The opening day stage greeting for the movie Tonde Saitama was held on 22 February at Tokyo’s Marunouchi TOEI. It was attended by lead stars Nikaido Fumi and GACKT, along with co-stars Iseya Yusuke and Kyomoto Masaki, and director Takeuchi Hideki.

This movie, which thoroughly disses Saitama Prefecture, is the live-action film adaptation of Maya Mineo’s popular manga of the same name. Set in a fictional world, this is a comedy where a battle within the areas of Kanto Region unfolds in the Tokyo-oppressed Saitama citizens’ fight for pride and freedom. Nikaido acts as the Tokyo-ite high schooler Dannoura Momomi, GACKT as the transfer student returning from America who is actually a Saitama native Asami Rei, Iseya as Akutsu Sho, the leader of Saitama’s opposition, Chiba Liberation Front, and Kyomoto as the legendary Saitama citizen, Saitama Duke.

They were all dressed in traditional Japanese garb in celebration of the official opening day. Nikaido, who came dressed in a Montsuki hakama, looked satisfied as she said, “Since this was the first time I played a male role, throughout the promotions, I’ve been dressed in pants style. I definitely wanted to come here in a hakama and they acceded to my request”. She was also proud, adding, “I did my best to come across as a male without being too particular about it so as to not lose the power of the original story”.

GACKT, who wore his Montsuki hakama in a sexy style with it wide open at his chest, looked back on his promotional activities and commented, “I decided that I would only appear on TV 5 times a year, but I think I’ve appeared enough times for this movie’s promotions to last 5 years. So I think I’m going to take a long break”, and to that, the audience raised their voices in disagreement. Without skipping a beat, GACKT angrily retorted, “Don’t say ‘Ehー!’” but the fans jeered even louder. Completely defeated by that, GACKT sulked, “That’s right, that’s right, I keep
getting bullied like this. I just want to go home as soon as possible now”.

When asked about the scenes that left an impression on him, Iseya remarked, “Many things have left an impression on me”, and what was particularly memorable was the kiss scene with GACKT, which was not originally in the script, being raised. Iseya seemed dumbfounded, saying, “Ah, well, won’t you be surprised? To think I’d be kissing GACKT-san in my acting career”. When Takeuchi revealed that it was GACKT’s proposal, GACKT spoke his mind, saying, “This is mixing private considerations with work. But I wanted to kiss Iseya-kun no matter what”. However, the director went on to reveal that, “Iseya-kun was against it for about a week. But after the shoot ended, he said that it was “surprisingly no different from a woman”.

Iseya spoke of GACKT’s acting skills, saying, “After kissing me, he just stayed there waiting without wiping his mouth”, and GACKT joked, “I haven’t wiped since then～”, gettin the audience excited. He also praised Iseya’s sincere attitude, saying “Iseya-kun is serious”.

When Kyomoto received the starring offer and heard that he was going to act as GACKT’s father, he seemed against it, saying, “I’m not that old!” but he then went on to tease GACKT’s role of a high school student, saying, “It’s GACKT whose age doesn’t line up. I was convinced when I was told that it’s an 18 year-old son”.

At the final part of the event, NIkaido and GACKT broke the large paper ball set up on stage and declared, “Freed from uncool Saitama!!”. GACKT appealed, “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”, and Nikaido said with a smile, “From the start I already feel that you’re all kind people. When I visited the Saitama Prefectural Government this time, they graciously accepted the movie and I’ve grown to like it more and more as a wonderful place”. Closing off the stage greeting, GACKT, too, added, “It is said that Saitama natives have both ‘big hearts and large land’, and I hope that this movie will go on to contribute to the development of Saitama”.

Source: astage-ent.com

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA