Production press conference of TBS Winter 2018 drama "Kimi ga kokoro ni sumitsuita"

The production press conference of TBS Winter 2018 drama "Kimi ga kokoro ni sumitsuita" was held on 13 January which was attended by Yoshioka Riho, Kiritani Kenta, Mukai Osamu, Seto Asaka, Ishibashi Anna, Nakamura An, Suzuki Sarina and Muro Tsuyoshi. The drama begins its run from 16 January in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot and is based on the same-titled manga by Tendou Kirin. Yoshioka plays the lead character Ogawa Kyoko who is nicknamed Kyodoko and thinks very lowly of herself. She works in a lingerie manufacturer and is in charge of selecting and procuring materials to be used for the company's products. Although she is usually meek and timid, she becomes a changed person when it comes to her work. When she meets a manga editor Yoshizaki Kojiro (Kiritani), she is attracted to his honest and good personality immediately. However, Kyoko has a secret to hide as she used to be manipulated by her senior in university Hoshina Ren (Mukai) who was the first man to accept her despite her shortcomings. Although Hoshina has good looks and behaves like a nice guy, he had made Kyoko become so dependent on him and unable to leave him while always ordering her in a cruel manner to do his bidding. Kyoko is bent on putting her past behind her and start a relationship with Yoshizaki but the reunion with Hoshina at her company marks the start of her troubles. Hoshina is fixated on getting the old Kyoko back so that she will do his bidding and depend on him again and does everything possible to control her.


Although Yoshioka felt the pressure of being the lead, she commented that she was glad to be surrounded by her co-stars who offered a lot of warm support to her just like how Kyoko is trying to change herself in the drama. However, she was still stumped for words for a moment as she revealed how she was having a stomachache before the event which led the MC to comment that Yoshioka was just like the real Kyoko. Kiritani and Suzuki then told Yoshioka to brace up and say what she had prepared as the latter apologised for fumbling over her words.

There was a surprise birthday celebration for Yoshioka who celebrates her 25th birthday on 15 January where Kiritani and Mukai brought out a cake for her. This made her very excited as she thanked everyone for the gesture and pledged to do her best in this drama.

Yoshioka also revealed her fascinating infinity with Muro who had worked with her in the 2015 movie "Akegarasu" where she played the heroine for the first time. However, when she appeared in the movie "Maku ga agaru" in the same year, she felt stuck and worried about her poor performance and that she had only one line in the film so she went to Muro for advice. He then told her that there was more she needed to do on the set so as to improve so she was very thankful for him always being around at the crossroads of her life. When they first met during a meeting for this drama, Muro told Yoshioka that he will try his best to support her so that she will grow to become a better actress so she was about to cry when she heard his warm words.

Although this is a romance drama, Muro who plays a manga artist Suzuki Jiro specialising in slightly erotic manga, "complained" that although there are so many actresses in the story, he has no romance with any of them. As he had received the scripts up to Ep 7 and there were still no signs of any love story involving his character, he was still hopeful that there might be room for his romance in the remaining episodes.

Sources: Nikkansports 1 / Nikkansports 2 / Sanspo / Oricon 1 / Oricon 2