Haru & Okada Masaki to star in NTV drama SP "Kitakaze to taiyo no houtei"

Haru and Okada Masaki will be starring in the NTV drama SP "Kitakaze to taiyo no houtei" (The court of the northern wind and sun) which will be shown in March during the Friday RoadSHOW! timeslot at 9pm. In this era where it's said that 1 in 3 couples get divorced every 2 minutes and 19 seconds, most of them negotiate their divorce matters together but the remaining get third parties to facilitate the process. However, about 2.4% of the couples who have to resort to a trial if the mediation process does not proceed as planned. The title of the drama comes from the fable "Kitakaze to Taiyo" which describes the leads who are lawyers with exactly opposite characters helping couples face off in court.

Haru plays the role of Sakuragawa Fuuka whose motto is to win at all times and has never lost a divorce case. She is calm and seems to have an allergy when it comes to love so is regarded as the northern wind who doesn't hesitate to attack her opponents. On the other hand, Okada plays Kojiya Youta who is able to steer difficult cases towards an amicable resolution all the time and believes in love being able to enrich one's life. He is seen as warm like the sun and has feelings towards Fuuka.

Co-stars include Otani Ryohei who plays Fuuka's boss Isohata Koichiro at Golden Wing Law Firm, Yamamoto Yusuke who plays Fuuka's client Hara Masaharu and has unsuccessfully attempted to enter medical school for 8 years. Masaharu's wife Kyoko will be played by Kawashima Umika and Uchida Rio will play Omura Mayuko who works at Golden Wing and is very eager to get married. Yashima Norito plays Shibayama Naomichi who is a repeat student aiming to pass the bar exam and keeps attending trials at the courts. Fuuka's mother Shoko will be played by Kimura Midoriko while Youta's boss Tezuka Rokuro will be played by Ichimura Masachika.

During an interview session held at the filming studio, Haru commented on her character who doesn't hesitate to dismiss love as a meaningless thing and would analyse love in a logical manner. As for playing a lawyer for the first time, she felt that she isn't suited to be one as a lawyer because she believes people too readily unlike a lawyer who has to question every point in a testimony. Likewise, Okada echoed the view that he can't be a lawyer because he is not good enough to help other people. As for his character Youta, Okada felt that he is such an innocent person who doesn't think about his own benefits when helping others so he hopes to become someone like that. Okada also revealed that he didn't think that Haru would be someone who he could chat a lot with so he was surprised to find out that she speaks her mind like Fuuka.

Source: Nikkansports / Yomiuri Hochi / Oricon