The High School Heroes: Drama Overview and Cast Remarks

The High School Heroes is an upcoming tokusatsu drama starring Johnny’s Entertainment unit Bishounen as the heroes. The drama premieres July 31.

This summer, Johnny’s Entertainment unit Bishounen star together in another drama, but this time, they will be high school heroes.

The High School Heroes is a new tokusatsu drama, formed by the collaboration between TV Asahi, Johnny’s Entertainment, and Toei. Yuya Takahashi, known for his writing on Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Kamen Rider Zero-One, will be writing for this drama as well as Toshio Yoshitaka and Masaya Kakehi (who also worked on Zero-One).

Trailer

(Video may be unavailable in some regions.)

Plot Summary

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Itsuboshi Academy, a school covering elementary, junior high, and high school education. Boasting excellent grades and excellent conduct, the honor students also face the usual troubles of social media, grades, love, and club activities. The headmaster is concealing a problem in order to maintain the school’s image, but there’s a “demon” on the grounds…

To realize his 10-year ambition, the headmaster plans to use this demon, born from the weakness of people’s hearts. Is there no hero team to maintain peace?!

Taisei Manaka is a huge fan of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. Although the members he has gathered can be at odds with each other, their friendship gradually deepens, and they’ll stand together to face great evil. This formerly ragtag group of young men will grow together and build up power as heroes. This summer, Bishounen will embody this classic “coming-of-age school” story.

Cast

Taisho Iwasaki as
Taisei Manaka / AkaHero (Red)

A third year high school student at Itsuboshi Academy, Taisei is head of the Academy Defense Club. However, as the sole member of the club, he is in a hurry to find five other members or the club will be disbanded as decreed by the student council president Hyuma Oura. Taisei is a moodmaker who wants friendship and unity among all students. His father died ten years prior and was also a Gorenger fan…

Remarks

I heard that it would be a school drama from the start, but a “sentai hero” drama?! To think we’d go from watching heroes as kids to playing them now hits close to home. And that it’s the six of us really makes my heart pound.

My character, Taisei Manaka, is a passionate hero otaku who wants to become a hero, but he can also be something of an idiot. He’s not just any idiot though. He’s everyone’s beloved idiot. Anyway he’s the type to blaze ahead and pull everyone else with him.

And this is the shortest I’ve ever cut my hair! I’ll try to be someone you all will love. And I expect Fujii, the oldest of us, will represent us and give something to the staff.

Ryuga Sato as
Ryuhei Domon / KiHero (Yellow)

Another high school third year student, Ryuhei is the school’s top athlete and a member of the basketball team. He’s also very sporting and kind. Ryuhei is popular among the male students, and, according to Taisei, “a man suited to eating curry”. However, Ryuhei leads an impoverished life which leads him to get caught up in “that incident”.

Remarks

I’m really happy to do a drama with all of Bishounen for a second year in a row. I’m looking forward to how cool it’ll be to play as heroes instead of as shining idols.

Ryuhei Domon is a popular guy. He comes from a poor background and struggles a lot, but he’s very kind deep down. Some aspects are turned up, but I love that I can play Ryuhei naturally.

Yuto Nasu as
Yusuke Takigawa / AoHero (Blue)

Another Itsuboshi Academy third year high school student, Yuto has the top scores and is the baseball team’s ace player. Sharp with a cool personality, he is a rational person and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. He seems to be a loner at first glance, but he really cares about his friends.

Remarks

For this drama, we’ve been given roles that even older Johnny’s members don’t seem to have had much experience with, so I was really happy when I got the part. To play sentai heroes, I thought we’d just earn how to throw punches or something, but no, we’ve got action scenes!

Takigawa is the school’s ace pitcher. He seems superhuman with how he leads the team while also getting the best scores at school. I used to play baseball, and remembering those feelings makes me want to do a good job.

Hidaka Ukisho as
Hyuma Oura (Silver)

Hyuma is a third year high school student and has been student council president of Itsuboshi Academy for three straight years. He is the most charismatic in the school and has the overwhelming support of the student body. He keeps to himself and seems to have a shadow about him. Hyuma is deeply trusted by Headmaster Sumitomo.

Remarks

I love that all six of us are acting in another drama together, but I really love action too! I want to make it part of my skill set! This is the second time we’re all playing in a drama together, but during filming, there’s a part of the character that sticks with you. Our roles are different this time around, so I’m eager to discuss our roles with each other.

Hyuma Oura is the student council president. He’s a cool-type, but the kind of “cool” I’ve played before is different from his, so I think it’ll be cool to watch. I was student council president in junior high school, so I think I can draw on that experience here. There’s a twist with Hyuma too, so keep an eye out!

Naoki Fujii as
Naoya Morimura / MidoHero (Green)

Naoya, another third year high school student, is the dance team leader and the most popular student at the academy. Everything he does is cool, and Naoya is the envy of both the boys and girls. While both parents are abroad for work, he and his sister Hana live at a relative’s house while attending Itsuboshi Academy.

Remarks

When I was small, I had thought, “I want to try being a hero,” so I’m really happy to have that chance in this drama. I’m working on stretching so I can do action scenes any time!

Morimura is head of the dance club and the most popular guy at school! Kento Nakajima of Sexy Zone [another boy band under Johnny’s Entertainment] sprung to mind when I got my role. I want to take from him in order to develop this role for myself.

Issei Kanasashi as
Ichika Sakurai / MomoHero (Pink)

Issei is a second year high school student at Itsuboshi Academy. He is very proud of his sense of aesthetics as an popular student illustrator, and he’s a member of the school’s art club. Issei works part-time at the retro cafe Gon and is good friends with his classmate Hana. While his father was very strict while raising him, Issei has a heart more sensitive than most people’s.

Remarks

I was really happy to hear this drama would be about Sentai heroes. I watched of Super Sentai and other action shows as a kid, so I’m looking forward to the six of us doing hat stuff too. We’re going all in with “The High School Heroes” this summer!

My character Issei is androgynous and is keeping something hidden… which makes him a little hard to play. I’m going to be mindful of his gestures and mannerisms to try to keep a balance in my performance.

And when they finally saw the drama’s poster, all six members of Bishounen were amazed by how it looked.

From Taisho Iwasaki

This poster’s so cool. It’s just awesome! When they were shooting us for the poster, making it look like we’re coming out of the poster was super hard, and I wondered how it’d turn out. And here it is! We’ve been waiting on this for a while, so I’m happy to see this. It’s also really cool to see the reading for “world” above the word for “school”!

From Ryuga Sato

It really is cool. The part where we’re in uniform seems like a random cast came together, but in our hero suits, you really get that sense of unity in our serious expressions. You really want to see the drama after looking at this poster, right?!

From Yuto Nasu

I didn’t think they’d put our hero suits on the poster, but looking at it again, it really hits home that they’re sentai heroes and gets you really excited. This drama wants to convey how important it is to believe in your friends, your family, and the things you love, and this poster is chockful of that energy.

From Hidaka Ukisho

I’m really moved by how well this came out! I really get the “hero” feeling out of this poster as I would have if I had seen this as a kid. Everyone looks cool with the dynamic shot, and the atmosphere comes through. “Whoa, I look great!” was my first thought, but for real, we do look good. Especially Taisei Manaka who is just spot on with his expression and posture! When I think about all of us who are in this, I’m reminded of how amazing it is to have made this with everyone.

From Naoki Fujii

This is intense! Is the school getting destroyed behind them? (laughs) Now the visual of the heroes behind us, that’s cool! When you see us like that, aren’t you excited to know what kind of drama this’ll be? And notice that the dot (・) in the title is a six-pointed star, not a five pointed star.

From Issei Kanasashi

The difference between how the heroes look and how they look normally is really good! And with the title being given in English, foreigners can appreciate this too!

The High School Heroes begins airing on TV Asahi on Saturday July 31 at 11:00 pm.

Sources: Livedoor, Mantan Web, Natalie, TV Asahi