Karin Ono plays the amnesiac protagonist suspected of murder in her first lead role in a drama

It has been revealed that actor Karin Ono will be starring in her first drama solo in the serial drama "Watashi no Shiranai Watashi" (starting January 9, 2025) in the Platinum Night slot (Yomiuri TV/Nippon TV, Thursdays at 11:59 p.m.) in January 2025. Ono plays the protagonist who struggles to recover her memories of the year she lost in order to prove her innocence after being suspected of murder. Ono said, "I'm grateful for the love and enormous energy of the production team, and the wonderful cast and staff. I feel my heart trembling with excitement and tension because I've been given such a wonderful environment." The drama is an original story written by Rieko Obayashi. When she wakes up, the protagonist Mei Haneda (Ono) has lost her memory for a year. What's more, she has completely changed from the "dull everyday life that didn't go as she wanted" before she lost her memory, and now she has a lifelong partner, social status, and a unique female friend who she thought was dead. However, Mei gradually begins to lose important things from the people around her, including her best friend. And she is even suspected of murder... The appearances of Fumika Baba, Koumi Hyodo, and Teppei Koike were also announced. Baba plays Shinohara Midori, Mei's best friend, who is good-looking and naturally charismatic, and shows a superficial kindness but harbors intense hatred inside. Hyodo plays Aizawa Ryunosuke, a colleague of Mei who has lost her memory and acts as her support staff, but suspects her of murder and corners her. Koike plays Nishijima Kanata, an excellent surgeon and fiance of Mei who has lost her memory, who always encourages her as an ally. ◇Comments from Karin Ono --Please tell us your thoughts and enthusiasm about taking on your first solo lead role! "The Me I Don't Know" is a suspense work with a completely original story, and producer Nakama said to me, "I will finish the script up to the final episode before we start filming!" Since drama production does not have a lot of time, I think it is realistically quite difficult to receive the script up to the final episode before the start of filming, but I strongly feel how blessed and grateful I am as an actor to be told such things. I will do my best to meet the expectations of the creators and never betray their enthusiasm and love. --Please tell us your impression of the work and your role when you actually hold the script in your hands! The more I turn the pages of the script, the more I look forward to the next development, such as the development of the story, the humanity and history of the characters. I hope you will enjoy the sense of speed as the story progresses, with the characters intricately intertwined and leaving behind lingering impressions. The main character I play, Mei Haneda, has lost a year's worth of memories, so the energy given to her by the characters around her is very large, especially in the beginning. I would like to play carefully so that I can take it in freshly and connect it to the energy that unravels my memories. --The title of the drama is "The Me I Don't Know," so please tell us an episode where you thought, "I didn't know there was another side to me..." or "I was surprised..."! I never get sick! (laughs) I have a strong body. I wonder if I have some kind of "strength I don't know about"? I think it's something I was born with... (laughs) I believe that and I would like to take on the winter location shoot! --Please tell us what you are looking forward to through the upcoming shoot and what you want to keep in mind during the shoot! The content is suspenseful and people die, so it's a heavy and profound style, but because of that, I hope I can have fun filming with everyone! I want to make it a bright and fun filming site. --Please give a message to the viewers! The love and enormous energy of the production team, and the wonderful cast and staff. I feel that my heart is trembling with "excitement" and "tension" because such a wonderful environment has been prepared for me! I believe that I will be able to deliver a work that will shake your heart as the first drama of the new year, so please look forward to it! ◇Comments from Fumika Baba --Please tell us your impressions of the work and your role after actually getting the script in your hands! I thought it was a really interesting work, with various thoughts of each character intertwined, and I was really curious about the next story. The more I read, the more things become clear, but there are still many things I don't know... I'm really curious about what kind of life all the characters will have in the end. Shinohara Midori, who I play, is the best friend of the main character Mei, but she is thought to have died in high school, and there are some pretty big secrets hidden there, so there are many things I can't talk about at this stage, but I think she is a woman who has some pretty important secrets and feelings that relate to the whole story. --The title of the drama is "The Me I Don't Know," so please tell us an episode where you were surprised to find out that you had this side to you... or that surprised yourself! I'm the type of person who is pretty strong even when I get up early in the morning, and I can handle it even if I don't get much sleep, but just the other day, when I got home from work and opened the entrance to my house, it was about 10 meters from the automatic door, but I fell asleep while walking and hit the wall. So I was surprised and slept a lot that day, but I realized that humans really need to sleep properly... (laughs) --Please tell us what you are looking forward to through the upcoming filming and what you want to keep in mind during filming! There are many scenes where each of our strong energies come out, so we will communicate a lot and have fun and work hard until the day we can finish filming safely! --Please give a message to the viewers! I think this work is a drama that feels quite different from each character's perspective, so I think that you will enjoy this work more by watching it from each perspective many times when the broadcast starts. I will do my best! Thank you very much. ◇Comments from Koukai Hyodo --Please tell us your impression of the work and your impression of your role when you actually get the script in your hands! I have never played a suspense story like this one, which progresses while unraveling what kind of feelings each person has and what kind of lies they are telling, so I was very surprised at how the book was made, and I thought the script really made me curious about the next story. I thought "it will definitely be interesting!" from the proposal stage, so after receiving the script, I read it as if I was checking the answer. Also, the main character Mei has lost her memory, but I think the story is one that you can watch from Mei's point of view while rooting for her. Aizawa Ryunosuke, who I play, is a very important role in advancing the story, as he suspects the main character Mei of murder, and I want to fully express my thoughts and emotions in playing Ryunosuke. --The title of the drama is "The Me I Don't Know," so please tell us an episode that made you think, "I didn't know I had this side to me..." or "I was surprised..."! I'm the type of person who is friendly with everyone, and people around me often say that I'm "dog-like," but I recently realized that when I'm with a large group of people, there are times when I become quiet, even though I've started a conversation myself...I'm naturally the type to make noise with my friends and get close to everyone, but I realized that there is actually another side to me that I don't know, a "me" that I don't know. --Please tell us what you're looking forward to through future filming and what you want to keep in mind during filming! When I watched Ono's other work, I thought his acting was very wonderful. There are many scenes in this work where we work together, so I'm really looking forward to the time we spend acting together, but I'm also determined to work hard so that I don't get left behind by Ono-san! --Please give a message to the viewers! This is a personal thing, but the producer who helped me with the drama "CODE - The Price of Wishes" contacted me this time, and since I have a lot of love for this work even before I acted, I want to pour all my energy into it. I hope I can convey that passion through this work, and I hope that love is conveyed to everyone! ◇Comments from Koike Teppei --Please tell us your impression of the work and your role after actually getting the script in your hands! One of the themes of this work is "memory loss," and it's amazing how the human relationships are portrayed so complex and mysterious because of it, and I think it's a story that will arouse the curiosity of the viewers. Each character is properly spotlighted, and I feel that the charm of the script is that it is so engrossing that you forget the time and become addictive. As the episodes go on, the things we learn and the mysteries we come across become more and more interesting, so I hope you'll look forward to it. The character I play, Nishijima Kanata, is the fiance of the main character Mei, and he's a really nice guy! Really. He's a kind, tolerant, and just a really nice guy, so I feel like I've been given a really nice role. --The title of the drama is "The Me I Don't Know," so please tell us an episode where you were surprised, like, "I didn't know I had this side to me..." or "I was surprised..."! I'm more of a mobile type and have a lot of physical ability, so I do action, sing, and dance, but actually, I sprained my back at the beginning of November...The moment I held my child, I started to feel pain, and I just recently discovered that, "Oh, this is no good," "I've found a side of me I don't know," and "I shouldn't push myself too hard" (laughs). --Please tell us what you're looking forward to through future filming and what you want to keep in mind during filming! We may be filming together over the New Year holidays, so I want to make sure we all have a wonderful New Year! I'll keep it up! --Please give a message to the viewers! I myself am very excited about this work, and I look forward to seeing it in the form of a video. I hope that many people will spread this work, which we are confident in. I think that this is a drama with high expectations that will attract attention in 2025, so I hope that everyone will enjoy it. Thank you! ◇Comment from Nakama Producer This project was started two years ago with screenwriter Rieko Obayashi, who said, "Let's create an original love suspense drama that will move your heart!" This drama is not a typical drama about memory loss. It is not just an extreme and fast-paced drama. The story moves among the [misunderstandings of feelings] that each character holds, such as "feelings for friends," "feelings for family," "feelings for loved ones," and "feelings for the past." Although the events that are happening are stimulating, there should be some parts of the characters that you can sympathize with. And you should not be able to take your eyes off the [truth behind the murder suspicion] that is revealed beyond the foreshadowing. This is a human love suspense story. The main character, Mei Haneda, wakes up with no memory of the past year, finds happiness she never knew she had, and is suspected of murder. It is a very difficult role that requires a convincing portrayal of real emotions as she faces a shocking truth that keeps changing. Karin Ono will play Mei. Karin Ono's overwhelmingly realistic acting makes you feel like she is there, and viewers can empathize with her and are drawn to her. We were confident that she would be able to play this difficult role! And the role of Mei's best friend Midori Shinohara, who hates her, will be played by Fumika Baba, who has a unique presence and a beautiful, dignified figure. The role of Aizawa Ryunosuke, the mysterious colleague who corners Mei, will be played by Koukai Hyodo, who has a mysterious aura but strong-willed eyes that make an impression. The role of Nishijima Kanata, Mei's fiance who supports her, will be played by Teppei Koike, who has a smile that is warmer than anyone else's and has an adult charm. Recently, when we did the visual photo shoot and script reading, I felt the spirit of all four of us saying, "We will definitely make this drama interesting!" I can only be grateful. The production team will also approach the production with the same spirit as the cast members. The cast and staff will work together to get through the cold season of filming. Please look forward to the most exciting and heart-wrenching human love suspense this winter.