Kimura plays the lead character Okita Kazuaki who was chased out of the hospital he worked at when he was just starting out as a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon. However, he did not know that the person who engineered this scheme was his best friend Masao (Asano Tadanobu). In order to build up his knowledge and refine his skills, Okita left behind his then-girlfriend Danjou Mifuyu (Takeuchi Yuko) and went to Seattle in the US. 10 years later, he is invited by Mifuyu's father Danjou Toranosuke (Emoto Akira) who was his mentor, to return to Japan, operate on the latter and work at his hospital Danjou Kinen Byouin. However, upon his return, Okita finds out that Mifuyu and married Masao who took on her family's surname and is the hospital's assistant director now. While working in the hospital, he also encounters a number of doctors and nurses who are unique in their own ways and strives to save his patients through hard work and refusing to give up even when faced with tough circumstances.
Matsuyama Kenichi plays Igawa Souta, a cardiovascular surgeon who has the ambition of becoming the No.1 surgeon and is overly confident in his abilities. His father is the chairman of the Kanto Surgeons Institute and he is set to inherit their family's Mantenbashi Byouin. Kimura Fumino plays the role of Shibata Yuki, a nurse working in the operating theatre who is so good at her job that she can choose which doctor to assist. Nanao plays Sakakibara Minori, the legal advisor of Danjou Kinen Byouin who has a secret relationship with Masao. Last but not least, Oikawa Mitsuhiro will play Hamura Keigo, a cardiovascular sugeon who is also the director of the first surgical department of the hospital. Hamura is sociable and bright who is well-liked by everyone but there is an emotional scar which he is hiding within.
Filming begins between the end of November and early December at the pace of 3 to 5 days per week. After the New Year holidays, the filming pace will pick up to be 5 to 6 days per week.
Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2 / Oricon
I'm interested in this for Asano Tadanobu, so I'm rather disappointed to see Kimura Takuya in the leading role. Almost everyone else is a stronger actor than Kimura. Why couldn't they have picked someone like Abe Hiroshi, for example? This reminds me of Karei Naru Ichizoku, where just about everyone outshone Kimuura and he was the weakest link on the acting front.
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, upon seeing that Matsuyama Kenichi was relegated to become a supporting actor, I was already very unhappy about it. And to see all the articles talk about KimuTaku only made me even more upset as if the whole drama's success boils down to him. There was hardly anything mentioning about the other characters and I had to get the information from the TBS website. All those exaggerated and positive descriptions trying to put him in a positive light just reeks of hard-sell.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I think that SMAP's breakup is due to various factors and I sympathise with KimuTaku to a certain extent for being singled out as the sole culprit, I think that this drama will probably not be able to help him turn the tables around and improve his battered image. Especially when you see such a talented supporting cast obviously being made to look secondary to him (as always in his dramas), it will make people even more angry with him because he is still seen as "all and mighty" even after what has happened.
The press also seems intent on doing him in as well with all the bad press plaguing him since August. They really had a lot of fun mocking him for being rejected by many actresses who did not want the female lead role and suggested that Takeuchi agreed to the offer because she was no longer as sought-after and is a divorcee with a child now compared to 13 years ago when they last worked together. From the looks of it, the media is bent on seeing this drama flop and it will no doubt affect all the cast members.
I got that same "all and mighty" feeling when you posted about his new movie, and now this. Why should all these talented actors have to play second fiddle to Kimura, whose acting is nothing to write home about? He's long past the days where his name alone guaranteed a Getsu9 ratings hit, and even back then I never understood the hype around him. I'm sorry about what happened to SMAP, but maybe it's about time Kimura learns to take some secondary roles and actually hone his acting if this is going to be his bread and butter from now on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's not right what the media wrote about Takeuchi. I don't know if they're friends, but maybe she was just being nice when she accepted the offer since they did work together in Pride. Or maybe she liked her character, who knows?
For Asano's sake I hope this drama won't flop, because he rarely does dramas and I want him to have a good one. It just sucks that I already can guess the trajectory for Kimura's character and the script will make him look good as usual, which is just rubbish. I guess it's too late to change the lead actor, so I guess I'll just have to suck it up and hope the rest of the characters are well-written.
When the news is released, the first thing that came to my mind was like 'Ah, so the rumors are true??'. More gossip and rumors have been swirling around Kimutaku & wife after SMAP disbandment announcement, some made me really pitied him especially about his private life or personality. But that rumor (though I believe it's a fact) about so many famous actresses (some wrote 13 to be precise) have rejected the heroine position in Kimutaku's upcoming drama, kinda make me happy, I don't like kimura's acting and how before he's been treated or behave like a top actor, he is cool and has charisma, but that's it I think, his expression is limited sometime misplaced and unnatural, I always see "Kimura Takuya" in every role he played that I have watched, at the end could never remember his character name.
ReplyDeleteIf that rumor is true about Sanma will make a directing debut with Kimutaku as the leading actor playing a real life story of some comedian, maybe it will be interesting because Sanma once have said that in the future he want to be a movie director while Kimutaku plays the leading actor, but he will do it when Kimutaku is no longer famous or well-liked anymore.
I get what you mean about the actresses rejecting Kimura for the heroine's role and think that it's high time he gets down from his pedestal and really work on becoming a credible actor after SMAP disbands. He surely can't expect the whole world to revolve around him as per his hey days.
ReplyDelete