The 89th Drama Academy Awards (Spring 2016) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Kuroki Haru - Juuhan Shuttai!
2) Mitsushima Hikari - Totto Terebi
3) Nakatani Miki - Watashi kekkon dekinain janakute, shinain desu

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Kuroki Haru - Juuhan Shuttai!
2) Nakatani Miki - Watashi kekkon dekinain janakute, shinain desu
3) Mitsushima Hikari - Totto Terebi
4) Maeda Atsuko - Busujima Yuriko no Sekirara Nikki
5) Ashida Mana - OUR HOUSE

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Mitsushima Hikari - Totto Terebi
2) Nakatani Miki - Watashi kekkon dekinain janakute, shinain desu
3) Kuroki Haru - Juuhan Shuttai!
4) Maeda Atsuko - Busujima Yuriko no Sekirara Nikki
5) Ishida Yuriko - Contrail ~ Tsumi to Koi ~ / Matsuoka Mayu - Sono [okodawari], watashi nimo kure yo!!

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Mitsushima Hikari - Totto Terebi
2) Kuroki Haru - Juuhan Shuttai!
3) Nakatani Miki - Watashi kekkon dekinain janakute, shinain desu
4) Maeda Atsuko - Busujima Yuriko no Sekirara Nikki
5) Ashida Mana - OUR HOUSE

Source: The Televison

Production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2016 drama "OUR HOUSE"

The production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2016 drama "OUR HOUSE" was held on 10 April which was attended by cast members Ashida Mana, Charlotte Kate Fox, Yamamoto Koji, Kato Seishiro, Terada Kokoro and Matsuda Serika. The drama is a home comedy about a family with four children who are shocked to see their father (Yamamoto) bringing a foreigner home (Fox) and declaring her as their stepmother after a whirlwind romance and sudden marriage. In a bid to chase this unwelcome stranger from their household, Ashida's character steps up to protect her family.

Ashida revealed that there will be a number of scenes where she has to get into verbal arguments with Fox's character but thinks that she can handle the challenge. On the other hand, Fox who had been the lead in the NHK morning drama "Massan", commented that the filming schedule for this drama is less intense as that of the morning drama and finds that it is fun to be surrounded by so many kids on the filming set.

Source: Sanspo

Preview of "Our House" - Spring 2016

Title: Our House
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 17 April 2016
Timeslot: Sundays 9pm
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Scriptwriter: Nojima Shinji
Theme Song: Ai wo tomenaide by OFF COURSE
Cast: Ashida Mana, Charlotte Kate Fox, Yamamoto Koji, Kato Seishiro, Terada Kokoro, Matsuda Serika, Takayama Yoshihiro, Watanabe Mai, Inukai Atsuhiro, Tsukamoto Takashi, Matsushita Yuki, Hashizume Isao

OFF COURSE's hit song "Ai wo tomenaide" to be the theme song of FujiTV Spring 2016 drama "OUR HOUSE"

The theme song of upcoming FujiTV Spring 2016 drama "OUR HOUSE" which begins its run from 17 April at 9pm on Sundays, has been announced to be "Ai wo tomenaide", the hit song from 5-member band OFF COURSE 37 years ago. The band which featured members such as Oda Kazumasa and Suzuki Yasuhiro, were active from 1970 to 1989 and had released many hit songs during this period. This is the second time since 1977 NTV drama "Himawari no Ie" that a OFF COURSE song has been used as the theme song for a drama.

"Ai wo tomenaide" was first released as the band's 15th single in 1979 and will be reprinted in CD format for the first time on 11 May as a limited edition. The song had been covered by various singers over the years including Saijo Hideki, Okamoto Mayo and Makihara Noriyuki. The coupling track for the CD single will be "Utsukushii Omoide ni" which is the same as the original record released 37 years ago.

Source: Nikkansports / Sanspo

Ashida Mana & Charlotte Kate Fox to star in FujiTV Spring 2016 drama "OUR HOUSE"

Ashida Mana and Charlotte Kate Fox will be the joint leads in the upcoming FujiTV Spring 2016 drama "OUR HOUSE" which will begin its run from April in the Sundays 9pm timeslot. The drama which is written by Nojima Shinji, features Ashida as the second eldest daughter in the family named Sakurako who takes care of things at home after her mother passed away six months ago. To her horror, her father Ban Souta who is a saxophone player (Yamamoto Koji), brings his newly-wed wife Alice (Fox) back from the US after his business trip despite not having dated her for a single day. This leads Sakurako to make plans to chase Alice out of their family. The children of the Ban family will be played by Kato Seishiro who is the eldest son, Terada Kokoro as the third son while newcomer Matsuda Serika who is said to be highly regarded by Nojima, plays the youngest daughter. Matsuda is a special student in the pioneer batch of child actors undergoing training in the actors' school Polar Star which is managed by Nojima who praised her for being a 4-year-old version of former actress Sakurai Sachiko. Co-stars also include Hamada Tatsuomi and Igarashi Hinata.

Among the cast members, some of them have worked together in the past such as Yamamoto and Ashida who acted in the NTV Spring 2010 drama "Mother" while Yamamoto's first signature role was in Nojima's drama "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" 19 years ago. On the other hand, Ashida last worked with Terada in the NTV drama "Ashita, Mama ga inai" 2 years ago.

Source: Nikkansports / Sanspo