First episode screening event of NHK Taiga "Sanadamaru"

The first episode screening event of NHK's 2016 Taiga "Sanadamaru" was held at its HQ on 14 Dec which was attended by its lead Sakai Masato. The drama which will begin its run from 10 January 2016 in the Sundays 8pm timeslot, will be written by Mitani Koki and narrated by NHK announcer Udo Yumiko who is the first in 25 years to do this.

Sakai commented during the event that with this screening event, he finally felt as if he is embarking on a journey out to sea and looks forward to bringing everyone along. When asked about the poor ratings of the recent Taiga dramas such as "Hana Moyu" and "Taira no Kiyomori" which are tied at the last place for the lowest average rating of 12.0% over their entire run, Sakai quoted a phrase which was said by his character Sanada Yukimura that "people who don't think about winning and losing are the scariest" and said that he is confident about the ratings going up. Although he, his co-stars and staff are determined to make something which will please the viewers, he also said that if they are too caught up with the ratings, they will just end up making something which will be boring. As such, they will focus their efforts on making something that they themselves also find interesting rather than worry about the numbers.

Source: Nikkansports / Sanspo