More cast members announced for the new “HanaKimi”

Last month it was announced that AKB48’s Maeda Atsuko would star in the reboot of the popular drama “Hanazakari no Kimitachi e – Ikemen Paradise“, widely known as just “HanaKimi“. Earlier today, Fuji TV finally revealed the main male cast as well as some of the supporting cast members.

Maeda is going to play a girl who has to disguise herself as a boy in order to enroll into a boys’ boarding school for a certain reason. Four years ago, it was actress Horikita Maki who portrayed the same role and was trapped in a complicated love triangle between the two main male characters portrayed by Oguri Shun and Ikuta Toma.

This year Nakamura Aoi and Miura Shohei will take over those important roles and hope to experience as much of a breakthrough as their seniors.

Nakamura’s thoughts about his role, “I’m aiming to not just portray Sano as an ikemen by appearance, but also show his hidden passion and strong willpower.”

Miura’s comment about replacing Ikuta for the role of Nakatsu, “I’m feeling happy and pressure at the same time. I’d like to become as foolish as possible in order to portray the role of Nakatsu to the best of my abilities.”

Other well-known characters from the original drama will be played by variety talent Yamada Shintaro (the younger brother of actress Yamada Yu), actor Mitsushima Shinosuke (the younger brother of actress Mitsushima Hikari) and theater heartthrob Takami Ozora. They’re all young talents who aim to make a name for themselves by repeating the same level of success as the original drama.

It was also revealed that popular singers who are famous on the Japanese streaming portal Nico Nico Douga will make surprise appearances throughout the drama.

“HanaKimi 2011″ will air on Fuji TV every Sunday at 9pm and is scheduled to begin sometime in July.

Source: Sanspo, Tokyohive