Fumiko

The ones covered as female lead already would be:
Hojo Masako (Kusa Moeru and kinda also in Kamakura dono as deuteragonist), Hino Tomiko (Hana no Ran), Atsuhime (Atsuhime), Ii Naotora (Onna Joshu Naotora), Yamamoto Yaeko (Yae no Sakura), Nene (Onna Taikoki), Gou (Gou), Kasuga no Tsubone (Kasuga no Tsubone).

That would leave:
Tachibana Ginchiyo (a Tachibana Taiga has been asked for for years)

Hosokawa Gracia. Kirin ga Kuru about her father Mitsuhide was popular enough and she has been planned for a long while as a theme.

Oichi (would take a long while since she featured a lot in Dousuru and if a Nobunaga Taiga is done she would be there as well)

Chacha (actually should happen at some point in the future in my opinion)

Kyogoku Maria - Azai Nagamasa's older sister. An important Christian leader.

Maybe also a remake Onna Taikoki Taiga about Nene, Hideyoshi's wife

Hino Tomiko I doubt will be chosen as a theme again however Hojo Soun is a possible theme and Hino Tomiko would appear in a Taiga if it's set during the Onin War of course.

They could also go the Toshiie to Matsu (Matsu + Toshiie) and Komyo ga Tsuji (Chiyo + Kazutoyo) route. Hikaru Kimi E kinda does this with the Murasaki and Michinaga cooperation (they were not married but they cooperated at court).

Samurai and his clever wife who has many anecdotes that could still happen:
Tachibana Ginchiyo and Muneshige
Otani Yoshitsugu's daughter Chikurin'in and Sanada Nobushige/Yukimura with Chikurin'in as the MC
An adaption of 夏草の賦 about Chosokabe Motochika and his wife Nana (the Taiga Komyo ga Tsuji about Chiyo and Kazutoyo was also a novel adaption).

If they would dare to depict eras pre Heian like Nara and Asuka they could use characters like Empress Gensho which would be cool, but they don't have money for these sets and costumes.

So far the most interesting new project of his seems to be Queen Woo. He plays a very different character than the one he played in Empress Ki, the era is not covered often and the characters have no media depiction so far, also the cast is great.

My two hopes are that the costumes are accurate for that era (no fantasy costumes) and that the writing is good.

So far it‘s excellent again ❤️.

Regarding the historical background there shouldn't be one however since the historical records are sparse they could flesh out plotlines differently than expected of course.

Sekigahara was decent however nothing will ever beat Aoi Tokugawa Sandai's version since it is just too amazing.

Dousuru's Sekigahara also showed some stuff behind scenes and rather deliberately did not want to copy Aoi too much.

The biggest example I can give is Otani Yoshitsugu's demise. While Dousuru's Otani Yoshitsugu was well portrayed and it showed him fighting bravely against the troup of treacherous Kobayakawa it did not try to compete with the iconic entirely complete death scene of Yoshitsugu in Aoi (Yoshitsugu being shown cursing Kobayakawa which is based on an anecdote of Yoshitsugu whishing Kobayakawa to die in the next three years for his betrayal, then committing suicide and Yoshitsugu's servant saving Yoshitsugu's head from the enemy).

Mitsunari was well portrayed and written as a wellrounded character in my opinion.

Now the very last Dousuru is still left for Ieyasu to solve: the lady

Characters like Hidetada will now become more important and we will now see several new faces in the next episodes. Not many episodes left. Episode 48 is the last one.

The main actress is 29 thus close to 30 and all male actors from first husband to second husband to the main rival for the throne are in their 30s thus all ages are pretty close to each other in my opinion and kinda how I imagine this family to look like historically.

Gogukcheon is the king in the beginning and he is a decent king. His death leaves a power vacuum.

After Gogukcheon's death the main MC is Balgi the next oldest brother who sees himself as the most logical successor. The Queen however disagrees and backs Yeon Woo/Sansang the third brother.

It's a succession crisis and the Queen siding with Yeon Woo/Sansang is what decides the outcome.

Only next episode left (Episode 42) and then we will finally see Sekigahara (in episode 43). Hope that it challenges Aoi Tokugawa Sandai‘s Sekigahara (best to date).

All in all the second part of the Taiga has rised the tensions a lot.
I really like Matsuyama Kenichi as Honda Masanobu, concubine Acha no Tsubone who is the main female by Ieyasu‘s side in the last third is great as well.
Mitsunari and Ieyasu originally getting along fine and then having a fallout and Mitsunari succumbing under the pressure and the warriors not liking him was good as well.
Otani Yoshitsugu seems to be well portrayed going from today‘s episode 41.
Kitagawa Keiko’s Chacha is a master manipulator interested in how they will portray her during the Siege of Osaka.

Kang Young Seok is Sansang. He still has the name Yeon Woo pre ascension to the throne.

Arimura as Sena until half of the show she is the heroine of the first half.

Yamada as Hanzo has occassional episodes in which he is prominent (first and second half). He is recurring.

At least his role King Gogukcheon is a competent and kind/noble king (see anecdotes about him caring for his folk) whose death causes the whole succession crisis so I think that the flashbacks will emphasize that he is missing and that now the Queen has to see the throne as priority and choose what‘s best.

King Gogukcheon next to the youngest brother prince Gyesu (who aided him and later fought for the Queen and Sansang) was also definitely the most competent fighter of the brothers thus maybe we will also briefly see him in action scenes.

Danashiri was perfect as a villain since the actress did a really good job (interestingly she even was a villain whose motivation you can get behind sometimes since she barely was given chances).

It‘s very messed up to keep in mind that Danashiri in history was only 14-15 when she was killed though (likely through poison instead of hanging) after her brother started a rebellion. Probably why they cast her with a young looking actress.

I own the DVDs of Hana no Ran (they were not particular expensive).

A couple of years ago someone uploaded the entire series on YouTube with English subtitles but this seems to be removed (sadly since it's an excellent Taiga about an era not covered often and nowadays it's estimated way more highly then back then.) Hopefully someone uploads the subtitled version somewhere again so that more people have the opportunity to watch it.

I own the condensed version of Kusa Moeru on DVD.

Someone also uploaded all of the condensed version of Kusa Moeru on nicovideo and split it into parts.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/search/%E8%8D%89%E7%87%83%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B?ref=nicotop_search

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTultmCa62w

There you go :).

Chacha‘s first appearance is in episode 36. Now that she is properly introduced let‘s hope that when Sekigahara and Osaka take place that they give everything for the battles.

I would also advice reading Murasaki Shikibu's diary (Penguin Classic released it, it's short and not expensive). Characters that will appear in the Taiga are mentioned in it (since much of the focus will be on the Fujiwara clan and the imperial family and the political machinations of Fujiwara no Michinaga).

Reading the Pillow Book and Murasaki's diary also shows how Michinaga's two empresses for Emperor Ichijo plan basically split the court since Murasaki for example served Michinaga's daughter Empress Shoshi while Sei Shonagon served Empress Teishi who has already been married to Ichijo for several years.

Another famous character that will appear is Abe no Seimei a famous Heian onmyoji. There is a famous Onmyoji manga which also has two movies (starring Nomura Mansai). Seimei also is an important character in the FromSoftware game Kuon. Netflix is also planning a new Onmyoji anime centered on Seimei which will release soon.

Dailymotion or 9tsu is the best solution for raws.

As expected they released Sekigahara characters and Siege of Osaka characters today since today is the anniversary of Sekigahara.

https://www6.nhk.or.jp/nhkpr/post/original.html?i=39925&cid=orjp-ieyasu-posts

They also updated Chacha's profile but turned her screenshot into a silhouette so we will be surprised who will play her in one of the next episodes.

https://www.nhk.or.jp/ieyasu/cast/chacha.html

There was a break last Sunday, episode 35 will release on September 17.

Usually there are always two breaks during the run of a Taiga most of the time due to preparations for cast announcements.
Dousuru Ieyasu already had a break earlier this year now this is the second break and there are still quite a bunch of characters that are to be announced since the upcoming guidebooks would spoil the new cast members. Thus we might hear news in the next couple of days.

Upcoming characters:
Adult Chacha (most crucial new announcement)
Gou
Kobayakawa Hideaki
more Siege of Osaka characters

Sansang participated in a ritual which consisted of sacrificing a pig. The pig escaped and the girl caught it before anyone else was able to. It likely seemed like a sign to him.