After Young People…What’s Next for Netflix, which Produced “Asura’s Asylum” with a Superb Cast?

That classic Showa-era drama is now on Netflix!

Netflix, the video distribution service that released “The Groundhogs” and “Queen of Evil” in succession in the summer and fall of 2012, respectively, has released “Asura no Gotoku,” a new series directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (62), on Netflix. The new series directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (62) will be exclusively distributed from January 9, 2013.

Ashura no Gotoku” is a remake of Kuniko Mukoda’s classic home drama series broadcast on NHK from 1979 to 1980, with the late Haruko Kato playing the eldest sister, the late Kaoru Yachigusa playing the second sister, Ayumi Ishida (76) playing the third sister, and Jun Fubuki (72) playing the fourth sister in the NHK version. (72) played the fourth daughter. In the new Netflix version, the four sisters will be played by a superb cast, including Rie Miyazawa (51) as the eldest, Machiko Ono (43) as the second, Yu Aoi (39) as the third, and Suzu Hirose (26) as the fourth.

After the NHK drama version, a theater version of the film was released in 2003, directed by the late Yoshimitsu Morita. The cast of the film version included Shinobu Otake (67) as the eldest daughter, Hitomi Kuroki (64) as the second daughter, Eri Fukatsu (51) as the third daughter, and Kyoko Fukada (42) as the fourth daughter.

The total fee for the four sisters is expected to be quite high. The total fee for all four actors would have been quite high, and while it might have been possible to make the project work for a movie, it would have been difficult to make it work for any other major commercial broadcaster except for NHK.

Of the four, Miyazawa is remarried to former “V6” member Go Morita (45), and Aoi is married to Ryota Yamasato (47) of “Nankai Candies” and has a child, and in recent years they have been very selective about the films they appear in. Nevertheless, the fact that the film was directed by Kore-eda, now a master of the Japanese film industry, and was a Netflix film with a high fee may have encouraged the two to appear.

Ambition” showing through in the recent lineup

Major works that have been distributed as Netflix originals and attracted a lot of attention include the “Naked Director” series (’19, ’21), which depicts the epic orchestration of legendary sexy video director Toru Muranishi; the “Alice in Imaginary Land” series (’20, ’22), where the main characters, gamers, take on a real-life death game; and the “Sanctuary- The World of Sanctuary” series (’21, ’21), which depicts the backstage of sumo. The “Alice in Imagine Land” series (’20, ’22), in which the main character gamers challenge a real death game; “Sanctuary” (’23), which depicts the backstage of sumo wrestling; and “The Ninjas” (’24, ’25), which depicts the lives of ninjas living in the modern age. The House of Ninja” (’24), which depicts the lives of ninja living in the modern age. All of these films were stimulating and aimed at the younger generation.

In comparison, “Jijishi-tachi” was based on an actual fraud case, and “Kyokaku-join” depicted the backstage of the women’s professional wrestling boom in the 1980s, and was also appealing to middle-aged and older viewers. As for the future lineup, it has already been announced that “Shinkansen Daihaku”, a reboot of the panic movie released in 1975 starring the late Ken Takakura, will be produced as a movie starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (50) and distributed in ’25. Like “Asura no Gotoku” announced this time, the lineup seems to be quite “sexy” compared to the past, but Netfulli’s future strategy is clearly laid out in this lineup.

Currently, Netfull has few original Japanese content for middle-aged and older viewers. In order to attract new subscribers in the future, the company has decided to target even more middle-aged and older viewers, and has decided to produce and distribute “Asura no Gotoku”. In the future, we will probably see a series of productions with casts comparable to NHK’s historical dramas and morning dramas, featuring big names that would be difficult to book for regular TV and film productions.

Television has long been called the “media for middle-aged and older people,” and Netflix is about to encroach even further on this “sacred territory.

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