Why “Knockin’ on Locked Doors,” starring Hokuto Matsumura and Daigo Nishihata W, is unpopular “not just because of headwinds

It would have been fine if she had been an idol in her own right, but I wanted to use someone who could act well…. The setting and the storyline sounded interesting, but the acting bothered me…” (August ’20)

The main two actors aren’t very good even though it’s a conversational drama…they both have a lot of experience in this field, so why?

You have to admit that the leads can ruin the drama. And yet they cast Johnny’s who are not good actors in the lead roles.

The drama “Knockin’ on Locked Door” (TV Asahi, hereafter “Knockidoor”), starring “SixTONES”‘s Hokuto Matsumura (28) and “Naniwa Boys”‘s Daigo Nishihata (26), is getting a mixed reception.

The drama is based on the popular series by mystery writer Yugo Aosaki. Matsumura plays Gotemba Gori, an “impossible” detective who specializes in unraveling tricks, and Nishihata plays Katanashi Iame, a “puzzling” detective who specializes in deciphering motives and reasons. The two detectives, with completely different personalities and specialties, take on difficult cases in this full-fledged mystery.

In addition to the two popular Johnny’s starring in the film, the main director is Yukihiko Tsutsumi, and the film has received a good reputation. The production team was also very enthusiastic, and despite the fact that it was a late-night drama, the first episode was an extended 60-minute special. The drama attracted a lot of attention, as it became the number one trending series on X (formerly Twitter) two minutes after it went on the air,” said a TV magazine writer.

(TV magazine writer) The number of subscribers to Tver’s favorite list was 484,000 (as of August 29), and the number of views of missed broadcasts exceeded 1 million, which is doing quite well for a late-night drama. However, many of the reviews on social networking sites and the Internet have criticized the performances of the two leads and said that the drama was not interesting and that they had dropped out of the series.

Normally, late-night dramas do not generate much buzz themselves, but the ironic phenomenon is that the title of “Nokidoa” has become a media sensation following Bunshun’s article in early August reporting a romantic scoop between Nishihata and a female announcer at a TV station in Osaka.

Some have suggested that the drama’s poor reputation may be due to the aforementioned Nishibata’s love affair report in addition to Johnny’s’s sexual assault issue, but according to a certain production company official, this is not the case.

According to one production company source, this is not the case. “The poor reputation of ‘Nokidoa’ may be due in part to the fact that they tried to make a mystery that should have taken 60 minutes to solve a solid mystery in a 30-minute late-night slot, and the sharp dialogue of the characters, who look like anime characters, does not fit the two leading actors.

However, it may also be that the approach of using popular Japanese celebrities as long as they can attract fans and get a certain amount of viewer ratings is no longer working. This season, young Johnny’s talents are appearing in all kinds of dramas in the late-night slot alone, including Fuma Kikuchi (28) in “Uso Kekkon” (Fuji TV), Ryusei Onishi (22) in “Benisasu Life” (NTV), and Taiharu Fukumoto (23) in “Saitama no Host” (TBS). Toma Ikuta (38) “Inspector Daimajin” (TV Asahi) and Shunsuke Kazama (40) “Hatsukoi, Zarari” (TV Tokyo) are also in the works. With so many Johnny’s in the cast, the quality of each actor’s performance will be called into question.”

Viewership ratings for “Nokidoa” have not been released, but judging by the number of people who have registered Tver as favorites, it is likely that a certain number of fans are watching it. However, if the reviews are this subtle, it does not seem like a successful production…