Press conference of TV Tokyo Autumn 2016 drama "Ishikawa Goemon"

The press conference of TV Tokyo Autumn 2016 drama "Ishikawa Goemon" was held on 27 September which was attended by the cast members Ichikawa Ebizo, Higa Manami and Kunimura Jun. The drama's story was first staged as a kabuki play in 2009 and rerun in 2015 which describes the battle between a bandit Goemon and the ruling lord at that time Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

This is the first drama series which Ichikawa plays a leading role since 2003's NHK Taiga "Musaashi". When asked about the appeal of the drama, Ichikawa commented that this is a period drama like no other and revealed that he and his wife Kobayashi Mao was laughing so hard after watching the first episode's preview even though period dramas aren't usually funny. As the filming was not done sequentially, he was a bit worried at first how the final product would turn out to be. Kunimura also echoed the view that the drama is interesting in its unique way where retro meets pop so there is a good mixture of traditional and new elements.

When asked about the impressions they had of their co-stars, Higa commented that Ichikawa was a leader on set at all times and praised him for being a natural in that aspect. On the other hand, Ichikawa said that he always thought of Higa being beautiful and serious but he was pleasantly surprised to see her being able to join in the fun and show a relatively unknown side of her to them.

After the press conference, the cast moved to the Marunouchi Picadilly for the completion screening where co-star Maeno Tomoya also joined them to give out specially-made chocolates to the audience.

"Ishikawa Goemon" will be shown via TV Tokyo from 14 October at 8pm.

Source: Eiga.com