Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Kubota Masataka to star in new Kansai TV / FujiTV Summer 2017 drama "Bokutachi ga yarimashita"

Kubota Masataka will star in the new Kansai TV / FujiTV Summer 2017 drama "Bokutachi ga yarimashita" (We did it) which will be shown at 9pm on Tuesdays. The drama is based on the same-titled manga by Kaneshiro Muneyuki and Araki Hikaru serialised in "Young Magazine" which had recently ended its run in April this year. However, the drama will have a different ending from the manga. This will be Kubota's first leading role in a FujiTV primetime drama.

Kubota plays the lead character Tobio who is a second year student at Boke Senior High School and does things with minimal effort only. One day, he happens to see his friends being beaten to a pulp by students from the high school opposite Boke which is known for being a hotspot for delinquents. With the intention of playing a trick on those students, Tobio plots a small prank. However, on the day he and his friends are supposed to take action, a large scale explosion takes place which causes Tobio and his friends to become suspects for this crime. Faced with a situation which has gone out of hand, the group makes their escape as they struggle to come to terms with the reality facing them.

Kubota commented that in the manga, there is a lot of emphasis of the internal struggles and pain faced by the characters which made him wonder if he was offered the role because people want to see him become "unhappy". As such, he "lamented' that nobody seems to want to see him happy or thinks that he is unsuitable for happy roles. Nonetheless, Kubota said that adults do have various thoughts which they may not all voice out so as to continue living in society and put on appearances in front of others. That's what makes people beautiful and ugly at the same time. As such, the charm of this story lies in highlighting this trait of humans from the perspective of high school students in a straightforward manner.

Despite being already 28 years old and his character Tobio being 11 years younger than him, Kubota said that this is a character which he can play now that he has some years of experience under his belt. Although he had some initial reservations about playing such a young character, his experience in acting "THE LAST COP" last year allowed him to give up his reservations and take on the role.

Nagano Mei plays Renko, the childhood friend of Tobio while Arata Mackenyu plays Ichihashi, a student from Yaba High School which is at odds with Tobio. Tobio's classmates include Isami (Mamiya Shotaro), Maru (Hayama Shono) and Koyoi (Kawaei Rina) who is Isami's girlfriend. Other characters include Baisen (Konno Hiroki), a OB of Boke, Iimuro (Miura Shohei), a cool and harsh police detective, Natsumi (Mizukawa Asami), Tobio's form teacher and an original character in the drama version, Nishizuka (Itao Itsuji), a lawyer working for the underworld and Wajima (Furuta Arata), an underworld chief who bosses Nishizuka around.

Sources: Sanspo 1 / Sanspo 2 / Yomiuri Hochi / Oricon

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