Yell (エール) is a Japanese television drama series and the 102nd asadora series, following Scarlet. It will be premiered on March 30, 2020. It was the first asadora to be recorded in 4K, and the first since Musume to Watashi to be broadcast in only five 15-minute episodes per week Monday through Friday, with omnibus airings on Saturday mornings instead of a fresh episode.

Plot

In 1909, a long-awaited baby boy was born to a family which has run a dry goods store for generations in Fukushima Prefecture. He would later become the talented composer Yuichi Koyama who wrote many famous songs. Although Yuichi was brought up as the heir of the business, he was rather dreamy and considered a child with no redeeming traits by the people around him.

However, when he encountered music, it sparked joy and unleashed his gift in composing music through self-study. As a youth, Yuichi secretly put his name down for an overseas songwriting competition. This would change his destiny. He won runner-up for the song he entered for the competition. As a result, he got to know a female student who wanted to be a singer. Despite the long distance between them – Fukushima and Toyohashi – the two of them tied the knot. When they came to Tokyo, they met all sorts of people and weathered a dark period to produce a number of hit songs. However, war broke out and Yuichi had to compose wartime songs at the army’s request. It pained him that young men died in battle after singing the songs he had written. After the war, the country began to recover amid the chaos. The couple made a new era of music in an attempt to encourage the wounded through the power of music.

Cast

Koyama's family

• Masataka Kubota as Yūichi Koyama (based on Yūji Koseki)
  • Sera Ishida as young Yūichi
• Toshiaki Karasawa as Saburō Koyama, Yūichi's father
• Momoko Kikuchi as Masa Koyama, Yūichi's mother
• Takara Sakumoto as Kōji Koyama, Yūichi's brother
• Morio Kazama as Mohei Gōndō, Yūichi's uncle and Masa's older brother

Sekiuchi's family

• Fumi Nikaidō as Oto Sekiuchi, Yūichi's wife (based on Kinko Koseki)
  • Kaho Shimizu as young Oto
• Ken Mitsuishi as Yasutaka Sekiuchi, Oto's father
• Hiroko Yakushimaru as Mitsuko Sekiuchi, Oto's mother
• Rena Matsui as Gin Sekiuchi, Oto's older sister
  • Toito Honma as young Gin
• Nana Mori as Ume Sekiuchi, Oto's younger sister
  • Chise Niitsu as young Ume

Fukushima people

• Ikusaburō Yamasaki as Hisashi Satō, Yūichi's classmate and childhood friend (based on Hisao Itō)
  • Taiki Yamaguchi as young Hisashi
• Aoi Nakamura as Tetsuo Murano, Yūichi's classmate and childhood friend (based on Toshio Nomura)
  • Taiga Komie as young Tetsuo
• Naotarō Moriyama as Kiyoharu Tōdō, Yūichi's school teacher

Kitaichi kimono shop

• Daichi Sugawara as Takahiko Ōgawara, the owner
• Shin Shimizu as Hiroto Kuwata, the shop clerk
• Taketo Tanaka as Shizuo Oikawa, the shop clerk

Kawamata people

Kawamata Bank

• Kazuyuki Aijima as Gorō Ochiai, a bank branch manager
• Satoru Matsuo as Renpei Suzuki, a bank clerk
• Keiko Horiuchi as Shōko Kikuchi, a bank clerk
• Ayumu Mochizuki as Kanda Matsuzaka, a bank clerk

Others

• Mayu Hotta as Suzu

Tokyo people

Columbus Records

• Arata Furuta as Homare Hatsukaishi, the company's director
• Yojiro Noda as Masato Kogarashi, a composer (based on Masao Koga)
• Kayano as Akane Sugiyama, the company's secretary

Bamboo

• Tooru Nomaguchi as Tamotsu Katori, the owner
• Riisa Naka as Megumi Katori, Tamotsu's wife

Others

• Ken Shimura as Kōzō Oyamada (based on Kosaku Yamada)
• Ko Shibasaki as Tamaki Futaura (based on Tamaki Miura)
• Takahiro Miura as Takashi Tanaka
• Nozomi Inoue as Fujimaru, a singer
• Hayato Kakizawa as Tarō Yamafuji, a singer (based on Ichirō Fujiyama)
• Mayuko Kominami as Chizuko Natsume

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)