It has been revealed that the drama "Stove League," starring Kamenashi Kazuya, will be broadcast and streamed in its entirety on Lemino and WOWOW starting March 28th.
This remake of the human drama of the same name, which aired on South Korea's SBS in 2019 and became a social phenomenon, is a joint Japan-Korea project produced by Studio S, a drama studio under the South Korean SBS Media Group, and NTT Docomo Studio & Live. It tells the story of the struggles of new general manager (GM) Jun Sakurazaki, played by Kamenashi, who has no baseball experience, and his team, including the front office, as they attempt to rebuild the perennially bottom-ranked professional baseball team, the Dreams. Neru Nagahama plays Risa Makita, the head of the organization division who supports Sakurazaki, and Mansai Nomura plays So Negishi, the team president who stands in Sakurazaki's way.
New cast members have also been revealed, along with a character relationship chart. Hayama Shono, Kajiwara Yoshinori, Rokkaku Shinji, Mori Yusaku, Nakagawa Haruki, Ito Nobuko, and Nagano Munenori will appear as the team management staff surrounding Sakurazaki, played by Kamenashi. Itao Itsuji will play Nishida Katsumi, the manager of the Dreams, while Katsuji Ryo, Yoshihisa Hajime, Tani Kyosuke, Sato Yuki, and Cha Jun-ho and Horii Arata, who will be joining from Korea, will play the players. Yoshida Kotaro will play Negishi Mitsuo, chairman of the Yaoshima Group, the company that owns the Dreams, and Yasui Junpei will play the chairman's son, Negishi Ryuta.
Additionally, Komoto Masahiro will play Ishikura Nobuo, the general manager of the rival baseball team, the Vikings, with whom Sakurazaki approaches for negotiations, Kimura Masaya from "INI" will play his younger brother Akito, who holds the key to Sakurazaki's past, Yada Akiko will play his ex-wife Yanagi Sawako, and Goriki Ayame will play Miyu, the older sister of Makida, played by Nagahama.
The drama "Stove League" will start on Lemino/WOWOW at 1pm on March 28th. It will consist of 8 episodes.
