[Review] Hasegawa Hiroki
I feel like I need to introduce this amazing actor to the world coz he lacks international fans. Many of his works are underrated too, imho. He has a very good reputation in the Japanese entertainment world though and his fanbase in Japan is definitely growing larger. I got to know him the first time from Kaseifu no Mita, the high-rated drama starring Matsushima Nanako, he played the father of the family. Then I found out, that he got popular first among obasan-s due to the romantic/erotic NHK drama, Second Virgin, starring Suzuki Kyoka in 2010. He was also the lead of TV Tokyo drama "Suzuki-sensei" which was critically acclaimed and won many awards but had the worst rating in the 21st century.
He started his acting career in 2001 as a stage actor and he didn't have any intention to enter the TV/widescreen world, in the beginning. But when he starred a stageplay together with Oguri Shun, Oguri changed the way he thinks about the entertainment world and he started seeing things differently. He started with small roles on TV and he got his first big role in NHK drama, Second Virgin (2010), people started to recognize his face. The following year he starred Kaseifu no Mita, the 2nd highest-rated drama in the 21st century (next to Hanzawa Naoki) and his popularity kept increasing since then. The peak of his career might just be next year, as he is the lead of the 29th Japanese movie of the internationally popular Godzilla franchise "Shin Godzilla" releasing next year.
I became a fan after "Kaseifu" in October 2011, I don't remember why, perhaps I was captured by his acting performance. He played a good-for-nothing, hopeless, clueless guy... totally not attractive. None of my friends who watched the drama liked him, I was the odd one. I watched "Suzuki-sensei" and I got hooked even more! I searched his other works, since then.
(2008) Yottsu no Uso (Four Lies) - RECOMMENDED!
Hiroki played a small role in this drama, but I love this drama, so I feel like I just have to include this one. I was just going to browse through the drama and skips to Hiroki's scenes only, but I got hooked by the charm of the four leading ladies and end up watching this drama properly. It's a story of 4 women around 40s and their love affairs with younger men, and all the secrets and lies they kept from each other. There are comedic moments, so it's not always angsty. It's not the usual love affairs, and only 1 or 2 of 'em married, so it's not the typical marital affair drama. Hiroki played a character that looks like the male version of Yabushita Yoriko (of DATE) to me... towards the end he turns to a creepy, stalker kinda guy, lol.
(2010) Second Virgin
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/second-virgin-detail
One of his critically-acclaimed drama and the average Kanto rating was 8.6% but it was considered a success, coz usually other NHK dramas in the same slot had average 4-5% rating. He played a handsome, suave, cool and charming businessman in this drama. The romantic type. I liked the character perhaps because he was played by Hasegawa Hiroki, if not, the character might look boring to me. I don't really like the drama, the angsty romance type is just not my cup of tea. Due to its success, they made the movie and it wasn't a sequel but a re-telling of the story with different scenes and lines. "Second Virgin THE MOVIE" was his very first theatrical movie. He started a relationship with Suzuki Kyoka in real life, since then.
(2011) Suzuki-sensei - RECOMMENDED!
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/suzuki-sensei-detail
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/suzuki-sensei-movie--detail
This drama really impressed me. The directing style looks similar to Matsu Takako's Kokuhaku (Confession) and Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari. The show is relatively dark, but it has it's own humor as well. It's not the typical school drama because Suzuki-sensei's concern is not the delinquents and problematic students, he is more concern of students who seem to be the obedient and serious type of students by appearance, but has their own inner conflicts. Sometimes he has battle of wits with these smart students, and that's what makes this drama interesting and different from other school dramas.
I love the appearing screentexts, when Suzuki's inner mind is thinking hard and confused. From the first episode, we're already served with a shocking topic of teenage sex... no, teenager and child sex. I was taken aback by this line "You should've wait until you're about 15 or 16, at least!" "Why is a 15 years old allowed to have sex but a 9 years old shouldn't??"
I also like the fact that Suzuki is not a perfect teacher. The part that he keep dreaming/fantasizing this certain 2nd grade female student, coming onto him, always cracks me up^^ And then, the next day he'd convince himself the dream means nothing and he's definitely not a pedophile in his own monologue. (kinda remind me of Nakatsu's monologues in HanaKimi, lol) I like the way Suzuki solves the students' problems. Very realistic. He seem to be a very reliable teacher who has an excellent educating skill. (of course, minus the fact he keeps dreaming that certain female student, unconsciously)
I also like when he had to solve the mystery of his student's certain behaviour, because the boy didn't want to tell him his reasons of behaving that way.
I kept wondering what's with all the dream and fantasies abt that female student... will it end up be a man's true feeling to a woman?? Or is it something else??
Suzuki is definitely the better character Hiroki played compared to his characters in Virgin and Kaseifu. Suzuki is likeable for me, even with his continous dreams on his student, since those dreams just seem so innocent.
Episode 5 might be the most hillarious episode and around Ep6-7 the humor got toned down, but I laughed out loud again watching the last three eps. There's also the movie sequel and it was as awesome as the drama, of course, Kazama Shunsuke in the movie was an extra bonus for me!
Suzuki-sensei is definitely one of Hasegawa Hiroki's best acting performance and I recommend you to watch this drama if you're tired of the typical school teacher dramas.
(2011) Kaseifu no Mita - RECOMMENDED!
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/kaseifu-no-mita-detail
One of my favorite drama, I got so hooked with it when it aired on Oct-Dec 2011. The first time I see HaseHiro and I became a fan after Episode 1, oh my! While it's a family drama, but it's also quite intense as it has its suspense mystery element too. Matsushima Nanako did an awesome job as Mita-san, the housekeeper. The four kids did excellent jobs as well. Hiroki plays the hopeless father. It is very interesting to know the scriptwriter wrote the family based on his own family. He is the 3rd child of four siblings and his father was a good-for-nothing man who wasn't ready to be a father too. There was a very touching scene he wrote with the father (HaseHiro) all crying begging the kids "Please let me be your father!" it was one of Hiroki's best acting performance in the drama, imho. The writer said that it never happened in real life, but he had always wish his own father would say that line to him and his siblings. It achieved one of the highest average rating in Japanese drama history, definitely recommended!
(2012) Unmei no Hito & (2012) Seinaru Kaibutsutachi
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/seinaru-kaibutsutachi--detail
I got so excited when I found out he will be starring a drama together with Matsu Takako! In "Unmei no Hito", he played Matsu's cousin who has feelings for her but Matsu's character is married. It was a small, unimportant role, I was disappointed and the drama failed to impress me at all.
"Seinaru" was a bit more interesting, but overall it was just so-so, he played a significant role in this drama, but the character was boring. I won't recommend these dramas.
(2013) Yae no Sakura (NHK Taiga drama)
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/yae-no-sakura-detail
Ayase Haruka was the lead and he played as Ayase's husband, he was one of the three main characters. This taiga drama is very boring because the main character played by Ayase, wasn't directly involved with the whole turmoil happening in that era, and it's like she was just watching from the side, waiting until things gone worse and she finally joined the mess. I blame the script writer for this.
But I quite like the character Hiroki played, Shonosuke, the scholar who likes western studies and his relationship with his wife, Ayase. But I won't recommend it.
(2013) Kumo no Kaidan (Cloud's Stairs) - RECOMMENDED!
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/kumo-no-kaidan-detail
This is an awesome medical drama! I love it so much! Based on the novel written by Watanabe Junichi, the same author who wrote Shiroi Kage novel (Nakai's 2001 drama which I also love so much), this dramas tells the story of an unlicensed doctor, Aikawa Saburo, high school graduate who work as an office clerk in a clinic in a small, remote island lacks of medical doctors. They only have one doctor in the clinic, and since he sees Saburo is good at handcrafts and has good memory, he told him to start reading the difficult medical textbooks. Apparently Saburo could immediately understand the contents so he was told to assist surgery and does other medical treatments. The villagers calls him Waka-sensei (young doctor).
I rarely like any medical dramas and I thought the drama is gonna be boring for me, not to mention it's about a doctor on the island, I thought the story is gonna be about sad stories of the villagers. I was wrong big time! The surgery scenes were always so exciting to watch. Maybe because Saburo is an unlicensed doctor, so it makes me nervous when I see him having to conduct surgery to patients with emergency condition... like, will he make it? Does he know what he's doing? Will he fail this time?
I got my eyes wide open watching this drama by Episode 4 when Saburo moved to Tokyo. Wow! So the story is not always on the island, yokattaaa~ Since Saburo and his mother lives in poverty, he couldn't go to college and since he got more and more skillful in medical, he got more ambitious especially when he was invited to work as a doctor in a big hospital in Tokyo. He kinda turn evil, and I like this change. It's quite exciting to see the fake doctor is even smarter than the real doctors. It's also always nerve-wracking when there are moments in the big hospital that his secret is almost revealed.
The themesong by B'z was really cool! I recommend this drama very much!
(2014) MOZU
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/mozu-season-1-detail
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/mozu-season-2-detail
I find this drama really boring but I think Hiroki as Higashi Kazuo, one of the villains in this drama, is worth-watching as it is one of his best acting performance, imho. Higashi is the insane, twisted type of villain and I find him as one of the most interesting characters he ever played. I just skipped to all Higashi's scene coz it's really amusing just to watch the mad and crazy Higashi in action. The movie sequel will premiere next month in Japan.
(2015) DATE ~koi to wa donna mono kashira~ - RECOMMENDED!
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/date-japanese-drama--detail
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/date-sp-detail
This is the first genuine comedy drama he ever star. Suzuki-sensei was just semi comedy. So, it's like, finally! Ever since I realized his comedic acting potential in Suzuki-sensei, I've always wanted him to star a full-fledged comedy drama and my dream came true, the best kind of comedy drama too! Taniguchi Takumi is definitely one of the best characters he ever played! I just love Takumi to bits! I think I've talked about this drama a lot enough! Just watch the damn drama, I say! lol
MOVIE
He starred two movies in each year of 2013 and 2014, and 5 of his movies releasing this year wow, he got himself so busy!
(2013) Jigoku den Naze Warui (Why Don't You Play in Hell)
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/jigoku-de-naze-warui-a-k-a-why-don-t-you-play-in-hell--detail
Directed by Sono Shion. I dunno... it's that weird type of Japanese movie, I can't understand these kind of movies. But if you want to see Hiroki in a crazy, twisted role then this one is one of them. He plays an independent director and doesn't care about any other things besides making films.
(2014) Maiko wa Lady
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/lady-maiko-detail
This is a semi musical movie about a young girl who wants to learn to be a maiko (traditional entertainer). Hasegawa Hiroki sings in this movie! *gasp* Uhhh... he's not really a good singer, I have to say, lol. Actually, none of the actors in this movie are actually good singers, but they sing... gosh, Japan, can't you at least cast actors who can sing to star a musical movie? XD Not really a notable work of his, but nice to see.
(2014) Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish) - RECOMMENDED!
http://www.dramanice.us/drama/princess-jellyfish-detail
Based on the popular shojo manga. The story is kinda... bleh... but I mean, it's Hasegawa Hiroki in a shojo manga movie! C'mon you gotta watch this, right? I really love the lead, Nounen Rena (of the AMACHAN fame), and Hiroki's character, a 30 year-old virgin who fell in love with Rena's character, and it was all just sooooo funny, cute and sweeet!! Hahaha... they have a huge big gap but I love Rena and Hiroki's scenes, esp. the romantic ones... kyaaaa... shojo manga like, haha, kawaiiii~~!! The story is not much worth, but some of the scenes are really funny and worth to watch! Shu (Hiroki's character) is definitely one of my favorites, coz he's such a shojo manga male character.
(2015) Attack on Titan
EPIC FAIL. But I'd still recommend Part Two to all HaseHiro fans, because his portrayal as Shikishima was soooo memorable and it'd just stuck in your mind for days. Kinda similar to MOZU's Higashi, the twisted part of the character, but Shikishima has more charm as a leader and well, as a terrorist. And how he sexually harrassed Mikasa... dammit, he's such a badass! Interesting that it was rumored he broke up with Suzuki Kyoka after 5 years relationship, because he had an affair with Ishihara Satomi during the filming XD
More movies to come from HaseHiro,
(2015) Love and Peace, directed by Sono Shion (urgh I don't get his movies), but Hiroki is the lead, and he plays an ordinary, mild-mannered office worker turns rock singer, so it should be interesting.
(2015) Kono Kuni no Sora (The Nation's Sky), erotic romance since Second Virgin, yay!
(2016) Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, I've heard about this series a lot, sounds like a very popular novel in Japan (though the 1980s series seems to be more famous than Nagasawa Masami's version). Hiroki is playing the male main character.
(2016) Nijuu Seikatsu (Double Life), he plays the male main character, a married man having a marital affair, being trailed/stalked (?) by a female college student, based on a suspense novel.
(2016) SHIN GODZILLA, Hasegawa Hiroki as the lead, Takenouchi Yutaka and Ishihara Satomi also star. Totally looking forward to this... but I have to give you bad news, one of the movie directors is the one who was responsible for Attack on Titan's epic failure... bummer... but the other director and the scriptwriter was the one who was responsible for the Evangelion's success. So I dunno... the outcome can be different XD Let's hope so. Coz I love big, horrid animal-like creatures like Jurassic's dinosaurs, Pacific Rim's kaijuu-s and of course Godzilla, haha.
Hmm... he doesn't seem to have any drama series next year, but I really hope it's gonna be DATE 2nd season, lol.
There's no doubt he's a versatile actor and his acting skill is top level. He played a cool and smart guy in Second Virgin, Suzuki-sensei (with a creepy side too), and Kumo no Kaidan; a twisted villain in MOZU and Attack on Titan; a hopeless, good-for-nothing guy in Kaseifu no Mita and DATE. But even with those similar type of roles you can put into one category, he can act them differently. Take example, Mozu's Higashi and Titan's Shikishima. Their gesture, the way they speak, their facial expressions are so different. Higashi is twisted in a playful way, he takes everyone lightly and everyone can't take him seriously, he looks harmless but no one would want to go close to him. Shikishima is twisted in a dangerous way, and he has the charm and charisma as a leader, an influential person, a terrorist. Hiroki can just immerse himself into these roles so easily. I can't believe that they were all played by the same guy. I hope he'll shine more internationally after Godzilla.
I subbed clips of his appearance in various variety/talk shows for all the hidden HaseHiro fans out there!^o^ Please come out! haha~
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