Takenaka Naoto to appear from Ep 4 of FujiTV Autumn 2016 drama "Cain to Abel" as Minami Kaho's fiance

Takenaka Naoto will be appearing from the 4th episode of FujiTV Autumn 2016 drama "Cain to Abel" to be shown on 7 November as Minami Kaho's fiance. This will be his 7th appearance as a regular cast member in a FujiTV Monday 9pm drama which places him on par with Fukuyama Masaharu and Eguchi Yosuke. The record holder is Kimura Takuya who has 11 dramas under his belt. Takenaka is also the first actor to appear in the Getsu 9 dramas for three years in a row since Winter 2014's "Shitsuren Chocolatier" and Spring 2015's "Youkoso, Wagaya e". In response, Takenaka expressed his joy at being invited so many times and hopes that this can continue in future.

This time, Takenaka will be playing Kurosawa Kousuke who is a weirdo investor active in Asia who appears the fiance of Takada Momoko (Minami Kaho), the aunt of Ryuichi (Kiritani Kenta) and Yu (Yamada Ryosuke). As Takenaka is well-known for making his co-stars burst out laughing during filming, Yamada was bracing himself for that but unexpectedly, Takenaka was acting seriously this time. However, with his bright red clothes and somewhat weird behaviour, Takenaka's character will be worth keeping a lookout for as he will definitely become a key person in the story.

Sources: Sanspo / Oricon

Terao Akira to take over Hira Mikijirou's role in FujiTV Autumn 2016 drama "Cain to Abel"

Terao Akira will be taking over the late Hira Mikijirou's role in the FujiTV Autumn 2016 drama "Cain to Abel" which is currently being shown at 9pm on Mondays. Hira had passed away suddenly on 22nd October in his house and had only completed the filming up to episode 2 which was shown on 24th October. His next appearance as the grandfather of Yamada Ryosuke and Kiritani Kenta's characters was due to be in episode 4 to be shown on 7 November. As this character is to appear in the drama right till the last episode and that he has a huge influence on his grandsons, there was no way he could be written off from the story.

Due to the sudden development, the chief producer Hattori Kenichi approached Terao who he had worked with in the FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso, Wagaya e". Although Terao was on vacation after completing the TBS Summer 2016 drama "Aogeba Totoshi" and had hardly worked with nor interacted with Hira, he accepted the last-minute offer due to Hattori and Minami Kaho who played his wife in "Youkoso, Wagaya e" and is acting as his daughter this time in "Cain to Abel". Terao is expected to participate in the filming from the later half of this week and due to appear from episode 4 onwards.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo

2015 Drama Ratings Ranking among the Big 4 TV stations based on average ratings

The following is the ranking of dramas shown in 2015 by the Big 4 (FujiTV, TBS, NTV and TV Asahi) based on their average ratings. Numbers in brackets indicate the average rating of each drama.

Note that TV Tokyo tends to produce a lesser number of dramas per season compared to the Big 4, NHK dramas are generally shorter and do not last the entire three months' season while cable networks like WOWOW do not release ratings, their dramas would not appear in this ranking.

Much as I don't think that ratings do reflect a drama's quality especially in this time and age when you don't have to tune in to a drama realtime, this will be a guide for those who are looking for dramas to watch and are interested to see how the J-drama scene performed in the year soon to end. Do share your views on the results so that we can discuss.

For those who are wondering about the colour coding, dramas which I've watched are in red, blue ones are those which I haven't finished watching or have started but not sure about whether to continue while purple ones are those which I'm planning to check out. Looks like my backlog for reviews is growing again!

Average rating above 15% (3 dramas)
1) Shitamachi Rocket - TBS - Autumn 2015 (18.54%)
2) Aibou 13 - TV Asahi - Winter 2015 (17.9%)
3) Aibou 14 - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (15.4%)

Average rating between 10% and 14.99% (19 dramas)
4) Tenno no Ryoriban - TBS - Spring 2015 (14.94%)
5) I'm Home - TV Asahi - Spring 2015 (14.82%)
6) Hanasaki Mai ga damattenai - NTV - Summer 2015 (14.47%)
7) DOCTORS 3 - TV Asahi - Winter 2015 (14.38%)
8) Marumaru Tsuma - NTV - Winter 2015 (14.26%)
9) Zeni no Sensou - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (13.41%)
10) Dr. Rintaro - NTV - Spring 2015 (12.73%)
11) Youkoso, Wagaya e - FujiTV - Spring 2015 (12.55%)
12) Date ~ Koi to wa donna mono kashira ~ - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (12.54%)
13) Gisou no Fuufu - NTV - Autumn 2015 (12.17%)
14) Keishicho Ikka 9 Kakari - TV Asahi - Spring 2015 (11.8%)
15) 5-ji kara 9-ji made: Watashi ni koi shita obosan - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (11.73%)
16) Death Note - NTV - Summer 2015 (11.55%)
17) Kounodori - TBS - Autumn 2015 (11.46%)
18) Kasoken no Onna - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (11.0%)
19) Isan Souzoku - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (10.77%)
20) Koinaka - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (10.74%)
21) Ouroboros - TBS - Winter 2015 (10.42%)
22) Ryusei Wagon - TBS - Winter 2015 (10.31%)

Average rating between 5% and 9.99% (32 dramas)
23) Okitegami Kyoko  no Biboroku - NTV - Autumn 2015 (9.78%)
24) Mondai no Aru Resutoran - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (9.34%)
25) Do S Deka - NTV - Spring 2015 (9.33%)
26) Angel Heart - NTV - Autumn 2015 (9.29%)
27) Gakkou no Kaidan - NTV - Winter 2015 (9.27%)
28) Siren - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (9.22%)
29) Napoleon no Mura - TBS - Summer 2015 (9.08%)
30) Age Harassment - TV Asahi - Summer 2015 (8.86%)
31) Mother Game - TBS - Spring 2015 (8.82%)
32) Wild Heroes - NTV - Spring 2015 (8.78%)
33) Otona Joshi - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (8.74%)
34) Ghost Writer - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (8.68%)
35) Algernon ni Hanataba wo - TBS - Spring 2015 (8.61%)
36) Ishitachi no Renai Jijo - FujiTV - Spring 2015 (8.49%)
37) Tantei no Tantei - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (8.11%)
38) Do Konjo Gaeru - NTV - Summer 2015 (7.98%)
39) Hotel Concierge - TBS - Summer 2015 (7.95%)
40) Mutsuu - FujiTV - Autumn 2015 (7.92%)
41) Zannen na Otto - FujiTV - Winter 2015 (7.68%)
42) Keibuho Sugiyama Shintaro - TBS - Winter 2015 (7.33%)
43) Tamiou - TV Asahi - Summer 2015 (7.14%)
44) Second Love - TV Asahi - Winter 2015 (7.14%)
45) Kokoro ga Pokitto ne - FujiTV - Spring 2015 / Samurai Sensei - TV Asahi - Autumn 2015 (6.71%)
46) Utsukushiki Wana - TBS - Winter 2015 (6.63%)
47) Yamegoku - TBS - Spring 2015 (6.48%)
48) 37.5C no Namida - TBS - Summer 2015 (6.17%)
49) Tenshi to Akuma - TV Asahi - Spring 2015 (6.08%)
50) Omotesando Koukou Gasshobu - TBS - Summer 2015 (5.92%)
51) Masshiro - TBS - Winter 2015 (5.85%)
52) Kekkon Shiki no Zenjitsu ni - TBS - Autumn 2015 (5.63%)
53) Risk no Kamisama - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (5.09%)

Average rating below 5% (6 dramas)
54) Tatau! Shoten Girl - FujiTV - Spring 2015 (4.78%)
55) Itsutsuboshi Tourist - NTV - Winter 2015 (4.42%)
56) Seishun Tantei Haruya - NTV - Autumn 2015 (4.32%)
57) HEAT - FujiTV - Summer 2015 (4.12%)
58) Renai Jidai - NTV - Spring 2015 (4.02%)
59) Konkatsu Deka - NTV - Summer 2015 (3.95%)

Key trends in 2015
- Out of the 59 dramas listed here, less than half made it pass the 10% mark in terms of their average ratings. This coincides with the general observation that dramas these days tend to register lower ratings due to various reasons.

- Out of the top 22 dramas which were above 10%, 5 were from TBS, 7 were from TV Asahi, 5 were from NTV and 5 were from FujiTV which seems to suggest that they are pretty on par with one ano. However, if you look at the average rating per drama from each TV station in the top 22 category, TBS got 13.13%, TV Asahi got 13.72%, NTV got 13.04% while FujiTV got 12.19%. TV Asahi is leading the pack while TBS and NTV have a small difference between them and FujiTV is lagging behind.

- The No.1 dramas from each of the TV stations are "Shitamachi Rocket" (TBS), "Aibou 13" (TV Asahi), Hanasaki Mai ga damattenai (NTV) and "Zeni no Sensou" (FujiTV).

- 4 out of the Top 10 are sequels i.e. Aibou (13 and 14), Hanasaki Mai and DOCTORS.

- Looking at the season distribution in the top 22, 7 were from the Winter season (Jan to Mar), 5 from Spring (Apr to June), 3 from Summer (Jul to Sep) and 7 from Autumn (Oct to Dec). This seems to suggest that in the colder seasons, the ratings tend to be higher while in summer, due to the summer holidays, festivals and Obon, lesser people seem to be tuning in to dramas realtime.

- In the category of dramas between 5% and 9.99%, there were 6 from NTV, 10 from FujiTV, 11 from TBS and 5 from TV Asahi. This suggests that 1) TBS dramas tend to fall into two extremes, they either do really well or really badly 2) FujiTV's dramas are falling behind and 3) TV Asahi is doing pretty well in recent years with a high number of dramas in the top category and a comparatively smaller number of below-10s.

- Almost one-third i.e. 9 of the dramas below 10% but above 5% were shown in summer. However, when you look at the breakdown across other seasons i.e. 7 from Autumn, 8 from Winter, 8 from Spring, it doesn't seem like the seasons were not major contributing factors as to why dramas do not fare well in ratings.

- In the category of the below 5% dramas, NTV may have the most number of 4 dramas out of 6 but the two entries from FujiTV stand out for the fact that they supposedly should have done better since they were shown during primetime while the four from NTV were all in the late-night slots which are expected to do less well.

So what do you think of the results in 2015?

The 85th Drama Academy Awards (Spring 2015) - Best Drama Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Aozora no shita, Kimi no tonari - Arashi (Youkoso, Wagaya e)

2) Rose - Bette Midler (Algernon ni Hanataba wo)

3) Yume miru hito - Sada Masashi (Tenno no Ryoriban)

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Rose - Bette Midler (Algernon ni Hanataba wo)

2) Aozora no shita, Kimi no tonari - Arashi (Youkoso, Wagaya e)

3) Sekai wa owaranai - Thinking Dogs (Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu ~)

4) Yume miru hito - Sada Masashi (Tenno no Ryoriban)

5) Beautiful - Superfly (Mother Game ~ Kanojotachi no Kaikyu ~)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Aozora no shita, Kimi no tonari - Arashi (Youkoso, Wagaya e)

2) SUN by Hoshino Gen (Kokoro ga pokitto ne)

3) Beautiful - Superfly (Mother Game ~ Kanojotachi no Kaikyu ~)

4) Rose - Bette Midler (Algernon ni Hanataba wo)

5) Sekai wa owaranai - Thinking Dogs (Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu ~)

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Aozora no shita, Kimi no tonari - Arashi (Youkoso, Wagaya e)

2) Yume miru hito - Sada Masashi (Tenno no Ryoriban)

3) Don't Feel, Think!! - Kishidan (LOVE Riron)

4) Rose - Bette Midler (Algernon ni Hanataba wo)

5) Beautiful - Superfly (Mother Game ~ Kanojotachi no Kaikyu ~) / SUN by Hoshino Gen (Kokoro ga pokitto ne)

Source: The Television

The 85th Drama Academy Awards (Spring 2015) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Kuroki Haru - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Aoi Yu - Dr. Rintaro

3) Ueto Aya - I'm Home

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Kuriyama Chiaki - Algernon ni Hanataba wo

2) Arimura Kasumi - Youkoso, Wagaya e

3) Sawajiri Erika - Youkoso, Wagaya e

4) Kuroki Haru - Tenno no Ryoriban

5) Yamaguchi Sayaka - Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Aoi Yu - Dr. Rintaro

2) Kuroki Haru - Tenno no Ryoriban

3) Ueto Aya - I'm Home

4) Sawajiri Erika - Youkoso, Wagaya e

5) Arimura Kasumi - Youkoso, Wagaya e

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Kuroki Haru - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Aoi Yu - Dr. Rintaro

3) Takahata Atsuko - Dr. Rintaro

4) Ueto Aya - I'm Home

5) Yamaguchi Sayaka - Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu

Source: The Television

The 85th Drama Academy Awards (Spring 2015) - Best Supporting Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Suzuki Ryohei - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Terao Akira - Youkoso, Wagaya e

3) Kubota Masataka - Algernon ni Hanataba wo

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Kitamura Kazuki - Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu ~

2) Kubota Masataka - Algernon ni Hanataba wo

3) Terao Akira - Youkoso, Wagaya e

4) Suzuki Ryohei - Tenno no Ryoriban

5) Sato Jiro - Youkoso, Wagaya e

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Suzuki Ryohei - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Kubota Masataka - Algernon ni Hanataba wo

3) Takenaka Naoto - Youkoso, Wagaya e

4) Sato Jiro - Youkoso, Wagaya e

5) Terao Akira - Youkoso, Wagaya e

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Kobayashi Kaoru - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Suzuki Ryohei - Tenno no Ryoriban

3) Terao Akira - Youkoso, Wagaya e

4) Kitamura Kazuki - Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu ~

5) Takenaka Naoto - Youkoso, Wagaya e

Source: The Television

The 85th Drama Academy Awards (Spring 2015) - Best Leading Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Sato Takeru - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Aiba Masaki - Youkoso, Wagaya e

3) Kimura Takuya - I'm Home

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Yamashita Tomohisa - Algernon ni Hanataba wo

2) Aiba Masaki - Youkoso, Wagaya e

3) Sato Takeru - Tenno no Ryoriban

4) Kimura Takuya - I'm Home

5) Sakai Masato - Dr. Rintaro

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Aiba Masaki - Youkoso, Wagaya e

2) Sato Takeru - Tenno no Ryoriban

3) Kimura Takuya - I'm Home

4) Sakai Masato - Dr. Rintaro

5) Pierre Taki - 64 (Rokuyon)

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Sato Takeru - Tenno no Ryoriban

2) Kimura Takuya - I'm Home

3) Sakai Masato - Dr. Rintaro

4) Pierre Taki - 64 (Rokuyon)

5) Yamashita Tomohisa - Algernon ni Hanataba wo

Source: The Television

The 85th Drama Academy Awards (Spring 2015) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Tenno no Ryoriban (TBS)

2) Youkoso, Wagaya e (FujiTV)

3) I'm Home (TV Asahi)

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Algernon ni Hanataba wo

2) Youkoso, Wagaya e

3) Yamegoku ~ Yakuza yamete itadakimasu ~

4) Tenno no Ryoriban

5) Tatakau! Shoten Girl

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5

1) Youkoso, Wagaya e

2) Tenno no Ryoriban

3) I'm Home

4) 64 (Rokuyon)

5) Mother Game ~ Kanojotachi no Kaikyu ~

Judges Ranking Top 5

1) Tenno no Ryoriban

2) 64 (Rokuyon)

3) I'm Home

4) Youkoso, Wagaya e

5) Dr. Rintaro / Algernon ni Hanataba wo

Source: The Television

Production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso Wagaya e"

The production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso Wagaya e" was held on 7 April which was attended by the cast members Aiba Masaki, Sawajiri Erika, Terao Akira, Arimura Kasumi and Minami Kaho. The drama which will be shown from 13 April in the Mondays 9pm timeslot, is based on the same-titled novel by Ikeido Jun about a family who suffers from incessant harrassment from a stalker after the elder son in the family Kurata Kenta tells a man off at the train station for cutting queue. The family then bands together to fight back against the unknown stalker in a bid to regain control of their lives.

Although this is the first time Aiba is acting in a Ikeido drama, he admitted that he didn't know much about his works other than having watched the DVD of  "Hanzawa Naoki" which was being borrowed by his fellow Arashi members. Despite this being the first time he is working with his co-stars, Aiba revealed that they have built up a pretty close relationship by now as Terao gave guitars to his "family members" and even taught him how to play the guitar. On the other hand, Terao said that he had always wanted to meet Aiba as he had heard many good things about the latter and commented that he is glad to get a good son this time. Minami who plays Aiba's mother in the drama, also praised him for being a forgiving guy who is cute and said that his parents have raised a good son. Arimura who plays Aiba's younger sister, said that although she always thought of Aiba as someone with a cute character, she is surprised to find out how manly he is while working together. In response to this remark, Aiba was embarrassed and said that this is the first time anyone had said that he was manly.

During the event, Aiba was asked to perform an Aikido technique to ward off attackers after being taught on the spot and he was glad to have accomplished this in one try.

On the other hand, Sawajiri's character is a newly added one who doesn't appear in the novel. She commented that it has been a very relaxing and fun experience so far because she can wear casual clothes during the filming and doesn't have to wear high heels. Besides, since her character is not in the novel, she has the freedom to be more experimental in her acting so she hopes to show a new side of her through this drama. When asked about her impression of Aiba, she praised him for being a nice person who is as good as his image. She revealed that as her character is supposed to like sweet things, Aiba even prepared low-sugar chocolates for her so that her blood sugar level would not rise too high during the filming. In response to this, Aiba said that as Sawajiri had to eat lots of sweet stuff during the filming, he felt sorry for her so he decided to help by getting the low-sugar chocolates.

At the moment, filming for episode 1 hasn't been completed but the scripts up to episode 6 are already out. Aiba commented that the story is very interesting and hopes to know quickly how things will turn out towards the end. As for whether there will be any romance between his and Sawajiri's character, he said that there isn't anything at the moment but hopes that they may just have a kissing scene in time to come.

The theme song of this drama will be "Aozora no shita, kimi no tonari" (Under the blue sky, beside you) sung by Arashi and it will be released as their 46th single on 13 May.

Source: Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2

Preview of "Youkoso, Wagaya e" - Spring 2015

Title: Youkoso, Wagaya e ようこそ、わが家へ (Welcome to My Home)
Official Website: here
O.A. Start Date: 13 April 2015
Timeslot: Mondays 9pm
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Original novel by: Ikeido Jun
Cast: Aiba Masaki, Sawajiri Erika, Arimura Kasumi, Sato Jiro, Yamaguchi Sayaka, Mashima Hidekazu, Horiuchi Keiko, Adachi Rika, Fujii Ryusei (Johnny's West), Takada Junji, Takenaka Naoto, Kondo Yoshimasa, Minami Kaho, Terao Akira

Sawajiri Erika to be the heroine in FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso, Wagaya e"

Sawajiri Erika will be the heroine in the upcoming FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso, Wagaya e" which will be shown in the Mondays 9pm timeslot from April. The drama which is based on the same-titled novel by Ikeido Jun, features Aiba Masaki as the eldest son in the Kurata family which is facing harassment from a stalker and strives hard to find the culprit. Sawajiri will play an original character who doesn't appear in the novel and is a magazine reporter who helps Aiba's character in his search. As compared to the meek and peace-loving lead character, Sawajiri's role is one who speaks her mind and doesn't shy away from arguing with others. In preparation for the filming, Sawajiri dyed her hair black. As for working with Sawajiri for the first time, Aiba expressed his wish for them to cooperate well and make the drama better.

Source: Sanspo

Aiba Masaki to star in FujiTV Spring 2014 Gekku "Youkoso, Wagaya e"

Arashi's Aiba Masaki will be starring in the FujiTV Spring 2014 Gekku drama "Youkoso, Wagaya e" (Welcome to My Home) which will begin its run from April in the Mondays 9pm timeslot. He is the third Arashi member to take on a Gekku drama after Matsumoto Jun and Ohno Satoshi. The drama is based on the same-titled suspense novel by Ikeido Jun whose works have been made into dramas like "Hanzawa Naoki" and "Roosevelt Game" and has accumulated sales of 500,000 copies to date. Although the lead character in the novel is the father of the Kurata family, the focus of the drama version will be the son and there will be some changes to the story and addition of original characters.

Aiba plays the role of Kurata Kenta, a meek commercial designer who finds himself becoming harassed by an unknown stalker after warning a man about his action of jumping queue at a train station. At the same time, his father Taiichi played by Terao Akira who is a salaryman, finds out about a wrongdoing in his company and has to deal with the pressure of being forced to keep quiet about it while his mother Keiko played by Minami Kaho becomes embroiled in a jealousy spiral among the students in a pottery class she is attending. His younger sister Nana played by Arimura Kasumi is being relentlessly pursued by a former boyfriend. With the entire family being subjected to harassment from an unknown stalker (s), Kenta tries to find out who exactly is responsible for it and combat the horrors of dealing with the stalker's antics.

Aiba commented that he is deeply honoured to be able to act in a Gekku drama and to take part in a production based on Ikeido's novel. Ikeido who is having his novel made into a drama shown on FujiTV for the first time, stated that as the drama is not restricted by the novel's structure and has introduced new characters and developments, he hopes that this will bring an improved and more interesting drama for the viewers.

Filming begins in early March.

Source: Sanspo 1 / Sanspo 2 / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi