Terao Akira to star in TBS Summer 2016 drama "Aogeba Totoshi"

Terao Akira will be the lead in the upcoming TBS Summer 2016 drama "Aogeba Totoshi" which will be shown from July in the Sundays 9pm timeslot. This is his first appearance in a Sunday 9pm drama in 28 years and he is the eldest lead in this timeslot since its inception in 1993. The drama will be written by Izumi Yoshihiro and Hirakawa Yuichiro who worked together on "ROOKIES".

The drama which is based on a true story in 1980 at Kanagawa Prefectural Yokohama Nanryo Senior High School and its brass band and their advisor Nakazawa Tadao, features Terao as a former saxophone player Higuma Koichi who suffers from side effects due to an accident thus stopped having anything to do with music. He is then hired to manage a small brass band in a senior high school which is to be closed down and has to deal with a group of problematic students who behave violently at times and their parents also giving him a hard time because they do not want to let their children become musicians. Nonetheless, he refuses to give up on his dream of leading the band to take part in the national championship. Co-stars include Tabe Mikako who plays Higuma's daughter Natsuki, Ishizaka Koji, the principal of the senior high school who hires Higuma to be the advisor of the brass band while Mackenyu, Murakami Nijiro, Kitamura Takumi, Taiga and Sano Gaku will play students in the school.

Terao commented that he will be working with many young actors this time who are about 50 years younger than him but he is looking forward to the filming and the chemistry that will evolve between them. It was reported that Terao was selected for the role not just for his acting but also for the fact that he had won the Nippon Record Taisho before with his hit song "Ruby no Yubiwa" since he needs to play musical instruments in the drama.

Sources: Yomiuri Hochi / TBS / Sponichi / Oricon