Oh! 兄さん...
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back again with a fresh random obsession lol
The subject of my random obsession this time 上川隆也!
It started with me watching Last Man for Oizumi Yo & really liked his step brother played by Kamikawa Takaya. And then I found out that they both were in like 4 or 5 different shows so I was watching those too. Then I started watching the Japanese playthrough for Professor Layton coz Oizumi voiced Layton and Kamikawa voiced Dimitri in Unwound Future.
Then I got to reading about him being a big anime fan and the interview with him about how he was enjoying Gurren Lagann as a viewer right up to the point where he was offered the role of Anti Spiral and that kinda killed his enjoyment as a viewer coz he now knows the progress of the show from the script was so funny and relatable. Honestly mood.
So after that, I'm just binge watching his stuff--starting with Iryuu Sousa (coz I actually found the link to the interview from a picture of him geeking out over an anime drawing of his character in Iryuu Sousa lol). Him and Koumoto Masahiro are hilarious. Also found out they were in a bunch of shows together too so I binge watched those too.
And honestly, guy's a really good actor! I can't believe the only show with him that I'd watched before this round of obsession was the live action Arakawa Under The Bridge back in 2011. He plays the protagonist's father and I distinctly remembering him coz older guy + megane + bastard man = my type lmfao
Unfortunately, I wasn't keeping up with jdrama during the period where he's the star of the show (around the 2010s) so I wasn't very aware of him. Nowadays, he's either a very solid supporting character or the last boss who appears near the end to be extra intimidating (like what he did in Gurren Lagann)
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However! The main point of this post is that somehow, 2024 is officially a series of revivals and reboots of his old works?!
First Hanasaki Mai ga Damattenai gets a remake with different cast but he asked if he could participate in any capacity (even as just a narrator lol) and they wanted him to play Mai's father (previously played by Osugi Ren but he sadly passed away suddenly in 2018) but he asked them to reconsider as he doesn't want to erase Osugi's memory so they made him Mai's uncle instead. D'aww... Respect!
Next City Hunter gets a Netflix adaptation with Suzuki Ryohei. Kamikawa previously played Saeba Ryo in Angel Heart back in 2015 and trained really hard immediately after finishing up Hanasaki Mai season 2 to drop his body fat to like 10% to look the part coz he knows how important it is to look the part for the fans (himself included of course). The dedication... Respect!
Then they announced he joined the cast of Believe: Kimi ni Kakeru Hashi, starring Kimura Takuya and a bunch of other famous people and made a big buzz on the internet when they first released the cast photos but with their backs to the camera. They previously were in BG: Personal Bodyguard with Saito Takumi so it's like a mini-BG reunion lol. Apparently his role is friendship cameo role (?) so he probably did it as a favor for KimuTaku and the production team (??) and most likely won't appear a lot (???). 友情出演... Respect!
And then few days ago, they announced Voicarion XVIII Mr Prisoner with the original cast (him, Hayashibara Megumi & Yamadera Koichi)! It's the 3rd time they're doing it (they did it in 2016 & 2019 previously). The creator Bun-O Fujisawa said that Mr Prisoner is one of the highly requested reading play to be restaged every time they're planning a production not just from fans and audiences but from the staff as well but it's hard to get the 3 actor's schedule to align but it's happened this year! He's always so humble when talking about these types of voice works and so deferent to the 2 veteran seiyuu... Respect!
So far there's only information on tickets for the live stage performance but I really hope they film it and release it with proper subs like they did with Young Wizards previously. I need to watch this in HD!
Honorable mentions:
Gurren Lagann The Movie 15th anniversary this year so they rereleased it in cinemas in Jan this year. As mentioned above, he's Anti-Spiral.
hewwo
Geki x Cine 20th Anniversary Tour this year showing a bunch of previously staged and filmed productions. He was in SHIROH & Banyuki. Banyuki is on Netflix so I'm hoping for other Geki x Cine productions to make it there too. Especially the older ones...
Fun Fact: they had to delay Banyuki a bit coz the writer for Gurren Lagann (also the writer for Banyuki and proposed him as Anti Spiral coz he knows Kamikawa is a huge Gainax fan) wrote the Drama CD play and since it was the last Drama CD play, he got everyone in and of course Kamikawa had to be there to record his part lol...
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尊敬するよ!