Busy Umika: New Drama this July!
I've just started being a Kawashima Umika fan a few months back and I have to admit that I've come to deeply admire and love the hime that she is - whether she's doing solo or performing along with her unit, 9nine. Well, what set me ablaze on this laptop keyboard a few minutes back was the news of Umika's new drama appearance this coming July. With barely a few episodes into her current drama appearance with Kamiki Ryunosuke and TOKIO's Matsuoka-kun, I'm beginning to wonder what powers her up to this point being a senior high school student AND idol to boot. She's beginning to make the HS7 (no offense meant, YamaChii fans) boys look bad at this point as they have nothing close to having something like this girl's 2011 to-do list. Hehehe. Well, the title of the drama is Hanawake no Yon Shimai or "The Four Sisters of the Hanawa Family." Umika will be playing one of the eponymous sisters along with Alisa Mizuki, Michiko Kichise and Shihori Kanjiya - the latter three have quite notable TV filmographies.
Well, I was scouring the net for any updates on both 9nine and HSJ when I stumbled across almost, I daresay, conveniently this piece of info on Umika's new drama. I was half-expecting a certain HS7 member *wink* *wink* to be part of the cast but instead I found this name:
.
It seems that Johnny's is letting their other talents get some much-needed exposure this year too. NEWS' Kato-kun is already quite busy performing a stage play this month. Plus, that new 9nine single might be the theme song of that drama - although at this point in my typing it sounds rather too peppy for it so I'd rather not dwell on it and believe it until it actually is announced before July 20.
Hanawake no Yon Shimai has print roots (authored by manga-ka Fumi Saimon)and of course, I've also scoured the net for some manga material in vain over the past thirty minutes while trying to finish this post. I don't want to spoil things for you since there's not much to spoil yet (and I can be a very good spoiler :p ) so I guess the various links will suffice. If your Japanese is good enough, try perusing the official website for this drama. You'll probably get the gist of the upcoming drama from some of the links I've provided here.
I was a bit surprised though that tokyohive and some LJ-based fandoms (especially the ones dedicated to Kato-kun, Umika and their respective groups/bands) haven't gotten wind or even circulated news about this drama yet. It's either that more info is still needed by some news sites in order to spread word of this or they just haven't really gotten wind of this yet. I know that YamaChii fans are rejoicing by now about their nabbing voice-dubbing roles in that American CG film that I even deign to mention but I'm dying for some UmiChii goodness here so please bare with me. ~KYA~ Well, on a more technical note, what Chinen and Yamada will be doing are just voice-dubbing and not voice-acting as most sites are already reporting. What Chinen did in Stranger Mukou Hadan ("Sword of the Stranger") WAS voice-acting. But most people will probably shrug that off as same difference and the like. Go figure. But I'm happy all the same that our idols are finally getting some appearances in the next few months. If there are any inaccuracies of this article, kindly do tell me. Your vexed objections, vehement dislike and violent chemical reactions to my writing style are more than welcome and will be duly noted. :p So feel free to comment, ne?
P.S. Umika will probably be going on a diet in the next few months since she's been literally exposed to the kitchen-setting of her current drama which I still think Yamada should have been cast instead of Kamiki-kun - no offense Kamiki-fans!
Sources:
animenewsnetwork, animenation.net, tokyograph, tokyohive, and dramawiki