"Drama 1 Week" introduces the main drama news of the week. This time (February 8-14), we talked about the new drama based on Yuki Suetsugu's popular manga "Chihayafuru," which is themed around competitive karuta, being broadcast as a serial drama on Nippon Television in July, and the wrap-up of the NHK Asadora drama "Omusubi ," starring Kanna Hashimoto . We will cover both topics in two parts.
It was revealed on February 12th that Alice Hirose will be starring in the drama series "Nande Watashi ga Kami Sermon" (Saturdays at 9pm) which will be broadcast on the Nippon Television Network in April. This will be Hirose's first lead role in a drama on the network, and her first role as a teacher. Visuals of her with a blunt bangs hairstyle, which will give her a completely new image, were also released. The main character played by Hirose, Urumi Shizuka, is the Japanese teacher and homeroom teacher of Class 10, Year 2, at Meishin Private Academy. She is meant to avoid trouble and not get too involved, but before she knows it, she gets caught up in the affairs of problematic students, and finds herself in a situation where she has to lecture them, even though she doesn't want to... This is the story.
Junichi Okada appeared at the Netflix lineup announcement event "Next on Netflix 2025" held in Tokyo on the 12th. Okada, who played three roles in the series "Ikusagami" (directed by Michihito Fujii, streaming starts in November), as the lead actor, producer, and action planner, said with confidence that he "put a lot of effort into the look" of this work. The original work is a series of novels of the same name by historical novelist Shogo Imamura, set in the Meiji era, when the era of samurai had come to an end. Okada, who is now 44 years old, said, "I had decided to become a producer 30 years after my debut," and revealed that he took the lead on the set and filmed with great attention to detail.
The 15th episode of the popular detective drama "Aibou Season 23 " (TV Asahi, Wednesday 9pm) "Casting" was broadcast on the 12th, with Shiro Sano making his first guest appearance in the "AIBOU" series in about 18 years since the 9th episode of "Season 5" "Murderous Wine Cellar" (broadcast on December 6th, 2006). Sano plays Okuda, a family member of a victim of an unsolved murder of a mother and child that occurred 15 years ago. At a mountain lodge, Ukyo (Yutaka Mizutani) and Okuda play chess and engage in a battle of wits to find out the truth of the case. However, Ukyo is stabbed by Okuda and collapses, and Kaoru (Yasufumi Terawaki), who was acting separately, also falls into Okuda's trap, but the situation takes several twists and turns...
It has been announced that the NHK morning drama " Omusubi " starring Kanna Hashimoto(General Asadora , Monday to Saturday, 8am and others) has wrapped up filming. The station announced this on the 13th. Hashimoto commented, "When I saw the digest video of ' Omusubi' made for the wrap-up, I was moved to tears as I remembered so many scenes we shot in this studio, including tearful scenes and everyday scenes of laughter. I really liked the scenes with the Yoneda family having trivial conversations. I think ' Omusubi ' is a work that viewers can feel close to."
It has been revealed that Nishimura Honoka, a former member of the idol group "Last Idol," will be appearing in the vertical short drama "Animal Revenge: Lost Bonds." Nishimura, who is an active talent with over 1.9 million followers on social media, will be making her first drama appearance. Streaming began on the 13th on the short drama app "Vigloo." The story follows "animal detective" Doi Toru (Ueno Kazuki), who gained the ability to talk to animals after the death of his pet, as he searches for his sister who disappeared three years ago. Nishimura plays Mizushima Taeko, an elite detective at the Metropolitan Police Department who teams up with Toru.
It was revealed on the 13th that Shinya Niiro will star in the serial drama "Shachikujin Yabu" (12 episodes, 30 minutes each), which will start on April 4th. This is Niiro's first lead role in a serial drama. This work is a renewal of "Wednesday Drama 23," which is broadcast on BS Shochiku Tokyu at 11pm on Wednesdays, and will be the first drama in the new Friday 10:30pm drama slot that will be established in April. Niiro will play Yabu Rinichirou, the manager of the second sales department of the black company "Well Black Corporation." He is an excellent employee who is quick in completing work tasks and always has top sales results, but he is also a die-hard corporate slave who is willing to work unpaid overtime for the sake of the company, even if his salary remains the same.
It was revealed on the 14th that a new drama based on Yuki Suetsugu's popular manga "Chihayafuru," which is themed around competitive karuta, will be broadcast as a serial drama on Nippon Television in July. "Chihayafuru" is a manga that was serialized in "BE・LOVE" (Kodansha) from 2007 to 2022. It will be an original story that depicts a world 10 years after the trilogy of films "Kami no Ku" and "Shimo no Ku" in 2016 and "Musubi" in 2018. The title is "Chihayafuru -Meguri-", and with a completely new cast from the film, it will unfold a new story of high school students in the Reiwa era taking on competitive karuta.
It was announced on the Mao Ioki , a member of the idol group " Nogizaka46 ," will star in the drama series "MADDER: That Incident, I Am the Criminal," which will begin airing in April (Kantele/Fuji TV, scheduled to air Thursday nights). This will be Ioki's first time appearing in a terrestrial TV drama series and her first leading role. Ioki will play Nakano Akane, a genius high school student. Because she is too smart, she finds the world boring and bored, and is unable to find meaning in life, but when she meets a young man who is thought to be the culprit of a murder case, she becomes drawn into the uncharted "world of crime."
