Singer GACKT appeared for the Japan premiere of the movie Tonde Saitama (releasing 22 February), which was held in Tokyo on the 28th. Based on the “Saitama dissing” manga of the same name, GACKT plays the overly unconventional character of a “secret Saitama citizen” transfer high school student and he revealed the backstory of his casting with a smile, saying, ““When I first heard that the role was that of a high school student, my immediate answer was no”.

This movie is a live adaptation of Maya Mineo’s 1982 manga which drew attention for lines which criticise Saitama like “There’s a traffic bill to travel from Saitama to Tokyo!” “Saitama citizens, eat the grass over there!” “It’s Saitama huntingー!” and so on.

In a fictional Japan setting where Saitama citizens do not have free reign to travel in and out of Tokyo and are severely persecuted by Tokyo citizens, Dannoura Momomi (Nikaido Fumi), the student council president of Tokyo’s most prestigious school, meets Asami Rei (GACKT), the transfer student returning from America who is actually a Saitama citizen and gets thrust into a fight to liberate Saitama in this full-fledged “nonsensical” story.

GACKT declined the offer once but he was told about the content and eventually accepted the offer. Recalling the events, he said, “At that point, I was told that even if he’s a high schooler, “he’s a special high schooler”. Won’t you be curious about what a special high schooler is? And then I got to understand the project”. “When we started filming on the first day, it was already a kiss scene. I thought, what a process”, he said, but despite being flustered, he revealed that he was drawn into the worldview, adding, “On that day, the set was ornate and luxurious, so our appearances looked appropriate but the staff looked out of place. The makeup for my other co-stars was amazing too, and with such an entrypoint, it really was a great start.”

Aside from Nikaido and GACKT, Iseya Yusuke, Brother Tom, Shimazaki Haruka, Masuwaka Tsubasa, Nakao Akira, Kyomoto Masaki, and Director Takeuchi Hideki too made an appearance on this day. Making a point, Nikaido said, “This time it really was a large gathering of highly individualistic people, and it was as if each of them came down to earth to represent their own planets before going back home. I thought that I was the most decent person”, and GACKT opposed to it, saying, “I thought I myself was the most decent one” and then everyone else began raising their hands, saying “I’m the most decent one”…

Also, as it was GACKT’s first time working with Kyomoto, who acted as the “Legendary Saitama Citizen” Saitama Duke, he went to his dressing room to greet him, and GACKT looked a little uncomfortable as he recalled the incident, “He said to me, ‘We finally get to meet! But, you know～! We’re the same type, aren’t we!”. “It naturally came out, y’know, and I said ‘Are we～!?’ ”, said GACKT, voicing his disagreement. To that, Kyomoto explained falteringly, “We had the same makeup artist so about 15 years ago I heard about GACKT-san. But I’ve never met him throughout those 15 years, and during that time, no matter where I went, I’d keep getting compared to GACKT-san. I’d think, ‘I’m 60 though～’. That’s what I meant”.

Source: oricon.co.jp

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA<