Japanese entertainment group Nippon Television is using the Asian Television Forum in Singapore this week to launch hit series “A Girl of 35” as a scripted format. The underlying drama has been airing on Nippon TV since October.
The show follows a young girl who in 1995, age 10, has a freak accident and is left in an unconscious state. Twenty-five years later, she wakes with a 35-year-old-body but the mind of a 10-year-old. She rushes to accumulate over two decades’ worth of experiences and endures pains and heartbreaks as she goes to middle school and high school and matures quickly, before blossoming into a beautiful woman with a mind that has finally caught up with her body. The show features movie star Shibasaki Ko (“Battle Royale,” “Suspect X,” “47 Ronin”) in the lead role.
“This story of awakening and inspiration will have viewers questioning how they have spent their past 25 years and ponder how they should be moving forward with their lives,” said Sayako Aoki, manager of international business development at Nippon TV.
Written by Kazuhiko Yukawa and directed by Ryuichi Inomata, the series is put together by the same production team as another recent Nippon TV hit “I’m Mita Your Housekeeper.”
“We quickly realized that ATF was the perfect occasion in which to launch ‘A Girl of 35,’ as our scripted formats have had much success in the Asian region. For example, our series ‘Mother’ was very well adapted and received in China, South Korea and Thailand, and the adaptation of our format ‘Abandoned’ won the Maya prize in Thailand,” said Aoki.
“ ‘A Girl of 35’ has a strong message of hope and realization of not taking
everything in life for granted. It is certain to resonate now with audiences in Asia, as well as around the world, as viewers can sympathize with the story of this family while reflecting how we got to where we are right now.
Operating as part of the Singapore Media Festival, the ATF runs Dec 1-4, 2020, including a first day dominated by conferences. Due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, the market this year is set as a wholly online affair.