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The story
TBS’s Sunday Drama Theater series ‘VIVANT’ wrapped up its second season on November 8. Ai Iinuma, who had played genius hacker ‘Blue Walker,’ was replaced in the role after leaving her talent agency, the major firm Tanabe Agency, back in March. A news article covering the story ran with the headline ‘complicated feelings,’ and reactions on 5ch split between those who felt it was only natural that leaving an agency means losing a role, and those defending Iinuma, arguing she herself did nothing wrong. Many commenters also weighed in comparing the looks and acting of her replacement, Hanaoka.
November 8, 2026
The hit TBS Sunday Drama Theater series ‘VIVANT’ is finally reaching its finale on November 8, after its second season ran across two broadcast cours.
While viewers are eager to see how the show’s many planted plot threads get resolved, there’s also an “unsolved mystery” simmering among fans that has nothing to do with the main story.
Source: jprime.jp / Original article here
What people said
Iinuma was probably better off not doing it.
That lady got into some controversy over something she said recently, didn't she.
she's still cute either way.
That's Blue Walker.
And she's even got one too, lol
At least go interview her directly.
How was season 1 when it aired back then? Did it actually get popular?
So the girl from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn't count either?
She just happened to be on the unlucky side.
So she's still working?
Over there they'd just rewrite the script and write the character out entirely — Japan's still got a lot of catching up to do in that department.
So in the end, did everyone who came up through the auditions end up leaving Tanabe?
The previous one had better vibes for the role.
Because she went independent
from Tanabe Agency
Isn't it getting annoying
how they keep writing
the same article over and over?
Ai Iinuma, who played
Riho Ota,
got pulled from the role
because she left
Tanabe Agency.
It's not like she quit because she wanted to.
She was forced to quit because the agency was preparing to shut down.
Iinuma did absolutely nothing wrong.
Are you line-breaking there because you're typing on a flip phone?
What 'complicated feelings' nonsense — slapping on such a dramatic headline, screw that.
Yamato-chan shows up now and then in drama supporting roles,
but nobody knew what happened to Kozawa-chan —
turns out she popped up in a music video.
https://youtu.be/Tam6p9V8Hrw
Come on, Akimoto…
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Ai Iinuma’s departure from the hacker role “Blue Walker” is attributed directly to her leaving her talent agency, Tanabe Agency, back in March. Whether to keep a talent with no agency affiliation in a major role is a call left to the production side, and in this case they went with a replacement. Where opinions on the thread diverged was between those who saw it simply as “an agency matter, so it can’t be helped” and those defending Iinuma on the grounds that “she’s the one who was forced out by the agency’s circumstances — it’s not her fault.” Both sides agree on the same facts but differ on whether to weigh it more toward the agency’s situation or her own will. Also worth noting: the headline “complicated feelings” was a speculative phrase not backed by any actual comment from Iinuma herself, and the thread saw pushback against what some felt was an overly dramatic headline.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “‘VIVANT’ hacker role ‘Blue Walker’ recast after Ai Iinuma, who left her major agency in March, lets slip ‘complicated feelings’ during season 2 broadcast [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”
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