<figure id="attachment_372731" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1231px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372731"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="11553fda"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/05/1cbfba8c0ba3140de0512d4910a00e29.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-372731" class="wp-caption-text">In his most recent starring role in &#8220;Trillion Game,&#8221; his haughty character became the talk of the town (June 9, &#8217;23 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<p>It was announced that Ren Meguro (27) of the popular group &#8220;Snow Man&#8221; will star in &#8220;Umi no Hajimari&#8221; (The Beginning of the Sea) starting in July, his first appearance on Fuji Television&#8217;s Gekkinen. The film is an original work based on the theme of parent-child love, and Meguro is taking on the role of a father for the first time. Meguro will take on the difficult role of a father who meets his 6-year-old daughter, whom he had secretly borne after his ex-girlfriend passes away.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Fuji had refrained from using former Johnny&#8217;s members in the wake of the sexual assault scandal involving the company&#8217;s founder, the late Johnny Kitagawa, and had terminated four programs featuring members of the former Johnny&#8217;s group during its spring reorganization.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> However, as if nothing had happened, the use of the former Johnny&#8217;s cast resumed, probably to increase the number of views on TVer and to earn the core viewer rating of 13-49 year olds, which is a priority for the company. Ryosuke Yamada (31) of &#8220;Hey Say!</span></p>
<p>The production team for &#8220;Umi no Hajimari&#8221; includes the staff of &#8220;silent&#8221; (October 2010), in which Meguro played the role of a young man with hearing loss, and which caused a social phenomenon. The film was written by Miku Ubukata, directed by Taiki Kazama, and produced by Ken Murase of the same station.</p>
<p>The station&#8217;s flagship series, Tsuki 9, aired &#8220;Cinderella in Midsummer&#8221; in the July season last year, the first royal road love story in seven years since &#8220;I Love You&#8221; in the July season of 2004. Since then, &#8220;Because You Gave Me Your Heart&#8221; in the January season this year and &#8220;366 Days,&#8221; currently airing, are both tragic love stories.</p>
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<p>However, in this film, Meguro, who used to belong to Johnny&#8217;s and is very popular among young women, plays the lead role, but Sena Izutani (Rana Izutani, 6), a child prodigy, is cast as Meguro&#8217;s partner. The film is not a love story, but a &#8220;father-son&#8221; story.</p>
<p>The staff of &#8220;silent,&#8221; including Mr. Ikkata and Mr. Murase, gathered together to produce &#8220;ichiban hana&#8221; (The flower I love the most), which starred Mikako Tabe (35), Kohei Matsushita (37), Mio Imada (27), and Kamio Fūju (25) as &#8220;quatloos. The theme of the drama was &#8220;Can friendship be formed between a man and a woman?&#8221; It was a novel drama that depicted &#8220;friendship&#8221; and &#8220;love&#8221; spun by four men and women who have led different lives, as well as the &#8220;feelings&#8221; that arise from these two different emotions.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Will the drama &quot;Meguro Ren x Child Actor&quot; be a hit?"></div>
<p>Although the drama was well received on the Internet each time it aired, the average household rating for all 11 episodes was 5.1% (Video Research, Kanto region), which was not very good. This time, the drama took a new direction by featuring a former Johnny&#8217;s and a child actor in the Gekkan 9 series.</p>
<p>Media and culture critic Hiroyoshi Usui points out, &#8220;I see this as a drama written by Miku Ubukata rather than a drama by Ren Meguro.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Although &#8220;silent&#8221; is a romantic drama in the broad sense, it is not what one would expect from a romantic drama between a man and a woman. It was a &#8220;romantic&#8221; drama about the difficulties of life for a young man with a handicap, and many people sympathized with it.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> This time, the theme seems to be &#8220;family&#8221; and &#8220;parent-child,&#8221; but since it is Ikata-san&#8217;s drama, it is not a straight family drama. I think it is a story of &#8220;parent-child&#8221; and &#8220;family&#8221; with perhaps a touch of bitterness. In this day and age when the forms of &#8220;family&#8221; are becoming increasingly diverse, dramatizing the theme of family from a different perspective is a worthwhile endeavor.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> If we had only half-heartedly tried to gain popularity and support with romance dramas, as we have done in the past, this might not have been possible, but I think Fuji Television needs to try something like this.</span></p>
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<p>(Mr. Usui) So, will it become a social phenomenon hit like &#8220;Silent&#8221; did when it was broadcast?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I don&#8217;t think it will be a huge hit in terms of viewer ratings. I don&#8217;t think it will be a big hit in terms of viewer ratings. However, there is a sense of empathy or resonance that is slowly conveyed in the drama, which is unique to serial dramas, so there is a possibility that the drama will have a bigger impact than the apparent ratings.</span></p>
<p>Since Fuji&#8217;s Tsuki 9 is a high-profile slot, the works that air are often topical, but will &#8220;The Beginning of the Sea&#8221; be the first &#8220;topical&#8221; work in a long time in a &#8220;good&#8221; sense?</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Meguro Ren in a famous scene from SILENT"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_372733" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2236px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372733"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a0874795"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/05/f94ad87a3f6a4bca98da20b9d3a0306b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-372733" class="wp-caption-text">Haruna Kawaguchi reunites with her ex-boyfriend Meguro in a famous scene at the end of the first episode of &#8220;silent&#8221; (Nov. 25, &#8217;22 issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_372734" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1965px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372734"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="cb0462a5"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/05/7c3dce5010d8d2a57c949241c922eb1e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-372734" class="wp-caption-text">She also looks dignified in a face shield (November 25, 2010 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_372735" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1629px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372735"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c3ba397f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/05/dde8976336ca683f2a9a78f282172326.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-372735" class="wp-caption-text">In March 2011, &#8220;silent&#8221; won numerous awards, including the &#8220;Tver Award&#8221; for having over 73 million views (November 25, 2010 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_372738" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1724px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372738"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="bb8e7d88"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/05/3a978f2a2116373903c9f89ccef70916.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-372738" class="wp-caption-text">Filming began on a sunny day that was still hot. Between scenes, staff members came to Meguro, who was wearing a heavy costume, to wipe the sweat off his face.</figcaption></figure>
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 Yusuke Kondo

 Ren Meguro is set to star in Fuji's July season Monday 9 drama "Umi no Hajimari" (The Beginning of the Sea). However, the role of the other actor will be played by a child actress, Sena Izumiya, and the drama will depict "father-son love. What is Fuji's plan to change the direction from "romance dramas" and what are the odds?

Fuji TV’s ‘Umibe no Hajimari’: Can Romance Revamp Lead to Success for Ren Meguro?

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