The movie Tonde Saitama, which will be released nationwide on Friday, 22 February, had it’s Japan Premiere held on Monday, 28 January, at Tokyo Dome City Hall and it was attended by Nikaido Fumi, GACKT, Iseya Yusuke, Brother Tom, Shimazaki Haruka, Kato Ryo, Masuwaka Tsubasa, Nakao Akira, Kyomoto Masaki, and director Takeuchi Hideki.

Tonde Saitama is the live-action movie adaptation of the shocking comic of the same name that unleashes a crushing impact with the absolute dissing of Saitama citizens. A huge spectacle that involves “Chiba, Saitama’s opposition”, “Kanagawa, the disinterested spectator”, “Gunma, the uncharted”, including Ibaraki, Tochigi and more was added to the original story of “a Saitama oppressed by Tokyo” too, unnecessarily scaling it up as a story of love and revolution!

Saitama Dissing!? SSS

On this day, the “Saitama Super Seat”, or SSS, were put out in the middle of the hall for the audience to experience the loving dissing of Saitama. When Kyomoto-san asked “I can’t help but notice it but what are those seats?” with regards to them, the MC explained, “Those are the Saitama Super Seats, or SSS. They are special seating where straw is laid out underneath with a mat on it followed by aluminium folding chairs on them. They’re for the lucky 30 who has been chosen through last 14 November’s campaign where they helped to make #SaitamaCitizenDay a trending topic on SNS”.

Also, with regards to the green carpet of artificial grass that led the way to the stage, Nikaido was asked, “Isn’t this carpet green?”, to which she answered with a wry smile, “Grass……”.
Hearing that, the MC explained, “That’s right. This carpet can be said to be “the grass carpet over there”. Based on a line by Nikaido-san’s Momomi, ‘Eat the grass over there’, we used a low urban index ‘grass carpet over there’”. The audience laughed over the additional loving Saitama dissing.

Nikaido-san: Please enjoy the change from dissing to love

When the MC asked director Takeuchi “Why did you think of turning this absurd work into a movie?”, he shared the story leading up to this decision, saying “I happened to get my hands on it from the bookstore and found it really interesting. It ends after the 3rd part and Chiba Prefecture doesn’t show up but as a native of Chiba, I wanted to shove Chiba Prefecture in (smiles). As to why, it’s because I think that Chiba and Saitama are rivals even until now. When I was in 6th grade, we went to Tokyo for sightseeing and when our bus stopped in front of the Diet Building, the local 1st graders said to us, ‘Whoa～ Country bumpkins!’. It became an angry memory that left me traumatised and thinking, ‘Why are us 6th graders coming to Tokyo to sightsee when we’ve at the very least been here before’ (smiles). I suppose Saitama natives have those same feelings too. And so I made this movie to put that to rest”.

Nikaido-san, who plays Dannoura Momomi, the son of the governor of Tokyo and the student council president of the prestigious Tokyo school Hakuhoudou, said this about the scene that delivers extreme lines dissing Saitama: “Around halfway through, it slides completely towards the direction of love, so please do enjoy the evolution from dissing to love.”

GACKT-san, who plays Asami Rei, the transfer student coming into Hakuhoudou school from America who is actually a secret Saitama native, spoke of the behind-the-scenes and the unexpected high school student role, saying, “When I first received the offer, I heard that it was for the part of a high school student and I immediately declined (smiles). Right then, it was explained to me that even if he is a high school student, he’s a special one. Doesn’t it lead to the question of ‘what is a special high school student’ (smiles). From then on, I came to know of the plot and began filming, but on the first day itself was a kiss scene, I thought, ‘what a process’ (smiles). But we started with an ornate and luxurious set, and all my co-stars’ makeup was amazing too and since things began with a great start, we began filming with a great perspective. It felt like we were being manipulated by the director’s hands until the very end (smiles)”.

Iseya-san, who plays Akutsu Sho, the butler to Momomi’s father, Dannoura Kenzo, came dressed in a splendid green outfit.
When asked if he selected it with Chiba in mind, he replied, “That’s right. Hearing what the director said earlier, I’ve come to believe that we have to love Chiba going forward too. Please do look forward to the next movie, ‘Oyoide Chiba (Swim, Chiba)’. (Doesn’t this outfit) look like a high school student? (smiles)”. To that, those around him responded with “It does!” too.

Kyomoto-san, who plays the legendary Saitama citizen, Saitama Duke who does not appear in the original story, was asked about what he kept in mind of the filming, to which he divulged, “It took time for them to make me look like someone who comes from a legend. Because it took them a month just to make the silver wig (smiles)”. Continuing, he shared his true thoughts, saying, “When I first met Master Maya Mineo, he saw me and said, ‘This is Saitama Duke! This!’, so I thought that maybe he wanted to draw me first (smiles)”.

Nakao-san, who plays Dannoura Kenzo, Momomi’s father and the governor of Tokyo, spoke of his own role, saying, “I didn’t want to do it initially. I wondered if it was really okay to insult Saitama this badly, or to even turn this into a movie. But while acting, I gradually grew to hate Saitama (smiles). It was fun. I don’t really get the chance to do this kind of cosplay so I went all out. This is the director’s win, isn’t it? He didn’t need to do anything with the actors. It worked as long as we were there”.

Kato-san, who plays Shimokawa Nobuo, a student from Z group which is made up of ex-Saitama citizens who are now living in Tokyo, said with a smile, “Z group really do study in a classroom like the Saitama Super Seats, so they’re living their student life while being oppressed (smiles). When I was playing the role of the king in Master Maya Mineo’s Patalliro!, I had a line that oppresses Saitama citizens but this time around, it’s me who’s on the receiving end (smiles). But I really loved Tonde Saitama the manga, so as a fan, I was really happy to actually be told off my Momomi-san in real life”.

Also, just like in the movie, Kato-san had makeup resembling dirt on his face.
He revealed the reason behind it, saying, “I didn’t apply anything at first, but Masuwaka-san suggested, ‘Why not try apply a bit of dirt’.”.

Masuwaka-san, Shimazaki-san, and Brother Tom-san are Saitama natives and so they spoke about appearing in and filming for this film that disses Saitama.

Brother Tom-san spoke with confidence about his role, saying, “I actually used Kumagaya words when acting, but the director said to me, ‘Those words don’t exist. It’s more normal, isn’t it?’. That’s why, even though I did use Kumagaya words in the beginning, they gradually tended towards standard Japanese (smiles). But when I first watched it, I got the feeling that the only movie that can beat Queen this year is ours” , but the director calmly retorted, “No, I don’t think we can win (smiles)”.

Shimazaki-san commented, “I think that something from Saitama to be proud of has been made. Since we’ve only had Saitama Super Arena so far (smiles)”.

Masuwaka said, “ I heard a rumor that ‘there’s a manga that disses Saitama a lot’, and I originally read the manga. I thought, ‘how rude’, and gave it a read only to find that there were more disses than I expected (smiles). After that, I received the offer and was worried about whether it was really okay for me, as a Saitama native, to appear in a movie that disses Saitama but I decided that if it’ll be of help, I’ll take part. But these disses are really filled with love, so I think that it’ll become something enjoyable in the end. Those from Saitama are used to being tease anyway, and everyone is tolerant, so I think that there definitely won’t be anyone who gets angry”.

Lastly, Nikaido-san said, “Whether you’re from Saitama or from Chiba, I hope that your local love will grow through this movie”, while GACKT-san said, “I think that this might just be the movie that’s most befitting of the title of ‘greatest farce of this century’. When we were acting in this comedy, we didn’t act in a way that aims to incite laughter, instead, we really acted seriously and passionately. That is something the director kept telling us; that we cannot aim to make people laugh, that this is definitely not a movie that makes people laugh because of what we do, but it is a movie where people who come and watch us will end up snickering. Even when peanuts were being shoved up my nose, Iseya-kun was so seriously doing it numerous times during rehearsals like ‘first, like this, then, like this, and finally, in the right nostril’…… Do you understand how I feel? (smiles). This is a movie that has a lot of spectacular expressions that can only be understood on this screen, and it is exceptionally particular with details, so please do come and watch as many times as you can”.

For the last part of the stage greeting, Nikaido-san said “I Love!” followed by the rest of the cast and the audience saying “Saitama!!” before green and yellow confetti burst on stage to thunderous applause.

Tonde Saitama opens nationwide on Friday, 22 February.

Source: popleta.goo.ne.jp

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA