It was announced on November 21st that actress Misato Morita will star in the NHK Asadora drama series "Mawaru Swan" for the first half of 2027. Morita attended a press conference held at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo on the same day, and spoke about her feelings about playing the heroine in a Asadora and how she felt about receiving the offer.
This time, Morita was chosen for the lead role not through an audition, but through an offer from NHK. Morita confessed, "I was really, really, really surprised, and I didn't understand why they chose me. I know it sounds strange coming from me, but I'm not particularly sparkly, or cute, or exceptionally talented..."
However, after being told the story of "The Swans of the Round," she said self-deprecatingly, "She's just quietly doing her best in her everyday life, and she's a very relatable protagonist. With this kind of character, viewers can feel like they're talking to her through the TV screen. I realized that if the heroine is like that, it's possible to do it even if she's not glamorous," which drew laughter from the audience.
Morita said that the offer was announced as a surprise about 10 days before the press conference, when she was called in for an "interview." She recalled, "I was so surprised that no amount of surprise would be enough to describe it. It was like a bolt from the blue; my jaw dropped, and I was so shocked I thought I might develop temporomandibular joint disorder."
Morita has previously appeared in "Okaeri Mone" (first half of 2021) and "The Tiger and Her Wings" (first half of 2024), but she says that being the heroine of a Asadora was something she had always dreamed of.
"I've auditioned countless times since I was a teenager, and I was usually rejected at the document screening stage. I have some bitter memories of auditions, and I always thought that I wasn't meant to be. I've seen actresses of my generation like Kaya Kiyohara in ' Okaeri Mone ' and Sairi Ito in ' The Tiger and Her Wings ' working hard and taking the lead as the main actors, so I have a lot of respect for them, but I'm also a little scared. At the same time, I feel that I have to work hard so that I don't fall behind them and so that I can repay the kindness of everyone who has helped me at NHK," she said emphatically.
"Meguru Swan," the 116th installment of the NHK morning drama series, is set in modern-day Nagano Prefecture. The protagonist, who aspired to be a detective and became a police officer, is assigned to the "Community Safety Division" and spends his days feeling dissatisfied with his mundane work. He is not someone who has achieved anything remarkable, nor is he relentlessly pursuing his dreams. This is a human comedy about a protagonist who lives an ordinary life and finds a way to "protect an ordinary life where nothing happens." The script is written by comedian Bakarhythm.
