Cast of "Bakebake" "Kumamoto Edition" announced, "Reiwa's Evil Queen" joins Sunday Theatre "Reboot"

"Drama 1 Week" brings you a roundup of major drama news from the past week. This week (January 10-16) featured the announcement of the cast for the "Kumamoto Chapter" of the NHK morning drama "Bakebake ," as well as the guest appearance of female professional wrestler Saya Kamitani, also known as the "Reiwa Evil Queen," on the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Reboot." This article covers these topics in two parts.

On January 10th, Wan Marui, who plays Sawa Nozu , the childhood friend of the heroine Toki ( Bakebake " (General TV, Monday-Saturday 8:00 AM and others), participated in the "Hoekago Parade" held at Imamiya Ebisu Shrine (Naniwa Ward, Osaka City) in conjunction with the "Toka Ebisu Festival." Marui said, "I'm not the type of person who thought I was well-known by the general public, so when people along the road called out to me, I thought, 'TV is amazing.'" He continued, "I'm from Osaka and I knew about Ebisu and the Toka Ebisu Festival, but this was my first time seeing the Hoekago Parade. It was so lively and fun that I thought, 'I wish I could have participated when I lived in Osaka.'"

On the 10th, a public viewing and talk show for the first re-broadcast of the NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!" (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others) was held at the NHK Osaka Hall, with Nakano Taiga, who plays the main character Koichiro, and Ikematsu Sosuke, who plays Tokichiro, appearing. Nakano said, "I previously played the role of Toyotomi Hideyori in the Taiga drama "Go: Princesses of the Warring States" (2011). I'm now playing Hidenaga in "Toyotomi Brothers!", so I feel a strong connection to the Toyotomi family, and strangely, I feel like I'm standing tall whenever I'm near Osaka Castle. I'll do my best again this time as someone from the Toyotomi family."

On the 10th, Hana Sugisaki Hana attended the preview screening of the first episode of the Nippon Television drama series "Winter Something, Spring Something" (Wednesdays 10pm), in which she plays the lead role, held in Tokyo. Speaking about Ryo Narita, with whom she plays a married couple in the NHK morning drama "Ochoyan" in the second half of 2020 and with whom she reunites as a lover in this work, Sugisaki said, "I felt a bit embarrassed, but when the Asadora ended, we talked about maybe being able to co-star again in about five years, and now that five years have really passed, I'm really happy to have had this opportunity."

On the 11th, Ryoko Shinohara appeared on stage with Jesse and Naoto Fujiki of SixTONES at the completion ceremony for the Nippon Television drama series "Punch-Drunk Woman: XX Days Left Until Prison Break" (Sunday 10:30 PM) in Tokyo. When asked about the atmosphere on set, leading actress Shinohara immediately replied, "It's a very lively atmosphere on set." She continued, "It started with friendly, silly conversation, and Jesse was making a lot of puns. I started to feel a bit competitive too. I like puns too, so I was like, 'Oh, he's stolen my fate'..." she explained with a smile, putting the audience at ease.

On the 13th, it was revealed that female professional wrestler Saya Kamitani, known as the "Reiwa Evil Queen," will be making a guest appearance in the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Reboot" (Sundays at 9pm), starring Suzuki Ryohei. This will be Kamitani's first time appearing in a terrestrial TV drama. In the second episode, she plays a mysterious woman who has a close relationship with the corrupt lawyer Kaieda, played by Yoshi Sakou. Kamitani commented, "As this is my first drama appearance, I was nervous about the unfamiliar setting, but I was excited about this new challenge! You'll definitely see a side of me that you won't see in the wrestling ring. She plays a mysterious woman who isn't talked about much, so keep an eye out for her expressions and gestures!"

On the 13th, new cast members were announced for the NHK morning drama series "Bakebake ." The newly announced cast members are for the "Kumamoto Arc," which will begin airing from the 20th week (on February 16th). Renbutsu Misako, Natsume Touha, Imo Yu, Shukugawa Atom, and Jun Hashimoto will appear as the people the Misako Renbutsu , Toki Matsuno(Takaishi), and her husband, Lefkada Haven (Tommy Bastow ), meet in Kumamoto. This will be Natsume and Imo's first appearance in a morning Asadora . Renbutsu's character, Ran, is the wife of Haven's fellow English teacher, Robert. As the Japanese wife of a foreigner, she becomes a role model for Toki and a good friend he can consult with about anything. Natsume's character, Kuma, is the Matsuno household's maid. She plays a hard-working woman who singlehandedly supports Toki and his family's life in Kumamoto.

On the 13th, it was revealed that the audio drama "Saigo no Uta," a spin-off of the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan " starring Mio Imada , which will air in the first half of 2025, has recorded the highest listenership of any radio drama in the station's history. The audio drama aired on NHK-FM on January 3rd, starring Motoki Omori of the popular rock band " Mrs. Green Apple, " who played composer Takuya Ise in " Anpan ." It depicted the "unknown final years of Takuya's life" that were not depicted in the main series. Chief Producer Ken Kurasaki commented, "Just as many of Izumi's songs continue to be passed down and loved to this day, the many songs that Omori created will remain for future generations, hummed and loved by a wide range of generations, as I imagined through this audio drama."