TV Life Drama Awards - Comments from the awardees
Again, I thought this would make for relaxing bedtime reading but it woke me up with how funny it was, I had trouble going back to sleep afterwards. D8
Kagiheya made an unprecedented sweep at the TV Life Annual Drama Awards by bagging 5 out of the 7 available awards! I've typed up the comments from Ohno, Toda Erika, Sato Koichi and producer Ohara Ichiryu.
Best Actor Award: Ohno Satoshi
Enomoto Kei, a security expert who’s only interested in cracking locks. We’ve presented Ohno Satoshi with the Best Actor Award for his brilliant work in portraying a singular character who says long and obscure lines without expressing any outward emotion. After “Maou” and “Kaibutsu-kun”, this is his 3rd award!
Day after day, from dawn to dusk, it was all about the lines.
Thank you very much. Naturally I’m happy about the Best Actor Award, but since this is a drama that everyone worked hard on, I’m happy that we got the Best Drama Award. Recently, when I switched on the TV, Kagi happened to be on its rerun. I then recalled, “Aaah… During this time [when I was filming the drama], it was tough. But the next episode was even tougher.” (laughs) In any case, what I remember from this drama was my memorization of the script. Day after day, from dawn to dusk, it was all about the lines. Moreover, even though I worked my butt off memorizing those lines and filming the drama, when I saw the rerun, some of my scenes were narrated over. It was so shocking, I went “EEHH!!” and up till now I still can’t forget it. (laughs)
Enomoto, whom I portrayed, was someone who’s expressionless, doesn’t move a lot and kept speaking in a monotone. That was the ultimate role I had to play. For example, even if my lines were long, if I could move according to those lines, it’s easier to memorize them. However, Enomoto doesn’t move, so I had no choice but to learn them by rote. I was even told not to move my eyeballs. [The director] just casually said, “Don’t move your eyes, okay?” and once again I went, “EEHH!!” (laughs) Furthermore, as I was working hard to remain immobile, right in front of me were Sato Koichi-san and Toda Erika-san who were spouting their lines so vividly. Character-wise, I envied their freedom. Each time we finished filming, Koichi-san would go home jauntily while saying stuff like, “Seeya~”; I would fix my gaze upon his retreating figure as I saw him off. (laughs)
It was also refreshing how we had guests coming onto the show every time whilst the regular cast remained small. Although it’s a serial drama, each episode felt like a new piece of work. (laughs) It struck me during the last episode when the expressionless Enomoto smiled like a villain in the last scene. My gut feeling tells me he took those diamonds. (laughs) But it was fun to act out that expression. I was SO happy to be liberated from my lines when we finished filming the drama. (laughs) Even though there were many tough spots, now that I look back upon those times, it was a drama from which I benefited a lot. However, I gained a lot of confidence from being able to memorize that many lines. No matter what kind of movie/drama I'll be taking on next, I can feel that I'll be okay, so I'm really thankful. Let’s get this straight, I don’t hate Enomoto, okay? In particular, during the latter half of the drama, I got a grasp on his character and grew accustomed to him. As for whether I want to reprise the role of Enomoto, that’s a different matter altogether. (laughs)
Comments from Producer Ohara Ichiryu
Best Drama Award: Kagi no Kakatta Heya
2012 was a year that gave birth to many mystery dramas. Amidst all that, “Kagi no Kakatta Heya” received a great amount of zealous support from TV Life readers and brilliantly attained 5 awards, a first in the magazine’s history. In a novel trial for a Getsuku*, Ohno was a brilliant match for the character of Enomoto Kei, a lock maniac who solves the mysteries behind locked rooms with an indifferent tone and expressionless face. The mystery drama created a unique worldview.
T/N: The Getsuku (Monday 9pm) timeslot is famous for its romance dramas.
Furthermore, the rapid fire dialogue between Enomoto, Aoto and Serizawa as they take on the locked room murders together present a fun and comical side. As the series progressed, it was also charming to see how their relationship changed bit by bit. Despite having only 3 people within the main cast and a simple concept consisting of only locked room mysteries, we applaud the staff’s hard work for the script and direction which left the audience craving for more. In the end, Enomoto leaves Japan amidst suspicions of his integrity. A drama sequel, or perhaps the silver screen? We earnestly hope that we can see him again.
We settled on that last scene when we began filming episode 1.
As it was a huge challenge to film the Gestuku drama against the backdrop of locked room mysteries, I was happy to receive the support of everyone who worked on this. It was truly hard work to film in a different locked room set each week. However, with the models, the CG, the unique characters portrayed by Ohno-san, Toda-san and Sato-san, there are a lot of playful portions, so we were able to create a drama that the staff and cast found interesting.
Together, Ohno-san and Director Matsuyama Hiroaki created Enomoto Kei’s character. Ohno-san was the one who came up with the gesture of rubbing his fingers together whenever the mystery was solved, amongst other things. I think it was really tough for him to remain in character from beginning to end, as well as his long and convoluted lines, but that’s Ohno-san for you. The last scene which hints at Enomoto’s true identity was decided when we filmed episode 1. We thought, “Let’s not finish this off in a clean cut manner.” (laughs) It feels like we could do a sequel based on that ending, right? If we could film one, I’d love to shoot scenes of Enomoto’s daily life.
Comments from Ohno
Best Theme Song Award: Face Down by Arashi
Arashi’s “Face Down”, which fit the drama’s theme and made the climax scenes more thrilling, is awarded the Best Theme Song!
"I remember when I first heard the song."
Thank you very much. We even received the Best Theme Song award; it’s incredible somewhat, and I’m really shocked. (laughs) I’m grateful. I first heard this song when I just began filming for Kagi. Even now, as I listen to it, it brings back memories of what I was doing back then. After that, I listened to it tens of times, sang it, danced to it, but the memory which I’ll always recall was the very first time I heard it. I wonder why? It was the same case for “Kaibutsu-kun”. It seems as if the song is packed together with my memory into a single set, it feels strange whenever I sing it. I guess the first time we performed it in front of the fans (excluding the music shows) was during Arafes. After which, there was also the tour, so there’s the satisfaction of singing it many times in front of everybody.
Best Supporting Actor Award: Sato Koichi
Sato Koichi-san receives the award for comically portraying a competent lawyer who’s made a fool of by Enomoto. His highlight (?) was unexpectedly that particular scene.
"I wanted to say, 'The Dog’s Miso Soup'. (laughs)"
I am extremely honored. Serizawa was an original character, so I was free to do whatever I wanted, in a good way. I wanted to say “Inu no miso-shiru” (The dog’s miso soup) so badly, I begged the producer to let me do it. I loved to see what people would say in response to the pun made off the title, “Inu nomizo shiru” (Only the dog knows, episode 8). There were times when I ran amuck, but the author Kishii Yusuke was kind enough to find it interesting. I was relieved to know that.
Mystery dramas will always have a lot of lines dedicated to explaining the trick. As I’d expected before the crank in, filming was tough, but in contrast to that, the set was very peaceful. We formed a common identity through the hardships we went through, and the most important thing was that the drama received good reviews. When I hear nice rumors about the drama, it’s how the things are really peaceful on set. (laughs) Ohno-kun had other job assignments, so it was particularly tough for him; however, I felt that he was in a sense mentally prepared for it as he came to the set. As I observed him from the sidelines, I felt that he did an impressive job.
I think it’s the novelty of the drama’s production that allowed it to garner such positive reviews. The writers completely discarded the murder process and the feelings of the characters involved, focused singly on the locked room phenomenon and developed the story from there. I dare say that because they handled the challenge well, it was perceived as an interesting show. Our characters were divided up nicely in a good way. I wonder why the most senior character, Serizawa, hampered the actions of the younger two. (laughs) If there was a sequel, maybe someone should play Serizawa instead of me. (laughs) Well, I was just joking. It simply makes me happy to hear that people would like to see the three of us again.
Best Supporting Actress Award: Toda Erika
Toda Erika receives the Best Supporting Actress Award for portraying the earnest and righteous beginning lawyer, Aoto Junko. She recalls the drama with a smile on her face.
I loved the dialogue between the three of us too.
Thank you very much. Although Aoto Junko is fundamentally a character who’s filled with curiosity and gets flustered over the tiniest thing, there were also parts of her character which I hesitated upon while acting. I was slightly surprised to receive an award for that alone. Perhaps that hesitation which I experienced became part of the character’s quality. I truly got to say many interesting lines during the filming. Surprisingly how I felt about my acting differed from other people’s perception of it, so once again I learnt a lot.
The episode which struck me the most was episode 4. The tarantula was featured, hence we used the real spider during filming. At first, I found it rather disgusting, but it’s a fascinating creature so I got used to it. I kept squealing while I looked at it. (laughs) I began to empathize, just slightly, with the collectors. Its ability to survive was amazing. It seems that Ohno-kun and Koichi-san liked it a lot. That’s how it was always like on set, we’d talk about some silly talk while passing the time. Ohno-kun definitely had his long lines, while Koichi-san and I had our respective difficulties. But I felt that we encouraged each other during the filming.
However, towards the end of the drama, [Aoto] started to act on her own. Nevertheless, her investigations weren’t of much help, so for Aoto, it was a slightly tragic development. (laughs) Enomoto-san, who’s normally taciturn but becomes extremely talkative when he’s fired up; Serizawa-san, who goes back on whatever he says just a minute ago, and then there’s me, who gets messed around by these two men. I think this dynamic is great, and above all, I loved the dialogue between the three of them. If there’s a sequel, I’d be really happy if we have a lot of scenes together.
scans: satopi@WB, kyraensui (from TV Life March 2013)