Kanami Honma
BIOGRAPHY
Kanami Honma (Japanese: 本間かなみ) is a Japanese television producer at TV Tokyo and the producer of both Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (2020) and its sequel feature Cherry Magic! THE MOVIE (2022).
She grew up in Gunma Prefecture, “surrounded by mountains”, as she has put it, and came to television late, in her early twenties, out of a childhood habit of watching drama. From roughly the age of 21 to 26 she worked in variety programming at a broadcaster other than TV Tokyo, as an assistant director and associate producer, on non-permanent terms. Her staffing agency then recommended her to TV Tokyo’s drama department, which she joined in 2016.
The head of the drama department at the time held that anyone whose pitch was approved would be allowed to produce it, “regardless of employment status”. Honma submitted roughly thirty proposals over three years. The one that was greenlit was Cherry Magic, her producing debut, made while she was still not permanent staff. It took the 15th My Best TV Award Grand Prix, a Galaxy Award and the 106th Television Drama Academy Award for Best Work.
She was initially reluctant to extend it. She had built the drama to finish complete, and only the volume of letters from viewers changed her mind; when a condensed recap film was proposed she rejected it and countered with shinsatsu wa dō deshō ka, “how about we shoot something new?”, which became a full sequel following Adachi and Kurosawa afterwards. She consulted the manga’s author Yuu Toyota, and has said the team deliberately marketed the film on the manga’s “happy world” rather than on jeopardy. Cherry Magic! THE MOVIE received a Film Fan Award at the 77th Mainichi Film Concours.
She has since produced a run of TV Tokyo dramas, among them Ukiwa: Tomodachi Ijō, Furin Miman (2021), Keishichō Kōsatsu Ikka (2022), SHUT UP (2023), Qros no Onna (2024), Bansan Blues (2025) and Legal Beat (2026). In 2025 she returned to Boys’ Love with Stay by My Side after the Rain (雨上がりの僕らについて), TV Tokyo’s adaptation of the BL manga.
Honma’s first produced drama came after roughly thirty proposals over three years.
She joined TV Tokyo’s drama department in 2016, recommended by the staffing agency she had worked through in variety programming, and was not permanent staff. Cherry Magic was the pitch that was greenlit, so her first credit as producer was also the series that became the 2020 drama.
She was one of three producers on the series, alongside Azusa Ihara of TV Tokyo and Rie Kumagai of Daiei Television, and the same three are credited on the 2022 film.
PROFILE DETAILS
- Native Name
- 本間かなみ
- Real Name
- Kanami Honma
- Pronouns
- she/her
- Birthplace
- Gunma Prefecture, Japan
- Gender
- Female
- Profession
- Nationality
- Debut
- 2020 · Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい, TV Tokyo, 2020), her producing debut, made from a proposal she pitched herself while still on a contract, not a permanent, staff position.
- Agency / Label
- TV Tokyo (株式会社テレビ東京), drama department, joined in 2016. She previously worked in variety programming at another broadcaster as an assistant director and associate producer.
- Years Active
- 2016-present at TV Tokyo (2020-present as producer); earlier variety work at another broadcaster from roughly age 21
- Languages
- Japanese
- Skills
- Television drama producing; drama development and pitching; earlier experience as assistant director and associate producer in variety programming
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