First-episode-screening event for NTV Summer 2017 drama "Nou ni sumaho ga umerareta"

The first-episode-screening event for NTV Summer 2017 drama "Nou ni sumaho ga umerareta" was held on 3 July which was attended by the scriptwriter Suzuki Osamu and cast members Ito Atsushi, Shinkawa Yua and Ando Natsu. The drama begins its run from 6 July in the Thursdays 11.59pm timeslot.

Ito plays the lead character Orimo Keita who is a 34-year-old salaryman placed on the retrenchment list by his employer which is an apparel company. He is divorced and raising his 9-year-old daughter on his own. Having the power to see the messages sent and received by other people in his brain, he makes use of this to solve various problems, help others and become a better person while being embroiled in these troublesome issues at the same time. Shinkawa Yua will play the heroine Ryuuko who teaches him how to use the smartphone in his brain.

When asked about how he came up with the story, Suzuki said that due to the proliferation of mobile phones now, the concept of people crossing paths without being able to meet each other has become almost unthinkable thus leading to the notion that dramas are less dramatic than before. However, there are still many stories which don't feature the mobile phone so he wanted to do something with a far-fetched concept of smartphones being put inside the bodies of human beings.

When asked about what kind of smartphone application they wold like to install in themselves, ito said that a weather app will be good since he will be able to tell if there will be rain on the filming days and can give out accurate advice. On the other hand, Shinkawa commented that she wanted an alarm app which can shake herself awake rather than rely on sound alarms since she is often worried about sleeping too deeply and being unable to wake up even though she may be exhausted due to the long filmng days. As for Ando, she revealed that she would like an app which tells her the gourmet reviews of the restaurants near her wherever she goes while Suzuki wanted a search engine function since he tends to be so forgetful these days after turning 40 and even forgets the names of people he already knows.

Suzuki also revealed an episode in the past when his wife Oshima Miyuki and Ando were joint leads in a drama and went for sushi together. Even though his wife ate about 20 plates of sushi, Ando only managed 7 which made Oshima "flare up" at her for eating so little even though her body size suggests that she has a huge appetite. Ito also chipped in to say that everyone on set was surprised at seeing Ando eat so little. Ando herself commented that even the catering staff thought that she was a big eater and gave her so much rice that she had to tell them to halve the portion.

Sources: Eiga.com / Oricon