No man's land

The super high viewership of the version of "White Tower" brought back Yoshiko Yamazaki, who had been silent for years, to the eyes of TV producers. The series "Glamorous Clan" and "Barren Land" were remade and brought to the screen. The former, led by Ryoko Miura, had average ratings and a lukewarm response, while the latter, headlined by Takuya Kimura, achieved tremendous success. Apart from the influence of the leading actors and differences in production teams, the disparity in the quality of the original novels cannot be ignored. Those familiar with Yoshiko Yamazaki would know that in the mid-1960s her novel writing shifted towards a critical realist style. "White Tower," "Glamorous Clan," and "Barren Land" are representative masterpieces among her works. Fuji TV has now remade "Barren Land" into a TV series under the auspices of its 50th anniversary celebration. With a luxurious cast including Juzo Takeda, Emi Hisaishi, Toshiro Yanagi, Yuki Ogura, Yuki Amami, and Noboru Takano, it is expected to be another heavy-hitting production. Similarly adapted from Yamazaki's long novels, produced and aired by Fuji TV, and starring Juzo Takeda as the lead, the new drama "Barren Land" may break the usual episode length restrictions and follow the example of the "White Tower" version by being filmed as an epic spanning two seasons.