In the NHK morning drama "Omusubi" (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8am and others), starring Hashimoto Kanna, Matsumoto Reo plays Kazami Ryosuke, a senior in the calligraphy club who is admired by the heroine Yui (Hashimoto). He is handsome and refreshing, and is the object of admiration for female students, but in reality he is a baseball nerd who is bad at sports and gets excited about vegetable dyeing, making him a somewhat elusive character. We spoke to production manager Usagawa Takashi about the reasons for casting Matsumoto to play Kazami and what makes him so appealing.
Matsumoto was born on April 27th, 2000, and is 24 years old, from Ehime Prefecture. He made his acting debut in 2021 and has appeared in popular dramas such as the TV series "Gekokujo Baseball Players" (TBS), "Furitsumore Kodoku na Shi yo" (Yomiuri TV/Nippon TV), and the NHK drama "Shojiki Real Estate 2". He is a young actor with promising future success, and "Omusubi" will be his first appearance in a morning drama.
For this work, a large-scale audition was held in which more than 2,000 young actors participated, including 1,864 women and 391 men, but Matsumoto was offered the role.
Usagawa said about the reason for casting Matsumoto, "Kazami is 'the prince.' To us, he was like a senior who appears in Studio Ghibli works. NHK's historical drama "Akinai Seiden" When I saw "Gold and Silver," there was a character exactly like the image I had in mind. I thought, 'Oh, there's a senior!' And that was Matsumoto," he revealed.
"When I realized that Kazami's unique coolness and prince-like qualities were necessary, I wondered who the character would be that everyone could agree on. That's when I saw Matsumoto and thought he was great. And his acting has a unique sexiness to it, or something that's interesting and draws you in. So we talked it over as a team and decided to "pick the one."
On the other hand, because the character has a strong personality, there were concerns that "it wouldn't be easy to play."
"When I saw Matsumoto's other plays, for example in TBS's "Gekokujou Kyuji," he played the rival pitcher of the high school baseball team that the main character coaches, and he played a very bold, heel-like role. At that time, I decided to offer him the role, and I thought, "I can really entrust this person with the role." I think many people are shy about a role like Kazami, but Matsumoto played it with confidence."
Regarding Matsumoto, Usagawa said, "He is someone who has a lot of things he likes." He said, "Matsumoto was talking to people around him on the set about how good the classic volleyball manga "Haikyu!!" is, and he was singing the anime's theme song out loud. He has such a lovely, cute side to him, so I think he was a good match for the innocent parts of him, like when he cheers at the baseball game or when he asks Yui's grandmother Kayo (Miyazaki Yoshiko) all about the vegetable dyeing scene."
Kazami aspires to be a calligrapher who will completely change the image of calligraphy. How will he be involved in the story from now on? And what will happen to his relationship with Yui? I'd like to keep an eye on his future activities.
