New supporting cast announcement for upcoming NHK morning drama "Hanbun, Aoi"

The new announcement for the supporting cast of upcoming NHK morning drama "Hanbun, Aoi" had been made. The drama which is based on Kitagawa Eriko's original script, features the heroine Nireno Suzume (Nagano Mei) who lost hearing in her left ear due an illness she had when she was a child and describes her turbulent life and the process of building an electrical appliances manufacturing company over half a century from 1971 to the present era which will be set in Gifu, her birthplace, and Tokyo. It will begin its run from 2 April in the Mondays to Fridays 8am timeslot. The characters announced in this round are those who Suzume meets in Tokyo as she aims to become a shoujo manga artist.

Toyokawa Etsushi plays Amakaze Haori, a shoujo manga artist who is Suzume's teacher. Despite his beautiful drawings of young boys and girls and dreamy drawing style, he is actually a stubborn and peculiar middle-aged man who gives his editor a lot of trouble and simply refuses to compromise when it comes to his work. Toyokawa who had acted in Kitagawa's 1995 "Aishiteru to iitekure" as a hearing-impaired artist, said that he got a very touch role from his longtime acquaintance but will try his best to tackle it even though he's not confident at all.

Igawa Haruka will be playing Hishimoto Wakana who is the manager of Amakaze's office and the nature of their relationship is somewhat of a mystery. Seino plays Suzume's lifelong friend Komiya Yuko who is Amakaze's assistant while Shison Jun will also play Amakaze's assistant Toudou Makoto. Nakamura Tomoya plays Arai Masato who is the classmate of Ritsu (Sato Takeru) in university and Suzume's first friend when she comes to Tokyo. Last but not least, Furuhata Seika will play Itou Saya who meets Ritsu by chance during their senior high school days during an interaction match with the archery club and reunites with him by chance in university which causes problems in the relationship between Suzume and Ritsu.

Sources: Nikkansports / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2 / Sponichi 3 / Oricon