# Sky Castle (Japanese TV series)

Sky Castle (transl. SKYキャッスル) is a 2024 Japanese TV series; a remake of the 2018 South Korean hit television drama that also aired on Japan via JTBC. It was airing under the same title Sky Castle on TV Asahi's Thursday Drama slot since July 25, till September 26, 2024. The lead role is played by Nao Matsushita.
After Sky Castle is airing in Japan, it is scheduled to be broadcast and streamed in over 140 countries and regions around the world on Amazon Prime Video and other platforms.

## Cast
### Main characters

Sae Asami (39)
    Original: Han Seo-jin
    Played by: Nao Matsushita
Her real name is Yoko Baba. Her maiden name is Okura. She is a perfect celebrity with an enviable career and looks. She has two daughters. She hid the fact that she originally came from an orphanage called Wakanazono, and to save face, lied about her academic background and work history, saying that she graduated from Harvard University and that her parents were surgeons in the United States, but Izumi, who had moved in across the street, discovered that she was actually Yoko Baba.
Minamisawa Izumi (39)
    Original: Lee Soo-im
    Played by: Fumino Kimura (10-year-old: Midori Nakano)
A novelist. A new resident of Sky Castle. Her maiden name is Kubota. She has a simple personality and a pure sense of justice that is unusual for a celebrity, and she has an excellent husband and son, whom she loves as her own child.
Misaki Natsume (36)
    Original: Jin Jin-hee
    Played by: Mary Jun Takahashi
A former housewife with aspirations of becoming an actress. She has a son. Natsume befriends Asami Sae just to get her daughter's secrets of being a top student in school.
Kyoko Nikaido (38)
    Original: Noh Seung Hye
    Played by: Manami Higa
She is a talented and beautiful housewife who also went on to graduate school. She has a son and befriends quickly with the new family's housewife. A woman who would do anything in order to protect her son.
Ayaka Kujo (46)
    Original: Kim Joo Young
    Played by: Koyuki
Exam coordinator. 100% of students in her care are accepted into their schools of choice. She is a strict person. This woman also earns Ruri's trust and the two get along so well.

### Asami Family

Hideyo Asami (51)
    Original: Kang Joonsang
    Played by: Seiichi Tanabe
Sae's husband, a well-known neurosurgeon at the prestigious Teito Hospital. A surgeon who would do anything for respect, fame and is obsessed with maintaining a good track. He comes from a rich family, yet is focused on climbing the social ladder. He is also Miku Yamada's father. He used to date Nozomi Yamada, Miku's mother. Hideyo gets jealous of the new recruit, whom he looks at as a rival.
Ruri Asami (14)
    Original: Kang Ye Seo
    Played by: Miu Arai
Sae's eldest daughter. A new third-year student at Koyo Gakuen Junior High School. She was spoiled by Sae and is always boasting about her good grades. She inherited her mother's extreme competitive nature, vainness, self-centeredness, and twisted personality, so she is disliked by those around her and has no popularity. She has a crush on the new neighbors' son.
Maju Asami (12)
    Original: Kang Yebin
    Played by: Noa Shiroyama
Sae's second daughter. A new first-year student at Koyo Gakuen Junior High School. Compared to her sister, she is not as good at studying, so she is neglected by Sae and feels inferior. She befriends Miku shortly after the latter moves into their house.
Yukino Asami (73)
    Original: Madame Yoon
    Played by: Mariko Fuji
Hideyo's mother. She comes from a distinguished family. She hates her son's wife, Sae, who lies and has false academic credentials and career records. She constantly makes snide remarks and bullies her in every way possible.

### Minamisawa Family

Minamisawa Kohei (45)
    Original: Hwang Chi-young
    Played by: Ryohei Otani
Izumi's husband, a neurosurgeon who graduated from a local medical school, was scouted by the hospital director and began working at Teito Hospital. A rival of Hideyo. A doctor who cares about his patients wellbeing and has a good heart.
Minamisawa Aoba (14)
    Original: Hwang Woo-joo
    Played by: Aito Sakamoto
Son of Kohei, who remarried Izumi after his wife passed away. A new third-year student at the prestigious Koyo Gakuen Junior High School. He doesn't show his interest in Ruri, but likes Miku.

### Natsume Family

Natsume Ryotaru (42)
    Original: Woo Yang-woo
    Played by: Honda Riki
Misaki's husband and a neurosurgeon at Teito Hospital. He is foolish and befriends Hideyo.
Natsume Kensaku (14)
    Original: Woo Soo-han
    Played by: Fumi Matsufuji
Misaki's only son. A new third-year student at Koyo Gakuen Junior High School, who hates studying. He gets along well with Sho and the other kids.

### Nikaido Family

Wataru Nikaido (49)
    Original: Cha Min-hyuk
    Played by: Kosuke Suzuki
Kyoko's husband and a neurosurgeon at Teito Hospital. He thinks the most prestigious people are the ones on the top of the social pyramid, so in this mindset; he teaches his son at home. He is self-centered and has a strict personality.
Sho Nikaido (14)
    Original: Cha Seo-joon
    Played by: Fuga Shibasaki
Kyoko's only son. A new third-year student at Koyo Gakuen Junior High School. A kind and quiet boy who dislikes his father's method of teaching and studying.

### Saejima Family

Haruto Saejima (15)
    Original: Park Yeong-jae
    Played by: Riku Onishi
The only son of Tetsuto and Kaori. Despite not having very good grades, he managed to pass the highly competitive entrance exam for Teito Medical University High School. However, she did not want to pass the exam, and wrote a diary about her exam on the tablet that Sae had lent to Kaori, driving Kaori to suicide.
Kaori Saejima (46)
    Original: Lee Myung-joo
    Played by: Naho Toda
Haruto's mother. A woman with a seemingly perfect family and life. After seeing the diary that Haruto had written on the tablet, she committed suicide.
Tetsuto Saejima (55)
    Original: Park Soo-chang
    Played by: Jun Hashimoto
Kaori's husband. He is the head of the neurosurgery department at Teito Hospital and an elite who is expected to be the next hospital director. He is a good senior to Hideyo.

### Others

Miku Yamada (14)
    Original: Kim Hye-na
    Played by: Sora Tamaki
A smart and kind girl who competes with Ruri and Aoba for grades. A new third-year student at Koyo Gakuen Junior High School. She aims to become a doctor while working part-time jobs every day to care for her mother who is hospitalized at Teito Hospital and to pay for her treatment. She receives money from Rei by completing Yuma's school assignments. After seeing a photo in the picture book "Sky Castle," she finds out that Hideyo and Nozomi were dating. She harbors intense hatred for her half-sister Ruri, who has never known hardship.
Nozomi Yamada (41)
    Original: Kim Eun Hye
    Played by: Kurara Emi
Miku's mother. She used to date Hideyo in the past. The two used to have feelings for each other. She was seriously ill and hospitalized at Teito Hospital, but passed away. (Episode 4).
Eiji Nagamine (37)
    Original: Cho Tae-jun
    Played by: Ko Maehara
Ayaka's capable secretary. He is her right hand and Ayaka trusts him.
Rei Kato (40)
    Played by: Risa Naito
She is the mother of Kato Yuma, a new third-year student at Koyo Gakuen Junior High School.
Yuma Kato
    Played by: Yuto Otsuka
Rei Kato's son. He has Miku help him with his school assignments.
Sakura Akikawa (22)
    Original: Lee Ga Eul
    Played by: Arisa Matsuda
A former housekeeper for the Saejima family. She was a good friend to Haruto, but she suddenly left the Saejima family six months ago.
Takashi Okochi (68)
    Original: Choi In-ho
    Played by: Takehiko Ono
The director of Teito Hospital.

### Guest
#### Episode 1

* Host
    Played by: Yuki Hirako ( Alco & Peace )
He is the moderator of an educational seminar hosted by Teishin Bank, which is open only to a limited number of VIPs.
* Receptionist
    Played by: Haruka Miwa
Registration for the seminar. Yoko Baba
* Performer
    Played by: Honoka Yoshida

#### Episode 2

* Yoko Baba
A girl chasing the police car in which her arrested father is riding. When she was in sixth grade, she left the orphanage "Wakanaen" and was taken in by a relative, and became Okura Sae. Now that she is married, she uses the surname Asami.
* Teacher
    Played by: Maori
A teacher reads the picture book "Sky Castle" to Yoko Baba at Wakanaen, the orphanage where she is staying.

#### Episode 2

* Girls
    Played by: Orion Maeda, Sasara Yamamoto, Yo Funakawa, Hisaki Goto
They are the classmate of Yoko Baba and Izumi in elementary school. They bully Yoko when she finds out that she lied about her parents being doctors in America.

#### Episode 3

* Teacher
    Played by: Hajime Ishii
Examiner for the midterm exams of Koyo Gakuen Junior High School Class 3-Special A.
* Governor Hasuike
    Played by: Tsuyoshi Nakano
The surgery was performed by Kohei Minamisawa.
* Worker
    Played by: Masato Kato
Renovating the Nikaido family's children's room.
* Clerk
    Played by: Hideto Suzuki
The convenience store clerk where Asami Masaru tried to shoplift a magazine.
* Host
    Played by: Keiichiro Hashimoto
Moderator of Governor Hasuike's press conference upon his discharge from hospital.

#### Episode 4

* Shiori Kinosaki
    Played by: Kana Kajiwara
When Izumi was aspiring to be a high school teacher, she was a student of the school where she was doing her teaching practice. She was sending out an SOS and Izumi was unable to save her, leading to her suicide, which had a major impact on the way Izumi lived her life thereafter.
* Clerk
    Played by: Erika Natori
A clerk at the accounting reception desk of Teito Hospital.
* Doctor
    Played by: Hiroyuki Yamamoto
Yamada Nozomi's doctor.

#### Episode 5

* Neighbors
    Played by: China Kusumoto、Kaori Isoyama, Emiri Tokunaga、Satoko Kikuchi、Chisa Yamaguchi, Hatsumi Ishizuka
The residents of Sky Castle are talking about rumors, such as Sae's background, which she tried to stop Izumi from writing a novel, being a lie and having come from an institution.

## Production

The series will be broadcast and streamed in over 140 countries and regions around the world on the other streaming platforms and on Amazon Prime Video. Most parts of the series were filmed in a condominium complex located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture.

## Viewership

Average TV viewership ratings :
| Ep. | Original Broadcast Date | Title | Director | Ratings |
| 1 | July 25, 2024 | Sky Castle Battle Begins | Naoki Tamura | 8.5% |
| 2 | August 1, 2024 | Shocking Past Revealed | Naoki Tamura | 5.3% |
| 3 | August 8, 2024 | Breaking Down Walls | Yuji Nakamae | 5.4% |
| 4 | August 15, 2024 | Hold Secrets From The Past | Yuji Nakamae | 5.4% |
| 5 | August 22, 2024 | True Face Revealed | Naoki Tamura | 6.3% |
| 6 | August 29, 2024 | Husband Has A Secret Child? | Kazunari Hoshino | 6.7% |
| 7 | September 12, 2024 | The Mastermind Revealed | Naoki Tamura | 6.6% |
| 8 | September 19, 2024 | All Mysteries Revealed | Kazunari Hoshino | 7.6% |
| 9 | September 26, 2024 | Unexpected Truth (Finale) | Naoki Tamura | 7.9% |
| (Viewer ratings are from Video Research, Kanto region, households, real time) |||||
* The first episode will be extended by six minutes and broadcast from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.