"Drama Week" summarizes the main drama news of the week. This week (May 30th to June 5th), the highlights included the announcement of the 28 student cast members for "GTO," which starts on July 20th, and the fact that Sho Sakurai will appear in "GIFT," starring Shinichi Tsutsumi. This will be covered in two parts.
On May 30th, it was revealed that Sho Sakurai will appear in the Sunday drama "GIFT" (Sundays at 9 PM), starring Shinichi Tsutsumi. Sakurai, who will play the chairman of the Japan Wheelchair Rugby Association, has been deeply involved with parasports, having served as the NHK Special Navigator for the Tokyo Paralympics and starring in the drama "Kimi ni Sasageru Emblem" (Fuji TV), which is about wheelchair basketball. Furthermore, he is a classmate of Toshiro Hirose, the former captain of the Japanese national rugby team and currently the vice chairman of the Japan Wheelchair Rugby Federation. Hirose has already appeared in "GIFT," so this will be their second "co-starring" appearance, following their collaboration in the rugby-themed Sunday drama "No Side Game" (2019).
On the 31st, it was revealed that Ai Yoshikawa will star in the July TV Asahi drama series "Stay as a Great Detective" (Fridays at 11:15 PM). This will be Yoshikawa's first leading role in a drama on this network. The drama is an "armchair detective mystery" about Kaede (Yoshikawa), an elementary school teacher who loves mysteries, and her grandfather, a former elementary school principal who suffers from Lewy body dementia but brilliantly solves mysteries when the topic comes up. Yoshikawa commented, "The original story was so interesting that time flew by, and it was a sad but heartwarming story. That was also carefully preserved in the script, and I was deeply moved from the first episode, which made me even more determined to do my best!"
On the 31st, it was revealed that the popular vertical-scrolling manga "I Should Have Killed My Husband," currently serialized on LINE Manga, will be adapted into a television drama starring Rio Uchida. The story is a time-traveling revenge suspense tale in which the protagonist, Rino, played by Keisuke Watanabe will play the husband, Keita. Honjo Rino, an ordinary housewife, was supposed to be living a happy married life with her seemingly perfect husband, Keita, but one day, a mysterious video site arrives for Rino, and she learns of her husband's betrayal. Rino vows revenge, but... The drama will air on TV Tokyo every Monday at 11:06 PM starting July 6th.
On the 31st, the cast of 28 student roles for the drama series "GTO" (Kansai TV/Fuji TV, Mondays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi and starting on July 20th, was revealed. The students of Class 1B, where Onizuka, played by Sorimachi, is the homeroom teacher at "Seishin Private Academy," were selected from a large audition with over 400 participants. Among those confirmed to appear are Kurumi Inagaki, who has appeared in three NHK Asadora dramas including "Chimudondon" and cut her hair by 33 centimeters for this role; Miyu Oshima, who gave a great performance as the protagonist's daughter in the Sunday drama "My Family" (TBS); Kazuki Kawaguchi, who played the young Ieyasu in the NHK Taiga drama "What to Do Ieyasu"; Ryu Kitazato, who gave a great performance in "We Still Don't Know the School Rules of That Planet " (Kansai TV); and Fuga Shibasaki, whose remarkable performance in the Sunday drama "Theseus' Ship" (TBS) became a hot topic. Also selected was Kaname Kajiwara, the eldest daughter of Yuta Kajiwara of the comedy duo "King Kong" and an exclusive model for "Seventeen" magazine.
On June 1st, it was announced that Hayato Isomura, Kanichiro, and Kanichiro will appear in the TV Asahi drama series "Crossroad ~The Promise of Emergency Medicine~," which will begin airing on July 7th and stars Mio Imada in her first role as a doctor. Isomura will play Subaru Kiryu, the ace emergency physician at Yokohama Bay Hospital. He is a senior colleague of Haruka Haruki (Imada), a young emergency physician who has transferred to the emergency department. Kanichiro will take on the role of an emergency medical technician for the first time. He will play Teru Shibukawa, a kind-hearted man who strives to transport patients to the hospital as quickly as possible. Izumisawa will play Kento Yokomine, a police officer working at a police box who aspires to become a detective. He is a reliable "neighborhood policeman" and a "mood maker" who brightens up those around him.
On the 1st, the 63rd Galaxy Awards ceremony was held in Tokyo, and " Bakebake ," the NHK Asadora drama series for the second half of 2025 starring Akari Takaishi , received a Special Award in the television category. Takaishi, who played the heroine, and others appeared at the awards ceremony. When asked about the most memorable scene, Takaishi cited the scene at Lake Shinji from the end of last year, saying, "It was the episode where Toki and Heaven's hearts finally connect, and the scene of walking by Lake Shinji was not originally in the script but was added, but I think that this work, ' Bakebake,' was made possible thanks to everyone's efforts."
On the 2nd, it was revealed that Yuki Uchida and Takuto Teranishi of "timelesz" will co-star in Fuji TV's July Thursday drama "Last Note" (Thursdays at 10pm). This will be Uchida's first leading role in a Fuji TV drama series since "Tsubasa o Kudasai!" (1996), and Teranishi's first leading role in a commercial television drama series. The story follows 49-year-old Aoi Ichise (Uchida), who, having gone through marriage, divorce, and setbacks in her career, believes "no further changes are needed" and lives a life of maintaining the status quo, and 30-year-old Sumiharu Higuchi (Teranishi), who gave up on his dreams after trouble befell his best friend and lives a life suppressing his true feelings. The two had been living their lives as they pleased, but a certain event leads them to meet, and as they touch upon the true feelings they had kept hidden from each other, their respective destinies change in a way that makes it impossible to turn back.
