Kasumi Mori, who left TV Tokyo in 2023 and is currently working as a freelance announcer, released her first photo book this year and started her first TV show on terrestrial TV. She has been active in many areas, appearing in and starring in numerous dramas, and was ranked first in the special category of the Yahoo! Search Awards 2024 (LINE Yahoo), which selects the "Face of the Year" for which searches have skyrocketed this year. Let's take a look back at Mori's big breakthrough this year.
◇ "Souffle Body" and "smelly feet" are hot topics of conversation
This year marks her second year since going freelance after leaving her TV station as a newscaster. In February, she released her first photo book, "Snow Kasumi" (Gentosha). The book shows the "natural Mori Kasumi" in San Francisco, where she stayed for a month as a student, and features her without makeup, in a swimsuit, and in lingerie. A reprint was announced in August, and it became a hot topic.
Mori-san said that she "wanted to create the ideal body" for the photobook, so she reviewed her diet and worked hard on training. A feature on her "souffle body" was published in a women's magazine, and she was also appointed as an ambassador for the natural food brand "Doctor's Natural Recipe" (Anpha).
Making use of her experience as a announcer, she is also active as an event host, and served as MC for the fashion and music event "Rakuten GirlsAward" four times in a row.
His ability to talk also makes him a presence on variety shows. On "Ravit!" (TBS), he revealed that he had failed the TBS employment exam, and on "Sake no Tsuma Ni Ni Naru Hanashi" (Fuji TV), he frankly talked about how "my feet stink," which became a hot topic.
It's tempting to doubt whether this is true, but when we interviewed Mori, he said that he tries to be careful not to make up stories when talking about episodes, and added, "Sometimes I get so excited that I end up talking too much and it causes a backlash (laughs)."
◇ Taking on kissing and love scenes for the first time in a drama
In October, her first program, "Mori Kasumi's All Lies TV" (Wednesdays at 2:34am, except in some areas) will begin on TV Asahi. The program is part of the monthly variety challenge slot "Barabara Monthly" on the same network, and was promoted after being aired in June this year.
Mori takes on various projects such as hostessing at a cabaret club, selling beer, and working part-time at an izakaya. As the title suggests, it's all a lie, but as you watch, you start to think, "It could be true for Kasumi Mori," and the mix of fact and fiction has been a hot topic. She also does some physically demanding projects, such as distributing tissues in a Santa costume in the streets of Shinjuku, showing her high suitability for variety location shoots.
This year, he has appeared in a total of eight TV and streaming dramas. In addition to his first leading role in "Otona no Jugyou" (TOKYO MX), he has also appeared as a regular in "Densetsu no Atama Sho" (TV Asahi) and "3-nen C-gumi wa Furin Shitemasu" (Nippon TV). He also starred in "Shiori-chan Kokoro no Koe wo Kikaseteyo," a one-off drama aired in December that was based on a phantom project written by former television writer Osamu Suzuki when he was still active and had been saving it for later.
In "Affair and Circumstances," which began streaming on Lemino in December, she played a woman who is in a mistress relationship with a married man, and also took on her first kissing and love scenes. Mori-san has had a strong desire to act since she became a freelancer, and this year has been a breakthrough for her acting career.
In an interview at the end of the year, she said, "Acting is still what I want to challenge myself with, and I would also like to do stage plays and musicals," but we will be keeping an eye on Mori as she continues to expand the scope of her activities.
