"Drama Week" summarizes the main drama news of the week. This week (April 25th to May 1st), the hot topics included the sequel to " A Calm Sea and Beautiful Days with You " (Fuji TV), which starred Kyoko Yoshine and Kyoya Honda as a newlywed couple in the early Showa era and was very popular, airing in the fall of 2026, and the revival of "GTO," the drama that caused a social phenomenon starring Takashi Sorimachi, as a serial drama after 28 years. This will be covered in two parts.
On April 29th, it was announced that a sequel to the popular drama series " A Calm Sea and Beautiful Days with You " (Fuji TV), starring Kyoko Yoshine and Kyoya Honda as a newlywed couple in the early Showa era, will air in the fall of 2026. The sequel will be set in 1937, the year after the first series. While Natsumi and Takimasa's endearing and awkward relationship will remain unchanged, viewers will also see new sides of the two as they have grown over the years. Yoshine commented on the sequel, saying, "I myself don't know the details of the story yet, but I can assure you that it will have that same 'innocent and heart-fluttering' feeling! We're really pumped up (laughs). We want to come back even stronger, without forgetting the passion we had back then, and deliver another wonderful time to everyone."
On the 29th, the official Twitter account (@TBS_VIVANT) for the popular TBS Sunday drama "VIVANT" (Sundays at 9pm), starring Masato Sakai, was updated, and an illustration of a mysterious character was released. It has been announced that a sequel to "VIVANT" will be broadcast on Sunday dramas for six months starting in July. The released illustration appears to be of a woman with braids, dressed in a black coat and holding a wine glass. Fans speculated that it was a new character, with comments such as "Kaoru-san...no, who is it? A new character?" and "A new character!!", while others tried to guess the cast, saying, "Who is it? It looks like An-chan" and "Is Akari Takaishi going to be in VIVANT after all...?".
On the 30th, it was announced that "GTO," the drama that caused a social phenomenon starring Takashi Sorimachi, will be revived as a serial drama for the first time in 28 years. It will start on July 20th at 10pm on Kansai TV and Fuji TV. For this "GTO," the staff who worked on the 1998 version, including lead actor Sorimachi, screenwriter Kazuhiko Yukawa, director Satoru Nakajima, and producer Kazuhisa Ando, will reunite. While carefully inheriting the worldview and character of Eikichi Onizuka from the original, the new serial drama will be produced as an updated version that incorporates elements of the Reiwa era. The story is set at Seishin Academy, a private high school that has the philosophy of "nurturing future leaders." It depicts an educational environment where both teachers and students carry tablet devices, and information and evaluations of students and teachers are managed by digital data.
On May 1st, new cast members were announced for the 2026 NHK Asadora drama series "Kaze,Kaoru " (NHK General, Monday-Saturday 8:00 AM, etc.), starring Ai Mikami and Juri Kosaka , and it was revealed that Shoma Kai will be appearing in the series. This will be Kai's first appearance in a Asadora . Kai will play Goro Ogawa, a sergeant in the army, who meets Naomi (Uesaka) when he visits a friend in the hospital. Kai said, "I was very close to my grandmother, and when she passed away, I vividly remember feeling a sense of reassurance and respect for nurses. My mother also had that experience, went to school, and became a nurse. I don't think it's a coincidence that I've come across this work at this time."
It was also announced that Tomoya Nakamura and Yuki Inoue will be joining the cast of " Kaze,Kaoru ." Nakamura will play Toji Yagyu, a patient whom Rin (Mikami) and Naomi (Uesaka) meet in Niigata. He will later become a major obstacle for the two. Nakamura commented, "I've heard that the character of Yagyu that I play is someone who brings the perspective of 'the benefit of society as a whole.' I would be happy if this could be an opportunity for us to take another look at what 'society' means." This will be Inoue's second appearance in a Asadora since " The Tiger and Her Wings " in the first half of 2024, and he will play Kosuke Yokozawa, a newspaper reporter in Niigata. Inoue said, "I am very much looking forward to seeing what kind of impact Yokozawa, who cherishes the beliefs he holds within himself and acts based on those beliefs, will have on this work and on Rin and the others."
