The 84th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2015) - Best Drama Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Sakura - Arashi (Ouroboros)

2) Mugi no Uta - Nakajima Miyuki (Massan)

3) Mondai Girl - Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Mondai no aru resutoran)

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Sakura - Arashi (Ouroboros)

2) Sakuramichi - Tohoshinki (Hanayome Noren)

3) Karei naru gyakushu - SMAP (Zeni no Sensou)

4) KISS.KISS.KISS - KAT-TUN (Second Love)

5) Anata ni koi wo shitemimashita - chay (Date ~ koi to wa donna mono kashira ~)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Sakura - Arashi (Ouroboros)

2) Mondai Girl - Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Mondai no aru resutoran)

3) Mugi no Uta - Nakajima Miyuki (Massan)

4) Shijo no Jinsei - Shiina Ringo (Marumaru Tsuma)

5) Karei naru gyakushu - SMAP (Zeni no Sensou)

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Mugi no Uta - Nakajima Miyuki (Massan)

2) Mondai Girl - Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Mondai no aru resutoran)

3) Anata ni koi wo shitemimashita - chay (Date ~ koi to wa donna mono kashira ~)

4) Furimukanaide - The Peanuts (Date ~ koi to wa donna mono kashira ~)

5) Karei naru gyakushu - SMAP (Zeni no Sensou) / TOKYO NORTH SIDE - Yamada Takayuki (Tokyo-to Kita-ku Akabane)

Source: The Television

The 84th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2015) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Takahata Mitsuki - Mondai no aru resutoran

2) Matsuoka Mayu - Mondai no aru resutoran

3) Koike Eiko - Massan

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Ueno Juri - Ouroboros

2) Kimura Fumino - Zeni no Sensou

3) Oshima Yuko - Zeni no Sensou

4) Koike Eiko - Massan

5) Fukada Kyoko - Second Love

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Takahata Mitsuki - Mondai no aru resutoran

2) Matsuoka Mayu - Mondai no aru resutoran

3) Koike Eiko - Massan

4) Mizukawa Asami - Ghost Writer

5) Wakamura Mayumi - Utsukushiki Wana ~ Zanka Ryoran ~

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Koike Eiko - Massan

2) Oshima Yuko - Zeni no Sensou

3) Kimura Fumino - Zeni no Sensou

4) Matsuoka Mayu - Mondai no aru resutoran

5) Mizukawa Asami - Ghost Writer / Takahata Mitsuki - Mondai no aru resutoran

Source: The Television

The 84th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2015) - Best Supporting Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Hasegawa Hiroki - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira

2) Oguri Shun - Ouroboros

3) Yasuda Ken - Mondai no aru resutoran

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Oguri Shun - Ouroboros

2) Watabe Atsuro - Zeni no Sensou

3) Nakajima Yuto - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

4) Hasegawa Hiroki - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira

5) Kamiki Ryunosuke - Gakkou no Kaidan

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Hasegawa Hiroki - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira

2) Oguri Shun - Ouroboros

3) Nakajima Yuto - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

4) Yasuda Ken - Mondai no aru resutoran

5) Kamiki Ryunosuke - Gakkou no Kaidan

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Hasegawa Hiroki - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira

2) Yasuda Ken - Mondai no aru resutoran

3) Tsutsumi Shinichi - Massan

4) Yashima Norito - Massan

5) Watabe Atsuro - Zeni no Sensou

Source: The Television

The 84th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2015) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) An - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

2) Charlotte Kate Fox - Massan

3) Nakatani Miki - Ghost Writer

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) An - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

2) Charlotte Kate Fox - Massan

3) Horikita Maki - Masshiro

4) Nakatani Miki - Ghost Writer

5) Shibasaki Kou - Marumaru Tsuma

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) An - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

2) Nakatani Miki - Ghost Writer

3) Charlotte Kate Fox - Massan

4) Maki Yoko - Mondai no aru resutoran

5) Hirose Suzu - Gakkou no kaidan

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Charlotte Kate Fox - Massan

2) An - Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

3) Nakatani Miki - Ghost Writer

4) Maki Yoko - Mondai no aru resutoran

5) Shibasaki Kou - Marumaru Tsuma

Source: The Television

The 84th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2015) - Best Leading Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi - Zeni no Sensou

2) Ikuta Toma - Ouroboros

3) Tamayama Tetsuji - Massan

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Ikuta Toma - Ouroboros

2) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi - Zeni no Sensou

3) Tamayama Tetsuji - Massan

4) Kishi Yuta - Oniichan, Gacha

5) Tamaki Hiroshi - Zannen na Otto

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi - Zeni no Sensou

2) Ikuta Toma - Ouroboros

3) Tamayama Tetsuji - Massan

4) Kagawa Teruyuki - Ryusei Wagon

5) Yamada Takayuki - Yamada Takayuki no Tokyo-to Kita-ku Akabane / Kamenashi Kazuya - Second Love

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi - Zeni no Sensou

2) Tamayama Tetsuji - Massan

3) Yamada Takayuki - Yamada Takayuki no Tokyo-to Kita-ku Akabane

4) Ikuta Toma - Ouroboros

5) Nakamura Masatoshi - Kaze no Toge ~ Ginkan no Fu ~

Source: The Television

The 84th Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2015) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~ (FujiTV)

2) Massan (NHK)

3) Ouroboros ~ Kono ai koso, Seigi (TBS)

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Ouroboros ~ Kono ai koso, Seigi

2) Zeni no Sensou

3) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

4) Massan

5) Hanayome Noren

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

2) Massan

3) Mondai no aru resutoran

4) Ouroboros ~ Kono ai koso, Seigi

5) Zeni no Sensou

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~

2) Massan

3) Zeni no Sensou

4) Mondai no aru resutoran

5) Ghost Writer

Source: The Television

Oguri Shun to appear in TBS Autumn 2015 drama "Kounodori"

Oguri Shun will be appearing in the TBS Autumn 2015 drama "Kounodori" which stars Ayano Go and will begin its run from 16 October at 10pm on Fridays. He plays the role of Nagai Hiroyuki whose pregnant wife got embroiled in a traffic accident and ends up in a coma and this causes him to be faced with a difficult decision of whether to save his wife or child. From the middle of the drama onwards, Oguri's character will become a key person affecting Ayano's character Kounodori.

Both Oguri and Ayano belong to the same agency and are very good friends too. Oguri commented that he is very happy to be able to take part in Ayano's drama regardless of the nature of the role and gladly accepted the offer from the producer. Ayano had taken part in Oguri's drama "Ouroboros" earlier this year from the middle of the season.

Source: Nikkansports

Ayano Go to be the guest star in Ep 7 of TBS Winter 2015 drama "Ouroboros"

Ayano Go will be appearing as a guest star in the TBS Winter 2015 drama "Ouroboros". He will play the role of Nachi Sosuke, a strange freelance writer who grew up together with Ryuzaki Ikuo (Ikuta Toma) and Danno Tatsuya (Oguri Shun) in the child welfare facility and holds a secret to knowing the identity of the man who killed Kashiwaba Yuiko. Ayano will appear in the drama from episode 7 (27 Feb) to episode 9 (13 Mar).

Although Ayano had worked with Ikuta and Oguri separately in the past, this is the first time that the trio will be appearing in the same drama. In private, the three of them are also close friends who go drinking together.

Source: Sanspo

Completion press conference of new WOWOW drama "Garasu no Ashi"

The completion press conference of new WOWOW drama "Garasu no Ashi" was held on 20 Feb at Space FS Shiodome which was attended by the leads Aibu Saki and Ozawa Yukiyoshi. The drama which will begin its run from 21 Feb in the Saturdays 10pm timeslot, features Aibu as a woman who marries her mother's lover and gets involved in an extramarital affair with another man. Although Aibu attracted a lot of attention with her semi-nude pose on the drama's poster, she said that being nude in front of the camera wasn't as much of an issue compared to having to make acrobatic poses which she joked that almost made her body twisted.

Source: Sanspo

Production press conference of new WOWOW drama "Tenshi no Knife"

The production press conference of new WOWOW drama "Tenshi no Knife" was held on 18 Feb which was attended by the cast members Koide Keisuke, Kurashina Kana, Fujimoto Izumi, Chiba Yudai and LaSalle Ishii. The drama which is based on the debut novel by Yakumaru Gaku that won the 51st Edogawa Ranpo Award, features Koide as Hiyama, a cafe owner whose wife was killed by a group of 13-year-old boys who tries to find out what these people are doing now and if they are truly making amends for what they did. Koide commented as the filming went on, it became tougher emotionally due to the serious theme of the story. On the other hand, there were many scenes which he had to do with a baby who plays his child in the drama but his co-stars teased him for being very poor at playing with and carrying the baby.

The drama will begin its run from 22 February at 10pm on Sundays.

Source: Eiga.com

Valentine's Day event for FujiTV Winter 2015 drama "Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~"

A Valentine's Day event for FujiTV Winter 2015 drama "Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~" was held on 14 Feb at Yokohama Akarenga Warehouse which was attended by the leads An and Hasegawa Hiroki. As the drama is largely shot in Yokohama, it was thus decided that the event was to be held there as well. When asked about their memories of Valentine's Day, An revealed that she had made chocolates bearing her friends' faces to them in the past but on hindsight now, it should have been a weird experience for them to eat chocolates with their own faces on it. As for this year, An said that as she received many mandarin oranges from Fubuki Jun who plays Hasegawa's mother in the drama, she made chocolates with orange peel this year to be given out. However, as An thought that Hasegawa should be receiving many chocolates on V-Day, she decided to give him his favourite salad dressing sauce instead of chocolates. As for Hasegawa, he said that as he was in boys' schools all along, he never thought that he would receive any chocolates on V-Day and even ran away from someone who had called out to him when he was in junior high. However, he still received about 5 to 6 chocolates on that same day from different girls.

As part of the event, messages from both actors were included in the laser-mapping show where An's version was "3.14 mo owasurenaku" while Hasegawa's message was "Love & Peace" which will be appearing in the 5th episode of the drama to be shown on 16 Feb.

Source: Sponichi

Production press conference of TV Asahi Winter 2015 drama "Second Love"

The production press conference of TV Asahi Winter 2015 drama "Second Love" was held at the TV station on 2 Feb which was attended by the leads Kamenashi Kazuya and Fukada Kyoko. The drama which begins its run from 6 Feb at 11.15pm on Fridays, is written by Oishi Shizuka and features Kamenashi as a talented dancer who gets into a passionate relationship with a senior school teacher who's older than him (Fukada). However, things get complicated as she is also involved in an extramarital affair with her colleague.

Oishi complimented Kamenashi for being very sexy in the drama while he commented that he was shocked each time when he got the scripts because the story is very intense and there are many scenes where he has to appear topless. As such, Kamenashi jokingly said that he hopes to become know as the sex symbol in Johnny's Jimusho through this drama. On the other hand, Fukada who also has many intimate scenes, commented that the lines in the drama are very provocative and she hoped that she will achieve new heights in her career through this drama.

Source: Sanspo / Sponichi

Preview of "Tenshi no Knife" - WOWOW

Title: Tenshi no Knife 天使のナイフ (The Angel's Knife)
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 22 February 2015
Timeslot: Sundays 10pm
Total number of episodes: 5
Broadcast by: WOWOW
Original novel by: Yakumaru Gaku
Cast: Koide Keisuke, Kurashina Kana, Fujimoto Izumi, Chiba Yudai, Machida Keita, Shimizu Hiroya, Kitamura Takumi, Wada Masato, Tezuka Toru, Wakamura Mayumi, Lasar Ishii, Sakurai Reika, Nishino Nanase, Matsumura Sayuri

Preview of "Garasu no Ashi" - WOWOW

Title: Garasu no Ashi 硝子の葦
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 21 February 2015
Timeslot: Saturdays 10pm
Total number of episodes: 4
Broadcast by: WOWOW
Original novel by: Sakuragi Shino
Cast: Aibu Saki, Ozawa Yukiyoshi, Okuda Eiji, Nakamura Yuri, Morikawa Aoi, Watanabe Konomi, Chiba Tetsuya, Kino Hana, Takigawa Yumi

Preview of "Second Love" - Winter 2015

Title: Second Love セカンド・ラブ
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 6 Feb 2015
Timeslot: Fridays 11.15pm
Broadcast by: TV Asahi
Scriptwriter: Oishi Shizuka
Cast: Kamenashi Kazuya, Fukada Kyoko, Hayami Akari, Koshiba Fuka, Onuki Yusuke, Akiyama Natsuko, Terajima Susumu, Aso Yumi, Namase Katsuhisa

Preview of "Genkai Shuraku Kabushikigaisha" - Winter 2015

Title: Genkai Shuraku Kabushikigaisha 限界集落株式会社
Official website: here
Official blog: here
O.A. Start Date: 31 January 2015
Timeslot: Saturdays 9pm
Broadcast by: NHK
Original novel by: Kurono Shinichi
Cast: Sorimachi Takashi, Tanihara Shosuke, Matsuoka Mayu, Kato Toranosuke, Suzuki Kosuke, Shibamoto Ko, Inoue Waka, Furuta Shinta, Dankan, Hiraizumi Sei, Nagayama Aiko

Production press conference and special screening event of TBS Winter 2015 drama "Ouroboros"

The production press conference and special screening event of TBS Winter 2015 drama "Ouroboros" was held on 11 Jan which was attended by cast members such as Ikuta Toma, Oguri Shun, Ueno Juri and Hirosue Ryoko. The drama which begins its run from 16 Jan in the Fridays 10pm timeslot, is based on a popular manga which features Ikuta as Ryuzaki Ikuo and Oguri as Danno Tatsuya who were buddies at a child welfare facility and later grow up to be a police officer and gangster respectively. However, despite their seemingly opposite positions, they work together to find the killer of Hirosue's character Kashiwaba Yuiko who was a mother figure to them when they were living at the welfare facility. Ueno plays Ikuta's partner in the police force.

Ikuta revealed that when he first read the manga five years ago, he had been dying to do this with Oguri and was glad that his wish finally came true. Likewise, Oguri commented that he had been hearing about this from Ikuta for a long time so he was pleased that they achieved this goal. The two of them last worked together in the 2007 FujiTV drama "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e" and became close friends since then. Although it has been 8 years since they worked together, they had grown up quite a lot over the years so they can now rely on each other and perform well together.

In preparation for the action scenes, Ikuta went to South Korea where he received training for four days and also went for regular training sessions with Oguri at night.

During the event, it was also announced that the theme song of the drama will be sung by Arashi and released as their 45th single on 25 February. This is the first time that Arashi is singing the theme song for a drama where their members are not the leading actors. The song titled "Sakura" will be their first single of 2015 and is a up-tempo dance tune. Ikuta expressed his thanks for Arashi singing the theme song for his drama while Oguri commented that this is the 5th drama he is acting in which has a Arashi theme song and joked that he felt like he was also a Arashi member.

Hirosue commented during the event that she had been getting a lot of dead people roles recently but it was OK this time since she had Ikuta and Oguri trying to take revenge for her which led the audience to laugh at her remarks,

Source: Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2 / Yomiuri Hochi

Production press conference and screening event of FujiTV Winter 2015 drama "Ghost Writer"

The production press conference and ladies-only screening event of FujiTV Winter 2015 drama "Ghost Writer" was held on 10 Jan which was attended by the cast members Nakatani Miki, Mizukawa Asami, Kimura Midoriko, Nanao, Miura Shohei, Tanaka Tetsushi, Ishibashi Ryo and Enami Kyoko. The drama which begins its run from 13 Jan in the Tuesdays 9pm timeslot, features Nakatani as a novelist who gets her assistant played by Mizukawa to be her ghost writer.

As preparation for her role, Nakatani watched the apology press conference held by Samurakochi Mamoru who had been found to use the music compositions of another person as his and came to the conclusion that although he seemed to be justifying his wrong actions, there was probably a side of him who really loved music. As such, Nakatani wants to project that side of her character who loves literature despite hiring someone to write under her name, In addition, as Nakatani herself is also a writer and has a regular essay column, she commented that she can understand the toughness of having writers' block as she would sometimes submit her work only when the deadline for her essay submission is almost due when she doesn't know what she should write.

With regard to the scene at the beginning of episode 1 where Nakatani and Mizukawa were fighting each other in the freezing rain where the temperature was below 5 degrees, there were actually stand-ins prepared for them but both actresses decided to do the scene themselves for reality's sake. However, as they got too serious about fighting each other in the rain, the tough experience was enough to make Mizukawa comment that she wouldn't want to do such a scene again because it was too cold and painful. Nonetheless, both of them were very pleased with the result and glad that they decided to do it themselves.

Source: Sanspo 1 / Sponichi / Sanspo 2

Preview of "Dakara Kouya" - Winter 2015

Title: Dakara Kouya だから荒野
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 11 Jan 2015
Timeslot: Sundays 10pm
Broadcast by: NHK
Original novel by: Kirino Natsuo
Cast: Suzuki Kyoka, Sugimoto Tetta, Hamada Tatsuomi, Maeda Koki, Shinagawa Toru, Takahashi Issei, Denden, Ono Yuriko, Izumiya Shigeru, Nakahara Hitomi, YOU, Tsutsui Mariko, Toyohara Kosuke, Sasano Takashi

Completion press conference and screening event of TBS Winter 2015 drama "Ryusei Wagon"

The completion press conference and screening event of TBS Winter 2015 drama "Ryusei Wagon" was held on 10 Jan which was attended by the cast members Nishijima Hidetoshi, Kagawa Teruyuki, Yoshioka Hidetaka and Igawa Haruka. The drama which begins its run from 18 Jan in the Sundays 9pm timeslot, is based on the novel by Naoki Award winner Shigematsu Kiyoshi which features Nishijima as Nagata Kazuo who is faced with the double whammy of retrenchment and the breakdown of his family, At this juncture, Kazuo happens to ride a wagon with his father played by Kagawa which brings them back into the past. Igawa plays Nishijima's wife while Yoshioka plays the driver of the wagon. More than 6,000 applications for the screening event were received but only 200 people were selected in the end.

As the first episode alone took close to two months to produce and filming was only completed last week, it was also the first time that the cast saw the results of their hard work during the screening event. Nishijima said that he was so touched by the first episode that he cried. Kagawa also said that he was satisfied with the  end product and that having worked with Nishijima consecutively for three years (Double Face, MOZU) and knowing each other for 20 years were beneficial to helping them play father and son this time. In response, Nishijima joked that they have been together so much in the last three years and always ate the same things that they are looking more and more like each other especially from the side view.

Source: Sponichi