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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Nishikido Ryo to star as a fake fortuneteller in new fall drama

It was announced that Kanjani8's Nishikido Ryo will star in a new Fuji TV drama titled "Yorozu Uranai Dokoro Onmyouya e Youkoso" (tentative).

The drama is based on the best-selling "Onmyouya" (lit. 'Yin-Yang Shop') novel series by writer Amano Shoko. Nishikido plays a fortuneteller who appears to be a yiny-yang master, but he doesn't possess any psychic powers and never directly tells someone's future.

Instead, he makes use of his past experience as a host and is able to to find out the root of his customers' troubles through the art of conversation alone. All the customers are suspicious of him at first because of his frivolous atmosphere. However, his advice actually help them with their various problems and they end up being extremely grateful about having gone to his shop.

Fuji TV will show Nishikido as a fake yet warmhearted fortuneteller every Tuesday at 10:00 pm starting in October.


Source : Tokyohive

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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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Arashi's Matsumoto Jun to star in NHK drama for the first time

On July 14, it was announced that popular Arashi member Matsumoto Jun will star in the NHK drama "Hajimari no Uta" that will begin airing on September 23.

Though Matsumoto, as a member of Arashi, has served as the host for NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen for 3 consecutive years, this is actually the first time for him to have a leading in a drama on NHK. This is also the first time in 15 years for him to appear on an NHK drama since his last one aired back in 1998 which was even before he made CD debut as Arashi.

The motif of the drama is "Furusato" which was the song made for the special corner in 2010's Kohaku Uta Gassen. Arashi members sang it on the Kohaku not only in 2010, but also in 2011, and in 2012.

The song was written by Koyama Kundo, and it expresses the nobility of hometown. The song has also been chosen as the compulsory song in the NHK National School Music Contest for this year (for Elementary School division). As this year will be the 80th anniversary year for the music contest, the drama adaptation has been planned.

In the drama, Matsumoto plays a young man named "Wataru" who left his hometown to Tokyo. Wataru once had a dream to be a teacher, but he could not make it come true, and became a freelance photographer for a travel magazine. The drama starts where Wataru returns to his hometown after he is given an order to take photographs in there.


By meeting with the local elementary school kids who are aiming to participate in the choir competition, his ex-girlfriend (played by Eikura Nana) who is an elementary school teacher, his old classmates, and family, he eventually regains his old dream to be a teacher.

Reportedly, there is a scene where Matsumoto plays a piano in the drama, so he is currently practicing for it. He left a comment, "Though my role is a photographer, there will be a scene I have to play piano, so I would like to prepare well for both before I attend the filming. I will do my best so that the viewers could find a delight in chorus, and also feel the power of music."

source : nipponcinema

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