『M 愛すべき人がいて』The story of encounter & separation hidden in the birth of a songstress

[BlackSilence]

Originally Posted by Evan Odinson

^I don't know him but he's a cutie, they really did a huge favor to Max casting him lol I wonder if they found the girl to play Ayu

FAVOUR...LOL That guy is a fucking model material, that was more than a favour I guess it's gonna make the whole romance a bit less awkward with that dude.

I am curious to see the choice for Ayu. I think Suzu Hirose would be perfect for Ayu's role.

[Gustavopc]

TV Asashi just confirmed on twitter that Kalen Anzai will me playing ayu's role in the dorama. I'm not surprised at all.

[truehappiness]

https://twitter.com/tv_asahi_PR/stat...81998930329600

Yeah, something about her looks a bit off though....

Spoiler:

They attempted to remake the A BEST cover with the promo shot.

[ExodusUK]

The funniest thing is the one time she's suppose to look like Ayu in an authentic way..she ends up looking the least like Ayu she's ever looked.

[Kuronekomi]

I love the promo shot and the hint to a-best cover ! Masa is hot but Ayu...well...she seems a plastic doll and she has nothing to do with the beauty and freshness of the Young Ayu. oh well I think it's ok, I never expected an actress that could have Ayu charisma anyway

[Gustavopc]

To me Kalen always had this "robot-like" emotion-less looks, and it also might have helped spreading those rumours she was not an actual person, but I think it's just part of her concept, it fits her music videos. Just hope she drops it for acting cause well she needs to act lol

I wonder if she'll cover any ayu songs for the dorama, would love if she sang appears or M!

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Originally Posted by Gustavopc

To me Kalen always had this "robot-like" emotion-less looks, and it also might have helped spreading those rumours she was not an actual person, but I think it's just part of her concept, it fits her music videos. Just hope she drops it for acting cause well she needs to act lol

I wonder if she'll cover any ayu songs for the dorama, would love if she sang appears or M!

Sounds like they have found the perfect match, imo.

[Evolution7/4]

Funny I think she looks the most like Ayu here. not a period accurate manicure though hehe Although maybe the drama will be set in the present day?

[Toniayu123]

Me don’t like

[chocopockymaster]

It greatly bothers me that Max’s hand has made its way into the A BEST cover lmao

[BlackSilence]

Well it's been speculated, so no surprise here. I'm not crazy about her visual aspect. So they kind of did a favour for Max but totally missed the mark for Ayu *shrug* Like she's pretty and all, but she's a different kind of pretty than Ayu. Ayu has this doll-like face. This girl, doesn't really. Although she does sound a bit like early days Ayu. So i can see the similarity there.

I mean she's definitely less robot-like in here more ballad-y songs. BTW this one is very Rainbow'esque, with that whole chasing after your "twin" concept..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mo0UoxLOZA

[Sky High]

Kalen is cute. Different kind of cute, a serious kind of cute

[Machiko]

I feel like it would have been better without the contact lenses?

Also gave Max a fake nail because it's funny



Now I don't really have a problem with the cast at all, and I'm quite beyond excited to see it! I was positively surprised Shohei Miura will be in it, I've liked him in the dramas that I've seen.

artcika brought up Suzu Hirose and I can totally see the resemblance with Ayu! I think also Mei Nagano has some similarities, especially with Young Ayu:

[Sky High]

LOL......that fake nail on Max is hilarious.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

That nail I’m crying lol

[jiarongisme]

Seriously, the guy is too good looking to be playing Max

No opinions on the casting choice for Ayu - the promo photo is quite smart.

[rainBOWWW]

Originally Posted by jiarongisme

Seriously, the guy is too good looking to be playing Max

No opinions on the casting choice for Ayu - the promo photo is quite smart.

Yep, he's very cute and younger to be like Max, but I hope his acting as Max will be good.

[Taishaku]

Never noticed the nail until now lmaoooo

[Shirayuki]

Watching this drama has made me become interested in Ayu again. I hope Japanese viewers will feel the same way. She was really amazing when she was the queen of Jpop..

[truehappiness]

https://news.biglobe.ne.jp/entertain...941949369.html

Apparently the offer for the book came in August of 2018 (when TROUBLE came out basically) and the plan from the beginning was to make a drama but the book was to become the source material for the drama.

In the Discord, we'd been talking about the drama since it ended a little bit as well as the last few years of Ayu's career and it seemed a bit like there was a long game in action in releasing the book. Knowing that Max had scouted Kalen around then or the year prior, I think he had already found her to "become Ayu" by that time or in 2017 and that was what started this 'plan' to both debut Kalen and promote Ayu as well whenever the drama did come out. And it seems to have gone off exactly like they wanted to. Interest was piqued when the book came out in August of 2019 and then the drama came earlier this year with Kalen as the lead who had also debuted as a singer in May 2019. Sales of A COMPLETE have gone up as the drama continued to air and now that it's over, Kalen has been on MUSIC STATION with a new single and Ayu has her first music since 2018 when they began putting the book together along with MORE music to come. I get the vibe though that it was all sort of Max's plan and Ayu went along with it because there was nothing to lose really and there was more to gain if it did well which it did for the most part. Max also used the drama as a reason to step down as CEO after it 'reminded him of his old self' and go back to producing music, something that he had already been thinking about and tweeting about before the drama started.