Tanihara Shosuke's first leading role in a drama - NHK BS drama "Tsugunai"

Tanihara Shosuke takes on his first leading role in a drama since his acting debut 20 years ago in the NHK BS Premium drama "Tsugunai" (Atonement" which consists of 3 episodes and will be shown in November this year. The story is based on a mystery novel by Yano Keiko and features Tanihara as an elite neurosugeon Hidaka who loses his family due to his busy career after his son dies of an illness and his wife commits suicide. He then becomes a homeless man as a result. While roaming the streets, Hidaka meets a young man who he saved from sexual abuse 12 years ago and gets much-needed support from the latter to carry on with his life. However, the young man is later accused of being the culprit of a series of murders so Hidaka sets out to help him clear his name.

In order to look the part of a homeless man, Tanihara went on a diet to go from 77kg to 68 kg ever since the filming began in August. He had to put on a wig, allow his beard to grow and wear dirty clothes during the filming and was even eyed suspiciously by the employees at a convenience store when he went there looking very much like a homeless man during a filming break.
Co-stars include Kimura Tae who plays a psychologist Miwako who is the former girlfriend of Hidaka and supports him to get back on his feet again while Ashina Sei will play Hidaka's late wife Hiroe and another woman Yuko who looks exactly like Hiroe. The young man accused of murder is played by Imai Yuki while Komoto Masahiro and Nakahara Takeo will also appear in this drama.

Source: Sanspo  

This piece of news is probably bad for Kimura Takuya who just announced his new drama a few days ago. The setting of Tsugunai and PRICELESS is rather similar i.e. a successful man being reduced to nothing and trying to get back on his feet although the reason they became like this is different. Then again, the appearance of Tsugunai will no doubt cause critics to go comparing Tanihara Shosuke and KimuTaku because Tanihara went through so much to change his suave image but KimuTaku has always been known to maintain his image no matter what his role was. Will KimuTaku be able to sport a similar look or still look like some handsome dude as usual even if he is playing a homeless man? It will be interesting to see how viewers and critics react to these two dramas, come Nov.