Mikami Sensei:[Student introduction] Student number 14 "Michiru Sakurai" Riko Nagase, former member of the brass band, strong-willed, has clear likes and dislikes, and is also under pressure from her parents to study law.

The Sunday Theatre drama " Mikami Sensei " (TBS, Sunday 9pm) starring actor Tori Matsuzaka Tori will begin airing on January 19th. The drama will introduce the 29 unique students of class 2, year 3, of Rintoku Gakuen, where Mikami (Matsuzaka) is the homeroom teacher, in order of their attendance numbers. Here we will introduce Sakurai Michiru (Riko Nagase), who is attendance number 14. The drama's official SNS is also releasing videos introducing the students.

Sakurai has a strong personality and clear likes and dislikes. She is stoic and devoted to her studies. She is fond of Fumika Koreeda (Riho Yoshioka), who was her homeroom teacher until her second year. She is a former member of the brass band, and her hobbies are shopping and appreciating art. She is good friends with Amane Oguri (Seika Anzai) in class. She wants to study law, but feels pressured by her parents.

Nagase, who plays the role, commented, "It was my dream to appear in a Sunday Theater, so I was frankly happy to be able to participate at this timing. The character I play, Michiru Sakurai, is studying hard to get into Tokyo University, but she isn't seeing results, which makes her impatient and leads to her rebelling against Mikami Sensei. So in the scenes during class, I tried to make it clear that she is slower to understand the lessons than the others, and when she is upset, I expressed the habit of tucking her hair behind her ear, and I thought about how to make the character come alive. On the set, I feel like everyone got along as soon as we started filming. Because we all have our own pace, it was comfortable and we were always able to film in a fun way, just like real classmates at a school. The highlight of this work is that when you look at the class from a bird's eye view, the individuality of each student stands out. All 29 students have been carefully designed down to the smallest detail, so I hope you will pay attention to this. Sakurai cannot accept that Mikami-sensei will be her Mikami Sensei, but as they talk, her feelings gradually change, so I hope you will look forward to seeing her growth!"

"Mikami Sensei" is about Takashi Mikami (Matsuzaka), a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology who wants to change the Japanese education system. He is ordered to transfer to a private high school called Rintoku Gakuin. In reality, he was demoted, but Mikami himself takes to the podium and leads 18-year-old high school students living in the Reiwa era, standing up to authority... This is a "great reversal education revival story."

This completely original work will be written by Shimori Roba, who will be teaming up with Matsuzaka for the first time since the film "The Journalist," and will be writing the script for a prime-time drama series for the first time. Kazutaka Iida, who has been in charge of popular Sunday Theater dramas such as "Anti-Hero" (2024) and "VIVANT" (2023), will serve as producer.