The 96th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2018) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Ishihara Satomi - Unnatural
2) Hirose Suzu - anone
3) Fukada Kyoko - Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Ishihara Satomi - Unnatural
2) Ayase Haruka - Seirei no Moribito ~ Saishusho ~
3) Fukada Kyoko - Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru
4) Yoshine Kyoko - Kuragehime
5) Aoi Wakana - Warotenka

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Ishihara Satomi - Unnatural
2) Hirose Suzu - anone
3) Fukada Kyoko - Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru
4) Yoshine Kyoko - Kuragehime / Yoshioka Riho - Kimi ga kokoro ni sumitsuita

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Ishihara Satomi - Unnatural
2) Aoi Wakana - Warotenka
3) Hirose Suzu - anone / Fukada Kyoko - Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru / Yoshine Kyoko - Kuragehime

Source: The Television

Winners of the 2018 Elandor Award

Please note that even though the award is tagged as 2018, the actual qualifying period is from 1 December 2016 to 30 November 2017 so the winners were based on the works in 2017. In addition, those who win the "Newcomer" award are picked for their fresh and outstanding performance in their works for the year and regarded as promising new and upcoming actors so this has nothing to do with whether they are actually new to acting. As such, people like Takahashi Issei who has been acting for a long time can still get this award.

The prize giving ceremony will be held at 6.30pm on 1 February 2018 in Shinjuku Keio Plaza Hotel's Minami Building Eminence Hall.

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:

Preview of "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho" - Autumn 2017

Title: Seirei no Moribito Saishusho 精霊の守り人 最終章 (The Guardian of Spirits - The Last Chapter)
Official website: here
Official Twitter: here
O.A. Start Date: 25 Nov 2017
Timeslot: Saturdays 9pm
Broadcast by: NHK
Total number of episodes: 9
Original novel by: Uehashi Nahoko
Cast: Ayase Haruka, Itagaki Mizuki, Higashide Masahiro, Nakamura Shido, Nakagawa Akinori, Kikawada Masaya, Murakawa Eri, Watanabe Ikkei, Furuya Kenji, Kikkawa Kouji, Kamiji Yuusuke, Hanafusa Mari, Mera Yoshikazu, Takeda Tetsuya, Fujiwara Tatsuya, Kaga Takeshi, Hayashi Kento, Fukikoshi Mitsuru, Kimura Fumino, Takahashi Kounosuke, Kamio Yuu, Matsuda Satoshi, Watanabe Eri, Iwasaki Udai, Hayashiya Shouzou, Magii, Toman, Takashima Reiko, Koura Kengo, Suzuki Ryohei, Oda Risa, Koichi Mantarou, Kakuda Nobuaki, Shimada Kyuusaku, Dean Fujioka, Suzuki Rio, Fukuda Kouhei, Shinagawa Tooru, Hida Yasuhito, Tomizawa Takeshi

Screening event and press conference of NHK drama "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho"

The screening event of NHK drama "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho" was held at the TV station's HQ in Shibuya, Tokyo, which was attended by cast members Ayase Haruka, Koura Kengo and Suzuki Ryohei. The drama will begin its run from 25 November in the Saturdays 9pm timeslot. Filming of the drama was done over three years and completed in spring 2017.

Winners of the Tokyo Drama Award 2017

Drama Series Category
Grand Prix - Nigeru wa haji daga, yaku ni tatsu

Excellence Awards - Sanadamaru / Ie uru onna / Quartet / Byplayers / CRISIS Kouan Kido Sousatai Tokusouhan

The 92nd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2017) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Matsu Takako - Quartet
2) Mitsushima Hikari - Quartet
3) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Tokyo Tarareba Musume

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Matsu Takako - Quartet
2) Mitsushima Hikari - Quartet
3) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Tokyo Tarareba Musume
4) Ayase Haruka - Seirei no Moribito
5) Yoshine Kyoko - Beppin-san

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Matsu Takako - Quartet
2) Mitsushima Hikari - Quartet
3) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Tokyo Tarareba Musume
4) Yoshine Kyoko - Beppin-san
5) Ayase Haruka - Seirei no Moribito

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Mitsushima Hikari - Quartet
2) Matsu Takako - Quartet
3) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Tokyo Tarareba Musume
4) Ayase Haruka - Seirei no Moribito
5) Tanaka Rena - Mahiru no Akuma

Source: The Television

The 20th Nikkansports Drama Grand Prix for the 2016 fiscal year - Best Leading Actress

Note that the 2016 fiscal year includes the Spring 2016, Summer 2016, Autumn 2016 and Winter 2017 seasons. Numbers presented below are in the following order: number of votes from women / number of votes from men / grand total. To see a breakdown of the votes by age groups, please visit the link provided at the end of this post.

Nikkansports is announcing the winners of one category daily so I will post the results progressively as they become available:

Top 10 for the best leading actress category:

1) Aragaki Yui - Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu (854 + 237 = 1,091)

2) Ishihara Satomi - Jimi ni sugoi! Kouetsu Girl Kouno Etsuko (343 + 46 = 389)

3) Kuroki Haru - Juuhan Shuttai! (340 + 41 = 381)

4) Yonekura Ryoko - Doctor X 4 ~ Gekai Daimon Michiko ~ (241 + 129 = 370)

5) Haru - ON ~ Ijou Hanzai Sousakan Toudou Hinako ~ (223 + 33 = 256)

6) Mitsushima Hikari - Totto Terebi (194 + 27 = 221)

7) Kitagawa Keiko - Ie uru onna (150 + 36 = 186)

8) Ayase Haruka - Seirei no Moribito Kanashiki Hakkaigami (139 +39 = 178) / Takahata Mitsuki - Toto Nee-chan (103 + 75 = 178)

10) Sawaguchi Yasuko - Kasouken no Onna (95 + 40 = 135)

Source: Nikkansports

Winners of the Winter 2017 Nikkansports Dorama Grand Prix

In case you are wondering why Nikkansports has announced the winners even though the season has not ended, the polling was done via Nikkansports.com, Entame Premium, Nikkan Geinou and Nikkan Point Club between 6 and 13 March. They will be doing the annual voting for the full-year awards in the end of this month.

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of votes received out of 1,238 valid votes.

Best Drama
1) A LIFE ~ Itoshiki Hito ~ (251)
2) Uso no Sensou (159)
3) Onna Joshu Naotora (92)
4) Beppin-san (85)
5) Aibou season 15 (84)

Best Leading Actor
1) Kimura Takuya - A LIFE ~ Itoshiki Hito ~ (276)
2) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi - Uso no Sensou (222)
3) Mizutani Yutaka - Aibou season 15 (142)
4) Tsutsumi Shinichi - Salaryman Saenai-shi (130)
5) Miura Tomokazu - Shuukatsu Kazoku ~ Kitto, umaku iku ~ (80)

Best Leading Actress
1) Shibasaki Kou - Onna Joshu Naotora (209)
2) Ayase Haruka - Seirei no Moribito Kanashiki Hakkaigami (144)
3) Yoshine Kyoko - Beppin-san (138)
4) Sawaguchi Yasuko - Kasouken no Onna (137)
5) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Tokyo Tarareba Musume (131)

Best Supporting Actor
1) Matsuyama Kenichi - A LIFE ~ Itoshiki Hito ~ (148)
2) Sorimachi Takashi - Aibou season 15 (90)
3) Takahashi Issei - Onna Joshu Naotora (74)
4) Asano Tadanobu - A LIFE ~ Itoshiki Hito ~ (64)
5) Suzuki Ryohei - Tokyo Tarareba Musume (54)

Best Supporting Actress
1) Kimura Fumino - A LIFE ~ Itoshiki Hito ~ (170)
2) Koizumi Kyoko - Super Salaryman Saenai-shi (83)
3) Takeuchi Yuko - A LIFE ~ Itoshiki Hito ~ (72)
4) Oshima Yuko - Tokyo Tarareba Musume (62)
5) Yamamoto Mizuki - Uso no Sensou (56)

Source: Nikkansports

Press conference to announce new cast members of NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho"

A press conference was held on 15 January to announce the new cast members for 3-part NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho" which is the concluding installment in the series. The event was attended by Ayase Haruka, Higashide Masahiro, Kaga Takeshi, Watanabe Ikkei, Itagaki Mizuki, Mera Yoshikazu, Hanafusa Mari and Takeda Tetsuya. Filming is still in progress.

The finale series will be shown from November this year which features Watanabe, Mera, Takeda and Hanafusa as the new members of the cast while Kaga takes over the role originally played by Hira Mikijiro who passed away suddenly last October. Besides them, Dragon Ash's Furuya Kenji will also be a new addition to the cast lineup.

Watanabe revealed that he suffered a back injury as a result of the action scenes he had to take on in this drama. Although he used to be part of the theatre group Gekidan Shinkansen and was used to a lot of big movements then, he is more active in TV dramas now so doesn't have to do that many action scenes. However, he told himself that he couldn't back down from this challenge and decided to press on despite the difficulties. As for Kaga, he expressed his wish to be able to convey the same sincerity and uniqueness of Hira's acting through his performance and called upon viewers to support the drama.

Season 2 "Seirei no Moribito Kanashiki Hakkaigami" will be shown from 21 January onwards in the Saturdays 9pm timeslot.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Oricon

Screening event of new NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito Kanashiki Hakkaigami"

The screening event of new NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito Kanashiki Hakkaigami" (Guardian of the Spirit The sad destroyer god) was held at NHK's HQ on 15 December which was attended by cast members Ayase Haruka, Maki Youko, Itagaki Mizuki, Suzuki Ryohei and Suzuki Rio. The second installment in the "Seirei no Moribito" series will begin its run from 21 January in the Saturdays 9pm timeslot. The final installment is scheduled to be shown in November 2017.

Ayase reprises her role as the female bodyguard Barusa in the new installment and commented that there are many cool action scenes for the viewers to look forward to. This drama also happened to be be one of the last works which the late Hira Mikijirou appeared in before he passed away in October this year. When asked to comment on her experience of working with Hira, Ayase commented that there was only one scene which she appeared together with him and they did not manage to chat a lot. However, Hira had a lot of screen presence and showed off his excellent acting so she was glad to have worked with him.

With regard to working with Suzuki Ryohei who is a new cast member in the series, Ayase who is his "senior" in terms of Taiga dramas (she was the lead for 2013's "Yae no Sakura" while he is due to appear in the 2018 Taiga "Segodon"), she said that she didn't have any special advice for him other than to enjoy the whole year's filming to the fullest. As for working with Suzuki Rio who played the child version of Ayase's character in "Yae no Sakura", Ayase said that although Rio is much younger than her, she didn't feel like there was an age gap between them when they were chatting during the filming breaks which made everyone laugh at the comment.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Sponichi

"Seirei no Moribito" spin-off drama to be shown on 3 and 11 December

NHK announced on 1 December that there will be a spin-off drama of their Taiga fantasy series "Seirei no Moribito" starring Ayase Haruka which will be shown at 11.55pm on 3 December. The 3-min mini drama "Seirei no Moribito Gaiden" (Seirei no Moribito Side Story) will be the connection between the drama series' first season shown in spring this year and the second season consisting of 9 episodes which will begin its run from January 2017. There will be a longer 4-minute version to be shown on 11 December at 11.55pm. The spin-off story describes how Barusa (Ayase) has a strange experience while being on the run.

"Seirei no Moribito" consists of 22 episodes in total which were shot entirely in 4K and will be shown over three years.

Source: Sponichi

Koura Kengo to appear in NHK drama "Seirei no Moribito" from season 2 onwards

Koura Kengo will be appearing in the NHK drama series "Seirei no Moribito" from season 2 onwards as Raul, the last baddie to fight against Barusa (Ayase Haruka) and Chagumu, the new Crown Prince of the new Yogo Kingdom. Raul is also the second prince of the rival Tarushu Kingdom who uses his wits to invade other kingdoms so as to expand his influence. Season 2 which consists of 9 episodes will be shown from 21 January 2017 at 9pm on Saturdays (except 11 March).

Koura commented that he had put in his all to play this meaningful character during the filming. Although Raul's sense of justice differs from his personal values, Koura still tried his best to understand Raul's point of view when acting as the latter and expressed that he was very honoured to be given the chance to participate in this drama.

The four episodes in Season 1 will be shown again in November (times quoted in Japan's timezone):
Episode 1: 1 Nov - 1.45am to 2.57am
Episode 2: 2 Nov - 2.10am to 3.08am
Episode 3: 4 Nov - 1.25am to 2.23am
Episode 4: 5 Nov - 1.50am to 2.48am

Source: Oricon

Kaga Takeshi to take over Hira Mikijirou's role in NHK drama "Seirei no Moribito"

NHK announced on 31 October that Kaga Takeshi will be taking over the late Hira Mikijirou's role in the NHK drama "Seirei no Moribito". Hira had played the sacred advisor to the emperor of the New Yogo Kingdom played by Fujiwara Tatsuya. As Hira had filmed up to Season 2 which will be shown in January 2017, Kaga will be taking on the same role and appear in Season 3 which will be shown in November 2017. Filming for Season 3 is due to begin in November this year and Kaga will participate in it one month later.

Kaga commented that he had worked with Hira a number of times in the past and felt that it was sad for the latter to depart so suddenly. However, he will put in his best to carry on with Hira's role and hopes that Hira will rest in peace.

"Seirei no Moribito" features Ayase Haruka in the lead role as a bodyguard. The first season was shown in March this year.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sponichi / Oricon

Press conference and screening event of NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito"

The press conference and screening event of NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito" was held on 24 February which was attended by cast members Ayase Haruka, Takashima Reiko and child actor Kobayashi Kai. The drama which consists of three parts spanning 22 episodes, will be screened over three years until 2018. Part 1 which contains 4 episodes, will be shown from 19 March at 9pm on Saturdays.

Ayase plays the lead character of a female bodyguard tasked to protect the young prince of a fictitious kingdom where human beings and spirits co-exist in this adventure story. In preparation for the filming, Ayase went through six months of physical training but found herself unable to wield the heavy spear and couldn't stand properly on the sandy beach so she was quite discouraged on the first day of filming. As she needed to do many action scenes, she was so exhausted by the end of the day that she fell asleep as soon as she laid down. Nonetheless, Takashima praised Ayase for doing well in her action scenes and didn't use any doubles at all.

Source: Nikkansports 1 / Nikkansports 2 / Sanspo 1 / Sanspo 2

Ayase Haruka to star in 2016 NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito"

Ayase Haruka will be starring in the 2016 NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito" (The Guardian of Spirits) as announced during the press conference held on 28 July. The drama is based on a 10-volume fantasy novel by Uehashi Nahoko published in 1996 which had sold 3.7 million copies to date and will be shot entirely in 4K format. In conjunction with NHK's 90th anniversary, this drama will be shown over 22 episodes in three years starting from spring 2016.

Ayase plays the role of Barusa, a lonely female bodyguard who co-exists with spirits and embarks on an adventure with the prince Chagumu in this drama. She remarked during the press conference that she is very happy to work with NHK again after their collaboration in "Yae no Sakura" although she also admitted about being worried over the longer O.A. period this time. Although there will be many action scenes in this fantasy drama, she also hopes to show the human side of things in the story to the viewers.

Source: Sponichi / Nikkansports