Tekken is a comedian and flip book artist who plays the artist Isoda Koryusai in the taiga drama "UNBOUND (Berabou)" (NHK General TV, Sundays at 8pm and others), starring Ryusei Yokohama. Tekken, who gave up his white make-up and appeared on the shoot with his bare face, talked about his thoughts on his first appearance in a taiga drama and the reactions he received from those around him.
◇Reaction to revealing real face: "I was so happy I had to repost it"
Tekken's character, Koryusai, is an ukiyo-e artist who worked on "Hinagata Wakana's First Pattern," which was planned by the main character Tsutaju (Yokohama) and published together with Nishimuraya Yohachi (Masahiko Nishimura). He will appear in the fourth episode, "The Sweet Trap of 'Hinagata Wakana'," which will air on January 26th.
Although Tekken has shown his face before in documentaries and the 2013 drama series "The Clinic on the Sea" (Fuji TV), when the photo of him in his costume was released on the official social media account of "UNBOUND", many viewers were surprised to see that he looked like a completely different person compared to his usual white makeup. In the comments section, there were many surprised comments such as "Is that really him!?" and "He looked like a completely different person, I didn't recognize him."
Tekken himself said that he had been checking the reactions on social media, and said, "I read all of the comments in the replies to my X (formerly Twitter) account. I thought there might be some negative comments like, 'Do you really want to go that far to be on there?' (laughs), but I was glad that there weren't any. Everyone wrote pretty nice things, like 'that's cool.' I don't usually do that, but I was so happy that I reposted it."
Regarding his appearance in the drama, he revealed, "I'm already an old man, so I didn't really want to show my real face, but I thought it was a chance.I really wanted to appear in a taiga drama, so my desire to do so won out."
"Everyone around me is surprised. I told my father that I was going to be in a taiga drama, but I think he was a little skeptical. But I think he was really happy about it. I also contacted my art teacher from middle school about my role in a taiga drama. He was really happy, and looked up Koryusai and gave me advice. I won a manga award under that teacher's guidance, so I do feel a little pressured, but I feel like I've been able to repay him."
◇His past aspiring to be an actor and his failure
While he is happy to be appearing in the taiga drama, Tekken says that he is not good at acting. In fact, before he became a comedian, he joined the theater company "Gekidan Tohai" and had a period when he aimed to become an actor.
"When I was practicing the 'Uiro Seller' as a voice training exercise, my instructor told me, 'You have a bad pronunciation, so you're not suited to be an actor.' That's when I first realized I had a bad pronunciation, and I gave up on my dream of becoming an actor. I want to tell that instructor, 'You're going to appear in a historical drama!' (laughs)"
Looking back on this bitter experience, Tekken said, "I have a bad pronunciation and am terrible at acting, so for ' UNBOUND' I practiced desperately to be able to at least draw ukiyo-e. Recently, my presbyopia has gotten worse, and the lines in ukiyo-e are so thin that it's becoming difficult for me to focus on them, so I could only practice for four hours a day..."
He said that viewers should watch the fourth episode, which will be broadcast on January 26th, in real time, and appealed, "I'm also watching the reactions on X, so please don't write anything bad. I'm the type of person who grows when I'm praised, so please praise me (laughs)."
"The next step depends on your comments, so I would like you to write that you would like to see Tekken in a certain role, and have NHK watch it. If the role of Koryusai ends, I would like to see him in another role (laughs). I would be happy if people thought, 'Tekken is appearing again in a different role!' Even if you're just a passerby, I would appreciate your support."
