"Drama 1 Week" is a series that brings together major drama news from the past week. This time (March 1st to 7th), TV Asahi's original drama "Mamono" (Fridays at 11:15pm), co-produced with Korean production company SLL, known for "Itaewon Class " and "SKY Asadora ", starring Akari Takaishi , will be aired in the second half of 2025. We will cover these topics in two parts.
The new cast for the NHK Asadora drama series "Bakebake ," starring Akari Takaishi , to be aired in the second half of 2025, was announced on the 4th. The "people of Matsue" surrounding the heroine Toki (Takaishi) and Yakumo Koizumi(Tommy Bastow ), who is modeled after Yakumo Koizumi, will be played by Kanichiro as Toki's arranged marriage partner Ginjiro Yamane , Wan Marui Wan as Toki's childhood Sawa Nozu , Honami Sato, and Sano Shiro as Shimane Prefecture Governor Eto. This will be Kanichiro and Sano's first appearance in a Asadora. Sano said, "I'm excited to be asked to play the role of the Shimane Prefecture Governor, but at the same time, I feel the weight of responsibility as an actor from Matsue."
The serial drama "Ore no Hanashi wa Nagai" starring Ikuta Toma, which was broadcast on Nippon Television in October 2019, is back for the first time in six years. It was announced on the 5th that "Ore no Hanashi wa Nagai ~2025 Spring~" will be broadcast on the same station for two consecutive weeks on March 30th and April 6th from 10:30 pm each day. "Ore no Hanashi wa Nagai" is a home drama starring 31-year-old NEET Kishibe Mitsuru (Ikuta), a genius at making excuses and making excuses to escape reality. "~2025 Spring~" depicts the world five years after the drama. Five years ago, Mitsuru, now 36 years old, became a secretary to a prefectural assembly member after a lot of trouble, but was fired after two months. He once again begins a NEET life, parasitizing on his mother who runs a coffee shop, but then talk of selling the coffee shop and his family home comes up... and so the story unfolds.
It was announced on the 5th that Kanato Tsukishiro, a former top star of the Takarazuka Revue's Moon Troupe, will appear in the TBS Sunday Theatre "Caster" (Sundays at 9pm), which starts in April. This will be Tsukishiro's first drama series since leaving the Takarazuka Revue. The drama is a socially conscious entertainment set in a television news program, where the truth buried in the darkness is pursued and evil is punished. Tsukishiro will play Koike Nami, an announcer for the commercial television station JBN and a sub-anchor for the news program "Newsgate." Her role is one in which she calmly responds to the actions and words of the main anchor, Shindo Soichi (Hiroshi Abe). This is Tsukishiro's first role as an announcer, and she has been preparing in advance by taking announcing lessons and visiting the news department.
It has been revealed that Rinka Kumada will be appearing in Abema's original drama " Shinuhodo Aishite " (starting March 27th at 11pm), starring Hiroki Narimiya . Kumada will play Minamizawa Yuhi, a female reporter for a weekly magazine who is murdered by someone. The drama is a pure love suspense story about love and madness between Kamishiro Masato (Narimiya), an ideal husband who is a murderer but outwardly devoted to his wife, and his wife Mio ( Miori Takimoto), who loves him wholeheartedly. Kumada, who plays the role of the "murdered reporter" who is an important key to the story, commented, "It was my first time playing the role of a reporter, so it was a challenge for me, but at the same time, I was able to approach the filming with a very fresh feeling."
It was revealed on the 6th that Kawaei Rina will be starring in the April drama series "Damemane! - We'll Manage Useless Talent" (Nippon TV, Sunday 10:30pm). She plays a sharp-tongued new manager who runs around the entertainment industry trying to revive useless talents, all while being manipulated by the cold-hearted "super sadistic manager" played by Ken Yasuda Ken. Kawaei plays Kandagawa Miwa, a new manager at the entertainment agency "TOYO Productions" who struggles to revive fallen entertainers while hiding the fact that she was a legendary child actor who suddenly retired after a certain incident. She is a sharp-tongued character who is not afraid of her superiors and will attack them in a familiar manner, and the back-and-forth exchanges between her and Yasuda, the unreasonable superior, are said to be a highlight of the show.
On the 6th, it was revealed that TV Asahi will start airing the original drama "Mamono" (Fridays at 11:15pm), co-produced by the Korean production company SLL, known for "Itaewon Class" and "SKY Castle: Upper Class Wives", on April 18th. "Mamono" depicts the extreme themes of love and desire, such as adultery, domestic violence, and sex, as well as the twisted human relationships of unfulfilled people. The beautiful and charming Minamoto Toya (Akihisa Shiono) appears before the protagonist, a lonely lawyer named Hanajin Ayame (Aso Kumiko). Not only is Toya suspected of domestic violence against his wife, he is also suspected of murdering a professor at a famous university. The two fall in love, which is forbidden, and Ayame works hard to prove Toya's innocence... This is the story.
It has been announced that Ryoki Miyama will appear in the TBS Friday drama "Ignite - Law's Outlaws" (Fridays at 10pm) starring Mamiya Shotaro in April. Miyama, who gave a great performance as the younger brother of the main character Torako (Asadora Sari) in the NHK morning drama "The Tiger and Her Wings", will play lawyer Takaido Toma. Takaido is a brilliant man who passed the bar exam at the young age of 19. He is a modern child who looks at things with a somewhat cold eye, but he excels at finding hidden facts with his high intelligence and information gathering ability. Nakamura Toru and Kamishiraishi Moka will also be appearing. Nakamura will play Todoroki Kenjiro, the representative of "Peace Law Office", a "group of legal outlaws" who use all means to win lawsuits, and Kamishiraishi will play Inoo Mari, the only female lawyer in the office.
Hinako Sakurai will be appearing in the Fuji TV special drama "1995 - 30 Years of the Subway Sarin Attack: Voices from the Front Lines of Lifesaving," which will be broadcast on March 21. The documentary drama is based on the "Subway Sarin Attack" that occurred on March 20, 1995, and Sakurai will play the role of hospital nurse Nao Hoshino. This will be her first appearance in a Fuji TV drama in six years, since the station's 60th anniversary special "Seicho Matsumoto's 'Suna no Utsuwa'." The "Subway Sarin Attack" was when followers of Aum Shinrikyo released the highly toxic nerve gas sarin inside trains on the Marunouchi, Hibiya, and Chiyoda subway lines, killing 14 people and injuring approximately 6,000. Nao Hoshino, played by Sakurai, is a character based on the testimony of doctors and other people involved in the incident, as she was interviewing the situation at the time. She was always close to the patients and worked hard to save their lives.
It has been announced that Nogizaka46 member Nagi Inoue will star in the special drama "Spring!", which will be broadcast on TV Asahi from 11:15 pm to 12:15 am on March 21. Inoue is a fifth-generation member of Nogizaka46 who joined the group in 2022. This will be her first time starring in a terrestrial drama. The drama is a youth love story that is a visual adaptation of the winner of the 23rd TV Asahi Newcomer Scenario Award. Inoue plays Aoi Osaka, a studious honor student who was given an A grade but unexpectedly fails the first-term exam at her desired university. When she finds out that the second-term exam is only an essay and that only 10 people pass, she almost gives up, but her classmate Yu Murase half-forcefully invites her to take the essay exam... and so the story unfolds. Inoue commented on her appearance in this work, "I was very happy because I was interested in acting!"
