"Drama Week" summarizes the main drama news of the week. This week (June 13-19), the topics that garnered attention included the fact that Aoi Ito will play the protagonist's younger sister in the 2026 second half NHK Asadora drama "Blossom," and that Ouji Suzuka will be starring in a prime-time drama for the first time on his own. This will be covered in two parts.
On June 17th, the full cast was revealed for the WOWOW drama "Continuous Drama W-30 'ALIUS -Specific Incident Investigation File-'" (Sundays at 10pm), starring Kuranosuke Sasaki, which will begin airing on July 19th. The cast of Takashi Yamanaka and others were announced. "ALIUS" is a crime suspense drama set in a world that is a continuation of reality, revolving around a mysterious entity called ALIUS. In addition to Yamanaka, the cast announced includes Hatsunori Hasegawa, Kenta Izuka, Ryo Ikeda, Yuya Matsuura, and Hiroshi Okochi. They will play characters rooted in the depths of society, such as a doctor who meets an inexplicable death, a secretly operating public security detective, those surrounding an AI company, and a politician with political ambitions.
On the 17th, it was revealed that Ouji Suzuka will star in the July drama series "Legal Beat - The Reversal Courtroom -" (TV Tokyo, Fridays at 9pm). This will be Suzuka's first time starring alone in a prime-time drama series. Suzuka will play Sora Taichi, a rookie lawyer who struggles with a stutter but can express himself by rapping. This is a completely original legal drama in which he picks up on the "inner voices" of his clients and unravels the "hidden truth". It was also announced that Goro Inagaki and Koyuki will appear in the series. Inagaki will play Hideyuki Hoshi, a senior lawyer who partners with Taichi and acts as his mentor, and Koyuki will play Asumi Yukimura, the head of the law firm who brought Taichi into the firm.
On the 18th, new cast members were announced for " Blossom, " the NHK Asadora drama series for the second half of 2026, starring Shizuka Ishibashi . The siblings of the protagonist, Tama Hano (Ishibashi), will be played by Wataru Hinata as her younger brother Mamoru, Aoi Ito as her younger sister Toshiko, and Daisuke Fujiwara as her younger brother Hideo. Mamoru is the eldest son of the Hano family. He is a family man who cares deeply for his sister and has an exceptionally strong sense of responsibility. This will be Hinata's first appearance in a Asadora . Toshiko is the second daughter of the Hano family. She works at a factory to support the family and admires Tama, becoming inspired by her way of life. This will be Ito's first appearance in a Asadora since " Okaeri Mone " (first half of 2021). Hideo is the second son of the Hano family and is a sweet and lovable youngest child. This will be Fujiwara's first appearance in a Asadora.
On the 18th, a "meaningful" visual was posted on the official Twitter account (@TBS_VIVANT) of the popular TBS Sunday drama "VIVANT" (Sundays at 9 PM), starring Masato Sakai, which will begin airing on July 26th, causing a stir. The released visual shows a toilet sitting alone in a pure white space. In the center are the words "VIVANT" and "07.26 START". Comments on the post include "Thermae Romae?!", "Mysterious toilet lol", "What does this mean?", "I'm curious...", and "Are we going to go inside?". This new series begins immediately after the last scene of the previous series. Just after returning from a series of missions involving the international terrorist organization "Tent", Nogi (Sakai) sees a red bun placed in a shrine. It was a sign announcing an emergency summons for the special unit...
On the 19th, it was revealed that Shingo Katori will star in the four-episode drama series "Continuous Drama W: Keigo Higashino's 'The Hollow Cross'," which will air and stream on WOWOW starting September 6th. Based on Keigo Higashino's bestselling novel of the same name (Kobunsha Bunko), the series is a social suspense drama that directly tackles the social theme of the death penalty. This will be Katori's first leading role in a WOWOW drama series. It was also announced that Eiji Akaso will appear in the series. Katori will play Michimasa Nakahara, who divorced his wife 11 years ago following a certain incident. He has been living his days unable to confront the tragedy of the past, but one day, Nakahara's ex-wife is murdered on the street, and Nakahara races against time to uncover the truth behind her death. Akaso will play Fumiya Nishina, a doctor. When Nishina's wife's father is arrested on suspicion of murdering Nakahara's ex-wife, Nishina finds himself at the forefront as a member of the perpetrator's family.
