The full cast of the WOWOW drama "Drama W: Yoru no Dohyo," starring actor Yoshioka Hidetaka, has been announced, revealing that Kumi Takiuchi, Takasugi Mahiro, and others will appear.
The original work is the mystery novel "Yoru no Dohyo" (Chuokoron-Shinsha) by Akira Ashizawa, which won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in the "Novel and Short Story Collection Category." This is a serious social mystery in which detective Taira Shotaro (Yoshioka), who is in charge of a murder case that occurred in 1996, investigates the footsteps of suspect Akutsu Gen (Noda Yojiro) and the reason for the murder, while approaching the "truth" of the case. When the dots of the characters connect around a certain "suspect," an unexpected "dark side of society" comes into light...
Takiuchi will play Nagao Toyoko, a classmate of Akutsu, played by Noda, who hides him, while Takasugi will play Oya Keigo, a young detective who teams up with detective Taira (Yoshioka) and works hard to uncover the truth.
Other cast members have also been announced. Kotani Kokai will play Hashimoto Haru, a sixth-grader who meets the suspect, Akutsu, through a certain incident. Kobayashi Masato will play Nakamura Osuke, Haru's classmate. Emi Kurara will play Taira's wife, Sumiko, and Sakamoto Manato will play the Taira couple's only son, Takanori, a high school student with troubles. Yoshioka Mutsuo will play Hashimoto Taiyo, Haru's father, and Asakura Aki will play Maki Miwa, Akutsu's ex-wife.
Furthermore, Uno Shohei will play Togawa Katsuhiro, a cram school instructor who was murdered by Akutsu. Wada Masato will play Izutsu Isao, the head of the criminal investigation division and Taira and Oya's superior, and Kimura Midoriko will play Akutsu's mother, Eiko, who holds the key to the story. Konosuke Harada will play Akutsu's childhood, and Masaki Reiya will play Haru and the other students' homeroom teacher.
"Drama W: Yoru no Dohyo" will be broadcast every Sunday at 10pm starting September 14th. It will consist of 5 episodes.
