Matsumoto Jun Gets Ishihara Satomi as his Leading Lady for Winter J-dorama Shitsuren Chocolatier

The current Fuji TV Fall Getsu 9 is Umi no Ue no Shinryojo (Clinic on the Sea) with Matsuda Shota and Takei Emi. It’s ratings are pretty ordinary and its predecessor Summer Nude with Yamapi, Karina, and Toda Erika (with a cameo role by Nagasawa Masami) didn’t exactly bring in the viewers either despite all the abtastic fanservice thrown in. Even a giant Yamapi fangirl like myself fell asleep watching that snoozefest. Despite Yamapi and Shota failing to deliver hits, Fuji TV is sticking with its tried and true formula of good looking young leading men and up next for its Winter Getsu 9 is the return of Matsumoto Jun to a time slot where he did deliver a hit with Lucky Seven nearly two years ago. When I heard his leading lady would be Ishihara Satomi, I penciled this one right in because I just adore her to pieces. I still haven’t watched the Lucky Seven SP aired earlier this year where Satomi guest-starred with Jun but I’m fairly certain they must’ve had good chemistry otherwise why toss them together again. This upcoming dorama is called Shitsuren Chocolatier (Heartbroken Chocolatier) and is based on an award winning manga of the same name. The story is about a young man who is in love with a girl since high school and tries to win her heart by becoming the best chocolatier around because she loves chocolates. Jun is the persistent chocolatier while Satomi is the girl of his dreams who breaks his heart with her rejection of his first love confession, which prompts him to go to France to become the best at the craft. I haven’t read the manga but Jun has been picking good projects recently, in addition to Lucky Seven’s ratings success his most recent movie Hidamari no Kanojo with Ueno Juri was also a hit with three weeks in a row being number 1 at the domestic box office charts. This dorama premieres in early January 2014.

While the leads are MatsuJun and Satomi, the supporting cast is also quite solid with Mizobata Junpei as Jun’s best friend in the Paris chocolate program, Mizukawa Asami as a beautiful older woman who opens a chocolate store back in Japan with Jun’s male lead, Mizuhara Kiko as a friend with a casual romantic friendship with the male lead, and Arimura Kasumi as Jun’s younger sister.