Ryoko Yonekura, aka "the ratings queen," is back with a new TV drama series, "Legal V -- Moto-Bengoshi Takanashi Shoko" (Legal V: Ex-lawyer Shoko Takanashi).
The star of the "Dr. X" series and many other dramas this time plays a heroine whose life is full of scandals. To take on the role, the actress had her hair cut short for a change.
The drama, which started airing on Oct. 11, is being broadcast on the TV Asahi network from 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
"I'm a bit freaked out," she said shortly before shooting began in summer. Surprising words coming from Yonekura, who usually has a regal presence in front of the camera.
"I've realized that I still get nervous, even at this age. There are nearly 100 people involved in a shoot, including my coperformers and the crew. When their energy is centered on me, I almost crumble under the pressure," she said.
Yonekura was born on Aug. 1, 1975. She started modeling in 1993 and switched to acting in 2000, playing the female lead in NHK's annual epic historical drama of 2003, "Musashi." Next year, she is set to star in "Drama Special: Matsumoto Seicho 'Giwaku'" a drama based on a mystery novel by Seicho Matsumoto on the TV Asahi network.
Her latest role is Shoko Takanashi, a controversial woman who used to be a top lawyer at a major law firm but was disbarred for an undisclosed reason. She starts her own law firm, inviting several lawyers to join her. They include Aoshima (Kento Hayashi), who has a strong sense of justice but is too serious, and Prof. Kyogoku (Hideki Takahashi), who has zero experience in practicing law. Taking advantage of no longer being able to stand up in a courtroom as a lawyer, she bosses them around as the firm's administrator and takes on court cases they seem unlikely to win.
"My character is in her 40s, but her mind and behavior are as free as those of a primary school kid. You never know what she'll do next. She is a very confident person, perhaps even more than Michiko Daimon," Yonekura said of Takanashi, referring to the heroine of the "Dr. X" series. As many readers will remember, Daimon is a surgeon Yonekura played in the popular five-season series that started in 2012. Its average viewer rating was over 20 percent, according to Kanto region data provided by Video Research Ltd.
While Daimon was a loner who did not belong to any particular institution, Takanashi in "Legal V" is the administrator of a law firm who brings together a whole bunch of characterful lawyers and paralegals. She fights in a team, not as an individual.
Yonekura spent several years planning this drama together with TV Asahi executive producer Satoko Uchiyama, who worked with the actress not only on "Dr. X" but also on "Koshonin" (The negotiator), "Nasake no Onna" (The woman of benevolence) and other dramas.
"She [Yonekura] has often been cast as a cool character who rarely laughs, but I think she's entering a phase where she fits the role of someone who supports others and holds their hands, and is supported by them too," said Uchiyama, who has known Yonekura for nearly 15 years. "I reflected Ms. Yonekura's innate kindness and her mature, relaxed demeanor in the new character."
There seems to be a dark rumor behind Takanashi's disbarment, and she is always throwing her weight around, unsettling people with her unconventional ways.
"But she also has charms that make others want to follow her." Yonekura said. "I'd like to be free myself when performing the role, not just acting the part to show how free she is."
The drama tells a feel-good story of Takanashi's minor law firm pushing for victory through confrontations with a group of elite lawyers led by a man regarded as the don of the legal community, who is played by Fumiyo Kohinata.
"My coperformers are full of variety, from child actors to seasoned veterans. There are good-looking guys, too. I look forward to the chemical reactions we can produce," Yonekura said.
She said some of the cast and crew are new to her. It must be nerve-wrecking to work in that environment.
There is a reason why she chose to appear in this new drama rather than an ongoing series that is guaranteed to be steadily popular.
"I'm not the type of person who gets into homemaking," she said. "I want to have a life in which I can be stimulated by creating hurdles and then taking them on. You can't avoid pressure in such a life. I don't know if I can overcome the pressure, but I do feel I'm giving myself a push forward."
Many small steps
Looking back on Yonekura's career, one cannot ignore the bad girl roles she has played. Particularly important are roles in dramas based on Matsumoto's mysteries, including "Kurokawa no Techo" (The black leather notebook), "Kemonomichi" (An animal trail) and "Warui Yatsura" (Bad folks), which were aired on the TV Asahi network from 2004. Those roles are seen as synonymous with her name, and she expressed the pathos of those characters mysteriously and coquettishly.
In 2008, she took on the challenge of appearing in the musical "Chicago," playing Roxie Hart, another bad girl, who is jailed for murdering her lover. Yonekura made her Broadway debut as Roxie in 2012, reprising the role last year in the United States and Japan.
"People around me have said 'Kurokawa no Techo' was my turning point or 'Chicago' and 'Dr. X' changed my life. But personally, I think the smaller roles I played even earlier were my turning points. I'm here now thanks to the accumulation of many small steps."
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