TBS has begun to actively use Korean actors in its dramas.
Choi Ji-woo from “Winter Sonata” is introduced as a guest in the first episode.
TBS Sunday drama theater “Blackpean Season 2,” starring Kazunari Ninomiya (41) of Arashi fame, has only the final episode to air on the 15th.
It has been six years since Season 1 in ’18. Ninomiya changed his role from the genius surgeon Seijiro Tokai he played in the previous film, and changed his visual to silver hair. While the genius surgeon is the same as in the previous film, he plays the role of Yukihiko Amagi, the identical twin brother of Seijiro, who is called “the devil” because he plays with the hearts and money of his patients.
While the average viewer ratings for each episode of the drama series did not reach double digits as usual, all episodes except for the fourth episode broadcast on July 28, during the Paris Olympics, recorded double digits. The final episode is likely to see a jump in viewer ratings, so it is still the top-ranked drama in this season. It seems likely that a third season will be produced.
Continuing from the first season, Ryoma Takeuchi (31), Wakana Aoi (26), Kotaro Koizumi (46), and Masaaki Uchino (55) are the supporting cast. In addition, the show attracted attention by bringing in a cast with a lot of buzz, including Reicho Horikoshi (13), daughter of Danjuro Ichikawa XIII (46), and singer Maki Ohguro (54), but in the first season, they brought in that Korean star who once played the heroine in a drama that caused a huge boom in Japan.
Choi Ji-woo, 49, who became popular in Japan for her role in the Korean drama “Winter Sonata,” which was broadcast in Japan from 2003 to 2004 and caused a huge boom. He played the role of Park So-hyun, a successful restaurant owner whose only way to survive is to have Amagi operate on him with her special technique. Mr. Ninomiya seemed to be completely taken by her good looks and repeatedly said, “She’s cute.
Ji Woo attended a premium event held in Tokyo on August 16 to commemorate the opening day of the movie “New Normal,” in which she stars. Since the movie was about to be released, it was probably a good timing for the drama offer,” said an entertainment reporter.
30,000 people flocked to the fan event for the Korean actor in “Eye Love You”.
Kim Moo-joon (26) played Min-jae, the son of Seo-hyun, played by Ji-woo, and a resident doctor at Dongsung University Hospital, the same hospital as Amagi and others. A new regular cast addition, he was not well known in Japan until his appearance in “Blackpean.” After debuting in the web drama “New Learn,” which aired in 2008, he gave a good performance as Yoo Se-hoon, a mood-maker sculpture science student, in the Netflix drama “Even though I Know,” which caused a boom in Japan. He is also one of the most promising actors in Korea, having won the Rookie of the Year Award at the 2023 MBC Acting Awards, which is given to dramas from the Korean broadcaster MBC.
TBS also cast Choi Jung-hyup (31) as Yoon Tae-oh, a Korean exchange student whom the heroine falls in love with, in the drama “Eye Love You,” which starred Fumi Nikaido (29) in this January season.
This is Jung-hyup’s first appearance in a Japanese drama. This was the first time a Korean actor was cast as the heroine’s partner in a drama series in the commercial GP (Golden Prime, 7:00-11:00 p.m.) time slot. Jung-hyup became popular among the drama’s viewers, who nicknamed him “Teo-kun. His popularity was so great that when he held a paid fan event in Tokyo during the drama’s broadcast, 32,885 people applied for the 850 available tickets.
In the July season of last year, TBS put all its energy into producing and broadcasting the drama “VIVANT” starring Masato Sakai (50), which was distributed worldwide on Netflix from December, but it was not popular outside of Japan.
The current situation is that most of the works that become popular in Japan on Netflix are Korean productions that put considerable effort into content provision. Therefore, TBS decided to review its drama production strategy in response to the poor performance of “VIVANT” on Netflix.
As a result, TBS has decided to actively use Korean actors in its drama productions with the Netflix viewer base in mind. In the future, we will continue to use actors who are already well-known in Japan, such as Ji-woo, and actors who are likely to sell well in Japan, such as Moo-jung and Jung-hyup,” said a source in the movie industry.
Once “Blackpean Season 2” was released on Netflix, it became a regular in the top 10 in the domestic rankings. As expected, it has not made it into the top 10 in the Korean viewing rankings, but it is likely that the drama will soon become popular in Korea as well.
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