Spring Dramas Split Amid Mei Nagano’s Affair Scandal — Behind-the-Scenes Revealed

Good start, but an unusual situation hits directly due to a scandal involving the heroine

The first episode ratings topped both household and core (ages 13–49) demographics. Caster, which was expected to have a strong start as TBS’s flagship Sunday drama slot, suddenly hit the brakes—and it was all due to the heroine appearing in the drama.

“The story lacks realism and feels shallow, with scenes like staff sneaking into hospitals, rifling through the director’s office, weekly magazine articles being swapped at a photographer’s whim, and the protagonist’s advice leading to the discovery of pluripotent stem cells. Right after episode 1 aired, criticism flooded online—and then Mei Nagano’s (25) ‘double affair scandal’ struck directly. Household ratings plummeted from 14.2% in episode 1 to 10.4% by episode 4, and core ratings halved from 4.8% to 2.4%,” said a commercial broadcaster programming official.

Reporting from the scene at TBS, one staff member shared:

“Both Mei Nagano and her agency have outright denied the allegations, so the only choice is to continue airing the show calmly. However, there is an upcoming episode where the smartphones of Nagano and the program staff get hacked, leaking information. Given the real leak of photos and LINE messages allegedly taken from the involved parties’ phones, this storyline raised concerns within the company about whether it might remind viewers of the affair reports. The production team was swayed by‘adult matters, wondering, ‘Can we change the script now?’”

Reality has begun to outpace fiction, and viewers mockingly respond “That’s rich coming from you” to Nagano’s lines—words that fall on deaf ears. This abnormal situation is causing dissatisfaction to quietly surface on set.

“She’s been described as airheaded, naive, or someone who marches to her own beat, causing those around her to be thrown off—that’s the staff’s impression of Nagano. Her handling of this affair scandal felt just like that. But if she thinks denying it will get her through, she’s terribly mistaken. The production has already been shaken up, including the script. There are even voices welcoming her disappearance among some,” the insider added.

In a way, this has become a work that viewers simply can’t look away from until the final episode.

Behind the scenes of the Getsu-9 time slot

What proved that TVer viewing habits have taken hold among people in their 50s and 60s was Zoku Zoku Saigo kara Nibanme no Koi (Fuji TV). Its TVer favorite registration exceeded 1.22 million, proudly ranking number one.

“It’s a rare drama these days where the characters age in increments of ten years. The dialogue-driven script by screenwriter Yoshikazu Okada is very soothing, and the protagonists, now approaching old age and becoming conscious of death, show that although not everything is perfect, life is still quite pleasant in a heartwarming way,” said writer Kumao Oyama.

TV executives praised the decision to bring this drama into the “Getsu-9” (Monday 9 pm) time slot as a bold move.

“Expanding the target audience of the ‘Getsu-9’ slot, which had long focused on young viewers, to include the M3 & F3 demographics (men and women aged 50 and above) was groundbreaking. The strategy to attract viewers who enjoyed dramas in the 1990s during the heyday of ‘Getsu-9’ paid off. Kyoko Koizumi (59) and Kiichi Nakai (63) actually co-starred in the 1995 ‘Getsu-9’ drama Mada Koi wa Hajimaranai. When mature actors perform adult dramas, this audience definitely watches,” said a commercial broadcaster’s programming official.

However — a mid-level scriptwriter believes there was actually another “drama” behind this bold decision.

“Originally, the Saigo kara Nibanme no Koi series was broadcast in the Thursday 10 pm slot. Why was it moved from such a familiar slot to Monday? On closer examination, it seems Fuji TV had initially planned to bring a love story starring Haruka Ayase (40) to the ‘Getsu-9’ slot. But those plans fell through due to a dating report involving Jesse (28) from SixTONES. To fill that gap, the popular series, which had already begun filming early, was slid into the slot instead. This also explains why the Thursday 10 pm slot was left undecided until the very last minute this season.”

The latter part is here: Spring Dramas: Clear Divides! Praised as “Well, You Found This!” Popular Novel Adaptations Also “Lead Actor is”

From the May 30, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”