Just two weeks after Yamashita Tomohisa confirmed his return to doramaland in the upcoming January 2012 Saikō no Jinsei no Owarikata: Ending Planner, the rest of the main cast has now been finalized. In some ways its better than I hoped for with some solid actors, and in other ways it has the requisite newbie idols I typically avoid. The leading lady is, thank god, not the earlier rumored pretty faces, but is instead Yamapi’s former co-star in ProDai. In Proposal Daisakusen, Eikura Nana played the best friend to the leading actress character played by Nagasawa Masami, but I found myself liking her character and performance much better. Here she will play the role of the rookie cop who ends up working with Yamapi’s mortician to bring closure for victims and their families.

Lucky for Yamapi, he’s getting a machine gun of a male co-star playing his older brother, none other than Sorimachi Takashi. The man is too cool for words and a leading man a billion times over, so I’m assuming the script is interesting enough for him to take the supporting role here. In another coincidence, his last dorama was the Fall offering Good Life~Arigato, Papa. Sayonara~, which so happened to co-star Eikura Nana as well. I love watching Sorimachi, but I love him even more because he’s married to one of Japan’s top actresses and one of my long time favorites Matsushima Nanako. Talk about a power couple.

Unfortunately the good casting might end here, because AKB-48s Maeda Atsuko also joins the cast as the younger sister to both Yamapi and Sorimachi. I don’t hate her, but what little I saw of her in HanaKimi2011 was underwhelming to say the least. Another idol joining the family will be Hey! Say! Jump!‘s Yuri Chinen as the youngest sibling. Like anyone thought Johnny wouldn’t be able to shove one of his new boy offerings into a Yamapi dorama. So there you have it with the complete main cast. I still remain cautiously optimistic. After all, it’s my Pi.