This summer's dramas are starting one after another. What is the school drama that started airing exactly 10 years ago Ami Touma (July 17, 2015) that is based on high school club activities, just like "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (Nippon TV, Wednesday 10pm) starring Touma Ami? It is "Omotesando High School Choir Club!" (TBS) starring Kyoko Yoshine , who also made A Calm Sea and Beautiful Days with You " (Fuji TV). Here, we would like to introduce the contents of the drama and the cast of main student roles.
◇ Selected from 1000 people through auditions
"Omotesando High School Choir!" is a coming-of-age drama about a high school girl, Makoto Kagawa (Yoshine), who loves singing and moves to Tokyo after her parents divorce, and her struggle to revive the prestigious choir club at her new school, which is on the verge of being disbanded. For Yoshine, who won the lead role in an audition out of about 1,000 people, this was her first starring role in a drama series.
The other student roles were also cast by the next generation of stars of the time, who, like Yoshine, were selected in auditions from among about 1,000 people. Notable names included Jun Shison Jun, who played ToQ1/Right in the Super Sentai series "Ressha Sentai ToQger," which aired until February of that year, Yoshimoto Miyu, winner of the Grand Prix at the 13th All-Japan National Beautiful Girl Contest in 2012, and Aoi Morikawa, who had just graduated from being an exclusive model for the magazine "Seventeen" (Shueisha), as well as Horii Arata, Takasugi Mahiro, Hagiwara Minori, and Izumisawa Yuki.
In addition to the standard choral songs, the play also features arrangements of oldies and hit songs. The cast's beautiful voices are also enjoyable, and Yoshine, who plays Makoto, won the Best Actress Award at the 86th The Television Drama Academy Awards, sponsored by the TV magazine "Weekly The Television" (KADOKAWA).
◇ Kyoko Yoshine the following year, Wakana Aoi two years later
"Omoko" is still often talked about today as a classic summer school drama, but a lot of this is due to the success of the student cast that followed.
An easy-to-understand example is the lead actress Yoshine and Aoi Wakana, who played Yoshine's best friend in this series. Yoshine was selected as the heroine of the Asadora"Beppin-san" in the latter half of the following year, 2016, and Aoi was selected as the heroine of "Warotenka" in the same series two years later in the latter half of 2017. If we also include Mei Nagano, who made a guest appearance in the third episode (she played the heroine in "Hanbun, Aoi" in the first half of 2018), it may be a bit of a stretch to say that "three Asadora heroines were born" from the cast of "Omoko."
The other main cast members playing the student roles, led by Shison, who won the Newcomer Award at the 2019 Elan d'or Awards for his performances in the 2018 NHK drama "Joshi Seikatsu" and the Asadora"Hanbun, Aoi", also seemed to be cast in more works after "Omoko", and with the exception of Hagiwara, who has retired from the entertainment industry, they are still contributing to the film industry in their own positions.
Morikawa also made headlines for a time when he successfully performed expert techniques on the variety show "Sore tte!? Jitsu wa Dounano Ka" (Chukyo TV/Nippon TV), and Takasugi also appeared regularly for a year on the popular corner "Gourmet Chicken Race Gochi ni Narimasu!" on "Guru Guru Ninety-Nine" (Nippon TV), providing topics outside of dramas and movies. Morikawa will also be starring in his first lead role in a Golden Prime (GP) time series, "Stingers" (Tuesdays 9pm), which will begin on July 22nd.
◇She made a breakthrough with "Cherry Magic"...
Another student cast member of "Omoko" who should not be forgotten is Eiji Akaso. Before he became well known through his appearance in the Kamen Rider series "Kamen Rider Build" broadcast from 2017 to 2018, Akaso's drama debut was in "Omoko".
Akaso made his breakthrough with his first lead role in a TV drama series in 2020, "Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!(Cherry Magic)" (TV Tokyo). He has risen to the top to play the heroine's love interest in the Asadora"Maiagare!" in the second half of 2022.
It has been 10 years since "Omoko" began airing. Considering how well-known he was at the time, Akaso may have been the one who made the biggest leap forward.
