"Drama 1 Week" brings together major drama news from the week. This time (May 31st to June 6th), we will be covering the news that Juri Kosaka will be co-starring with Ai Ai Mikami in the NHK morning drama " Asadora , Kaze,Kaoru " for the first half of 2026, and that "Dai Tsuisei ~Keishicho SSBC Violent Tokuso9 Unit~", starring Nao Omori, Masaki Aiba, and Nao Matsushita, will begin airing in July in the 9pm Wednesday drama slot on TV Asahi, known for "The Great Chase: Metropolitan Police Department SSBC Violent Crimes Unit" . We will cover these topics in two parts.
On June 1st, the 21st episode of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) - " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring Ryusei Yokohama , "Ezo Sakura Ueno Heon", was broadcast, and Kazuki Enari made his debut as Matsumae Matsumae Michihiro, the eighth head of the Matsumae family, making a "striking" debut in the Taiga drama. Enari plays Matsumae Michihiro, a free-spirited character who sometimes goes too far. He is friends with Hitotsubashi Harumori (Ikuta Toma), one of the three Gosanke, and engages in political maneuvering against Tanuma Okitsugu, who is trying to advance the shogunate of Ezo. In the episode, he is shown firing a gun at people at a banquet, and on social media, comments such as "Another new type of psychopath..." and "Enari is the worst guy ever" were posted one after another, quickly becoming a hot topic.
On the 2nd, it was revealed that "The Great Chase - Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department SSBC Violent Crimes Unit" starring Omori, Aiba and Matsushita will be broadcast from July in the Wednesday 9pm drama slot on TV Asahi, known for "Tokuso9" and "The Great Chase: Metropolitan Police Department SSBC Violent Crimes Unit". This will be the first new series in 10 years since "Detective 7" began broadcasting in this slot in 2015. The story is set in the Criminal Investigation Support and Analysis Center (SSBS), also known as "SSBC", which was newly established in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in 2009. It is a specialized unit that is responsible for analysis and follow-up investigations to track the footsteps of criminals in initial investigations. Omori will play Igaki Shuji, who is in charge of mobile analysis in the SSBC Violent Crimes Unit, Aiba will play Nanami Rintaro, a "career" who has been seconded to the SSBC Violent Crimes Unit, and Matsushita will play Aoyagi Haruka, the chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigative Division.
On the 2nd, the 62nd Galaxy Awards Ceremony was held in Tokyo, and the NHK Asadora drama "The Tiger and Her Wings," starring Ito Sari, won the grand prize in the TV category. Production manager Ozaki Hirokazu and screenwriter Yoshida Erika appeared at the ceremony. Ozaki expressed her gratitude to Ito, saying, "I thought Ito would have made a great Torako, and I think she really did a great job portraying Torako." When asked about the possibility of a sequel or spinoff, she said, "I want to do it within the team. We talk about it, but I want to take responsibility and get everything in order. I'll do my best!"
On the 3rd, it was revealed that Sorimachi Takashi will be starring in the TV Tokyo drama special "TOKAGE" (broadcast June 30th at 8pm). This will be Sorimachi's first lead role in a TV Tokyo drama in about six years, and in this production he will play Ueno Kazuma, a member of a special forces unit known as the "Lizard" who pursues criminals on motorcycles. Other cast members announced include Kuriyama Chiaki, Ryusei Ryo, Mitsuru Fukikoshi , and Shiina Kippei. The original work is "TOKAGE: Special Guerrilla Investigation Team" (Asahi Bunko) by author Konno Bin, a master of serious police novels. It is a serious police mystery that depicts the exploits of the "Lizard" undercover investigation team at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who pursue crimes on motorcycles.
On the 3rd, it was announced that Uesaka will be co-starring with Ai Mikami in the Asadora"Kaze,Kaoru " in the first half of 2026. Uesaka was born on July 14, 2005 and is 19 years old. This is her first time appearing in an Asadora, having been selected through an audition. "Kaze,Kaoru" is a buddy drama set in the Meiji era, depicting two trained nurses, Ozeki Chika and Suzuki Masa, as its motif. Uesaka plays Ooya Naomi, who was abandoned by her mother shortly after birth and raised by a Christian pastor. She has no family to call hers, and is a shrewd character who is willing to lie and cheat a little to achieve her goals.
On the 3rd, it was announced that Aoi Morikawa will be starring in the Fuji TV drama series "Stingers" (Tuesdays at 9pm) which will start on July 22nd. This is Morikawa's first time starring in a drama series in the golden prime time slot. Morikawa plays Nikaido Tamiko, the leader of the Metropolitan Police Department's newly established team "Stingers (Undercover Investigation Investigation Division)" and a sharp "undercover investigator." A top career police inspector who returned to Japan after learning authentic "sting operations" at the FBI, she is adept at disguise, improvisation, psychological manipulation and trick construction. Her explanations are concise but her instructions are full of mystery, and she toyed with her subordinates with her eccentric actions.
