Netflix orders comedy, drama series in Japan

Netflix has celebrated its first decade of operation in Japan by ordering three scripted series, including a comedy.

Did Someone Happen to Mention Me? is from local prodco The Seven and stars Koji Yakusho as the first Japanese actor to play the lead role at London’s Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Upon his return to Japan, however, nobody knows who he is.

Kanduro Kudo writes the screenplay and Akira Isoyama is producer, with the project following the duo’s work on Netflix series Let’s Get Divorced and Extremely Inappropriate!.

Yakusho described Kudo’s script as “intricate, wild, funny, and strangely moving”.

Netflix has also greenlit drama series Straight to Hell, which is being produced by Django Film and directed by Tomoyuki Takimoto and Norichika Oba.

It tells the story of how Japanese fortune-teller Kazuko Hosoki became a household name, including the little known years before she found fame in her 40’s. Erika Toda stars.

Takimoto said: “I disliked Kazuko Hosoki. Whenever she appeared on TV, I changed the channel. And yet I accepted this reckless project for two reasons.

“Hosoki wrote an autobiography titled Onna no Rirekisho (A Woman’s Résumé). There are plenty of exaggerations and untruths, but taken together, her little-known rise from post-war poverty is immensely compelling and overflowing with classic drama: love, betrayal, ambition, ill intent, and self-preservation.

“In today’s world, bound so tightly by compliance, the energetic figure of a woman who lived true to her desires at each moment looked incredibly magnetic to me.

“The second reason was the powerful partner I had in Erika Toda. It’s no easy task for an actor to convincingly embody someone’s life—let alone Hosoki’s, from age 17 to 66. She delivered even more ferocity than I expected.”

The slate is rounded out by anime series Steel Ball Run, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It is based on the 1980’s manga novel by Hirohiko Araki, with the latest iteration set in the 19th Century and tracking the first-ever cross-continental horse race across North America.

All three shows will debut next year on Netflix, which said it would “continue to push boundaries and bring unforgettable entertainment from Japan to the world.”