Awaiting Kirin

Awaiting Kirin is a 2020 Japanese historical drama television series starring Hiroki Hasegawa as Akechi Mitsuhide, a samurai and general during the Sengoku period. The series is the 59th NHK taiga drama,  premiering on January 19, 2020. It is the first regular taiga drama to be fully shot in 4K resolution, as well as the first taiga drama to be composed by a non-Japanese (John R. Graham).

Plot
The story is based on the life of Akechi Mitsuhide, a general under Oda Nobunaga.

Akechi clan

 * Hiroki Hasegawa as Akechi "Jūbei" Mitsuhide
 * Hinata Igarashi as young Mitsuhide
 * Fumino Kimura as Hiroko, Mitsuhide's wife
 * Mana Ashida as Tama, Mitsuhide's third daughter
 * Saki Takenoya as young Tama (about 10 years old)
 * Kokone Shimizu as young Tama (about 5 years old)
 * Nazuki Amano as Kishi, Mitsuhide's eldest daughter
 * Nanaka Hirao as young Kishi
 * Sayuri Ishikawa as Maki, Mitsuhide's mother
 * Masahiko Nishimura as Akechi Mitsuyasu, Mitsuhide's uncle
 * Satoshi Tokushige as Fujita Dengo
 * Shotaro Mamiya as Akechi Hidemitsu
 * Shinji Ozeki as Akechi Mitsutsuna, Mitsuhide's father
 * Takamasa Suga as Saitō Toshimitsu

Oda clan

 * Shōta Sometani as Oda Nobunaga
 * Katsunori Takahashi as Oda Nobuhide, Nobunaga's father
 * Rei Dan as Dota Gozen, Nobunaga's mother
 * Haruna Kawaguchi as Kichō, Saitō Dōsan's daughter, and the legal wife of Nobunaga
 * Ryo Kimura as Oda Nobuyuki (Nobukatsu), Nobunaga's younger brother
 * Yasuomi Sano as Oda Nobuhiro, Nobunaga's half-brother
 * Houka Kinoshita as Oda Nobumitsu, Nobunaga's uncle
 * Yoshiaki Umegaki as Oda "Hikogorō" Nobutomo
 * Mizuki Inoue (HiHi Jets) as Oda Nobutada
 * Fūga Shibasaki as teen Nobutada (then known as Kimyōmaru)
 * Yahiro Katō as baby Nobutada (then known as Kimyōmaru)
 * Ayaka Imoto as Oichi, Nobunaga's younger sister
 * The vassals
 * Kuranosuke Sasaki as Hashiba Hideyoshi
 * Kōtarō Yoshida as Matsunaga Hisahide
 * Shōzō Uesugi as Hirate Masahide
 * Masanobu Ando as Shibata Katsuie
 * Jingi Irie as Maeda Toshiie
 * Yūsuke Suga as Sassa Narimasa
 * Kazuhiro Muroyama as Sakuma Morishige
 * Nobuaki Kaneko as Sakuma Nobumori
 * Tsubasa Imai as Mōri Shinsuke
 * Tsutomu Ikeda as Hattori Koheita
 * Kenshi Uchida as Yanada Masatsuna
 * Yoshihiro Nozoe as Chūjō Ietada
 * Takashi Hirota as Murai Sadakatsu
 * Kenji Matsuda as Niwa Nagahide
 * Yōhei Matsukado as Araki Murashige, Kishi's father-in-law
 * Mizuki Itagaki as Mori Ranmaru
 * Gaku Hamada as Kuroda Kanbei

Saitō clan

 * Masahiro Motoki as Saitō Dōsan, the "Viper of Mino"
 * Hideaki Itō as Saitō Yoshitatsu
 * Jun Hasegawa as Saitō Magoshirō
 * Naoki Inukai as Saitō Kiheiji
 * Kaho Minami as Miyoshino, Dōsan's concubine
 * Kyōko Kataoka as Omi no kata, Dōsan's legal wife
 * Takehiro Murata as Inaba Yoshimichi (Inaba Ittetsu)
 * Kōki Yamamoto as Hineno Hironari

Hosokawa clan

 * Hidekazu Mashima as Hosokawa Fujitaka, Mitsuhide's best friend
 * Shōsuke Tanihara as Mitsubuchi Fujihide
 * Ayumu Mochizuki as Hosokawa Tadaoki, Tama's husband

Imagawa clan

 * Kataoka Ainosuke VI as Imagawa Yoshimoto
 * Goro Ibuki as Taigen Sessai
 * Chikau Satō as Udono Nagateru
 * Makiya Yamaguchi as Asahina Chikanori

Tokugawa (Matsudaira) clan

 * Shunsuke Kazama as Tokugawa Ieyasu
 * Yūto Ikeda as Matsudaira Motonobu (Teen Ieyasu)
 * Ryusei Iwata as Takechiyo (Child Ieyasu)
 * Yosuke Asari as Matsudaira Hirotada, Ieyasu's father
 * Wakana Matsumoto as Odai no Kata, Ieyasu's mother
 * Eiji Yokota as Mizuno Nobumoto, Ieyasu's uncle
 * Kyōko Maya as Gen'ōni, a.k.a. Keyōin, Ieyasu's grandmother
 * Yuriko Ono as Lady Tsukiyama, Ieyasu's wife
 * Takashi Okamura as Kikumaru, a ninja

Toki clan

 * Toshinori Omi as Toki Yorinari
 * Masato Yano as Toki Yorizumi

Asakura clan

 * Yūsuke Santamaria as Asakura Yoshikage
 * Takaaki Enoki as Yamazaki Yoshiie
 * Tōru Tezuka as Asakura Kageaki
 * Yurito Mori as Kumagimimaru

Azai clan

 * Hiroto Kanai as Azai Nagamasa

Ashikaga shogunate

 * Kenichi Takitō as Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the 15th and final shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate.
 * Osamu Mukai as Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the 13th shōgun
 * Hayate Ichinose as Ashikaga Yoshihide, the 14th shōgun
 * Tomiyuki Kunihiro as Hosokawa Harumoto
 * Tsurutaro Kataoka as Settsu Harukado
 * Shuhei Uesugi as Isshiki Fujinaga

Miyoshi clan

 * Kazuhiro Yamaji as Miyoshi Nagayoshi
 * Hiroyasu Kurobe as Miyoshi Yoshitsugu
 * Shōgo Miyahara as Miyoshi Nagayasu
 * Hiroki Takano as Iwanari Tomomichi
 * Kenji Oka as Miyoshi Sōi

Takeda clan

 * Ryo Ishibashi as Takeda Shingen

The imperial court

 * Bandō Tamasaburō V as Emperor Ōgimachi
 * Rui Sudō as Prince Michihito
 * Seishiro Kato as Prince Sanehito
 * Kanata Hongō as Konoe Sakihisa
 * Kazutoyo Koyabu as Nijō Haruyoshi
 * Renji Ishibashi as Sanjōnishi Sanezumi

Others

 * Mugi Kadowaki as Koma
 * Noa Tanaka as young Koma
 * Masaaki Sakai as Dr. Mochizuki Tōan
 * Machiko Ono as Iroha-dayū
 * Yua Tanaka as young Iroha-dayū
 * Takanori Jinnai as Imai Sōkyū
 * Shunpūtei Koasa as Kakujo
 * Taro Suruga as Tsutsui Junkei
 * Yasukaze Motomiya as a bandit leader
 * Reo Tamaoki as Iheiji
 * Akio Ōtsuka as Sōjirō
 * Bengal as Hōjin
 * Takayuki Hamatsu as a seller of tea
 * Manabu Hosoi as an old man
 * Jiyū Arima as Shiba Yoshimune
 * Shū Matsuda as Shiba Yoshikane
 * Guin Poon Chaw as Naka, Hideyoshi's mother
 * Kenichi Ogata as a monk
 * Kozo Takeda as Kennyo
 * Mansour Fakher as a missionary
 * Shin'ichi Shirahata as Hatano Hideharu
 * Mutsumi Sasaki as Nikkai

Production
Production Credits
 * Music – John R. Graham
 * Titling – Suitō Nakatsuka
 * Historical research – Tetsuo Owada
 * Costume designer – Kazuko Kurosawa

On April 19, 2018, NHK announced Awaiting Kirin as its 59th taiga drama, starring Hiroki Hasegawa as Akechi Mitsuhide, a samurai and general during the Sengoku period, with Shunsaku Ikehata as writer. Ikehata previously wrote the 29th taiga drama, Taiheiki (1991). The drama aims to shed light on the first half of Akechi's life, of which little is known about due to lacking historical records. On March 8, 2019, NHK announced that John R. Graham will be Awaiting Kirin's composer, having previously been a composer for Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV; he is the first American hired to compose the score and the main theme of a taiga drama. Meanwhile, Junichi Hirokami acts as conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Historical researcher Tetsuo Owada, a professor emeritus at Shizuoka University who specializes in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, previously advised taiga dramas such as Hideyoshi (1996), Tenchijin (2009), and Gunshi Kanbei (2014).

Casting
After Hasegawa, the rest of the main cast was announced on March 8, 2019, which included Mugi Kadowaki, Takashi Okamura, Sayuri Ishikawa, Masahiko Nishimura, Katsunori Takahashi, Erika Sawajiri, and Masahiro Motoki among others. The second cast announcement on June 17, 2019, included Fumino Kimura as Hiroko, as well as Kaho Minami, Takehiro Murata, Satoshi Tokushige, Kataoka Ainosuke VI, Rei Dan, and Kuranosuke Sasaki. The third cast announcement on August 7, 2019, included Machiko Ono, Osamu Mukai, Shunsuke Kazama, and Goro Ibuki. Ono previously had the main roles in Ashio Kara Kita Onna (2014) and Natsume Soseki no Tsuma (2016), two NHK drama series written by Shunsaku Ikehata. The fourth cast announcement on February 19, 2020, included Yūsuke Santamaria, Shotaro Mamiya, Kanata Hongō, Masanobu Ando, Kyōko Maya, and Bengal.

Filming
The usual taiga drama production would first have one-third of the expected number of scripts finished before shooting begins. Afterwards, audience reception is taken into account as the rest of the series is written.

Shooting for the series began on June 3, 2019. Awaiting Kirin is the first regular taiga drama to be fully shot in 4K resolution. Chief producer Masaru Ochiai stated that the colorful costumes to be worn are made with adherence to feng shui.

On November 16, 2019, Erika Sawajiri, playing Oda Nobunaga's wife Kichō, was arrested over MDMA possession. She was replaced by Haruna Kawaguchi five days after being taken into custody. The series' start date was delayed by a fortnight as all of Sawajiri's scenes in the first 10 episodes – along with advertising and promotional footage – had to be reshot.

On April 1, 2020, NHK announced that filming schedules for both Awaiting Kirin and Yell were cancelled until April 12 to consider the safety of performers and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. By April 7, NHK extended the cancellation of shooting for both series after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proclaimed a one-month state of emergency for Tokyo and other prefectures. The series resumed on August 30, 2020.

Reception
According to Kaori Shoji of The Japan Times, observers during the reshoots of the first 10 episodes criticized Haruna Kawaguchi's performance as being "too flimsy".

Ryusei Iwata's performance as Takechiyo, the child Ieyasu, has received praise from viewers online.

Soundtrack

 * Kirin ga Kuru NHK Taiga Drama Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 (January 29, 2020)
 * Kirin ga Kuru NHK Taiga Drama Original Soundtrack Vol. 2
 * Kirin ga Kuru NHK Taiga Drama Original Soundtrack Vol. 3 (December 23, 2020)