It has been announced that actors Misako Renbutsu and Nagasaku Hiromi will be appearing in "Vanilla Everyday," which will be broadcast on NHK's "Yorudara" time slot (General TV, Monday to Thursday, 10:45 p.m.) from January 2025. Based on a novel by Kato Tsubasa, the "sweets human drama" is set in a small Western-style pastry shop in Osaka, with Renbutsu playing the protagonist, pastry chef Shirai Aoi, and Nagasaku playing the bold and cheerful cooking researcher Sadoya Manami.
The drama is about Shirai Aoi (Renbutsu), who trains as a pastry chef and opens a Western-style pastry shop in Osaka, fulfilling her dream. However, business does not go well and she is forced to close the shop. Then, a quirky cooking researcher, Sadotani Manami (Nagasaku), appears and says she will open a "sweets class for just one person" in the kitchen of Shirai's closed shop. Shirai reluctantly cooperates. The students who attend the mysterious sweets class are all people with their own emotional pain. The time they spend making and savoring sweets gently embraces the lonely hearts... this is the story.
Renbutsu commented, "Making sweets together with people who are neither friends nor acquaintances. The strangely comfortable time that arises from this feels like therapy, or perhaps a sense of 'alone', and it brings many precious sensations, as if gently opening a treasure chest hidden deep in your heart. In today's world, where we have no choice but to keep working hard and it's difficult to stop, I hope that, even for just a little while, we can become 'nobody else' with the sweet scent of vanilla. I think every day that the power that can be gained from this is actually incredible. I hope to face this together with Nagasaku-san wholeheartedly."
Nagasaku said, "I hope this drama will be able to deliver moments like those in your everyday life when you naturally cry and laugh...when tears well up naturally, or you suddenly burst out laughing, feeling a bit embarrassed, but also feeling lighter in your heart. In my initial greeting, I said something rude like, "I don't really like sweet things..." but once filming began, the gentle aromas and beautiful sweets that were introduced one after another began to melt not only my tongue, but my entire being (laughs). I'm sure that all the hardened feelings of unease that you've had will begin to melt away. Please look forward to this luxurious time."
The drama will be broadcast over 8 weeks with 32 episodes.
