Press conference of TV Tokyo Winter 2018 drama "Denei Shoujo VIDEO GIRL AI 2018"

The press conference of TV Tokyo Winter 2018 drama "Denei Shoujo VIDEO GIRL AI 2018" was held at its HQ on 12 January which was attended by cast members Nishino Nanase, Nomura Shuhei, Iitoyo Marie, Shimizu Hiroya and Ootomo Karen. The drama begins its run from 13 January in the Saturdays 12.20am timeslot. It is based on the manga "Denei Shoujo" by Katsura Masakazu but will have an amended setting different from the manga. The theme song and BGM will be sung by tofubeats.

The science fiction-romance story features an innocent young man and a mysterious girl i.e. Video Girl named AI who appears from a special video tape found at a video rental shop named GOKURAKU. The drama however is set 25 years later where Nomura plays Moteuchi Sho, the nephew of the original manga's lead Moteuchi Youta who was a senior high school student when he met AI. Sho is living with Youta after his parents got divorced and is secretly in love with his classmate Shibahara Nanami who is in love with Sho's buddy Tomoaki. With his family and school life seeing little hope for improvement, Sho accidentally finds an old and spoilt video cassette recorder in Youta's closet and repairs it on a whim. This results in AI (Nishino) appearing on screen and coming into the real world as the two of them spend three months together.

When asked about the similarities between herself and AI, Nishino said that they both talk like a guy and is full of energy but how loud they talk is different. However, as Nomura speaks loudly, she finds herself increasing the volume of her voice naturally as well. In addition, even though it is tough to play AI, she is glad for the support by everyone around her.

When asked about his impression of Nishino, Nomura said that he didn't think that she was very approachable and was somewhat quite gloomy but he managed to break the ice and even "praised" himself for being able to do that. Nishino then said that she is usually shy in front of strangers but Nomura behaved as if he was breaking down the wall she had erected almost immediately so they could get close very quickly. Nomura also revealed that he read the original manga in one day and was looking forward to seeing Nishino play AI when he got the news.

The cast also revealed how Nomura was the moodmaker on the set and would help to liven up the atmosphere. However, Nomura "complained" that as he was the last to wrap up his filming, he was sad that nobody was around even though he had sent off everyone when they finished their parts. When Nomura asked his co-stars to say something about him, Shimizu was stumped for an answer while Iitoyo revealed that Nomura had treated them to food which led Nomura to reply "grudgingly" that in the end, it all boiled down to money to win people's hearts.

Sources: Natalie / Eiga.com / Oricon