TOKYOPOPLINE.COM: Saitama-born Shimazaki Haruka Elated By Completion of Movie Tonde Saitama "Something to be proud of has been made"

The Japan premiere for the movie Tonde Saitama was held on the 28th at TOKYO DOME CITY HALL in Tokyo’s Bunkyo-ku, 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.

The movie, which unleashes a crushing impact with the absolute dissing of Saitama citizens, is based on Maya Mineo’s original work “Kono Manga ga Sugoi! comics Tonde Saitama”. With Nikaido Fumi and GACKT as the leads, the movie tells of the characters who take on a battle involving the whole of Kanto for the freedom of Saitama citizens in a world where Saitama citizens are heavily persecuted by Tokyo citizens.

The original story ended after 3 parts when the author moved out of Saitama, so the movie builds on it, featuring the Chiba Liberation Front and a Modern Part which were not in the original work.

In the Modern Part, Saitama-born Shimazaki plays the role of Sugawara Aimi who longs for Tokyo. At the start of the stage greeting, she expressed her joy for the completion of the movie, saying “Finally, today, the day has come when I think I, for the first time, can confidently say that I come from Saitama”. Next to her, Masuwaka, who also comes from Saitama, shared a look with Shimazaki as she said, “We can finally say that we’re from Saitama without being embarrassed, right?”.
Shimazaki replied, “Though I can’t say it out loud”, and added with a bitter smile, “It’s embarrassing, isn’t it?”. When Masuwaka said, “There’s nothing (in Saitama) at all, is there?”, she went on to emphasis it, saying, “There really isn’t anything”, making the audience laugh.
During the talk that followed, the MC asked Shimazaki, “With this movie, are you no longer embarrassed (about coming from Saitama)?”. She replied, “There’s embarrassment but something to be proud of has been made”, and the audience clapped. She then added, “Since we’ve only had Saitama Super Arena so far”, making the audience laugh again.

In this movie, quirky actors starring in the roles of rich characters appear one after another.
Nikaido, who takes on her first male role as Dannoura Momomi, the son of the governor of Tokyo and the student council president of a prestigious school in Tokyo, looked back on the filming scene, saying, “Really highly individualistic people were gathered this time, as if they all came together to earth to represent their own planets, do whatever it is with a flourish, then return home all at once. I worked with the feeling that I should just do my own part properly while thinking that I was the most decent person there”, but GACKT disagreed, saying “The whole time I kept thinking that I was the most decent one though”. Right then , the MC asked, “Who thought that they were the most decent one?”, and almost the entire cast raised their hands, filling the hall with laughter.

On this day’s event, a green “grass from over there” carpet was laid out in the venue in reference to the line “You can even feed Saitama citizens with the grass over there” by Nikaido’s Dannoura Momomi, and the 30 invited audience members selected through this movie’s campaign were seated on folding chairs placed on straw, also known as “Saitama Super Seat”. These and more brought the unique world of the movie to life.
The movie Tonde Saitama will be released nationwide on Friday, 22 February.