shiina Chika and features Renbutsu as Momoko, a nursery school teacher who takes care of sick children at her house when parents are unable to pick them up. In order to fit the image of her character, Renbutsu cut her long hair by more than 35cm which coincides with how Momoko looks in the manga. Co-stars include Narimiya Hiroki who plays Momoko's boss, Hayami Mokomichi who plays a single father and Mizuno Miki.

Filming began in the middle of June.

Source: Sponichi

Hiroko Yakushimaru, Kyoko Koizumi and Mimura play sisters in NHK Special

Yakushimaru Hiroko, Koizumi Kyoko and Mimura will be playing sisters in the NHK New Year drama SP "Fuji Family" which will be shown on 2 January 2016 at 9pm.

The story features the three sisters who manage a convenience store by the name of Fuji Family at a town located at the foot of Mount Fuji which is behind the times. Yakushimaru plays the eldest daughter Takako who is mature and dependable and is dating Masao (Takahashi Katsumi), Koizumi plays the second daughter Nasumi a free spirit who is divorced from her husband Hideo (Yoshioka Hidetaka) while Mimura plays the youngest daughter Tsukimi who is good at dealing with things. The script of the drama will be written by Kizara Izumi who worked on NTV dramas such as "Q10" and "Nobuta wo Produce" while the director will be Yoshida Teruyuki who worked with Yakushimaru and Koizumi in the NHK morning drama "Ama-chan".

Source: Oricon

Haruka Ayase, Haruma Miura, and Asami Mizukawa to star in TBS 2016 Winter drama

Ayase Haruka will be the lead in the upcoming TBS Winter 2016 drama "Watashi wo hanasanai de" (Never Let Me Go) which will be shown in the Fridays 10pm timeslot from January 2016.

The drama which is based on the novel by Japanese-British writer Ishiguro Kazuo who moved to the UK when he was 5 years old, will be made into a drama in Japan for the first time and the setting of the story will be shifted from the UK to Japan. The novel has sold more than 1 million copies in the UK and was made into a movie by the UK and US in 2010.

Ayase will play the role of Hoshina Kyoko, a 30-year-old woman who works in a hospital and feels despondent about her life. She has been in love with her childhood friend Doi Tomohiko to be played by Miura Haruma but will have to contend with competition for his affection from another childhood friend Sakai Miwa played by Mizukawa Asami. The trio all grew up in the same orphanage which was isolated from the outside world and had been told when they were 10 years old that due to some yet-to-be-disclosed reason, they will all die around the age of 30. While Kyoko and Tomohiko try hard to find hope in their lives, they are hit with the tough reality and their relationship is hampered by Miwa who has a tendency to control other people with her strong personality and is hungry for love. As such, they will all be striving to find meaning within their limited lifespans while trying to resolve their love triangle. Co-stars include Ito Ayumi who plays a teacher working in the orphanage and knows about the truth facing the children staying there, Matobu Sei who is a mysterious frequent visitor to the orphanage, Komoto Masahiro who is passionate about upholding the orphanage's values and Aso Yumi who is the principal there.

Ayase commented that in recent years, she has been playing a lot of comedic roles so she is looking forward to her first "serious" role in 10 years since 2006's TBS drama "Byakuyakou". She also revealed that she had read the novel and was very impressed and touched by the story which allowed her to do some self-reflection. Ishiguro and Ayase met up in June and she was praised by him for being a perfect match with the character. As for Miura, he recounted that after reading the book, he felt that living was an ongoing desire and that it was a cruel and beautiful thing to experience. Thus, he hoped that this drama will be able to convey the same message to the viewers. As for Mizukawa, she revealed that her heart was heavy after reading the script and the glimmer of hope amid the cruelty was described in a beautiful way. However, this story contains such an important theme about the meaning of living today for the sake of the future so she hopes that the drama can deliver this to the viewers and move them in the same way.

Filming will begin in the beginning of December.

Source: Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi / Modelpress

Masakazu Tamura to star in TV Asahi Special

Tamura Masakazu will be starring in the new TV Asahi drama SP "Matsumoto Seicho Drama SP Chihoushi wo kau Onna ~ Sakka Sugimoto Ryuji no Suiri" (Matsumoto Seicho Drama SP The Woman who buys the local newspaper ~ Writer Sugimoto Ryuji's deduction) which will be shown next year.

The drama SP which is based on the same-titled novel by Matsumoto and published in 1957, features Tamura as the writer Sugimoto Ryuji who tries to investigate a suspicious woman played by Hirosue Ryoko with the help of his assistant played by Mizukawa Asami. Both Hirosue and Mizukawa had played Tamura's daughters respectively in 2002's TBS drama "Otousan" and 2001's FujiTV drama "Sayonara Ozu-sensei" so he is extremely heartened to see their growth as actresses over the years while feeling his own "deterioration" and jokingly refers to himself as the old actor who is trying to see when he should quit. Co-stars include Katase Nana and Sano Shiro.

Sugimoto Ryuji (Tamura) moves from Tokyo to Kanazawa as his new novel is being serialised in a local newspaper published in Ishikawa Prefecture. Although his novel is enjoying a lot of popularity, Sugimoto's suspicion is aroused when Shiota Yoshiko (Hirosue), a mamasan working at a nightclub writes a letter to the newspaper publisher and asks to subscribe to the newspaper for the sake of reading the novel. However, in just a few days, Yoshiko sends another letter asking to terminate her subscription and complains that the novel is boring. While scouring the newspaper with his assistant Tasaka Fujiko (Mizukawa) on that day to find the reason for Yoshiko's change in attitude, Sugimoto becomes convinced that Yoshiko was actually not interested in his novel but just wanted to reach about the double suicide case involving a couple and decides to pay a visit to Yoshiko in Tokyo.

The filming of the drama SP started in the beginning of November at Wajima on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Source: Sanspo

Kenichi Endo and Atsuro Watabe to co-star in Fuji TV 2016 Winter drama

Endo Kenichi and Watabe Atsuro will be double leads in the upcoming FujiTV Winter 2016 drama "Otousan to yobasete" (Please allow me to call you father-in-law) which will begin its run from January in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. The drama is an original story written by scriptwriter Hayashi Koji who has worked on dramas such as "Iryu", "BOSS" and "Code Blue" in the past where a 51-year-old father is shocked when his daughter brings home her fiance who is of the same age as him.

Endo plays the role of Daidoji Tamotsu, a 51-year-old department manager in a mid-size trading company who is so immersed in work that he had no chance of getting married in the past. One day, he meets a 28-year-old woman and is so smitten by her that he finally makes up his mind to spend the rest of his life with her. On the other hand, Watabe plays Hanazawa Kiichiro, the 51-year-old father of Daidoji's girlfriend who works in a top-class trading company as the youngest director to date. He leads a happy life with his wife and 3 children and believes that he has the ideal family. Tamotsu aspires to form a happy family with his girlfriend especially after witnessing how the Hanazawa family gets along well with one another but faces strong opposition from Kiichiro who cannot tolerate the notion of his son-in-law being the same age as him and bans Tamotsu from calling him "Otousan".

Endo commented that at his age, it is more likely that he would play a father role but he is very happy to be able to land this character who looks scary on the surface but is actually a kind and honest boyfriend. As the story's premise is very interesting, he is looking forward to playing Tamotsu in his first primetime drama as the lead. In addition, as he has worked with Watabe many times in the past, he is confident that they will be able to produce an entertaining comedy together with their co-stars and staff. On the other hand, Watabe commented that in this age where a lot of the dramas tend to be adaptations, he is happy to see an original story this time and hopes to make a good drama for viewers to enjoy.

Source: Oricon

Kiko Mizuhara to star in TBS 2016 Winter drama

Mizuhara Kiko will be acting in the upcoming TBS Winter 2016 drama "Kazoku no Katachi" which begins its run from January in the Sundays 9pm timeslot.

The drama features Katori Shingo as Daisuke, a 39-year-old company employee who is not keen on marriage and enjoys his single life and Ueno Juri, a 32-year-old divorcee Hanako. Mizuhara's role will be Rina, a newbie OL who entered Hanako's company due to her connections as a rich man's daughter and is Hanako's junior at work. Rina has no passion towards her work and no intention and ambition to build a career. She constantly arrives late at work and will refuse to go to work at times for fear of being reprimanded. On the other hand, having been brought up overseas, Rina is not afraid to speak her mind in a pushy manner which is a huge contrast to Hanako who is very serious about her work. She later comes to know Daisuke during a go-kon and becomes interested in him. This will be Mizuhara's first appearance in a TBS drama. Mizuhara commented that it looks tough to play her character who is somewhat different from other people. Coupled with the fact that she herself also feels that her viewpoint and actions tend to be different from the people around her, Mizuhara said that she can understand Rina's thinking and actions to a certain extent.

Besides Mizuhara, new additions to the cast were also announced including Arakawa Yoshiyoshi, Chiba Yudai, Yanagihara Kanako, Nakamura An and Mizuno Miki.

Source: Sanspo / Sponichi

Kazuya Kamenashi, Hiroki Narimiya, and Suzu Hirose to star in NTV 2016 Winter drama

Kamenashi Kazuya, Narimiya Hiroki and Hirose Suzu will be teaming up in the new NTV Winter 2016 drama "Kaitou Yamaneko" which begins its run from 16 January 2016 in the Saturdays 9pm timeslot. The drama which is based on the mystery novel series "Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko" by Kaminaga Manabu, features Kamenashi as an elusive thief nicknamed Yamaneko who steals from the evil and exposes their bad doings at the end. Narimiya will play a magazine reporter named Katsumura Hideo who has been investigating the cases committed by Yamaneko and ends up being drawn into his criminal trio when the latter orders him to write stories about his "heroic deeds". Hirose will play the role of Takasugi Mao, a genius hacker who uses her talent to help her father commit crimes.

Narimiya commented that he is usually the one being interviewed by reporters so he has learnt a trick or two from them which he can use in his role this time. He also expressed anticipation at sparks flying between him and Kamenashi who he described as very mysterious and serious about his work. As for Hirose, he praised her for being fully immersed in her acting and looks forward to the three of them working well together on set.

Hirose said that she had played many characters of young girls who are cheerful but this time, her role is someone who's an introvert that hardly fits the usual image of senior high school girls. As for the character setting of her being a hacker, Hirose admitted that she didn't even know what the word means until she checked it out on the Internet. With regard to working with Kamenashi and Narimiya, she expressed her admiration for them and looks forward to "stealing" their acting skills through this drama.

Co-stars also include Sasaki Kuranosuke and Nanao, the police officers who try to catch Yamaneko, Otsuka Nene who plays a mysterious woman helping Yamaneko and Kitamura Yukiya who is a news announcer.

Source: Sanspo

Yutaka Matsushige to star in New Year's Special of "Kodoku no Gurume"

Matsushige Yutaka will be appearing in the New Year's SP of TV Tokyo's hit drama "Kodoku no Gurume" which will be shown on 1 January at 11.15pm. The drama SP titled "Kodoku no Gurume Oshogatsu SP ~ Fuyu no Hokkaido - The Asahikawa Business Trip", will feature the lead character Inogashira Goro eating various delicacies in the snowy Asahikawa such as seafood, meat and vegetables.

The current season of "Kodoku no Gurume" has two episodes to go before it ends its run this season i.e. 11 Dec and 18 Dec. Due to the response from viewers asking for a sequel, TV Tokyo decided to make a SP of 1 hour which is longer than an usual episode of 40 minutes.

Matsushige commented that he is very honoured to have a New Year's SP to his name but stressed that there was really nothing special about this SP since it will still feature his character going around eating delicious food. Nonetheless, he hopes that the viewers will still enjoy the SP on the first night of the new year. Although he has been to Hokkaido many times for filming, this is the first time he had been to Asahikawa so he would like to invite the viewers to join him on this journey to see what kind of dishes will be featured.

Source: Sponichi

Misako Renbutsu to star in Fuji TV 2016 Winter drama

Renbutsu Misako will be the heroine in the upcoming FujiTV Winter 2016 drama "Otousan to yobasete" which will begin its run from 19 January 2016 in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. She will take on the role of a 23-year-old woman named Miran who works as a system engineer in a IT company and falls for Endo Kenichi's character who is a director at a mid-sized trading company, 28 years older than her and the same age as her father played by Watabe Atsuro. She is caught between her boyfriend who she wants to marry and her father who doesn't want to let them get married.

With regard to this story of a woman and a much older man getting married, Renbutsu commented that she thinks that people around the age of Endo and Watabe are very charming so she doesn't think that this is a far-fetched story since there are many such marriages happening in this time and age. She thinks that it will be fun to date someone like Endo while it's an amazing thing to have Watabe playing her father. As such, she is eagerly looking forward to working with both actors for the next three months.

Source: Sanspo

Takaya Kamikawa to star in WOWOW drama

Kamikawa Takaya will be starring in the drama adaptation of the late Yamasaki Toyoko's signature novel "Shizumanu Taiyo" (The Never Setting Sun) which will consist of 20 episodes in 2 parts and be broadcast as WOWOW's 25th anniversary production next spring. Filming is due to begin at the end of this month and includes overseas filming at locations such as Africa and the Middle East. The entire filming will be wrapped up by mid May next year.

"Shizumanu Taiyo" is a novel inspired by the JAL plane crash in 1985 and depicts the dark side of an airline company and how people stick to their beliefs despite the tough situation. It was made into a movie starring Watanabe Ken in 2009 but due to the length of the novel, it was deemed that this story would be too long for a drama adaptation. Kamikawa's first leading role in a drama was in the 1995 NHK production "Daichi no Ko" which was also based on Yamasaki's novel so he is thankful for the chance this time to take on such a role in the first year of him being in his fifties.

Kamikawa plays the lead role Onchi Hajime who defies orders in the airline he works in and gets transferred to various locations as punishment. His rival Gyoten Shiro who used to be his buddy will be played by Watabe Atsuro.

Source: Nikkansports / Sanspo

Tatsuya Fujiwara and Riko Narumi to star in NHK Special

Fujiwara Tatsuya and Narumi Riko will be starring in the NHK drama SP "Kaitei no Kimi e" (To you who lies at the bottom of the sea) which will be shown on 20 February at 7.30pm. The drama SP which is 73-minutes long, features Fujiwara as the lead character Maehara Shigeo, who feels as if he has been at the bottom of the freezing sea since he was bullied in junior high school even though it has been 15 years since he graduated. When he gets notification of an alumni party to be held, Shigeo goes to the party and threatens to blow himself up with a handheld detonation device in his hand. Narumi will play Maho, the heroine whose younger brother is also being bullied, will help Shigeo to open up and face his painful past and the side effects brought about by that.

As part of the preparations for the drama SP and the campaign for people to give more thought to stopping bullying, people who had been bullied before were interviewed and their input was used to increase the realistic feel of this story. In the SP, Shigeo is unable to hold a permanent job so he can only work part time and would feel panicky when he sees people in school uniforms due to his psychological trauma. Fujiwara praised the scriptwriter Sakurai Tsuyoshi for his script which made it easy for him to identify with Shigeo's problems and visualise the impact of being thrown into the sea for more than 10 years and being unable to get out of it. As such, he feels that this drama SP will be a signature work for him and is happy to be able to work with Narumi and the crew in this production.

In a scene where both Fujiwara and Narumi had to dive into the sea, the filming was done in October thus it was pretty cold for them. In particular, Fujiwara had to jump in first before Narumi could follow suit thus he had to force himself to do it even though he was afraid of heights and had to jump into the sea from a high point. In addition, the freezing sea made things worse and there was no room for a rehearsal nor retake. As such, he was particularly impressed with Narumi who went through the scene without any complaints and issues and joked that he was led along by her instead of the other way around.

Source: Cinema Cafe
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