It was revealed on the 14th that actor Asano Tadanobu's current wife, actor and model Nakata Kurumi, will appear in the third episode (broadcast on October 21st) of Fuji TV's currently airing Monday 9pm drama "Usouki Rhetoric." This is Nakata's first appearance in a primetime drama on the network, and also her first Monday 9pm drama.
The drama, co-starring actors Suzuka Hiroshi and Matsumoto Honoka, is a mystery drama in which the unusual duo of Iwai Souma (Suzuka), a poor detective with a sharp eye and drowning in debt, and Urabe Kanoko (Matsumoto), who has the strange ability to tell lies apart, take on difficult cases that mix lies and truth. The film is based on the manga of the same name by Toshito Toshi, which was serialized in Bessatsu Hana to Yume (Hakusensha) from 2012 to 2018, and is a collaboration between director Nishitani Hiroshi, who directed the Galileo series (2007-2022), and producer Suzuki Yoshihiro.
Nakata plays a beautiful waitress in traditional Japanese clothing who works at a traditional Japanese restaurant. One day, detective Hashizaki Kaoru (Mikata Ryosuke) shows Souma a photo of a newly opened restaurant on 60th Street and suggests that the particularly beautiful waitress in the photo may be the "Matsuba-no-kimi".
Hashizaki was eating "tsukumo-yaki", a specialty of Tsukumo-cho that Souma had given her, when she collapsed from food poisoning and was taken care of by a woman. Although Hashizaki did not see the woman's face, he remembers that there was a picture of a matsuba-no-kimi on her kimono, and suggests that the woman in the photo may be the "Matsuba-no-kimi", who saved his life. Sawama, who had seen the woman's face at the time, says that she is a different person from the woman in the photo that Hazaki had shown her, but Kanoko realizes that this is a lie... and so the story unfolds.
Nakata has appeared in popular dramas such as "Brush Up Life" (2023, Nippon TV). Nakata, who also dresses kimonos in his private life, is attracting attention for how he will dress in Japanese clothing in this work.
Nakata commented, "This is my first time appearing in a Monday 9pm drama, and I am very happy and excited. I am immersed in the nostalgic world that has been delicately woven together from the stage setting to the costumes and set, and I feel as if I have traveled back in time. This is a slightly mysterious and gentle story that will gently warm your heart on a Monday night when you are feeling a little excited. I will do my best to make it enjoyable for everyone."
It was also announced that actor Maeno Tomoya will also appear in the third episode. Maeno said, "I play the slightly stingy owner of an antiques shop. Episode 3 depicts the emotional turmoil and true feelings of Souma, Kanoko, and Hashizaki. It's so wonderful... the combination of Souma and Kanoko is endlessly cute! Actually, Hashizaki is adorable, too. That's what I was thinking while acting. Please start from episode 3! Well, if you want to start from episode 3, you can catch up on episodes 1 and 2 on TVer, and then be sure to watch episodes 3 onwards live!"
