Nakatani Miki to star in TV Tokyo drama SP "Mohouhan"

Nakatani Miki will be starring in the new TV Tokyo drama SP "Mohouhan" (Copycat Criminal) which is due to be shown within the year and is the first part of the commemorative project to mark the TV station's impending move from Toranomon to Roppongi this autumn. The drama SP which is based on the long mystery novel by Miyabe Miyuki, sold more than 4.2 million copies and had been made into a movie in 2002 starring SMAP's Nakai Masahiro as the criminal Peace a.k.a. Amikawa Koichi. In the 2016 version though, it will be from the perspective of Nakatani's character Maebata Shieko who is a report writer and had also appeared in Miyabe's spin-off novel "Rakuen",

Maebata Shigeko is a housewife of a family which owns a factory and works part-time as a report writer. However, she doesn't have any famous stories to her name yet. By chance, she comes into contact with the people involved in a serial murder case such as the teenage boy who was the first to find the body and an old man whose granddaughter was killed. While trying to find the truth behind the murders, she wonders if she is qualified and able to report on this case from the viewpoint of an ordinary housewife.

Nakatani commented that although this is the first time she is acting in a drama based on Miyabe's work, she had read the novel more than 10 years ago and was impressed by how Miyabe showed the beautiful and ugly sides of human beings. At that time, she already thought that it would be a great challenge to adapt the novel into a drama or movie so she is very happy to be offered the role this time. Although this is the first time she is playing a report writer, Nakatani said that she can be quite inquisitive and persistent such as reading about other people's lives in the articles they wrote or eavesdropping on conversations at bar counters. Since she is constantly in the world of fiction due to her acting career, she wanted to stay connected to the real world by hearing things from other people.

Sources: Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi