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| Nagano Mei Restarts Career with Netflix Film Amid Costly Advertising Disputes (Photo: Yahoo JP) |
Nagano Mei is officially stepping back into the spotlight — but her comeback is arriving with a heavy price tag attached.
On 3 December, the 26-year-old actress quietly announced her “new chapter” after months away from public activities. Netflix confirmed she will lead its upcoming romance film My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend, adapted from a popular Korean novel, with filming already underway since December.
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| Nagano Mei cut her hair short for the film (Photo: Instagram). |
Actor Kido Taisei is said to star opposite her, while Nagano has also debuted a sharp short-hair look across her official website, signalling a full image reset.
Industry watchers see the Netflix project as a turning point — yet behind the scenes, the atmosphere remains anything but simple.
Nagano Mei largely stepped out of the public eye following a wave of online speculation earlier this year.
While she firmly denied all rumours, the impact was immediate: multiple advertising partnerships were discontinued, and she later chose to withdraw from a confirmed NHK historical drama, effectively placing her career on pause.
At the time, companies avoided citing specific reasons, often attributing decisions to “internal considerations”. However, the prolonged attention surrounding her personal life continued to ripple through the industry.
By early autumn, as the buzz began to settle, many assumed the storm had finally passed.
Contract Issues Resurface — And the Numbers Are Big
That calm didn’t last long.
On 14 December, Japanese media reported that several former advertising clients were now reviewing compensation clauses tied to brand image.
According to entertainment insiders, the total amount under discussion could reportedly range from several hundred million yen to close to one billion yen.
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What caught attention most was the claim that Nagano Mei herself is prepared to shoulder the responsibility personally, rather than passing the burden entirely to her agency.
It is also rumoured that she may sell a property valued at around ¥400 million to cover the costs.
In the Japanese entertainment, agencies typically advance such costs before recovering them from future earnings.
Nagano Mei’s reported stance, however, suggests a willingness to face the consequences head-on — a move some see as accountability, others as a sign of internal pressure.
Adding to the tension was an October sighting that quickly gained traction online.
Nagano Mei was photographed attending a live music performance in Tokyo alongside a man later identified as her former manager, who left her agency earlier this year.
Reports described the pair as long-time partners in work rather than romantically involved, yet the timing raised eyebrows.
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For an actress effectively in a self-imposed cooling-off period, the appearance reignited unwanted chatter — and insiders say it didn’t go unnoticed within the agency that had spent months shielding her from further exposure.
Some within the industry described the moment as “avoidable”, especially with reputational matters still being carefully managed.
Can Netflix Change the Narrative?
Despite the financial uncertainty, My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend is now positioned as Nagano Mei’s key reset button.
Streaming platforms are often more flexible than traditional broadcasters, and Netflix’s global reach offers her a chance to shift the focus back to performance rather than headlines.
Observers note that Nagano Mei’s decisive image change and early commitment to filming reflect a determination to rebuild from the ground up.