On March 28th, TV Asahi announced that they are going to bring back the original drama series "Kaseifu wa Mita!" with Yonekura Ryoko replacing the long-time starring actress Ichihara Etsuko.

The special is called "Atsui Kuuki", which also is the name of Matsumoto Seicho's original mystery novel that served as the base for the drama. In 1983 it was adopted into a drama special with the same title and recorded a high rating of 27.7%. One year later, the story was continued by its scriptwriter under the title "Kaseifu wa Mita!", which also was the subtitle of the first special. So far this series already spawned 26 drama specials and one drama serial, all starring Ichihara as the protagonist. In 2008 they aired the last special.

This new episode will be based on the original novel again and become somewhat of a remake of the first drama special from 1983. Yonekura plays the role of Kawano Nobuko, a 'wicked' and eerie housekeeper who gets sent out to upper class households. There she enjoys discovering the families' misfortunes and dark secrets. Kawano possesses incredible beauty, but she hides it due to a past trauma. Because of this, she believes that she always has to live up to the image of an ugly woman.

Yonekura commented, "These days there seems to be a boom about housekeepers, so I think it's nice that I got to play a housekeeper and give her a bit of my personality. That's why I portrayed her with all my strength, without sticking too much to the previous drama."

Matsumoto is known for many of his great novels and Yonekura already starred in three of his drama adaptation. She said, "His works often are about women who aren't exactly flawless. In this work, Nobuko is a thoroughly malicious woman. It was very interesting and a lot of fun to play this unique character with all the get-up. Please look forward to both, an attractive and rather peculiar Yonekura Ryoko."

Yo Kimiko, Danta Yasunori, Nogiwa Yoko, and Takaoka Saki are also part of the cast.

TV Asahi has yet to announce a date for "Atsui Kuuki".

Sources: Mantan-Web, Sanspo