NTV has announced that it will broadcast a documentary drama about actor Tadao Takashima's six-year battle with clinical depression. The two-hour special is titled "Utsu e no Fukushuu" and will show at 9:00pm on June 26.

Takashima is the husband of actress Hanayo Sumi and the father of actors Masahiro and Masanobu Takashima. He has appeared in dozens of movies, including "Frankenstein vs. Baragon" and "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla." In 1998, he began suffering from depression, though at the time, it was publicly announced that he was sick with diabetes. He and his family continued to battle his illness for six years.

In the drama, Takashima will be played by Hiroki Matsukata, and Keiko Takahashi has been cast as Hanayo. Tetsuya Bessho and Yoshihiko Hakamada will play Masahiro and Masanobu, respectively. The actual Takashima family will also appear in the program through interview scenes.

TBS announcer Tomoko Ogawa gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Friday afternoon. She has been married to a bank employee since 2000. Her pregnancy was announced earlier this year, and she started maternity leave in March. She plans to return to work next April.

Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto's directorial debut, "Dainipponjin," premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night, and representatives are reporting that the film has already received distribution offers from ten different countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. With the quick response from buyers, it is possible that the movie may start seeing overseas releases by the end of this year.

For more information about the story: Twitch has posted a review of the movie.

The rumors of a live-action "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e" series have finally been confirmed. The drama, which has been given the subtitle "Ikemen Paradise," will air every Tuesday at 9:00pm on Fuji TV, starting on July 3. Maki Horikita, Shun Oguri, and Toma Ikuta have been cast in major roles.

The drama is based on the popular manga of the same name by Hisaya Nakajo, which has already been dramatized in Taiwan. Horikita plays the protagonist Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl in the U.S. who one day sees the young athlete Izumi Sano (Oguri) compete in the high jump on television. She begins to idolize him, and decides to move to Japan to attend the same school as him. However, Izumi goes to an all-boys school, so Mizuki disguises herself as a boy to achieve her dream of being with her idol.

Toma plays the part of Shuichi Nakatsu, a classmate and friend of Mizuki and Izumi.

Oricon recently published two surveys about "business-related" manga, which basically refers to any manga involving the world of the working class.

One survey asked participants which title they would like to see turned into a television drama. Number one on the list was Tochi Ueyama's long-running "Cooking Papa" series, which is currently at 91 volumes and counting. The next most popular choices were "Hataraki Man" (Moyoco Anno), "OL Shinkaron" (Risu Akizuki), "Takeko-san no Koibito" (Reiko Mochizuki), and "Money no Ken" (Norifusa Mita).

The second survey asked respondents which main character they most wanted to be like. The top choice was Hitoshi Tadano, the title character of Kimio Yanagisawa's popular "Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano Hitoshi" series. He ranked highest among both men and women, and in two of the three age groups. Second place went to Kintaro Yajima of Hiroshi Motomiya's "Salaryman Kintaro." The rest of the top five were Kosaku Shima ("Kacho Shima Kosaku" by Kenshi Hirokane), Shiro Yamaoka ("Oishinbo" by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki), and Minami Fujii ("Sapuri" by Mari Okazaki).

Hong Kong director Gordon Chan ("Fist of Legend") is set to direct an English-language live-action film based on the "King of Fighters" video game franchise. The script will be in the hands of "Fearless" screenwriter Chris Chow.

The cast has not yet been revealed, but it has been announced that filming is scheduled to begin in early 2008.