Press conference of new NHK drama "Kamisama kara hitogoto Naniwa okyakusama soudasnshitsu monogatari"

The press conference of new NHK drama "Kamisama kara hitogoto Naniwa okyakusama soudanshitsu monogatari" was held at the TV station's HQ on 30 May which was attended by cast members Koide Keisuke, Kishii Yukino and Danta Yasunori. The drama which is based on the same-titled novel by Naoki Award-winning writer Ogiwara Hiroshi, features Koide as the lead character Sakura Ryohei who is a straightforward guy and hates to go around the bush. His overly strong sense of justice causes Ryohei to clash with his superior so often that he is transferred from a major advertising agency to a food manufacturer Tamayama Shokuhin's customer service department. On his first day of work, Ryohei ends up quarelling with his boss again and gets sent to the customer counselling room which deals with "monster complainers". In this department, he has to work with colleagues with very colourful characters but they are all experts in dealing with complaints. Although Ryohei feels that he does not fit in within the organisation, he starts to pick up skills in complaint handling and grows to become an even better person. The drama consists of 6 episodes and will begin its run from 10 June in the Saturdays 8.15pm timeslot.

In line with the story's theme, the cast were asked about the worst complaint they made or received. Koide recounted that when he appeared in his first movie "Pacchigi!" which was still shot on film then, his poor acting skills caused a lot of NGs which led to remarks from director Izutsu Kazuyuki that his pay wouldn't even cover the cost of the film and that he should go and buy some film to compensate for the losses. There was a scene when he had to clash head-on with fellow actor Shioya Shun but the two of them were trying to avoid hitting each other for real which led to them being scolded and ordered to knock into each other without holding back. As for Kishii, she commented that she has a constitution which is prone to feeling cold. When the aircon and fan were turned on at the filming studio, she was feeling so cold and could only tell others about it after the filming finally ended. Last but not least, Danta revealed that he bought an expensive electric rice cooker which had a spoilt base so he had to call the manufacturer to complain.

As for filming in Osaka for the first time, Koide expressed his surprise at the locals who would not hesitate to come up to him to take pictures even though they had begun filming.

Sources: Sanspo / Eiga.com