Naniwa Danshi - Daigo Nishihata:He plays the role of the best friend of King & Prince's good friend Nagase Ren. "I'm looking forward to seeing how Ren will act from Nishihata Daigo's point of view."

It has been announced that Daigo Nishihata of the popular group "Naniwa Danshi" will appear in the drama series "Love is too hard for a rich heir" (Kantele/Fuji TV, Tuesdays at 11pm), starring Ren Nagase of "King & Prince", which will be broadcast in January 2025. He will play Tomoya Kusakabe, a childhood friend and best friend of Subaru Tendo, a conceited heir played by Nagase.

The drama is an original work by screenwriter Haruka Okita. Subaru, the grandson of the president of a major apparel manufacturer, has been spoiled and lived a free-spirited life, but he becomes a colleague of Madoka Hanakura (Mizuki Yamashita), who was born and raised in the opposite environment, and they work on making children's clothes. This romantic comedy tells the story of how Subaru experiences his first failure and finds true love.

Tomoya, played by Nishihata, is someone who prides himself on being Subaru's best friend and has always been by his side to support him. When the fashion brand they started together fails, they end up working together at "Fukuten," where Subaru's grandfather, Wataru Tendo, is the chairman. As Subaru becomes attracted to Madoka, Tomoya becomes a good confidant.

He is usually good friends with Nagase. When it was decided that he would be appearing, he said with surprise, "I didn't hear about it from Ren, I heard about it from my manager. I happened to have plans to meet Ren that night, so I asked him, 'Do you know I'm appearing?'"

Nagase said, "I heard about it (from my manager) around the same time too. I didn't know who was playing Tomoya, but it was Daigo. I never expected it to be Daigo. I was so happy."

Regarding the scenes he is looking forward to, Nagase commented, "I want to see how Tomoya puts up with Subaru's outrageous behavior, and how he responds to his narcissistic remarks. If Tomoya abandons Subaru, he might become a really dangerous guy (laughs)."

Nishihata expressed his expectations, saying, "Since it's a romantic comedy, I'm really curious about how Subaru and Madoka's love life will unfold. I'm looking forward to seeing it from Tomoya's perspective, and I'm also looking forward to seeing how Ren will act from Nishihata Daigo's perspective."

The drama "It's Hard to Fall in Love with a Rich Heir" will start on January 7, 2025.