Last month, Fuji TV announced that actor Mukai Osamu would star in his first prime time drama next season. Today they finally announced its title, "Hungry!", and who is going to costar with him.

As stated in the previous announcement, "Hungry!" is a human drama with a comedic touch that is set at a French restaurant. Mukai plays 'Yamate Eisuke', a somewhat sadistic yet lovable musician-turned-chef who wants to take over his parents' restaurant after the death of his mother.

The biggest news was the addition of SMAP's Inagaki Goro as the bad guy, a businessman who immediately bought the restaurant after the death of Eisuke's mother. He is pretty despicable person and, unlike Eisuke, not lovable at all. He constantly looks down on Eisuke, the new chef, and makes use of unjust methods in order to completely make this little restaurant his own.

Scriptwriter Omori Mika ("Buzzer Beat", "My Boss My Hero") revealed that she was heavily influenced by Inagaki's image while creating this narcissistic and well-spoken character.

Inagaki commented, "We already have a restaurant with 'SMAPxSMAP', but I'm not really the owner... I'm just a chef who gets worked hard by owner Nakai Masahiro. (laughs) I'm excited to portray this image and already began getting into the role. I can't wait for the filming."



Moreover, Eisuke is going to be in a love-triangle with the female college student (Takimoto Miori) who works at the restaurant and his actual girlfriend (Kuninaka Ryoko), who works at a bank.

Takimoto, who recently starred in "Ikemen desu ne", commented, "I'm playing a very naive yet very energetic girl. She's a college girl like myself, so I hope I will play her well." About Mukai, she added, "From his appearance he seems to be very kind, while his character implies that he's a son of Kyushu. A perfect ikemen (laughs)!"

Kuninaka, who can currently be seen in "Ore no Sora", commented, "To be honest, I'm quite happy about this role, because so far I've played a lot of very bright and cheerful characters, but this time it looks like I'll play a real adult woman. My character feels that the distance between her boyfriend and her is gradually increasing, which probably applies to many women out there. I want to play this role with all its seriousness!"

Eisuke's fellow band members also help him out at the restaurant. They are played by Tsukamoto Takashi (the band's guitarist) and Miura Shohei (the band's vocalist). His father will be played by Osugi Ren.

Mukai commented about his costars, "I've already filmed with Inagaki for the 'SMAPxSMAP' drama. Back then he already played the villain, so the image won't be that different this time. (laughs) I haven't worked together with Takimoto and Kuninaka so far, but I still have that image of them being everyone's morning heroine."

He continued, "Tsukamoto and I already filmed something together, although it only was one short scene. I'm looking forward to becoming good friends with him this time. Miura and I also aren't familiar with each other yet. I heard he's already receiving voice training for his role and I also heard that he seems to be pretty good during the training."

French cuisine meets rock music. Be sure to check out this drama, that is going to air on Fuji TV every Tuesday at 10:00 pm.

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Sources: WebTheTelevision, Sanspo, Oricon