[Trans] FREECELL 2011 vol.8 - Kame
HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY, KAME!!! ♥
This year I can't create a great and long project like I did last year, but I wanted to do a Kame-centric translation for this special day ^_^ So I chose Kame's Freecell interview about Bem.
FREECELL VOL.8
KAMENASHI KAZUYA 「YOUKAI NINGEN BEM」
“Youkai Ningen Bem”, that acquired a tremendous support from the late 60s till first half of 70s with the famous line “I want to become human soon!” of the humanoid monsters heroes, will be turned into a NTV drama from October with Bem=Kamenashi Kazuya, Bera=Anne, Bero=Suzuki Fuku.
The script is “Kaibutsu-kun”, “Tiger&Bunny”’s Nishida Masafumi. With the producer Kawano Hidehiro famous for masterpieces like “Q10”, “Zeni Geba”, in this volume of FREECELL the special report of this drama everyone pays attention to increases the presentiment it will give us something.
Especially, the exchange of yell on this magazine between the feelings of Kawano P, who has kept an eye on Kamenashi Kazuya since the time he produced “Nobuta wo produce” about creating this work with Kamenashi Kazuya, and Kamenashi Kazuya’s quite involved speech about feeling [Kawano] disposition and willing to make this his masterpiece and about the situation of having placed his present self on it.
Then, let’s start with the special photoshoot taken just before Kamenashi Kazuya’s “Youkai Ningen Bem” start of filming, by TOMMY.
Kamenashi Kazuya Interview
“Wasn’t in the ending song of 'Manga Nihon Mukashi banashi' the line 'It’s good being human'? 'Youkai Ningen Bem' follows the warm feeling of that song. At first sight, it’s difficult to understand because it’s scary, but this is what I want to convey”.
If “Nobuta wo produce” is the masterpiece of Kamenashi Kazuya’s teen years, then the masterpiece of his twenties is this!
Before starting shooting the drama “Youkai ningen Bem” that Kawano Producer is producing with the eagerness to challenge the limits of TV dramas, Kamenashi Kazuya talked about “a load filled with love”.
----Speaking personally, I’ve got the impression ‘Kamenashi Kazuya came back to the Saturday 9pm slot after quite a lot of time’.
It is. It’s since “1 pound Gospel” that I’m not the lead actor in a Saturday 9pm slot [drama].
---- Recently you’ve done the Home Run project with “Going” and been the announcer in charge for the direct broadcasting of baseball plays together with Kawato-san, I’ve got the impression that NTV is putting quite a big “load filled with love” on your shoulders, Kamenashi-san.
It’s more like how much right now I can act in accordance to the views and wishes of the producers, who are basically creating for me a foundation. I am beginning to feel that from now on I want to do more of this, and also I’m probably going to feel it even more in the future; still, it’s not a “for the time being I am doing this” idea, but more that I am giving importance to how much I can give expression to everyone’s hopes.
---- Then, I gave a look to this “Youkai Ningen Bem”’s scenario and thought that this could become Kamenashi-san’s masterpiece. It also seems it can turn into a movie.
At the present stage there isn’t the eagerness to turn it into a movie, but if following the flow of events it will become possible, I think it’d be the best. For starters I think that everyone is cooperating and creating [this drama] not because “the movie is the target”, but to overturn at the very limit the frames and common knowledge of the TV dramas that can be overturn and say “we can do even this with just a TV drama!”.
----This product is one that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids.
Yes. I think that also adults can enjoy it very much. Because it has contents that make you reflect a lot. Of course it contains simply cool elements that kids want to imitate, but I want to make it a drama that if for example present kindergarten or junior school children rewatch it 10 years from now they can think “there was also this message?”. Moreover if it scares you in a good meaning, I think that that is the correct interpretation. Even if the first episode makes you think it’s scary, if coming closer to the last episode you feel some kind of friendship towards Bem or Bero, isn’t it a success? I consider this a good element that there isn’t in a movie but in regular dramas.
----I think that the line of the first episode is fantastic. “I can’t desert if there are humans I must save in front of my eyes. If we did it, we would just become normal monsters”.
That line made my heart gasp too. I talked about it with the producer Kawano-san too. I said “It’s not a trademark line but this is everything of Bem”. It would be good if I can say in a way that those words come out not affected, but in a really natural way. For example, if Takakura Ken-san said such a line, wouldn’t it arrive immediately? We talked that if we could make it work like that, it would be the best. It’s not a line to say pretending to be cool, but it must be said in a cool way. The Bem I am acting has few lines, but you can incredibly feel the weight of each of them. I want to keep and make every single word important.
----Moreover lines similar to nice aphorisms appear too. “Exactly during difficult times chocolate tastes sweet”, or “the sun is brighter during sad times”. I like those too.
For Bem and the others, the setting is that they’ve lived for several hundred years, so at present days they end up doing oversights or there are things they start to forget. For this reason I think [they] are throwing at these present days what people of the past built or what they have felt until now. What we call “normal” or “obvious”, I think that the “normal” of everyone is the same more now than the past. But since the primary “normal” contains everyone’s position and environment, it differs. For Bero cold meal is “normal”. For this reason, I think that this is a drama that throws the doubt inside a society that is beginning to justify ideas of the majority, like the one that if everyone crosses the road altogether with the red light you’re not afraid.
----A work that teaches a moral while challenging taboos?
Exactly. Both in good and bad, isn’t the society one that if the number of people is high you’re strong? I think that it’s different. Even if there’s just one alone, justice is justice.
----Bem is both the anti-hero and the hero with a different form, it seems that this will become a work that produces a lot of ripples.
Exactly because I’ve felt it since the anime, I want to convey the drama’s message even more with the acting.
----After the drama had been decided, how was KAT-TUN members’ reaction?
They said they were really looking forward to it. We sing the main song as KAT-TUN too, so for them it isn’t someone else’s business either. But now it still can be seen just as our side, right? For this reason I’d like the audience to wait and look forward also to the next full easy-to-understand visual. I think that about it many point of views will pop up, but I want them to understand that we’re not taking an easygoing creating way like “let’s not do this because it’s not cool”.
----Bem, Bera and Bero at first sight have a parent-kid relationship, but the setting is that they’re youkai created during the 19th century at the same time by professor Ogata Shinsaku, so I guess that acting-wise this is the most difficult part.
It is. During youkai moments they’re youkai, but when they’re humans they must say [they’re] a family, so there must be a sense similar to a father towards Bero. But for Bem just those two can sympathize with his feelings, so they’re connected by a very strong bond. For this reason I think that not only there are sides they often bump against each other, but also they should be able to create a good sense of distance. He’s a character of few words, so during free time between acting I am worried if I can make merry or should not at all. If it was a cheerful character I could become friendly with Fuku-kun beforehand, but I don’t want to drag out the filming either… but well Fuku-kun is a professional, so if I don’t deviate I guess there won’t be problems about that fact (laughs).
----I haven’t met Anne-san yet, so please tell me your impression about Anne-san and Fuku-kun.
I think Anne-san has a good style. She has an independent image but she is a very intelligent person. This is my hope, but it’d be good if she looks cool but in reality she’s a natural person. If it was like this, she’d be perfect, or rather I want her to be like this (laughs). Fuku-kun is small and cute to begin with. He grabbed my heart. When our eyes meet, he’ll surely smile! I thought I have to follow his example and smile if I meet someone’s eyes (laughs)
----When it is actually broadcasted, what is the reaction you’d like people around you to have?
Surely at the beginning, since the special make-up and the CG are great, I guess that many responses will come at first sight. But since it’s the “Youkai Ningen Bem” we’ve created, I think we must continue creating it with our power without that fact shaking everything. Of course we’re concerned with the reactions and there are also people that will feel a sense of incongruity, but I think this is a human drama that as a matter of fact neatly portraits also the dirty side of human beings, yet can say that likes human beings. It’s not simply scary or interesting, I want to make it in a way that everyone can feel the nature of the message of this work. Wasn’t in the ending song of “Manga Nihon Mukashi banashi” the line “It’s good being human”? “[Youkai Ningen] Bem”’s message follows the warm feeling of that song. At first sight, it’s difficult to understand because it’s scary, but this is the message I want to convey together with Kawano producer who declares that [message] is what he wants to challenge at the limits of TV dramas.
-----------
"Manga nihon Mukashi banashi" is an old anime (1975).
-----------
I am back~
This year I can't create a great and long project like I did last year, but I wanted to do a Kame-centric translation for this special day ^_^ So I chose Kame's Freecell interview about Bem.
FREECELL VOL.8
KAMENASHI KAZUYA 「YOUKAI NINGEN BEM」
“Youkai Ningen Bem”, that acquired a tremendous support from the late 60s till first half of 70s with the famous line “I want to become human soon!” of the humanoid monsters heroes, will be turned into a NTV drama from October with Bem=Kamenashi Kazuya, Bera=Anne, Bero=Suzuki Fuku.
The script is “Kaibutsu-kun”, “Tiger&Bunny”’s Nishida Masafumi. With the producer Kawano Hidehiro famous for masterpieces like “Q10”, “Zeni Geba”, in this volume of FREECELL the special report of this drama everyone pays attention to increases the presentiment it will give us something.
Especially, the exchange of yell on this magazine between the feelings of Kawano P, who has kept an eye on Kamenashi Kazuya since the time he produced “Nobuta wo produce” about creating this work with Kamenashi Kazuya, and Kamenashi Kazuya’s quite involved speech about feeling [Kawano] disposition and willing to make this his masterpiece and about the situation of having placed his present self on it.
Then, let’s start with the special photoshoot taken just before Kamenashi Kazuya’s “Youkai Ningen Bem” start of filming, by TOMMY.
Kamenashi Kazuya Interview
“Wasn’t in the ending song of 'Manga Nihon Mukashi banashi' the line 'It’s good being human'? 'Youkai Ningen Bem' follows the warm feeling of that song. At first sight, it’s difficult to understand because it’s scary, but this is what I want to convey”.
If “Nobuta wo produce” is the masterpiece of Kamenashi Kazuya’s teen years, then the masterpiece of his twenties is this!
Before starting shooting the drama “Youkai ningen Bem” that Kawano Producer is producing with the eagerness to challenge the limits of TV dramas, Kamenashi Kazuya talked about “a load filled with love”.
----Speaking personally, I’ve got the impression ‘Kamenashi Kazuya came back to the Saturday 9pm slot after quite a lot of time’.
It is. It’s since “1 pound Gospel” that I’m not the lead actor in a Saturday 9pm slot [drama].
---- Recently you’ve done the Home Run project with “Going” and been the announcer in charge for the direct broadcasting of baseball plays together with Kawato-san, I’ve got the impression that NTV is putting quite a big “load filled with love” on your shoulders, Kamenashi-san.
It’s more like how much right now I can act in accordance to the views and wishes of the producers, who are basically creating for me a foundation. I am beginning to feel that from now on I want to do more of this, and also I’m probably going to feel it even more in the future; still, it’s not a “for the time being I am doing this” idea, but more that I am giving importance to how much I can give expression to everyone’s hopes.
---- Then, I gave a look to this “Youkai Ningen Bem”’s scenario and thought that this could become Kamenashi-san’s masterpiece. It also seems it can turn into a movie.
At the present stage there isn’t the eagerness to turn it into a movie, but if following the flow of events it will become possible, I think it’d be the best. For starters I think that everyone is cooperating and creating [this drama] not because “the movie is the target”, but to overturn at the very limit the frames and common knowledge of the TV dramas that can be overturn and say “we can do even this with just a TV drama!”.
----This product is one that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids.
Yes. I think that also adults can enjoy it very much. Because it has contents that make you reflect a lot. Of course it contains simply cool elements that kids want to imitate, but I want to make it a drama that if for example present kindergarten or junior school children rewatch it 10 years from now they can think “there was also this message?”. Moreover if it scares you in a good meaning, I think that that is the correct interpretation. Even if the first episode makes you think it’s scary, if coming closer to the last episode you feel some kind of friendship towards Bem or Bero, isn’t it a success? I consider this a good element that there isn’t in a movie but in regular dramas.
----I think that the line of the first episode is fantastic. “I can’t desert if there are humans I must save in front of my eyes. If we did it, we would just become normal monsters”.
That line made my heart gasp too. I talked about it with the producer Kawano-san too. I said “It’s not a trademark line but this is everything of Bem”. It would be good if I can say in a way that those words come out not affected, but in a really natural way. For example, if Takakura Ken-san said such a line, wouldn’t it arrive immediately? We talked that if we could make it work like that, it would be the best. It’s not a line to say pretending to be cool, but it must be said in a cool way. The Bem I am acting has few lines, but you can incredibly feel the weight of each of them. I want to keep and make every single word important.
----Moreover lines similar to nice aphorisms appear too. “Exactly during difficult times chocolate tastes sweet”, or “the sun is brighter during sad times”. I like those too.
For Bem and the others, the setting is that they’ve lived for several hundred years, so at present days they end up doing oversights or there are things they start to forget. For this reason I think [they] are throwing at these present days what people of the past built or what they have felt until now. What we call “normal” or “obvious”, I think that the “normal” of everyone is the same more now than the past. But since the primary “normal” contains everyone’s position and environment, it differs. For Bero cold meal is “normal”. For this reason, I think that this is a drama that throws the doubt inside a society that is beginning to justify ideas of the majority, like the one that if everyone crosses the road altogether with the red light you’re not afraid.
----A work that teaches a moral while challenging taboos?
Exactly. Both in good and bad, isn’t the society one that if the number of people is high you’re strong? I think that it’s different. Even if there’s just one alone, justice is justice.
----Bem is both the anti-hero and the hero with a different form, it seems that this will become a work that produces a lot of ripples.
Exactly because I’ve felt it since the anime, I want to convey the drama’s message even more with the acting.
----After the drama had been decided, how was KAT-TUN members’ reaction?
They said they were really looking forward to it. We sing the main song as KAT-TUN too, so for them it isn’t someone else’s business either. But now it still can be seen just as our side, right? For this reason I’d like the audience to wait and look forward also to the next full easy-to-understand visual. I think that about it many point of views will pop up, but I want them to understand that we’re not taking an easygoing creating way like “let’s not do this because it’s not cool”.
----Bem, Bera and Bero at first sight have a parent-kid relationship, but the setting is that they’re youkai created during the 19th century at the same time by professor Ogata Shinsaku, so I guess that acting-wise this is the most difficult part.
It is. During youkai moments they’re youkai, but when they’re humans they must say [they’re] a family, so there must be a sense similar to a father towards Bero. But for Bem just those two can sympathize with his feelings, so they’re connected by a very strong bond. For this reason I think that not only there are sides they often bump against each other, but also they should be able to create a good sense of distance. He’s a character of few words, so during free time between acting I am worried if I can make merry or should not at all. If it was a cheerful character I could become friendly with Fuku-kun beforehand, but I don’t want to drag out the filming either… but well Fuku-kun is a professional, so if I don’t deviate I guess there won’t be problems about that fact (laughs).
----I haven’t met Anne-san yet, so please tell me your impression about Anne-san and Fuku-kun.
I think Anne-san has a good style. She has an independent image but she is a very intelligent person. This is my hope, but it’d be good if she looks cool but in reality she’s a natural person. If it was like this, she’d be perfect, or rather I want her to be like this (laughs). Fuku-kun is small and cute to begin with. He grabbed my heart. When our eyes meet, he’ll surely smile! I thought I have to follow his example and smile if I meet someone’s eyes (laughs)
----When it is actually broadcasted, what is the reaction you’d like people around you to have?
Surely at the beginning, since the special make-up and the CG are great, I guess that many responses will come at first sight. But since it’s the “Youkai Ningen Bem” we’ve created, I think we must continue creating it with our power without that fact shaking everything. Of course we’re concerned with the reactions and there are also people that will feel a sense of incongruity, but I think this is a human drama that as a matter of fact neatly portraits also the dirty side of human beings, yet can say that likes human beings. It’s not simply scary or interesting, I want to make it in a way that everyone can feel the nature of the message of this work. Wasn’t in the ending song of “Manga Nihon Mukashi banashi” the line “It’s good being human”? “[Youkai Ningen] Bem”’s message follows the warm feeling of that song. At first sight, it’s difficult to understand because it’s scary, but this is the message I want to convey together with Kawano producer who declares that [message] is what he wants to challenge at the limits of TV dramas.
-----------
"Manga nihon Mukashi banashi" is an old anime (1975).
-----------
I am back~