Miyuu Sawai is going to be in a new play! She’ll be appearing in “Hakase to Tarou no Ijou na Aijou” from July 24-July 30, 2013. There will also be special hand-shaking receptions with Miyuu Sawai. Her agency doesn’t specify one date, so it sounds like it might be a daily gig.
Interesting note (probably just to me): she’s co-starring with D-Boys member Yusuke Yamada. Another current member of the group is Shunji Igarashi, who played Isabella in Paradise Kiss alongside Keiko Kitagawa. AND a former member of D-Boys is Yu Shirota, who played Mamoru from 2002-2004 in the Sailor Moon Musicals.
It might be relevant at this point to mention that I rock at Six Degrees of Separation.
Miyuu Sawai has been cast in another play! She’ll be playing the main heroine in the upcoming play “Chan Chan Chanko Nabe” alongside co-star Ryoji Morimoto from Kamen Rider Blade.
I don’t think any of the other cast members are particularly notable, but one, Subaru Hayama, had a bit part in episode 3 of “Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato do” with Keiko Kitagawa.
And one cast member, Jun Asai, very helpfully provided a picture of the whole cast taking a break at rehearsal, featuring Miyuu in the bottom right.
The play will run from May 6-12, 2013.
Miyuu Sawai is going to be appearing in Ore no Butai, a new play presented by Gekidan Taishuu Shousetsuka. It will run from April 13-21, 2013.
You’ll probably recognize other people in the cast from other tokasatsu dramas, including: Masahiro Inoue (Kamen Rider Decade), Yuria Haga (Kamen Rider 555 and Master of Thunder with Ayaka Komatsu), Kohei Murakami (Kamen Rider 555), and Marie Kai (Kamen Rider OOO).
You might also recognize Tomohisa Yuge, who has appeared in Paradise Kiss, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, and LADY ~Saigo no Hanzai Profile~ with Keiko Kitagawa.
Story and Image from TokyoHive
It was announced that actress Kitagawa Keiko and Kanjani8 member Nishikido Ryo will be starring in movie “Dakishimetai,” which will be directed by Shiota Akihiko.
It will be a love story between a girl on a wheelchair, who is unable to properly use the left side of her body due to a traffic accident and also suffers from a memory disorder, and an ordinary taxi driver.
This is a true story that happened in Abashiri, Hokkaido, and it was aired as a documentary program on TBS back in July of 2011.
According to the director Shiota, he felt the “strength to carry out her own way of living” in Kitagawa, and the “strength to expose his weakness” in Nishikido.
The filming for the movie is said to start on February 12th in Abashiri. As Abashiri is a cold town where it gets to minus 20 degrees Celsius when drift ice arrives, Kitagawa commented, “I’m little worried that I might not be able to say my lines well (because of the cold weather),” and also said, “I would like to make it a movie that could encourage people who are in similar situations.”
Nishikido also made a comment, “Though this will be my first time co-starring with Kitagawa-san, we are both from Kansai area. So I want to join forces, and do our best together.”
Reportedly, there is a scene where Nishikido carries Kitagawa in his arms, and a scene in which they kiss passionately, giving viewers even more to look forward to.
“Dakishimetai” will open in theaters next year.
Plot from Press Release:
A lively girl “Tsukasa” (Kitagawa), who is good at sports, becomes a wheelchair user as the left side of her body is disabled due to a traffic accident from a couple of years ago. She is also suffering from a memory disorder which was caused by the accident, but she still lives her life positively.
One day, she encounters a taxi driver “Masami” (Nishikido), who has a charming smile, and they fall in love with each other. The couple overcome many hardships together, and finally, decide to get married. They also find out that Tsukasa is pregnant. However, a harsh fate is awaiting them…
We are long overdue for an Ayaka Komatsu news round-up, so let’s get right to it!
Thanks to an anonymous tip, I have Miyuu casting news!
Miyuu Sawai has just been cast as Shimei Ryomou in a stage version of “Battle Vixens/Ikki Tousen.” She’s currently billed second on the website (of two, but still!), so what the role lacks in prestige, it should make up for in visibility.
Also, the character has short blue hair… Miyuu’s hair looks shorter in this picture, so she may have cut it again! Alternatively, she should ask Rika if she can borrow her Mercury wig. ;)
The play is set to run from November 30-December 9.
Kitagawa Keiko will be starring in a new Nihon TV drama series titled “Akumu-chan” that’s starting in October. The series will be aired every Saturday from 9pm-9.54pm. Kitagawa is taking on the role of a smart, pretty and svelte elementary school teacher. However, the character has another side to her- in reality, she’s a mean and scheming person. Kitagawa expressed much enthusiasm at her first role as a teacher, “I think this is a role with a lot of impact and shock factor. My roles so far have been of pretty, fashionable and smiling ladies, so in some sense I’m breaking new ground.”
The original draft for the drama series is based on novel, “Yume Chigai” by popular novelist Onda Riku. The story is a science-fiction fantasy and revolves around how the lead character fight off crises as she solve various puzzling incidents that seem to have been foretold in dreams. The character that Kitagawa plays, Mutoi Ayami is sincere, beautiful, intelligent and seemingly perfect but actually has a mean personality. A young girl of 11, Koto Yuiko transfers to Ayami’s class. Yuiko sees a nightmarish future in her premonition dreams. Despite Ayami’s unwillingness to be involved in something troublesome, she grudgingly agrees to help Yuiko and embarks on solving puzzling occurrences, overcoming many obstacles on the way.
Kitagawa has looked through the script and gave a brief description of the character she plays, “She has a sense of justice and wouldn’t ignore those in need, despite thinking that it’s troublesome. At the same time she lives in a harsh reality and so she hedges her risks as she moves along. She is also rather aloof.”
About acting the role of a mean woman, Kitagawa expressed, “Everyone has parts of their personality that they express doubts about, thinking, ‘I have such a horrible veneer,’ ‘I do not like that aspect of me.’ On top of being like that, she also projects the outward appearance of ‘I must do this properly’. Rather than saying she has a dual personality, I would say that she has multiple personalities. I will keep an open attitude as I try to grasp this deformed character.”
Co-starring with Kitagawa is child actress Kimura Manatsu. Kimura is selected from an audition of over 500 hopefuls and will be playing the role of Yuiko. Also participating in the drama series are Kohinata Fumiyo, GACKT, Yuka, Hamada Mari and Okada Keisuke from Masuda Okada. GACKT will be playing two characters in the drama series. He commented, “Through this drama, I would like to express the message that no matter how difficult a situation we end up in, as long as we have a strong will and work hard, we can change our future and fulfill our dreams.“
This will be the second time Yuka and Kitagawa are working together and Yuka is looking forward to filming, expressing “It seems that we will have a lot of interaction this time. It will be great if we could talk about various subjects.”
THIS IS SO GREAT! I believe Keiko’s said she wants to play another “bad girl” character (or else I’m just conflating my desires with her own), and I am not ashamed to admit that I really enjoy Gackt.
And according to Keiko’s Blog Translation (who alternatively title the show “Nightmare Kid,” so I’ll be using both for the purposes of tracking tags) child actress Fuuka Haruna tweeted that she’s really excited to be acting with Sailor Mars. So lots of tiny children will be having Sailor Moon feels on set, and this fills me with unbridled joy.
Keiko Kitagawa is going to be starring in a new drama special, Mi wo Tsukushi Ryoricho based on a novel of the same title. She’s starring as the protaginist, Mio, an orphaned woman who becomes a cook. Also starring is TOKIO’S Masahiro Matsuoko, presumably as her love interest.
In order to prepare for the role, Keiko has been receiving special culinary training since May, in addition to learning the Kamigata dialect and ways to best reflect the period. She’s currently filming in Kyoto, which is why she had to miss Ayaka’s birthday celebration. Doesn’t her agency know that the PGSM girl get togethers are more important than everything else in the world? Le sigh.
(Keiko also mentions losing weight from filming because of how much she’s literally cooking in the outfit, and omg, Keiko, I realize this is partially a cultural difference, but you are gorgeous and need to change nothing about yourself because you are beautiful. The same goes to everyone else ever in the history of ever.)
Once PGSM girls is back to a regulated schedule (some time later this month), I’ll post more on this as it becomes available.
I was going to save this for next week, but since Tumblr screwed up the queue anyway, I may as well let you all know now!
Ayaka Komatsu appeared in episode 5 of Satoshi Ohno’s current drama, “Kagi no Kakatta Heya.” She played a friend of another main character, Junko, played by Erika Toda.
I would post links or caps from DramaCrazy, buuut the website won’t load for me right now. Le Sigh.
BUT STILL THIS IS EXCITING, AND AYAKA IS SLOW TAKING OVER THE WORLD ONE ROLE AT A TIME.
And Arashi one band member at a time.
Okay this is so much cooler. Ayaka Komatsu is going to appear as the Mermaid Princess in the upcoming stage play, “Ningyo Hime,” May 16-20, 2012. I wanna gooooo. She better post lots of pretty pictures of her in costume on her blog!
What am I saying, this is Ayaka. That’s what she lives for. And surely Miyuu will supplement.
(Working on Ayaka’s Master List by the way. Girl’s got waaaay more credits than I thought she did. Good for her!)