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The trailer and poster visuals have been released for the new Kansai TV/Fuji TV drama “Attorney Minamida Minami Is a Genius,” starring Mana Ashida. A remake of the Korean drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” which became a worldwide Netflix hit, the series follows Ashida’s character Minami Minamida, a rookie lawyer with autism spectrum disorder who graduated top of her class from the University of Tokyo’s law faculty and passed the bar exam at the top of her cohort. On 5ch, reactions ranged widely — from jokes about the character’s name reading the same forwards and backwards, to comparisons with the original Korean lead actress’s performance, to debates over the casting itself.
September 19, 2026
The poster visual and trailer have arrived for the new Kansai TV/Fuji TV drama “Attorney Minamida Minami Is a Genius,” starring Mana Ashida. The band muque has been confirmed to perform the theme song.
The series is a remake of the Korean drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” which streamed on Netflix and became a worldwide hit. Ashida plays the lead, Minami Minamida, who has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) yet graduated top of her class from the University of Tokyo’s law faculty and passed the bar exam at the top of her group. Repeatedly turned away by law firms due to social prejudice against autism spectrum disorder, she finally lands a job at the industry-leading Hirokawa & Howard law firm. As a rookie attorney, Minami runs into wall after wall, but tackles case after difficult case with her own unique perspective and flashes of insight. Fumiya Takahashi plays Minato Funai, the colleague for whom Minami develops her first crush, while Akihiro Kakuda (of the trio Tokyo 03) plays Minami’s father, Makoto Minamida.
Source: natalie.mu / Original article here
What people said
No, it's 'nande nan' (Kansai for 'why though')
https://youtu.be/S0wny_upWy8
kawaii
A firm that hires you on the spot like that is shady (a 'black company' — Japanese slang for an exploitative employer)
Isn't that a misread?
Re: #20 looks fresh-faced
Doesn't seem like it'll top Woo Young-woo — not the acting, not the show itself
You can already binge Korean dramas on streaming till you're sick of them lol
It's because she has a signature line in her self-introduction about how it reads the same forwards and backwards
Re: #57
'Momoi Momo' rolls off the tongue better, but 'Minamida Minami' has more punch
Kanako Momota, 32
Mayu Matsuoka, 31
They're both 'aunties' at this point lol
I don't think Mana Ashida's the right fit either, but come on, give us someone a bit fresher and younger
If they were doing a remake, I always figured Kyoko Yoshine would've been the pick
Well, there's Den Fujita (McDonald's Japan founder) and Toru Kumon (founder of the Kumon method) — same kind of name quirk
Background and Key Points of Discussion
The original Korean drama, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” became a worldwide Netflix hit in 2022, earning widespread praise for lead actress Park Eun-bin’s portrayal of a rookie lawyer with autism spectrum disorder. With Japanese remakes of overseas hits, the strength of the source material’s image tends to invite comparisons over the new lead’s casting and acting — and that same pattern shows up here. In the thread, some voices spoke favorably of the impression Ashida gives in her commercials, while others pointed to an apparent height difference with co-stars or footage from her past roles to argue she now “looks more grown-up,” and others still offered harsh comparisons against the original lead’s performance. The character name “Minamida Minami,” built so it reads the same forwards and backwards, also drew plenty of attention, sparking a lot of back-and-forth over its rhythm and possible origin. Note that posts linking the casting decision to talent-agency politics are unsubstantiated speculation and are not covered in this article.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Mana Ashida — Drama ‘Attorney Minamida Minami Is a Genius’ Trailer & Poster Revealed, ‘Reads the Same Forwards and Backwards: Minamida Minami’.”
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