Kodama Haruka graduated from the idol group "HKT48" in June 2019 and is currently working as an actor. Five years after graduating from the group, she made her first appearance in a morning drama in the currently airing NHK morning drama "Omusubi." We spoke to her about the behind-the-scenes stories of the morning drama, which she got through an audition, and the reason behind her much talked about return to gravure modeling.
◇She was "almost makeup-free" during the shoot
In "Omusubi," Kodama plays Kawai Sayaka, a police officer at a local police box who keeps a warm eye on the main character Yui (Hashimoto Kanna) and the gals. Kodama says that appearing in a morning drama was her "goal." She spoke joyfully about her joy at being in the role.
"I really wanted to do morning dramas because they're like a stepping stone to acting, and I've been auditioning for them ever since I became an actress. I auditioned for a different role this time too and didn't pass, but they offered me another role, and I got the role of a police officer."
"Omusubi" is set in Fukuoka, her hometown. She was especially happy.
"My family was happy too! And most of all, the dramas I'd been in up until now had been late-night or local to the Kanto region, so I was really happy that local grandmas could watch the show!"
She describes her character, Sayaka, as "a person with a strong sense of justice."
"She's a character who warmly watches over the gals in Tenjin, and has both kindness and strength. I think she's like a big sister to everyone. But she's still a rookie in the police force, so I was conscious of "trying my best" when I played the role, and I went to the shoot with "almost no makeup on."
She's most confident about the "Hakata dialect scenes." "I'm originally from Hakata, so I'd be happy if people liked it. I'm a natural native speaker (laughs)," she said.
◇ "Acting roles was more suited to me"
There was also a happy reunion in "Omusubi." Tanaka Miku, who worked with her in HKT48, also appeared in this work, and although they didn't have any scenes together, they were able to spend time together in the dressing room for the first time in a long time.
"Mikurin (Tanaka) plays a gal role, but she looked really cute in her gal makeup! I don't often get to meet her in private, so it was nice. I often see her on TV, so she inspires me to try harder."
Five years after graduating from HKT48, Kodama said, "I want to work even harder at acting." When asked why she decided to pursue acting, she said, "I wasn't confident that I could compete as my original self, and I didn't know how to make people like me, so I felt that acting was more suited to me. I wanted to compete here."
In the weekly photo magazine "Weekly FLASH" (Kobunsha) released on October 1st, she returned to gravure for the first time since her photo book released two years ago, but the reason for this was also her acting career. "I felt like I had done my best with gravure with the photo book two years ago, so I had intended to stop there, but I wanted a lot of people to know that I will be appearing in a morning drama this time, so I thought that if I was going to do it, now was the time. I decided to return at this timing," she revealed.
Her current goal is "to play the main role in a terrestrial TV drama." She is enthusiastic, saying, "I want to try playing a teacher role. Like a yakuza teacher role like in 'Gokusen' (laughs). But right now I'm willing to try any role. I just want to do a lot of acting!"
