Riisa Naka Returns to Fuji TV After 12 Years
Riisa Naka (仲里依紗) hasn't appeared on a Fuji TV series in over a decade. Now she's coming back as the lead. Japanese entertainment site Eiga Natalie reported that Naka will star in Tokyo middle 30, a Wednesday-night drama premiering July 22, 2026 in the 10 PM slot. It marks her first time headlining a Fuji TV serial drama at age 36.
Anime fans may know Naka best as the voice of Makoto Konno in Mamoru Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) and Natsuki Shinohara in Summer Wars (2009). On the live-action side, she's built a long career in Japanese film and television, though typically in supporting and co-starring roles.
A Massive Chinese Hit Gets a Japanese Remake
Tokyo middle 30 is a Japanese adaptation of the Chinese drama Nothing But Thirty (三十而已), which aired in 2020 and became a genuine cultural phenomenon. The original racked up over 5.5 billion views on Tencent Video and spawned remakes across Asia, including versions in Vietnam and Thailand.
The premise follows three women who were inseparable in high school but drifted apart over the years. They reunite by chance after five years and discover how far each has strayed from the future they once imagined. The Japanese version bumps the characters' ages from 30 to 35, focusing on the specific pressures facing women in their mid-thirties in Japan: career advancement, marriage, pregnancy, and whether it's realistic to pursue all of them at once.
Who Naka Plays
Naka takes on Maki Sakura (née Kurusu), nicknamed "Kurumaki" by her friends. Maki once prioritized building a career on her own terms, but an unexpected pregnancy changed her trajectory. She now lives as a stay-at-home mom in an upscale apartment, quietly supporting her husband's cosmetic clinic while raising their five-year-old son. On the surface, her life looks comfortable. But her ambition never really went away, and hearing her old friends talk about their jobs only makes the itch harder to ignore.
In her official comments, Naka noted the overlap with her own life as a mother, adding that the role carries "struggles and conflicts that I can understand precisely because we're the same generation." She also pushed back gently on the idea that motherhood is the finish line: "Women aren't born just to become mothers, and that's not the goal of their lives."
The other two leads, Haruka Yamaji (a would-be musician stuck working in apparel) and Kaoruko Nagano (an elementary school teacher unable to commit to marrying her live-in partner), have not been cast yet.
The Anime Connection Behind the Script
Screenwriter Ayako Kitagawa (北川亜矢子) brings a resume that will ring familiar. She wrote the live-action drama adaptations of both Laid-Back Camp and Oshi no Ko. Her comment on Tokyo middle 30 frames a woman's thirties as "an incredibly harsh season" where career, marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth all demand decisions at once, and getting everything right is nearly impossible.
Directing duties are shared among Masaya Kakei, Shogo Miyaki, and Takahiro Takasugi.
Looking Ahead
Tokyo middle 30 premieres on Fuji TV on July 22, 2026, airing Wednesdays at 10 PM. Casting for the two remaining leads should follow in the coming weeks. No international streaming partner has been announced, though Fuji TV dramas have historically appeared on platforms like FOD (Fuji's own on-demand service) and occasionally on international services after their domestic run. Whether the show reaches Crunchyroll, Netflix, or another Western platform remains to be seen.