The 95th Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2017) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Rikuou (TBS)
2) Saki ni umaretadake no boku (NTV)
3) Kangoku no Ohimesama (TBS)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Saki ni umaretadake no boku (NTV)
2) Kounodori 2 (TBS)
3) Ashi Girl (NHK)
4) Rikuou (TBS)
5) Onna Joshu Naotora (NHK)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Rikuou (TBS)
2) Kangoku no Ohimesama (TBS) / Keiji Yugami (FujiTV)
4) Onna Joshu Naotora (NHK) / Black Revenge (NTV)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Rikuou (TBS)
2) Kangoku no Ohimesama (TBS)
3) Kounodori 2 (TBS)
4) Keiji Yugami (FujiTV)
5) Doctor X 5 (TV Asahi)

Source: The Television

The 95th Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2017) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Ayase Haruka - Okusama wa, toriatsukai chuui
2) Koizumi Kyoko - Kangoku no Ohimesama
3) Yonekura Ryoko - Doctor X 5

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Ayase Haruka - Okusama wa, toriatsukai chuui
2) Yonekura Ryoko - Doctor X 5
3) Shibasaki Kou - Onna Joshu Naotora
4) Kuroshima Yuina - Ashi Girl
5) Koizumi Kyoko - Kangoku no Ohimesama

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Koizumi Kyoko - Kangoku no Ohimesama
2) Ayase Haruka - Okusama wa, toriatsukai chuui
3) Inoue Mao - Ashita no Yakusoku
4) Shibasaki Kou - Onna Joshu Naotora
5) Yonekura Ryoko - Doctor X 5

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Yonekura Ryoko - Doctor X 5
2) Koizumi Kyoko - Kangoku no Ohimesama
3) Shibasaki Kou - Onna Joshu Naotora / Ayase Haruka - Okusama wa, toriatsukai chuui
5) Inoue Mao - Ashita no Yakusoku

Source: The Television

The 95th Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2017) - Best Supporting Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Takahashi Issei - Onna Joshu Naotora
2) Takeuchi Ryoma - Rikuou
3) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Keiji Yugami

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Kazama Morio - Saki ni umaretadake no boku
2) Kentaro - Ashi Girl
3) Hoshino Gen - Kounodori 2
4) Seto Koji - Saki ni umaretadake no boku
5) Takahashi Issei - Onna Joshu Naotora

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Takahashi Issei - Onna Joshu Naotora
2) Takeuchi Ryoma - Rikuou
3) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Keiji Yugami
4) Sato Jiro - Black Revenge
5) Terao Akira - Rikuou

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Takahashi Issei - Onna Joshu Naotora
2) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Keiji Yugami
3) Shison Jun - Ueki Hitoshi to Nobosemon
4) Yagira Yuuya - Onna Joshu Naotora / Kobayashi Kaoru - Onna Joshu Naotora / Yamamoto Koji - Totto-chan! / Iseya Yuusuke - Kangoku no Ohimesama / Takeuchi Ryoma - Rikuou

Source: The Televison

The 95th Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2017) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Mitsushima Hikari - Kangoku no Ohimesama
2) Aoi Yu - Saki ni umareta dake no boku
3) Yamamoto Mizuki - Keiji Yugami

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Aoi Yu - Saki ni umareta dake no boku
2) Tabe Mikako - Saki ni umareta dake no boku
3) Mitsushima Hikari - Kangoku no Ohimesama
4) Yoshida Yo - Kounodori 2
5) Tomosaka Rie - Ashi Girl

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Mitsushima Hikari - Kangoku no Ohimesama
2) Yamamoto Mizuki - Keiji Yugami
3) Kanno Miho - Kangoku no Ohimesama
4) Yoshida Yo - Kounodori 2
5) Hirosue Ryoko - Okusama wa, toriatsukai chuui

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Mitsushima Hikari - Kangoku no Ohimesama
2) Yamamoto Mizuki - Keiji Yugami
3) Kaho - Kangoku no Ohimesama
4) Agawa Sachiko - Rikuou
5) Aoi Yu - Saki ni umareta dake no boku / Yoshida Yo - Kounodori 2 / Kanno Miho - Kangoku no Ohimesama / Sakai Maki - Kangoku no Ohimesama / Morishita Aiko - Kangoku no Ohimesama / Nakama Yukie - Ashita no Yakusoku / Tezuka Satomi - Ashita no Yakusoku / Matsushita Nao - Ima kara anata wo kyouhaku shimasu / Natsuki Mari - Shinjuku Seven / Katayama Yuki - Setoutsumi

Source: The Televison

The 95th Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2017) - Best Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Doors ~ Yuuki no Kiseki ~ - Arashi (Saki ni umareta dake no boku)
2) Showtime - Amuro Namie (Kangoku no Ohimesama)
3) Jupiter - Little Glee Monster (Rikuou)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Doors ~ Yuuki no Kiseki ~ - Arashi (Saki ni umareta dake no boku)
2) Kiseki - Uru (Kounodori 2)
3) Iiwake - JUJU (Kono koe wo kimi ni)
4) Reboot - Tohoshinki (Ashita no Yakusoku)
5) Gyutto - Sexy Zone (Wagahai no heya de aru)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Showtime - Amuro Namie (Kangoku no Ohimesama)
2) Jupiter - Little Glee Monster (Rikuou)
3) Human - WANIMA (Keiji Yugami)
4) Tomoe Gakuen - Fukuyama Masaharu (Totto-chan!)
5) Iiwake - JUJU (Kono koe wo kimi ni)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Jupiter - Little Glee Monster (Rikuou)
2) Doors ~ Yuuki no Kiseki ~ - Arashi (Saki ni umareta dake no boku)
3) Showtime - Amuro Namie (Kangoku no Ohimesama)
4) Tomoe Gakuen - Fukuyama Masaharu (Totto-chan!)
5) Mikansei no Answer - Ueda Tatsuya (Shinjuku Seven)

Source: The Televison

Winners of Nikkansports Dorama Grand Prix (Autumn 2017)

There were 1,055 valid responses for this round of voting and the numbers in brackets indicate the number of votes received for the drama or actor/actress:

Mitsushima Shinnosuke to appear in the 9th episode of TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama"

Mitsushima Shinnosuke will be appearing in the 9th episode of TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama" which will be shown on 12 December. This will mark his first appearance in the same drama series with his elder sister Mitsushima Hikari.

Production press conference of TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama"

The production press conference of TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama" was held on 11 October which was attended by cast members Koizumi Kyoko, Kanno Miho, Mitsushima Hikari, Kaho, Sakai Maki, Morishita Aiko and Iseya Yuusuke. The drama will begin its run from 17 October in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot.

Oricon's most anticipated Autumn 2017 dramas ranking

Oricon conducted a survey on 1,364 people from their teens to 50s between 11 September and 19 September whereby they chose which Autumn 2017 they are looking forward to watch. Dramas which were not announced by the TV stations before 5 September were not included in this survey and only dramas from the private networks and NHK were considered as candidates in this list.

There are two rankings here i.e. the primetime (7pm to 10pm) and midnight categories (shown after 11pm). Numbers in brackets indicate the overall weighted score in terms of anticipated ratings, leading actor/actress, supporting cast and content which account for 20 marks each. As such, the maximum score a drama can get is 80. The asterisk indicates dramas which are based on novels/manga so those without have original scripts.

Surprisingly, this is the first time that two dramas tied for the top spot with the maximum score of 80 marks. Although they are both medical-themed dramas, they have very different storylines. "Doctor X" features many difficult surgery scenes amid the underlying storyline of the internal power and money struggles within the university hospital while "Kounodori" focuses on the gynecology department where the doctors strive to provide the best obstetric care to their patients amid various challenges. Also worth noting is that TV Asahi and TBS hogged the top 5 spots in this ranking while NTV, FujiTV and TV Tokyo accounted for the rest of the slots.

Primetime Category
1) Doctor X 5 ~ Gekai Daimon Michiko ~ / Kounodori 2 * (80)
3) Aibou season 16 (75)
4) Kangoku no Ohimesama (70)
5) Rikuou * (67)
6) Minshuu no Teki ~ Yo no naka, okashikunai desuka!? ~ (66)
7) Kasouken no Onna SEASON 17 (65)
8) Keiji Yugami * (60)
9) Okusama wa, toriatsukai chuui (58)
10) Saki ni umaretadake no boku (50)
11) Ashita no Yakusoku (49)
12) Ima kara anata wo kyohaku shimasu * (39)
13) Universal Koukokusha ~ Anata no jinsei, urikomimasu * (34)

Midnight Category
1) Black Revenge (56)
2) Re:Mind * (39)
3) Wakakozake Season 3 * / Juuyou Sankounin Tantei * (37)
5) Otona Koukou (29)
6) Rabuho no Ueno-san Season 2 * (28)
7) Shinjuku Seven * (27)
8) Setoutsumi * (25)
9) Fringeman ~ Aijin no tsukirikata wo oshiemasu ~ * (23)
10) Boku wa Mari no naka * (22)
11) Sakura no oyakodon * (18)

Source: Oricon

Otoha to appear in TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama" as Iseya Yusuke's wife

Otoha will be appearing in the upcoming TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama" starring Koizumi Kyoko which will begin its run from 17 October in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. This will be her first appearance in a drama in 11 years since the 2006 NHK Taiga drama "Komyou ga tsuji" and her first regular drama series since she became a mother.

The drama is a comedy set in a female's prison about 5 women prisoners and their warden who get together to take revenge on a certain man. The story begins in the present when 5 women get together to abduct a handsome company president for the sake of taking revenge for one of them. However, things do not proceed as they imagined and there are many hiccups along the way. It is then revealed that these women had already planned this six years ago when they met in a female's prison. Koizumi plays the lead character Baba Kayo, a career woman who had a younger husband and a child but stabbed him out of anger when she found out that he was having an affair. As a result, she is serving a 5-year sentence for the conviction of attempted murder. Kanno Miho plays a charismatic housewife Katsuda Chinatsu who was caught for tax evasion and is regarded as the leader among the female inmates while Sakai Maki plays Daimon Yoko who resorted to embezzlement and fraud to get money for the purpose of supporting her favourite actor. Kaho plays Edogawa Shinobu who is the daughter of a dairy products manufacturing company's president and was framed for the killing of the vice president's lover and Morishita Aiko plays Adachi Akemi who took the rap for her gangster husband and ended up in jail for possession of illegal drugs. Mitsushima Hikari rounds up the cast as the female prisoners' strict warden Wakai Futaba who has a strong sense of justice and later participates in the revenge plot. Iseya Yusuke will be playing a baddie named Itabashi Goro, the handsome company president who the main characters want to abduct.

Otoha will be playing Harumi, the wife of Itabashi, and supports her husband wholeheartedly until their only son gets embroiled in the abduction. Otoha commented that she was very happy to be able to reunite with the staff and director who she had worked with before and that they were very welcoming of her. Although it had been almost 11 years since she focused entirely on raising her child, she didn't feel that so much time had passed. Since this is her second time participating in a Kudo Kankuro work, she is eagerly anticipating how the drama will turn out and believes that everyone, regardless of age, will enjoy the story with its mix of comical and thought-provoking elements.

Source: Oricon

Preview of "Kangoku no Ohimesama" - Autumn 2017

Title: Kangoku no Ohimesama 監獄のお姫さま (The Princess of the Prison)
Official website: here
Official Facebook: here
Official Instagram: here
Official Twitter: here
O.A. Start Date: 17 September 2017
Timeslot: Tuesdays 10pm
Scriptwriter: Kudo Kankuro
Theme Song: "Showtime" by Amuro Namie
Cast: Koizumi Kyoko, Mitsushima Hikari, Iseya Yuusuke, Kaho, Tsukamoto Takashi, Nekoze Tsubaki, Ikeda Narushi, Sakai Maki, Morishita Aiko, Kanno Miho

Amuro Namie to sing the theme song for TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no ohimesama"

Amuro Namie will be singing the theme song for TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no ohimesama" starring Koizumi Kyoko which will begin its run from October 2017 in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. The release date of the theme song titled "Showtime" is undecided and marks the first collaboration between Amuro and Koizumi and Kudo Kankuro who is the scriptwriter for this drama.

Amuro commented that the offer to sing the theme song came from the TV station and she was very honoured to be given the chance to do  so. The song uses the theme of "showtime" to represent the revenge plan featured in the drama and is a feminine up-tempo pop tune. As such, she hoped that this song will be able to help in boosting the atmosphere of the drama.

The drama is a comedy set in a female's prison about 5 women prisoners and their warden who get together to take revenge on a certain man. The story begins in the present when 5 women get together to abduct a handsome company president for the sake of taking revenge for one of them. However, things do not proceed as they imagined and there are many hiccups along the way. It is then revealed that these women had already planned this six years ago when they met in a female's prison. Koizumi plays the lead character Baba Kayo, a career woman who had a younger husband and a child but stabbed him out of anger when she found out that he was having an affair. As a result, she is serving a 5-year sentence for the conviction of attempted murder. Kanno Miho plays a charismatic housewife Katsuda Chinatsu who was caught for tax evasion and is regarded as the leader among the female inmates while Sakai Maki plays Daimon Yoko who resorted to embezzlement and fraud to get money for the purpose of supporting her favourite actor. Kaho plays Edogawa Shinobu who is the daughter of a dairy products manufacturing company's president and was framed for the killing of the vice president's lover and Morishita Aiko plays Adachi Akemi who took the rap for her gangster husband and ended up in jail for possession of illegal drugs. Mitsushima Hikari rounds up the cast as the female prisoners' strict warden Wakai Futaba who has a strong sense of justice and later participates in the revenge plot.

Sources: Nikkansports / Eiga.com

Iseya Yuusuke to appear in TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama"

Iseya Yuusuke will be appearing in the TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama" starring Koizumi Kyoko which will begin its run from October 2017 in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. This is Iseya's first appearance in a private network drama series since his debut as an actor in 1999.

The drama which is written by Kudo Kankuro, is a comedy set in a female's prison about 5 women prisoners and their warden who get together to take revenge on a certain man. The story begins in the present when 5 women get together to abduct a handsome company president for the sake of taking revenge for one of them. However, things do not proceed as they imagined and there are many hiccups along the way. It is then revealed that these women had already planned this six years ago when they met in a female's prison. Koizumi plays the lead character Baba Kayo, a career woman who had a younger husband and a child but stabbed him out of anger when she found out that he was having an affair. As a result, she is serving a 5-year sentence for the conviction of attempted murder. Kanno Miho plays a charismatic housewife Katsuda Chinatsu who was caught for tax evasion and is regarded as the leader among the female inmates while Sakai Maki plays Daimon Yoko who resorted to embezzlement and fraud to get money for the purpose of supporting her favourite actor. Kaho plays Edogawa Shinobu who is the daughter of a dairy products manufacturing company's president and was framed for the killing of the vice president's lover and Morishita Aiko plays Adachi Akemi who took the rap for her gangster husband and ended up in jail for possession of illegal drugs. Mitsushima Hikari rounds up the cast as the female prisoners' strict warden Wakai Futaba who has a strong sense of justice and later participates in the revenge plot. Although the story is supposed to be full of suspense, it is peppered with a lot of funny dialogue often seen in Kudo's dramas.

Iseya will be playing a baddie named Itabashi Goro, the handsome company president who the main characters want to abduct. He joked that since this is his first appearance in a private network drama series, he initially thought that it would be nice to play a good person but it might actually be a better idea for him to play a baddie with his looks now at the age of 41. As for what made him decide to take on this role, Iseya revealed that he used to prefer spending time on his own but he has started to feel that it might be good to spend more time with other people. Comparatively, filming a drama tends to take longer than a movie and he thinks that it will be stimulating for her to take on a drama now. As for acting in his first Kudo work, Iseya said that he will have to make sure that he is familiar with the character setting and story before the filming so as to act naturally so he's very excited about the filming.

Meanwhile, Kudo said that he chose Iseya because he will be a huge contrast to the female inmates where men are seen as an alien object in their world behind bars. Rather than introduce a number of different guys in the story, Kudo wanted Itabashi to be the sole super male character. Itabashi is a flashy and ambitious man who represents the overly beautiful evil and he has never written such a character before thus Kudo wanted to choose an actor who will be working with him for the first time. He was pleasantly surprised to find out later that Iseya had never been in a drama series before so he joked that since he likes "virgins", he was even happier with his choice.

Other co-stars in this drama include Tsukamoto Takashi who plays Hasegawa Nobuhiko, an observant and capable prosecutor, Ikeda Narushi who plays Goma Hajime, the chief warden of the women's prison and Nekoze Tsubaki who is a fellow inmate living in the same cell as Baba Kayo.

Sources: Sponichi / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi / Nikkansports / Oricon / Eiga.com

Koizumi Kyoko to star in new TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama"

Koizumi Kyoko will be starring in the new TBS Autumn 2017 drama "Kangoku no Ohimesama" (The Princess of the Prison) which will be shown from October 2017 in the Tuesdays 10pm timeslot. The drama which is written by Kudo Kankuro, is a comedy set in a female's prison about 5 women prisoners and their warden who get together to take revenge on a certain man.

The story begins in the current times where 5 women get together to abduct a handsome company president for the sake of taking revenge for one of them. However, things do not proceed as they imagined and there are many hiccups along the way. It is then revealed that these women had already planned this six years ago when they met in a female's prison. Koizumi plays the lead character Baba Kayo, a career woman who had a younger husband and a child but stabbed him out of anger when she found out that he was having an affair. As a result, she is serving a 5-year sentence for the conviction of attempted murder. Kanno Miho plays a charismatic housewife Katsuda Chinatsu who was caught for tax evasion and is regarded as the leader among the female inmates while Sakai Maki plays Daimon Yoko who resorted to embezzlement and fraud to get money for the purpose of supporting her favourite actor. Kaho plays Edogawa Shinobu who is the daughter of a dairy products manufacturing company's president and was framed for the killing of the vice president's lover and Morishita Aiko plays Adachi Akemi who took the rap for her gangster husband and ended up in jail for possession of illegal drugs. Mitsushima Hikari rounds up the cast as the female prisoners' strict warden Wakai Futaba who has a strong sense of justice and later participates in the revenge plot. Although the story is supposed to be full of suspense, it is peppered with a lot of funny dialogue often seen in Kudo's dramas.

Koizumi and Kudo last worked together in the 2013 NHK morning drama "Ama-chan" and she had starred in his 2003 drama "Manhattan Love Story" as the heroine. As such, Koizumi commented that as long as she follows Kudo's script, it will no doubt be very interesting. Moreover, they have a great line-up of charismatic actresses so she is eagerly looking forward to the filming of the drama. As for Kudo, he said that he had always thought that the small talk among middle-aged women is very interesting so he decided to assemble his favourite actresses to act in this drama with a rather far-fetched setting behind bars. Meanwhile, Mitsushima revealed that when the drama "Gomen ne, Seishun!" was wrapped up three years ago, Kudo actually told her about this drama and said that she will be playing a warden who only calls the prisoners by their numbers. However, she didn't think that this would come true and got a greater shock when she knew who else was in the cast. Nonetheless, she thinks that this will be a very entertaining and healing drama for all viewers. Kanno also chipped in to say that she's very excited to participate in this drama especially since she gets to act with Koizumi for the first time.

Filming will begin in late August.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo 1 / Sanspo 2 / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi / Oricon / Eiga.com