The NHK Asadora drama series "Omusubi," which aired its final episode on March 28, will be replaced by the 112th Asadora"Anpan" which will begin airing on the 31st. The story is about love and courage, based on the married couple Takashi Yanase(1919-2013) and Nobu Komatsu(1918-1993), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman."Mio Imada and Takumi Kitamura, who will be acting together for the sixth time, will play the lead married couple, which has been much talked about, but what is it about the 92nd morning Asadora that began airing 10 years ago today (March 30)? We will introduce the current status of the two main cast members, who played the married couple in the drama and have continued to act together since then.
◇The 92nd Asadora"Mare" - The trajectory of the heroine Nozomi and her classmate Keita
The 92nd Asadora, "Mare," starring Tao Tsuchiya, began airing on March 30, 2015. It is an original work by screenwriter Eriko Shinozaki, who has worked on such dramas as "Kurosagi" (TBS, 2006) and "Shivering Cow" (WOWOW, 2013). Tsuchiya also wrote the lyrics (first verse) for the opening theme "Noa~Marezora~" and was a member of the chorus.
The Tsumura family moves to Noto, Ishikawa. The daughter, Mare (played by Tsuchiya), learns from her father's failure to be a good example of what not to do and grows into a girl who puts her faith in "steady, diligent work." She then becomes an apprentice to a genius pastry chef in Yokohama in order to realize her dream of becoming a pastry chef.
The story then unfolds as she overcomes the challenges of training, romance, marriage separation, and balancing work and life, opening a cake shop in Noto, her hometown.
Nozomi's father, Toru, is played by Oizumi Yo, and her mother, Aiko, is played by Takako Tokiwa. The cast also includes Tanaka Min, Tanaka Yuko, Nakamura Fumiyo Kohinata, Suzuki Sawa, Ryo, Yagira Yuya, Shoko Nakagawa Shoko, Tsukaji Muga, Kadowaki Mugi, and Watanabe Daichi, and also features Iitoyo Marie and Hamabe Minami.
In the series, Kento Yamazaki , who later becomes husband and wife with the heroine Nozomi. Keita is a classmate of Nozomi's and an aspiring Wajima lacquer craftsman. The two clash over many things, but they have been interested in each other since the beginning. After confessing his feelings to Nozomi and being rejected, Keita dates his classmate Kuramoto Kazuko (Shimizu Fumika), but after breaking up with Kazuko, he gets close to Nozomi again. The two fall in love with each other and end up getting married.
◇The two have starred in many films and are now in their 30s after many collaborations
"Mare" marks the second time Tsuchiya and Yamazaki have worked together. The first time was in the 2012 drama series "Black Teacher" (TBS).
The two co-starred for the third time in the movie "Orange," which was released in 2015, the same year as "Mare," and then again in the original series "Alice in Borderland," which was distributed in 2020 as a Netflix original series. Season 2 of the series will be distributed in 2022, and season 3 is scheduled to be distributed in September 2025, so Tsuchiya and Yamazaki's co-starring is "ongoing."
In addition to their co-starring roles in other films since "Mare," Tsuchiya and Yamazaki have starred in many other works.
In addition, Tsuchiya played the important role of co-host with announcer Shinichiro Azumi at the 60th The Japan Record Awards (TBS) broadcast at the end of 2018, and in the following year of 2019, she appeared regularly in the popular corner "Gourmet Chicken Race Gochi ni Narimasu! (Gochi Battle)" of the variety show "Guru Guru Ninety-Nine" (Nippon TV) for a year. On New Year's Day 2023, she announced her marriage to Ryota Katayose of the dance and vocal group "GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE", and gave birth to her first child that same year.
Meanwhile, Yamazaki, who seems to have built his career mainly on live-action films, has appeared in romances based on shojo manga, such as " JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable Chapter 1" and "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K" (both in 2017), before establishing his reputation as an actor with the film "Kingdom," the first of which was released in 2019. In the meantime, it should not be forgotten that he also gave a good performance in a human interest drama, such as the serial drama "Good Doctor" (Fuji TV, 2018), which depicts the protagonist with Savant syndrome aspiring to become a pediatric surgeon.
Tsuchiya has already returned to acting after getting married and giving birth. Yamazaki has also become much more manly in recent years. The two, who played a married couple in "Mare" 10 years ago, are now both in their 30s, and we can look forward to seeing them continue to have success in the film industry and show us new sides of themselves.
