Sakurai plays the role of Narumi Ryosuke, a 35-year-old former elite businessman who is transferred by his company Kashimatsu Bussan to become the principal of a private senior high school named Kyoumeikan Koukou and turn its fortune around. The struggling school's results are on the lower end of the spectrum, its sports teams aren't doing well in competitions and its enrollment numbers are about to slide below the minimum level required to keep it afloat. Narumi knows nothing about education nor managing a school so he has to rely on his knowledge as a businessman to deal with the situation and introduce reforms in Kyoumeikan with the aim of boosting enrollment numbers, improve the quality of the teachers and students and make the school profitable again. He is met with strong resistance from the students who have never savoured success and the teachers who have no motivation to improve but tries to show them the reality and harsh truths of society through his first-hand experience. The heroine Mashiba Chihiro who is at loggerheads at first with Narumi but later gets inspired by him will be played by Aoi Yu while Narumi's girlfriend cum former colleague Matsubara Satoko will be played by Tabe Mikako.
Sakurai who played a senior high school student in 2007 TBS drama "Yamada Taro Monogatari" when he was 25, expressed his surprise at being offered a role of a young 35-year-old school principal. It has been 4 years since he starred as the lead in a drama series since 2013's FujiTV drama "Kazoku Game" so he hopes to be able to grow with his character who transforms from a businessman to a school principal. Aoi who had experience working with Sakurai in the movie "Hachimitsu to Clover", praised him for being a respectable leading actor who is calm, clever and can be relied on. Tabe who last worked with Sakurai 10 years ago in "Yamada Taro Monogatari", expressed anticipation at how they will interact this time since the nature of their characters' relationship is different from 10 years ago.
Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Oricon
Yo también quiero saber cómo será su interacción (Tabe-chan y Sho-chan) en este nuevo dorama. Ambos me caen súper bien y estoy feliz de leer esta noticia. Solo queda esperar y desearles desde ahora lo mejor :)
ReplyDeleteGracias!!!
Will Aoi & Sho character develop love interest? Not sure if correct but some fans said Sho & Tabe-chan character relationship is drifting apart (probably because of the job change)
ReplyDeleteJust to add, Sho said in Zero he's filming soon. Ain't that rare for an autumn drama?
ReplyDeleteNowadays, it is common for dramas to start and complete filming well before the season it is to be aired. In this drama's case, it's said that filming will begin in May even though it will only air from October.
ReplyDeleteAs for the love interest plot, there's no specific mention of that but I wouldn't be surprised if a love triangle develops.
Thank you for answering Chiaki-san. I didn't know it was common to complete the filming months in adavance. All dramas I've seen (and i'm a dorama fan for a decade now) had filming pretty close to the airing date, around 3 weeks in advance.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the character map but can't read Japanese. Hopefully the romance is done well.
Sounds like this potentially could be great with the writer and director you've mentioned in the article. Thank you for putting in all the details :)