It was announced at a press conference held on June 3rd that Juri Kosaka has been chosen as the "other heroine" who will co-star alongside Ai Mikami in the NHK Asadora drama "Kaze,Kaoru " which will air in the first half of 2026. The role was selected through an audition that attracted 2,410 applicants. What does the selection of Uesaka, who is currently 19 years old and has only been acting for about three years, suggest? We would like to explore this based on recent trends.
◇Non, Tao Tsuchiya, Kyoko Yoshine, Wakana Aoi, and Mei Nagano were also in their teens.
Asadora used to be often called "a stepping stone for young actresses." The audition for the heroine role was what impressed viewers with this aspect.
Following Non in the epoch-making "Amachan" in the first half of 2013, followed by Tao Tsuchiya in "Mare" in the first half of 2015, Haru in "Asa ga Kita" in the second half of the same year, Takahata Mitsuki in "Toto Neechan" in the first half of 2016, Kyoko Yoshine in "Beppin-san" in the second half of the same year, Aoi Wakana in "Warotenka" in the second half of 2017, and Mei Nagano in " Hanbun, Aoi " in the first half of 2018, were all chosen as heroines through auditions when they were in their late teens or early twenties, and gained great fame through their respective works.
Also, in the second half of 2014, "Massan" saw the birth of the first foreign heroine in a Asadora.
Looking at recent years, Nikaido Fumi (co-starring with lead actor Masataka Kubota) in "Yell" in the first half of 2020, Mone Kamishiraishi and Kawaei Rina in "Come Come Everybody" in the second half of 2021, Haruka Fukuhara in "Fly Up!" in the second half of 2022, Shuri in "Boogie Woogie" in the second half of 2023, Mio Imada Mio in " Anpan " in the first half of 2025, and Akari Takaishi in " Bakebake " in the second half of 2025 all won the role of the heroine through auditions, but when we look at the ages of the actresses at the time of the announcement, they were in their teens, so we have to go back to Nagano eight years ago.
Before Nagano, Aoi, Yoshine, Tsuchiya, and Non were all chosen as Asadora heroines through auditions in their teens, helping to solidify the image of the show as a "gateway for young actresses." In that sense, with the exception of Shuri and Takaishi, it is undeniable that in recent years, although auditions have been held, the results have been a bit stale and, for better or worse, a safe selection.
◇ It won't immediately revive the "gateway for young actresses," but...
So, does the selection of Ms. Uesaka mean that the role will immediately be revived as a "gateway for young actresses," but that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, the lead role in the sequel to "Kaze,Kaoru," "Blossom," to be aired in the second half of 2026, was offered to Shizuka Ishibashi, now 30 years old, without an audition, and this in itself can be said to be an "interesting selection."
Ultimately, it depends a lot on the talent the production team is looking for. However, if we take Ms. Uesaka as an example, she was cast in the NHK program "Heroine Birth! Dramatic Women" (2022), which tells the lives of pioneering women through documentaries and dramas, early in her career, and then she appeared as the heroine in the one-off drama "Menstrual Uncle and His Daughter" and the omnibus-style "What Happened After That" (both in 2023), and it can be said that her talent as an actor was "discovered" by NHK.
Considering the timing of the announcement of her selection as the heroine, Uesaka's performance in the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Mikami Sensei" in January of this year left a strong impression, but I first became aware of her name when she appeared in "Heroine Tanjo!". The pilot episode was titled "Heroine Tanjo! Asadora no Asadora no Onnatachi), and later a real Asadora heroine was born (although the "heroine" referred to in the show's title is the female subject), but for Asadora, the selection of a young talent like Uesaka through an audition is still "an ideal." We'll be keeping an eye on her as the heroine next spring.
