<figure id="attachment_467807" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-467807" style="width: 2488px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f2bd5e42"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/2d10903ced17d2f681736613d19bdb78.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-467807" class="wp-caption-text">Kentaro Sakaguchi stars in Fuji TV&#8217;s October drama &#8220;kiDnap GAME&#8221;.</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;Can we really film this? &#8220;</span></h2>
<p> On April 21, Fuji Television held a &#8220;FUJI FUTURE UPDATE Overseas Co-production Project Presentation &amp; October Season Serial Drama Production Announcement&#8221; in Tokyo, announcing that it is producing a new drama, &#8220;kiDnap GAME (Kidnap Game)&#8221;.</p>
<p> The drama is being produced in collaboration with overseas production companies &#8220;MakerVille&#8221; in Hong Kong and &#8220;Sim Story&#8221; in South Korea, and will be broadcast on terrestrial television in the October season with a total of 11 episodes, as well as broadcast and distribution in 18 countries and regions.</p>
<p> On May 14, it was also announced that Kentaro Sakaguchi (34) will play the lead role. A teaser visual was also released to coincide with the announcement. Wearing a leather jacket and a mustache, Sakaguchi looks wild as he stands there in a daze. He looks very different from the image of a &#8220;good-looking young man.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The film begins with a series of simultaneous kidnappings in seven Asian cities, including Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, and Bangkok. As the incidents are reported in the media, each victim&#8217;s family receives a text message. Following the instructions, a death game is depicted in which the contestants must accomplish the ordeal before the other contestants in order to save the lives of their families.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Sakaguchi plays Toshiro Niide, a brilliant detective with a strong sense of justice. His wife is also kidnapped, but he is ordered to arrest the ringleader of the case, and he plays a man fighting desperately in this dilemma&#8221; (TV magazine writer).</span></p>
<p> In an interview with &#8220;Oricon News&#8221; distributed on May 14, Sakaguchi was asked how he felt when he was offered the role in the film,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> To be honest, at first, when I heard about the scale and the world of the drama, I wondered if I could really film it.</span></p>
<p> I wondered if I could really shoot it.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It was certainly understandable that Mr. Sakaguchi would have such doubts, and I never thought we would be able to crank it out.</span></p>
<p> A person involved in the production of a commercial TV drama said as much.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The drama was first planned three years ago, but at that time, Fuji Television&#8217;s drama production budget had been cut considerably. At the time, Fuji Television&#8217;s drama production budget had been cut considerably, and there were whispers even within Fuji Television that, &#8216;There is no way we can do such a thing. Furthermore, in December 2012, the sexual assault scandal involving former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai (53) became public, leading to the withdrawal of many sponsors from Fuji Television, which in turn led to the shelving of various projects.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Naturally, it was said that the drama would also be withdrawn or at least postponed.</span><span class="strongInContent"> Nevertheless, we heard rumors that the project had been cranked last November and was moving forward, but many people involved in the project said, &#8220;I think they are scaling back the scale of the project,&#8221; or &#8220;I don&#8217;t think Fuji Television has the power to take on a project of that scale right now.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Fuji TV is very confident, but ......"></div>
<div class="expapp-yahoo-paragraph-break"></div>
<h2><span class="strongInContent">Do you have that kind of money?&#8221;</span></h2>
<p> Friday Digital&#8221; spotted Sakaguchi filming on a street in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (Shinjuku Ward) in early April.</p>
<p> As in the teaser visual released to the public, Sakaguchi, with short hair and mustache and wearing a leather jacket, was standing on the street holding a bouquet of white roses given to him by a staff member. His eyes were bloodshot, and the way he took deep breaths was uncanny.</p>
<p> Hiromasa Kato, who directs and produces the show, said,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I wanted to launch something like the Squid Game. It is a large-scale story of simultaneous kidnappings in seven Asian cities. We finished the script before crank-in, and we have been shooting for half a year with Asian stars. We are confident in the scale of the film.</span></p>
<p> He also talked about the budget,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> We have quite a bit of money. We are working not only with Fuji TV but also with overseas partners.</span></p>
<p> (from &#8220;Daily Sports&#8221; above). It is no exaggeration to say that this drama is Fuji Television&#8217;s corporate mission. In this case, the expectations for the drama will only go up. We spoke with columnist Wakako Tago, who is well versed in TV dramas.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> To be honest, when I first heard about the project, I was frankly wondering, &#8220;Does Fuji Television have that kind of money now? I was frankly surprised. However, I got the impression that the project was being assembled as an &#8220;international co-production project for the Asian market,&#8221; rather than a conventional terrestrial drama. In other words, rather than &#8220;Fuji investing a huge budget on its own,&#8221; the project is being made possible by spreading the risk and sales with overseas partners. Mr. Sakaguchi said, &#8220;I wondered if we could really shoot it,&#8221; but conversely, I think it was such a large-scale project that the lead actor said so.</span></p>
<p> As for his expectations for the drama, he says, &#8220;It&#8217;s a pretty challenging project.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I think it is a very difficult challenge. While there have been many successful cases of overseas co-productions in the film industry, they have often turned out to be quite delicate when it comes to serial dramas. The reason for this is that the &#8220;viewing grammar&#8221; for drama productions differs considerably from country to country. While Japanese terrestrial dramas emphasize character portrayals and emotional buildup, Korean dramas and Netflix productions emphasize tempo, strong hooks, visual pressure, and the pull of each episode. When you try to combine these elements, it is easy to end up with a work that does not know who it is aimed at.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Moreover, this time, the production team has publicly stated that they are very conscious of the &#8220;Squid Game. This is a hot topic, but at the same time, I think it is quite dangerous. The reason &#8220;Squid Game&#8221; became a worldwide hit was not just because of its death game setting, but because the reality of the disparity and competition in Korean society stuck with the world. This time, &#8220;kiDnap GAME&#8221; cannot be established simply by saying, &#8220;We filmed in 7 Asian cities. I think it will be important to depict the atmosphere and social nature of each city to what extent.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" A New Survival Model"></div>
<div class="expapp-yahoo-paragraph-break"></div>
<h2><span class="strongInContent">Fuji Television&#8217;s strong sense of urgency</span></h2>
<p> Mr. Takai also said that the &#8220;setting itself&#8221; is also a matter of concern.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Looking at the information available at this point, the plot is based on &#8220;simultaneous kidnappings in seven Asian cities,&#8221; &#8220;participating in a game to save loved ones,&#8221; and &#8220;only one person can be saved. Therefore, I feel that it will be difficult to differentiate this film from existing works if there are weaknesses in not only the worldview and visual scale, but also the reasons why it is a kidnapping game and what kind of social aspects can be added to the game.</span></p>
<p> On the other hand, he analyzes that the casting of Sakaguchi makes a lot of sense.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He is well known in Asian countries, including South Korea, and is a good match for OTT productions. His quiet performance and neutral, borderless atmosphere make him a good choice for a film that is a little outside of &#8220;Japanese terrestrial theater.</span></p>
<p> Finally, he spoke about the current situation at Fuji Television Network, saying, &#8220;Fuji Television is in a very strong crisis.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I feel that Fuji Television has a very strong sense of crisis. In other words, Fuji Television is aware that it can no longer compete only with conventional Japanese terrestrial TV dramas. That is why they are not simply filming on location overseas, but have teamed up with production companies in Hong Kong and South Korea from the beginning, taking the form of joint investment, co-production, and joint sales. This is quite unusual for a Japanese commercial drama series, and Fuji Television seems to be looking for a &#8220;new survival model. What is also interesting is the fact that Fuji Television has been using words such as &#8220;look,&#8221; &#8220;scale,&#8221; and &#8220;global standards&#8221; in the front this time around.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> This may be a reflection of a sense of crisis over the fact that Japanese terrestrial TV dramas have been said in recent years to have a &#8220;weak picture&#8221; and &#8220;small sense of scale&#8221; compared to dramas distributed overseas. However, the hurdles are extremely high. The moment a production is labeled &#8220;Squid Game level,&#8221; viewers expect Netflix-level pacing, visuals, and script accuracy.</span></p>
<p> How far can we step out of the grammar of Japanese terrestrial TV dramas? That is probably the biggest highlight of this work.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Kentaro Sakaguchi&#39;s uncanny performance"></div>
<figure id="attachment_467808" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-467808" style="width: 2908px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="cb121c33"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/65eee59f2650f625863ae5bcd0f32539.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-467808" class="wp-caption-text">Kentaro Sakaguchi with a mustache and a wild atmosphere.</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<figure id="attachment_467809" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-467809" style="width: 2488px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="19f439c9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/b03dd2a4ad6a96f0d87dca3b18ef04a7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-467809" class="wp-caption-text"> He was concentrating on his acting and his atmosphere was uncanny.</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<figure id="attachment_467810" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-467810" style="width: 2488px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9b53ebc9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/c642ba7480f5ef88634775d2ab11a9cc.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-467810" class="wp-caption-text"> Kentaro Sakaguchi exhaling deeply just before the start of filming.</figcaption></figure>


 Kumataro Arai

 Fuji TV announced the appointment of Kentaro Sakaguchi as the lead actor for the October season drama "kiDnap GAME", which is positioned as a global strategy. Industry insiders have various opinions about Fuji's new strategy. ......

Fuji&#8217;s company&#8217;s October drama to star Kentaro Sakaguchi&#8230; &#8220;Do you have that kind of money?&#8221; What&#8217;s in it and its reputation

Fuji’s company’s October drama to star Kentaro Sakaguchi… “Do you have that kind of money?” What’s in it and its reputation

Access Ranking