Interview of Ichinose Wataru for his role in TBS Spring 2025 drama "Taigan no kaji"

Oricon News did an interview with Ichinose Wataru who is currently starring in the TBS Spring 2025 drama "Taigan no kaji" where he plays Tabe Mikako's husband Torao. While the following is not a complete translation of that, there were some interesting points he made about his preparation for and his thoughts about his character:

• Ichinose always had the impression that the TBS Tuesday timeslot is usually meant for stories focusing on female characters. Given that he usually plays the baddie or fierce-looking people, he didn't think that he would be someone who viewers for this kind of timeslot would accept readily. And he was really surprised to be offered the role of Tabe's husband in this drama.

• He was personally very happy and grateful when he knew that Akeno Kaeruko, the author of the original manga, liked his character Seki Torataro in the "HiGH & LOW" series so much that she chose to name his character in this story as Torao.

• Usually, he prepares for his roles by immersing himself into them but this time, he chose to approach it differently by imagining himself in various situations. For example, how would he have felt about quitting kick-boxing to become the manager of a izakaya restaurant? What would it be like to marry someone like Shiho (Tabe)? 

• The staff requested Ichinose that his acting should show how much he loves Shiho and their daughter Ichigo.

• As Ichinose's father had passed away when he was 5 years old, he didn't really have a father figure to look up to when he was growing up and his mother had to work to support the family. As such, his interactions with adult men as a child were largely restricted to his judo and boxing instructors who had a scary image. In order to prepare for the role this time, his reference figures were the late Nishida Toshiyuki and Kiritani Kenta. He felt that Nishida's acting had warmth just like how Torao is while Kiritani is someone who is a family man, fun to be with and treats children really gently.

• He praised his co-star Tabe for being a wonderful person who has a great smile. As Tabe is very experienced, even if Ichinose messes up his lines, she would be very forgiving and is someone who he can depend on. 

• As for the child actor who plays Ichigo, Ichinose revealed that he tries to play with her during the filming breaks so that they can become more comfortable with each other. He had learned balloon art due to the influence of a relative in the past and decided to practice it again for the sake of her. Initially, he could only make simple things like dogs with the balloons but gradually, he was able to do more complicated pieces which he gave to her as presents. Even though filming hasn't wrapped up yet, he's already feeling sad that he won't be able to see her again. Especially since kids grow up very quickly, he thinks that she might not even remember him several years down the road.

• Since he did quite a number of balloon art pieces for practice, he also gave them away to the children at a nursery near his home which they were very happy about. He said that it was interesting to observe a change in the reactions of the kids as the quality of his works improved.

• He hopes that everyone would be able to see new viewpoints through this drama. Instead of just focusing on how tough it may be for housewives, the drama also shines a spotlight on Torao's struggles at work as well as how difficult it is for working mums to strike a balance. With this understanding for one another, he hopes that it will provide a starting point for people to resolve their differences and issues.