With "Gokusen: The Movie" less than a couple months away, a new announcement has revealed that six more actors from the drama's earlier seasons will be returning, including Shun Oguri and Mocomichi Hayami.

The movie is already known to focus on the cast of the show's third season, which aired in 2008. It was previously announced that Yuya Takaki, Haruma Miura, and Yuta Tamamori are part of the main cast. At the end of last month, it was also revealed that the second season's Kazuya Kamenashi was added to the cast.

Now, the number of returning alumni has again increased, adding three students each from the drama's first two seasons. Oguri will represent the first season, along with Yuma Ishigaki and Hiroki Narimiya. From the second season, Hayami will be joined by Teppei Koike and Keisuke Koide.

Although all six played delinquent students in their respective seasons, they have grown up to become respectable members of society. Together with Kamenashi's character, who has become a teacher in training, these graduates will lend their support to the beloved teacher "Yankumi," played by starring actress Yukie Nakama. This movie is said to be Nakama's last time to take on this role.

Filming for the movie finished on May 13. The picture opens in theaters on July 11.

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TBS's aired the first episode of its "MR.BRAIN" drama series on Saturday. As expected for a drama starring Takuya Kimura, viewership ratings were high, achieving 24.8% in the Kanto region and 25.2% in Kansai.

Aside from Kimura, the show also features popular stars like Haruka Ayase and Hiro Mizushima. TBS has also been promoting the guest stars in each episode, such as Ebizo Ichikawa and Ryoko Hirosue in this premiere episode. Gackt and Kazuya Kamenashi are among the guests for future episodes.

This marks the best opening of any drama series this season by far, and it is also that time slot's (Saturday 8:00pm) highest ratings since TBS began airing dramas in the slot last spring.

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I heard this drama is pretty funny, anyone else looking forward to it being subbed?

An internet survey taken among first-year junior high school students asked them to rank celebrities by the statement, "That person would be nice to have as a teacher." 500 boys and girls participated in the survey, conducted by the company Superweb.

For the female rankings, actress Haruka Ayase came in first, while Arashi's Sho Sakurai topped the rankings for the male category. Professional baseball player Ichiro was first in the athlete category.

Ayase recently played the role of a junior high school teacher in the hit movie "Oppai Volleyball." She barely beat out actress Yukie Nakama, who starred as a teacher in the drama series "Gokusen."

In the men's category, Shinsuke Shimada placed second while Ryuta Sato of "ROOKIES" ranked third. Swimmer Kosuke Kitajima came in second behind Ichiro in the athlete rankings.

The survey also included a politician category, led by Hideo Higashikokubaru. He was followed by Barack Obama and Junichiro Koizumi.

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-who would be your picks?

A new movie from director Eiji Uchida will feature actor Kazuki Kato ("Kamen Rider Kabuto," the "Prince of Tennis" musicals) in his first solo film lead. Titled "Dakara Oretachi wa, Asa wo Matteita," the suspenseful plot involves a group of eight men who converge in an unexpected situation.

The central stage is behind the closed doors of a high-class pawnshop. Kato (24) stars as a member of a group of thieves who has an unexpected past. Also playing a professional thief is Manabu Oshio (31), who is making his comeback to the field of acting after more than three years. Oshio last appeared in the 2006 series "Satomi Hakkenden," before getting married to actress Akiko Yada (30) later that year. In 2008, he transferred to Avex in hopes of reviving his singing and acting careers.

The rest of the cast includes Takashi Nagayama (30) as an apprentice to Oshio, and Shinji Takeda (36) as the pawnshop owner. Theatrical release is scheduled for February 2010.

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Hideaki Takizawa (27) has picked up his first starring role in a serial drama since 2005. He will share the screen with Ryo Nishikido (24) in a TBS series tentatively titled "Orthros no Inu," named after the two-headed dog from Greek mythology.

The thrilling human drama has Takizawa playing the role of a mysterious and ambitious man with a wicked heart, who possesses the power to heal pain and illness with the touch of his hand. Nishikido, on the other hand, plays a high school teacher with a gentle heart, but who has the ability to kill with his touch. The two happen to meet, resulting in a battle of good and evil.

Takizawa's last starring role in a series was in the 2005 NHK taiga drama "Yoshitsune." Before that, he played the lead in Fuji TV's "Boku Dake no Madonna."

TBS will broadcast "Orthros no Inu" on Friday nights at 10:00pm, starting in July.

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-sounds interesting! not that I need more dramas to watch...