ItalianoThe opening day stage greeting for the movie Tonde Saitama was held on 22 February and it was attended by Nikaido Fumi-san, GACKT-san, Iseya Yusuke-san, Kyomoto Masaki-san and director Takeuchi Hideki.
This movie is a live-action film adaptation of Maya Mineo-san’s original story “Kono Manga ga Sugoi! comics Tonde Saitama”, which became a hot topic for it’s thorough dissing of Saitama Prefecture. Nikaido-san plays Dannoura Momomi, the student council president of the prestigious Tokyo school, Hakuhodo Academy, while GACKT-san plays Asami Rei, the transfer student returning from America.
Nikaido-san, who took on her first male role, came dressed in a white hakama. GACKT-san, Iseya-san, and Kyomoto-san, too, were dressed in gorgeous traditional garb.
Nikaido looked back on the movie, saying, “ The original story’s world view something that is very strong, so in any case, we didn’t want to lose that strength. Also, the story itself is a work that goes beyond anything like gender or age, so we weren’t too particular about those areas, but I did my best to try and have my character be seen as a boy”.
Also, GACKT-san spoke of his numerous TV appearances for the promotions, making a shocking statement, “I decided that I would only appear on TV 5 times in a year but this time I’ve appeared enough times to last 5 years. And so, I’ll be taking a break for the next 5 years”. To that, he got an “Ehー!” from the audience. Upon hearing that, he even turned sulky, saying, “Don’t say that! I keep getting bullied like that with those statements. Enough!”.
When Kyomoto-san, who plays the legendary Saitama citizen, Saitama Duke, began to say, “I was asked to introduce GACKT-san……”, GACKT-san cued, “Wrap it up”. With a smile, he said, “Somehow it’s become difficult to speak…… This’ll be written as Kyomoto world again!”.
When Director Takeuchi asked about the character development with the question, “GACKT-kun is in a Western outfit, so we decided to have him in Japanese garb, and eventually gave him a sword with the intention to make it feel like we’re filming a historical drama. Maybe you should re-film it?”, but he coldly responded, “You may go ahead on your own”. And to that, Kyomoto countered, “Why are you cutting off my words!”.
One of the highlights this time is a kiss scene between GACKT-san and Iseya-san, who plays the role of Akutsu Sho, the leader of Chiba Liberation Front. Even though it didn’t originally exist, it was a scene that was added at GACKT-san’s proposal, and GACKT-san said, “This is mixing private considerations with work. But I wanted to kiss Iseya-san no matter what”.
Iseya-san spoke about the behind-the-scenes of that shoot, saying, “He was grabbed by his chest with my cane, (GACKT’s) chest was big, and while thinking ‘I can just barely see his nipple’. And GACKT-san was left tied up, so after the kiss, he simply waited there without wiping his mouth”. To that, GACKT-san replied with a joke, “Well I haven’t wiped my mouth since then”.
Also, to commemorate the release of the movie, the title “Datsu Da-Saitama (Escaping Uncool Saitama)”. GACKT-san said with a smile, “Do you really want to accept this title? I think it’s lovely that you get teased, so going forward, I hope that Saitama natives will continue to feel rewarded being teased. I hope that this movie will go on to contribute to the development of Saitama”.
The movie, Tonde Saitama has been released nationwide today! NOSH also has an exclusive interview article with Kyomoto-san published, so please do check it out.
Source: nosh.media
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA