<figure id="attachment_287834" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-287834" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="89f1a4d3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/01/13284869ee5f78ba91a2fbcab9d319ba-1.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-287834" class="wp-caption-text">Masato Sakai during the filming of &#8220;Hanzawa Naoki&#8221; in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange</figcaption></figure>
 Sports Hochi reported that Masato Sakai (49) had left his agency, Tanabe Agency, at the end of December last year. Sakai&#8217;s name has already disappeared from the agency&#8217;s website, and from now on he will establish his own private agency to carry out his activities.
 Sakai has starred in many hit movies, ranging from comedic to serious films, and has given birth to numerous characters. Among them, the most popular are Kensuke Furumikado of the &#8220;Legal High&#8221; series (Fuji TV), which began airing in 2012, and Naoki Hanzawa of the &#8220;Hanzawa Naoki&#8221; series (TBS), which began airing in 2013.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 Kensuke Furumimon wears a suit with his hair parted in a tight 7-3 style. Viewers fell in love with the unique character of Kensuke Furumon, a sarcastic man who always talks like an intellectual, but when push comes to shove, he is a super competent lawyer who can be counted on. Naoki Hanzawa, on the other hand, is a banker with a strong sense of justice. He is a banker with a strong sense of justice: &#8220;If you get beat up, I&#8217;ll beat you back. Double payback! became a social phenomenon and was a big breakout hit, especially among middle-aged and older salarymen. Even today, these two works can be said to be Sakai&#8217;s masterpieces,&#8221; said a person involved in the production of commercial TV dramas.
 In response to the clamor for a sequel, the second season of &#8220;Legal High&#8221; was broadcast the following year and achieved an astounding average viewer rating of 18.4%. Hanzawa Naoki&#8221; was also broadcast for the first time in seven years in 2008, with an average rating of 24.7%. Naturally, there were expectations for a &#8220;sequel&#8221; to both of these programs, and the social networking sites were filled with people congratulating Sakai on his independence and saying
 In addition to those congratulating Sakai for his independence, there were also comments on social media such as, &#8220;I may not be able to watch &#8216;Legal High&#8217; anymore.
 What will happen to &#8216;Hanzawa Naoki&#8217;?
 What will happen to &#8220;Hanzawa Naoki&#8221;? This is because
 Sakai-san began his speech at the completion of the &#8220;Legal High Special,&#8221; which aired the year after the second season of &#8220;Legal High,&#8221; by saying, &#8220;The staff was in a rut, and there was no good atmosphere at the site. He continued, &#8220;Previously, the first cut was greeted with applause and there was a fresh air that the show had finally begun, but this time, it was lazy,&#8221; he said, and he did not stop criticizing the staff. I think it was meant as a black joke to match the character of Furumon played by Mr. Sakai, but this comment triggered rumors that Mr. Sakai was not positive about appearing in a &#8220;sequel&#8221; or &#8220;series&#8221; (entertainment agency executives).
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 (A senior executive at an entertainment agency) &#8220;Regal&#8221; has not been produced since 2002, the last time this special was broadcast, which also lent credence to the rumors. What about &#8220;Hanzawa&#8221; on the other hand, when the second special was broadcast after a seven-year hiatus, there were reports that &#8220;it took time to persuade Sakai, who refused to appear, to shake his head.
 The biggest reason is that it took time to adjust the schedules of the main actors, such as Sakai, Teruyuki Kagawa, Ainosuke Kataoka, and Kotaro Yoshida, who have all become extremely successful compared to seven years ago. If the same cast is to be used for the third installment, it will be even tougher, and the head of TBS&#8217;s programming bureau said after the second broadcast, &#8220;We gave it our all. In that sense, there will be no further sequels. If Mr. Sakai, who is not so positive about a &#8220;sequel,&#8221; becomes independent, his will will be respected as it is, and it must be said that it is a tough situation.
 Sakai is set to star in the same Sunday theater slot as &#8220;Hanzawa&#8221; in the July season, and will reportedly play a character as hot as his co-star Hiroshi Abe. It seems that we will continue to see Sakai&#8217;s hot performance, but we still feel a little sad that we will not be able to see &#8220;Regal&#8221; and &#8220;Hanzawa&#8221;.
<figure id="attachment_287836" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-287836" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="19f26044"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/01/0ad08a20b70914cffbba25587a0316ae.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-287836" class="wp-caption-text"> He was all smiles throughout the meeting with the staff.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_287840" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-287840" style="width: 943px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="608a7653"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/01/780969cadda73f20bb6135be2b43befd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-287840" class="wp-caption-text"> With Yui Aragaki, who co-starred in &#8220;Regal High</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_287841" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-287841" style="width: 935px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6b6e654d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/01/1e8aeed233ef37814e1c9af13b084b29.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-287841" class="wp-caption-text"> On location at the National Museum of Nature and Science for &#8220;Legal High&#8221;.</figcaption></figure>

 Yusuke Kondo (1st and 2nd) Junichi Matsumura (3rd and 4th)

 Sports Hochi reported that Masato Sakai (49) had left his agency, Tanabe Agency, at the end of December last year. The sports news outlet reported that Sakai's name has already disappeared from the agency's website, and that he will establish his own private agency to carry out his activities.

Can we watch “Legal High” and “Hanzawa Naoki” anymore? Discouragement spreads over Masato Sakai’s reported independence.

Access Ranking