I've loved Mei Nagano since Oyabaka Seishun Hakusho, in which I fell with her character of the sweet and sensible Sakura Obika!
Loving her so much in that, I was prompted to finally watch "Hanbun Aoi", an asadora which spawned so many actors and actresses I love that I was almost inevitable I'd see!
Indeed, by the time I watched "Hakozume" Mei's police drama with Erika Toda, it was already like seeing an old friend when I saw her as the clumsy but good-hearted (as, it seems, are most Mei roles) Mai Kawai!
I had seen the promos for Mei's movie "Jigoku No Hanazono" and had been clamoring to see it, but for the longest time the most I got was an (admittedly hilarious and VERY cute) cameo in Ichikei No Karasu (along with co-stars Alice Hirose and Kenichi Endo).
Well, December rolled around and I was finally treated to Jigoki No Hanazono and OH MAN, it was as FUN and AWESOME as I could have hoped for! Mei was, so, so SO darn GREAT in it, she OFFICIALLY became one of my BIG favorite Actresses and a MUST SEE for ANY project she comes up with NEXT!
Going onto dramawiki, IU was surprised to see that while Oyabaka Seishun Hakusho was the first drama that made me a fan of Mei's, it was NOT actually the first time I had seen her!
Looking onto her dramawiki stats, I had ACTUALLY first seen her in the 2012 Takeru Sato/Emi Takei/Yu Aoi movie "Rurouni Kenshin" (which I wrote about here) but did not remember her appearing at all! Re-watching the movie, I found out why: she was only in it for a brief second as a sick villager brought in by Sagara! AHAHA, how did she even get a movie credit for this, LOL!
Scrolling further I saw that I had seen Mei before in a secondary part in the wonderful Kasumi Arimura/Kengo Kora drama "Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau" as Kasumi's co-worker Ren! Funny how she was just a generic face back then and now one of the ones my heart leaps for every time I see her!
I had downloaded the first episode of the 2015 comedy Aoi Morikawa detective drama "Teddy Go" (where a murdered detective inhabits the body of a girl's teddy bear) but never watched it- when I saw that Mei had a part in it (as the deceased detective's daughter), I had to go back and download the entire 4- episode run! Another bit part but still cute to see early Mei!
Right now I'm waiting for Soshite Baton wa Watasareta to be released and picked up by some kind subber (due for release in April), also, it seems Mei's upcoming movie "My Broken Mariko" is wrapping up and scheduled to be released some time this autumn. 
While we wait in anticipation for that, there's always Mei's twitter which is lively and very active with all the goings on with my new fave girl!
*PS: Looking up "Soshite, Baton wa Watasareta", Mei Nagano plays a girl named Yuko and Satomi Ishihara plays her Mother. WHAAAAA! This is surprise on TWO Levels:
One: Mei is young enough to play Satomi Ishihara's daughter.
Two: Satomi Ishihara is OLD enough to be Mei Nagano's MOM!
My, My, how time does fly!