"Drama 1 Week" is a series that brings together major drama news from the past week. This time (February 22-28), Hiroshi Abe will star in the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Caster" (Sundays at 9pm) which will start in April, and Ikewaki Chizuru will appear in the NHK morning drama " Asadora " starring Akari Takaishi in the second half of 2025. We will cover these topics in two parts.
It was revealed on February 23rd that Uchino Masaaki will star in the April TV Asahi drama series "PJ ~Aviation Rescue Team~" (Thursdays 9pm). This will be Uchino's first lead role in a TV Asahi drama series in about 15 years since "Rinjo" which aired from 2009 to 2010. He will play the head instructor of the rescue training unit that trains the Air Self-Defense Force Aviation Rescue Team, commonly known as PJ (pararescue jumpers), members. The original story depicts trainees who have passed the selection test to become PJ members, facing a year of "hellish" training under the strict and unconventional head instructor Usami Seiji (Uchino). With the full cooperation of the Air Self-Defense Force, the production is said to be on a grand scale comparable to a movie.
It has been announced that the NHK drama series "The Great Passage: I'll Make a Dictionary," starring Elaiza Ikeda and RADWIMPS member Noda Yojiro, will be broadcast on terrestrial TV in the NHK's "Drama 10" slot (General TV, Tuesdays at 10pm) from June 17th. The story is based on a best-selling novel by Miura Shion, and the drama depicts the passion of people working on dictionaries from the perspective of Kishibe Midori (Ikeda), a young editorial staff member who has been transferred to the dictionary editorial department. Noda plays the protagonist of the original novel, Majime Mitsuya, the extremely earnest head of the dictionary editorial department. The drama aired on NHK BS and BS Premium 4K from February to April 2024.
Ichihara Hayato appeared as Toriyama UNBOUND (Berabou) - " (General TV, Sunday 8:00 pm and others), starring Ryusei Yokohama Ryusei, titled "The Counterattack of 'Kane-Ken' Sensei" (broadcast on the 23rd). This is Ichihara's third time appearing in a Taiga drama, following " Naotora: The Lady Warlord" (2017) and "The 13 Lords of the Shogun" (2022). "Kengyo" is the highest official rank given to blind people, and Toriyama Kengyo had built up a large fortune by engaging in usury with the permission of the shogunate. He buys Segawa (Fuka Koshiba), who was known as the most beautiful courtesan in Yoshiwara at the time, for 1,400 ryo. On social media, there were comments such as "Ichihara is extremely sexy this time too" and "He was very sexy."
It was revealed on the 25th that Wakana Matsumoto will star in Fuji TV's drama series "Dr. Ashura" (Wednesdays at 10pm) in April. This will be Matsumoto's second consecutive year starring in a Fuji TV drama series, and this time she will play the super skilled emergency doctor, Anzuno Shura. She has even demonstrated the miraculous feat of operating on two seriously ill patients at the same time, and is nicknamed "Dr. Ashura" at the hospital after the three-faced, six-armed demon Ashura. The series is based on the manga of the same name by Koshino Ryo, which was serialized in Weekly Manga Goraku from 2015 to 2016 (published by Nihon Bungeisha, 3 volumes in total).
It was revealed on the 25th that Hiroshi Abe will star in the TBS Sunday Theatre "Caster" (Sundays at 9pm) which will start in April. Set in a TV news program, this socially conscious entertainment will pursue the truth buried in the darkness and punish evil. This will be Abe's sixth time starring in a Sunday Theatre in three years. Mei Nagano, who will be co-starring for the first time, and Michieda Shunsuke of "Naniwa Danshi" will also appear. Abe will play Shindo Soichi, who has the belief that "the truth moves the world!" and is active as a social affairs reporter and anchor at a public broadcasting station, but is poached by the president of the commercial TV station JBN and becomes the main anchor of the news program "Newsgate", which is suffering from low ratings. He conducts interviews and investigations according to his own rules, and draws in those around him with his overwhelming presence.
The cast of the drama series "W Sai" (WOWOW), starring Kagawa Teruyuki, was announced on the 25th, revealing that Takehara Pistol and Kaito Miyachika of the popular group "Travis Japan" will also appear. Takehara will play Iida Tsuyoshi, a police inspector who pursues the "man" played by Kagawa, while Miyachika will play Kikuchi Daiki, a young detective. Matsuda Ryuhei will play Ryuhei Matsuda Shinichiro, an employee of a transportation company who has a history of killing someone in an accident caused by drunk driving, and Kishi Fumiya, the manager who took over a debt-ridden inn from his father and rebuilt the business from scratch, will be played by Sisonne's Jiro.
It was revealed on the 26th that Takashi Okabe will appear in the NHK Asadora drama "Bakebake ," starring Akari Takaishi , in the second half of 2025. Following his role in " The Tiger and Her Wings" in the first half of 2024, Okabe will play the role of the heroine's father. Okabe will play Matsuno Tsuyoshinosuke, the father of the heroine Toki (Takaishi). He was a high-ranking samurai of the Matsue domain, but in the Meiji era he lost his income and lived a poor life. He is a clumsy but hard-working character who wants Toki to say "cool" to him! "Bakebake" is the story of a couple who love "ghost stories" with their foreign husband, and who shed light on the "nameless people" who have been buried in Meiji Japan as Westernization progressed, and who tell their stories as their spokespersons.
It was also revealed that Ikewaki Chizuru will be appearing in "Bakebake". Ikewaki will play Matsuno Fumi, the mother of the heroine Toki (Takaishi). This will be Ikewaki's first appearance in a Asadora in 24 years since "Honmamon", where she played the heroine. It was also announced that Fumiyo Kohinata will play Toki's grandfather, Matsuno Kan'emon. This will be Kohinata's first appearance in a Asadora in 10 years, since "Mare" in the first half of 2015. Matsuno Fumi, played by Ikewaki, grew up in the home of a superior officer at Izumo Taisha Shrine, and is knowledgeable about the stories of the gods of Izumo and the invisible, and he tells Toki his stories. Matsuno Kan'emon, played by Kohinata, is a samurai who lived through the end of the Edo period with vigor, and even in the Meiji era, he wears a topknot and continues to practice swordsmanship, making him the "last samurai".
