Starting on the 29th, the 113th Asadora " Bakebake , " which aired its final episode on September 26th. The story is about a married couple, with a heroine who loves ghost stories and her foreign husband living an ordinary, everyday life, and is produced by the NHK Osaka Broadcasting Station. This "BK Asadora ," just like " Bakebake ," began airing 10 years ago today (September 28th).
◇Haru, the lead actress, auditioned for "Sumo" and AKB48 will sing the theme song.
The BK Asadora that began airing on September 28, 2015, is "Asa ga Kita, " starring Haru. Based on the life of Hirooka Asako, a pioneering female entrepreneur who ran a life insurance company, the story is about a heroine who lived a bright and positive life during the great transition period from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era. The script was written by Omori Mika.
The story begins in the Edo period (the end of the Aoi Miyazaki ), a first for a Asadora . Born into a wealthy merchant family in Kyoto, Asa (Haru) is a tomboy with a love of sumo, in stark contrast to her demure older sister, Hatsu (Aoi Miyazaki). From birth, it was decided that she would marry into the Osaka money exchange business, Kanoya, and she married Shinjiro ( Hiroshi Tamaki), a hobbyist with no interest in business. With Shinjiro's support, Asa learned business from her father-in-law and Godai Tomoatsu (Dean Fujioka), known as the father of Osaka's economy, and set up a coal mining business. Furthermore, with her innate competitive spirit, she established a bank and a life insurance business, and also worked hard to establish Japan's first women's university. The theme song was "365 Days of Paper Airplanes," sung by the idol group AKB48, which was at the height of its popularity at the time.
Haru, who plays the heroine Asa, was introduced on March 12, 2015. She was selected from an audition that had 2,590 applicants, and " Asa ga Kita " was Haru's fourth time auditioning for a Asadora heroine role.
Haru finally landed the coveted role of Asadora heroine on her fourth try, but the audition also drew attention at the time for the first time to feature a sumo match between candidates, reflecting Asa's character's love of sumo. At the press conference, Haru said, "I thought if I could win the sumo match, I would pass the audition, so I went into it with a blank mind and with all my heart," which excited the press.
Regarding the reason for casting Haru, Executive Producer Sano Motohiko cited her "dignity," explaining, "Even when she was wrestling with her face red, she still had that 'dignity.' That was one of the reasons I chose her. Of course, she was also a strong sumo wrestler." He continued, "This time, we're planning to have Haru play the heroine from the age of 16 to 60. Her smiling face is youthful, and she would look good in both period drama attire and Meiji-era Western clothing. I also wanted to see her with gray hair. I thought Haru could live the heroine's life on her own, so that was a big reason for casting her."
◇The show's highest audience rating was 27.2%, with Aoi Miyazaki and Dean Fujioka contributing to its popularity
The drama aired until April 2, 2016. The average viewership rating for all 156 episodes was 23.5% (according to Video Research, Kanto region, same below), the highest rating for a Asadora this century. The weekly average viewership rating also continued to stay above 20%, with the highest viewership rating for the show being 27.2% for the 59th episode (broadcast on December 4, 2015).
Along with Haru, one of the people who continued to support the drama's popularity, which was generally successful as described above, was Miyazaki, who played Asa's older sister, Hatsu. The drama revolved around Asa's success story, but Hatu's hardships were also depicted throughout. Miyazaki, who played the heroine in the Asadora"Junjo Kirari" (first half of 2006) about 10 years ago, naturally excelled as an experienced actress, playing Hatsu. She performed well enough to be called the "double heroine sister" with Haru.
The drama also features historical figures such as Okuma Shigenobu (Hideki Takahashi ) and Fukuzawa Yukichi (Takeda Tetsuya). Koji Yamamoto , who played Hijikata Toshizo in the same station's taiga drama "Shinsengumi!" (2004), also appeared in the role of Hijikata, but along with " Asa ga Kita," the historical figure whose name is deeply etched in viewers' hearts is Godai Tomoatsu. The role was played by Dean Fujioka, who was known as a "reverse import actor" due to his work mainly in Asia. Dean Fujioka was still known only to a few, but he made an instant breakthrough with this role, sparking the "Godai-sama" boom.
Omori, the screenwriter for "Asa ga Kita," also wrote the taiga drama "Seiten o Tsuke," which saw Dean Fujioka reprise the role of Godai Tomoatsu o Tsuke" version of "Godai-sama" was portrayed in a more multifaceted way, including showing his side as a patriot from the end of the Edo period, but Omori honestly said in an interview that he "wanted to write a little more," so it wouldn't be surprising if there was a "third time" in the future.
◇Kiyohara Kaya makes her acting debut, and Fuka Koshiba and Riho Yoshioka also make their first Asadora.
It was in "Asa ga Kita" that Dean Fujioka was "discovered," that the future Asadora heroine took her memorable first steps as an actress. We are talking about Kaya Kiyohara. Kiyohara made her drama debut as Fuyu, a servant who supports Asa and her friends, and while she was cute and lovely, she also showed signs of maturity at times, quickly showing glimpses of her acting potential. Due to requests from viewers, she also made a comeback as Fuyu's daughter, Natsu, which also became a hot topic.
At the time, she was in her second year of junior high school, and was the youngest of the regular cast members. She said she sometimes cried during filming out of frustration, but after that, she played the heroine's younger sister in the Asadora "Natsuzora" (first half of 2019), and will play the heroine in the Asadora " Okaeri Mone " (first half of 2021). Kiyohara considers " Asa ga Kita" to be "the origin of acting."
Along with Kiyohara, other young actors who attracted attention were Fuka Koshiba and Riho Yoshioka. Koshiba was selected to play Asa's eldest daughter, Chiyo, and her passionate performance as a "daughter who shows a rebellious attitude towards her mother" captivated viewers. Meanwhile, Yoshioka appeared as Tamura Yoshi, Chiyo's best friend. She gained popularity as "Nobu-chan, whose trademark is her glasses."
"Asa ga Kita" is the first Asadora for both Koshiba and Yoshioka. Having already established themselves in the film industry, when will they make their "second" return to a Asadora? We look forward to it.
