M-ON-MUSIC.JP: GACKT on Movie Tonde Saitama. "Adults desperately doing lame things extremely seriously"

■ Nikaido Fumi ＆ GACKT ‘Saitama-flies’ Fukuoka, Osaka, and Nagoya!　Nationwide PR Event for Tonde Saitama the Movie a Great Success!

Just one more week left until 22 February when the movie Tonde Saitama will finally be released. Lead stars Nikaido Fumi & GACKT have just concluded their nationwide PR activities.

On 7 February, ahead of the release of the movie, Nikaido Fumi, director Takeuchi Hideki, and co-star Brother Tom, visited the prefectural governor of Saitama to apologise for “heavily dissing Saitama in the movie”. On this occasion, they explained that the movie really is filled with love for Saitama, and promised that they will convey the charms of Saitama to the other local regions during their nationwide campaign.

It has been a week since then. The two lead stars haven then been on a whirlwind schedule, visiting Fukuoka, Osaka, and Nagoya over 2 days, which has concluded without incident.

In the movie, Saitama is being spread throughout the country…… and the phrase “Nihon Saitama-ka Keikaku” appears, and based on that, they will go to each local location and douse it in “Saitama”. Also, on the 14th, which is Valentine’s day, they went one step ahead and Nikaido and GACKT gave out local Saitama snacks, Soka Senbei, as gifts instead of chocolates!　They delivered Saitama and love to the local areas.

【Fukuoka】
12 February (Tue) 13:00 @ Canal City Hakata
Fans started queuing up at 6 in the morning in a bid to see the two of them at as close a proximity as possible. After the event concluded, the Fukuoka fans also did the “Saitama pose” and took a photo as one. They’ve “Saitama-fied” Fukuoka.

Nikaido: Acting as a male was really fun. I think that scene exists because I’m a male, so I took on that challenge this time. Saitama truly is a big hearted place for letting us turn such an absurd story into a movie…… That said, Saitama also let us use quite a number of locations for the filming, so I think they’ve taken good care of us.
GACKT: Saitama’s charm is…… nothing. It appears that when you ask Saitama citizens, they’d all say, ‘the good thing about this place is that there’s nothing’. I think there are basically a lot of good people among Saitama citizens. That’s what I’ve always said. If there’s a sequel, I’d say it’s “Tonde Miyazaki” though.

【Osaka】
13 February (Wed) 12:00 @ Spa World Grand Staircase Special Venue
500 fans who were selected in through a prior draw were gathered at the venue on this day. In the middle of the event, Biliken-san arrived dressed in a special outfit for today!　With the “Saitama” flag behind him and a 「○さ (sa)」mark on his body, Biliken reverentially appeared through darkened curtains, but once he was solemnly removed, a strange cheer came from the audience…… GACKT too, teased, “Being formal can’t really get people excited, right”.

However, what really surprised and made the audience laugh was the moment Osaka’s symbol mark, the mark on Tsutenkaku’s flag was revealed to be「○さ(sa)」as well. Even GACKT seemed to have a more stricken reaction than before, emitting a “Oooh!!!” before laughing a little. And just like that, Osaka’s landmark has been safely “Saitama-fied”.

While giving out the soka senbei to fans, Nikaido suddenly decended from the stage and personally distributed the soka senbei to the front row audience!　This made joyous voices rise from the audience, raising the heat in the cold venue all at once!　The venue was enveloped in Saitama and love.

Nikaido: When we paid a courtesy call to Saitama the other day, I was told that Saitama’s property prices aren’t overly expensive, the weather’s pleasant, and it’s a nice place to raise kids too, and now I’ve conveyed those points to everyone!　When I received the offer for this movie, I thought that since I’ve never really gotten the chance to play a male role prior to this, I would give it a go. And even better if I could work with GACKT-san!　That’s what I thought. If there were to be a sequel…… It’ll probably be “Tomerude Biwako (Stop, Lake Biwa)” (smiles)
GACKT: I often come to Osaka for lives but it’s energetic after all. (When the MC asked, “Does GACKT-san feel recharged by Osaka?”, he boldly evaded, saying “No, not exactly though……”) When I first got the offer, I rejected it simply because it was the part of a high school student. But then I heard that I was selected by Maya Mineo-san, and I’m a fan of his works to begin with, so I accepted the offer. More than that, I heard that Nikaido-san was to be my co-star and I felt that if it’s us two, we’d probably be able to create something great. If there were to be a Kansai sequel…… Probably “Doko ni Arunda Wagayama (Where is Wagayama). But this is terrible. No matter what place you name, the locals from there wouldn’t like it so… (As he said that, he cheekily threw an answer to Nikaido).

【Nagoya】
13 February (Wed) 16:30 @ Oasis21 Special Stage

Nikaido: Thank you for gathering here today despite the chilly weather!　I love Mie. I do love Nagoya too, but Nagoya already does come to people’s minds even without anyone pushing for it, so I would definitely like Mie to be the next theme. Nagoya is our last stop in our campaign but I’m glad to have come to Nagoya. Thank you for your support for Tonde Saitama!
GACKT: There are a lot of beautiful people in Nagoya… That’s the impression that I have. I’m not just talking about the people gathered here today, but I’m referring to everyone as a whole. Because of that I often get out of the car half way. Something like an elegance, I do often come. Nikaido-san is an adorable person, but she’s funnier than she appears. If we were to have a movie in Nagoya… it’d probably be “Tonde Matsusaka”. Everyone often says that they don’t know where Matsusaka is, right?　Probably something to do with accessibility. Because I like Mie’s beef, I do go to Matsusaka to eat but the accessibility is quite… (an issues). Though I do think that perhaps the inaccessibility is a charm of its own. If I ask the people who have come here ‘where did you come from?’, I get the feeling that they’d say ‘Nagoya’ but… (smiles) This movie talks about such things, but it’s an extremely magnificent farce. We’re adults who are desperately doing stupid things extremely seriously. We hope that it’ll be a funny movie for everyone. Please do, by all means, enjoy it in theatres.