Hirosue Ryoko wraps up filming for her drama 'Starman'

Actress Hirosue Ryoko and her co-stars recently wrapped up the filming for their current Fuji TV summer drama 'Starman ~ Kono Hoshi no Koi' the other day.

'Starman' is the first drama in 17 years that finally features Hirosue in a starring role again. They have been filming for three months straight since April and the actress was overwhelmed by her emotions when they finished shooting their very last scene. She humbly thanked the whole team for allowing her to spend this summer in such a wonderful way.

The last scene they had to film took place at campsite and will appear in the drama's 7th episode. The filming took place at a campsite for auto-camping in Kanagawa and featured many of the main cast, including the "Starman" played by Fukushi Sota, the grandmother played by Yoshiyuki Kazuko, and the three child actors.

Fukushi gave Hirosue a bouquet as soon as the director gave the signal for the wrap. Moreover they surprised her with a birthday cake, since her birthday is coming up on July 18th. The three child actors also personally made a bag for her and put one present in each. Hirosue couldn't stop expressing her gratitude and reportedly kept saying "Thank you!" multiple times.

'Starman ~ Kono Hoshi no Koi' premiered on the 9th and will air its 2nd episode this week.

Source: Oricon

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Horikita Maki to become a female pilot cadet for Fuji TV's new drama

It was announced that actress Horikita Maki will star in a new Fuji TV drama titled 'Miss Pilot' (tentative) this fall.

Unlike other dramas that revolve around planes with a female protagonist, Horikita won't be playing a cabin attendant but a young aspiring female pilot named Tezuka Haru. Haru has been desperately hunting for a job for a while now, but nothing seems to come about. Without thinking about the consequences, she takes and barely passes the necessary exam to enter the world of aviation.

From then on, she begins to walk the path towards becoming a female pilot. Of course she struggles a lot, especially since the training is more severe than she expected before taking the exam. She bonds with her fellow cadets, has to deal with some very strict teachers, and meets various people while going through the pilot training.

The whole filming of the drama is being done with the full cooperation of All Nippon Airways (ANA), which means plenty of opportunities to film in locations where cameras usually are not allowed. All the outfits and uniforms seen in the drama will also be the real ones as used by the ANA staff and their pilot cadets. It's the producer's goal to make Horikita's character of a female pilot look and feel as realistic as possible.

'Miss Pilot' is scheduled to air every Tuesday at 9:00 pm starting in October.

Source : Mantan-Web

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Kimura Takuya & Shibasaki Kou to co-star in new TBS drama this fall

It was announced that SMAP's Kimura Takuya and actress Shibasaki Kou are going to work together again in a new TBS fall drama titled 'Ando Roid ~A.I. knows LOVE?~'. The last time they co-starred in a drama was in 'GOOD LUCK!!' 10 years ago.

The concept of the drama is a love story that crosses through time and space thanks to a "time cable" that connects the present age with the future 100 years from now. It offers a lot of mystery and suspense, and incorporates sci-fi and action elements. Anno Hideaki and his protégé Tsurumaki Kazuya from the famed anime series 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' are reportedly the ones who fleshed out this unique concept for TBS. The script is handled by no other than Nishiogi Yumie, the mastermind behind 'SPEC' and 'Keizoku'.

Kimura is going to play a double-role in this drama, an ingenious physicist named 'Matsushima Reiji' and a mysterious android that came from the future. Shibasaki plays Reiji's fiancee 'Ando Asahi'.

Reiji finds out that someone is trying to kill him and his fiancée because of theory he recently constructed. However, he isn't able to avoid his death and loses his life in a mysterious explosion on a plane one day in 2013. His fiancée Asahi is still alive and grieving over his sudden death, but she doesn't know that he was murdered and that the killer is still out there and preparing to kill her next. All of a sudden an android appears from out of her desk's drawer and materializes to look exactly as her fiancé Reiji. Apparently he was sent from the future to protect her from the killer.

'Ando Roid ~A.I. knows LOVE?~' is scheduled to replace the network's current hit drama 'Hanzawa Naoki' on Sundays at 9:00 pm, starting in October.

Source : Mantan-Web

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Takeshi Kaneshiro and Masami Nagasawa work on a kiss scene

Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo) and Japanese star Masami Nagasawa starred in the John Woo (Ng Yu Sum) directed new film THE CROSSING (TAI PING LUN). Earlier they worked on location on an isolated hill in Huairou. Reportedly they were working on a passionate kiss scene in a cavern. In the film they had a life and death romance. around 7:30AM, Gum Sing Mo left his hotel. He was dressed so casually that the Mainland media joked that he was collecting for the electric company. Later he went to the location. After changing into his costume, drizzle began. He carried an umbrella and entered the cavern. Then Masami Nagasawa also arrived and displayed a sweet smile. Seemingly she and Gum Sing Mo were working pleasantly. Ng Yu Sum looked serious on the set and later entered the cavern to direct the shoot personally.

courtesy of mingpao.com

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Mao Inoue to play murder suspect in Yoshihiro Nakamura’s “Shirayukihime Satsujin Jiken”

Mao Inoue is set to play a woman suspected of murder in Yoshihiro Nakamura’s Shirayukihime Satsujin Jiken (lit. Snow White Murder Case), the latest film adaptation of a novel by author Kanae Minato (Confessions, A Chorus of Angels).

The story was originally serialized in the magazine Shōsetsu Subaru as various accompanying information was uploaded to Shueisha’s literary website Renzaburo. Because of this experiment, the novelization became a hot topic early on and offers began flooding in for a live-action adaptation before it was even published.

In the film, Inoue will play an office worker at a cosmetics company named Shirono Miki who everyone suspects of having murdered her beautiful co-worker, Noriko Miki. Soon, a tabloid television program is broadcast featuring interviews with various people including co-workers, family members, former classmates, and people from Noriko’s hometown as rumors about her begin to multiply at a staggering rate thanks to the intense media attention and the rapid sharing of gossip on the internet.

Go Ayano, who just finished shooting his latest film Soko nomi nite Hikari Kagayaku on Monday, will play the director of the TV show, Yuji Akahoshi.

Filming of “Shirayukihime Satsujin Jiken” is expected to take place throughout Nagano from July 9 to August. It will be released by Shochiku in Japan next spring.

Source: Eiga.com

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Koji Seto and Kie Kitano to star in live-action “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai” film

On Thursday, Toei revealed that Koji Seto and Kie Kitano will be starring in the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Yomi Hirasaka’s popular light novel series Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, aka Haganai (official abbreviation).

The original novel series, which has reached a total circulation of 5.55 million copies since it began in 2009, revolves around two main characters who form a special club for people who are social outcasts like themselves. It was later adapted to several manga and anime series.

The film version will be directed by up-and-comer Takuro Oikawa, who also adapted the screenplay.

Seto plays Kodaka Hasegawa, a teenager who has extremely light hair due to being half british on his mother’s side and fierce eyes. Because of this, other students assume he’s a delinquent and avoid him. Kitano plays Yozora Mikazuki, a mean girl with a sullen expression who seems to drive everyone away. One day, shy Kodaka overhears Yozora talking to an imaginary friend after class one day and, realizing that neither of them have any other friends, they decide to form the “Neighbor’s Club” (Rinjin-bu) in order to make some. In spite of Kodaka having no clue what he’s doing, new members start joining the club one after another.

Supporting cast members include Mio Otani, Sara Takatsuki, Mao Kanjo, Sayu Kubota, Momoka Yamada, Rui Kurihara, Dai Watanabe, and Yoshizumi Ishihara.

Filming of “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai” wrapped in June. The movie will be released nation-wide in Japan early next year.

source : eiga.com

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'Akumu-chan' drama starring Kitagawa Keiko to get a movie adaptation

It was announced that the NTV drama "Akumu-chan" starring Kitagawa Keiko will hit the big screen as "Akumu-chan The Movie" in 2014.

"Akumu-chan" is based on Onda Riku's novel "Yume Chigai" and was turned into a TV drama by scriptwriter Omori Sumio ("Furin Kazan") in fall 2012. It follows the 5th grader "Yuiko" (Kimura Manatsu) who can see upcoming misfortunes in her nightmares and her homeroom teacher "Ayami" who can read and understand her dreams. Together they solve and prevent various incidents. The drama ended with an average rating of 11.5%. However, the drama had been especially popular among a younger audience around the age of 11 and 12. In that age group, it reached an average rating of 29% and actually peaked at 35%.

Many viewers have sent in requests for a continuation after the drama had ended and thus the producers decided to go for a movie. Of course they will continue to focus on making a movie that can be enjoyed by children and their parents. "Akumu-chan" is known for its vibrant and deep storytelling that touches topics such as friendship, courage and righteousness while also using some flashy CG effects.

In the movie, Yuiko and her classmates are now in the 6th grade and welcome a new transfer student. It doesn't take long for the class to realize that all of them have already seen him in their dreams. He also already appeared in one of Yuiko's nightmares. Soon everyone falls for his charms and does everything for him, which eventually triggers a major incident...

Various more actors from the drama are going to reprise their roles in movie in addition to Kitagawa and Kimura, including GACKT, Yuka, and Kohinata Fumiyo. Two new important characters will be played by Sato Ryuta and Honjo Manami.

Kitagawa commented extremely happy, "It's the first time that a project where I'm the leading actress is getting a sequel. From all the drama roles I've played so far, this is the one where I've gained the most experience. I've prayed for a chance to get to play this role again and it really came true!"

Filming has already begun and is scheduled to get wrapped up in August, but an exact release date for 2014 has yet to be announced.

source :  tokyohive

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Shinichi Tsutsumi, Machiko Ono, and Hiroshi Tamaki to star in Bali-set comedy

Today it was revealed that Shinichi Tsutsumi, Machiko Ono, and Hiroshi Tamaki will star in Toshio Lee’s Kamisama wa Bali ni Iru (lit. God Is in Bali), the first Japanese movie filmed on location in Bali, Indonesia.

Filming will take place in Bali for about a month from late July before wrapping up in Japan.

The story is based on Sho Kuroiwa’s book “Dekasegeba Daifugou”. It revolves around a woman named Sachiko (Ono) who flees to Bali after the failure of her Konkatsu (marriage hunting) business. By chance, she meets and is inspired by a Japanese multi-millionaire who’s called “Aniki” (big brother) by other visiting foreigners. Tsutsumi will play Aniki, a character based on real-life Japanese entrepreneur Maruo Takatoshi who made his fortune in Bali and continues to influence others to become successful.

Tamaki will play a former doctor named Ryu who changed his life after meeting Aniki.

“Kamisama wa Bali ni Iru” will be released nation-wide in Japan in 2014.

source : nipponcinema

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Sakai Masato & Kanno Miho register their marriage on 2 April

Sakai Masato and Kanno Miho registered their marriage on 2 April, according to their joint statement released on 3 April. The couple had met on the set of the movie "Ooku ~ Eien" and got married after a three-month dating period. The statement was written personally by Sakai and signed off by the both of them. As for why they chose to get married on 2 April, it was an auspicious day on the calendar so they went to the ward office to submit the marriage application on that day. Plans for the wedding are not confirmed yet and they are still living apart for now since they are looking for a new place. Kanno is not pregnant and will continue working after marriage.

Souce : doramaworld

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