Ryo Kase plays Yutaro, the father of the main character Asada Nobu Asada (played by Nagase Yuzuna and Imada) in the NHK Asadora drama series "Anpan " (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 a.m. and others), starring Mio Imada He talked about his impressions of the role and his thoughts on the series.
" Anpan" is based on the married couple Takashi Yanase(1919-2013) and Nobu Komatsu(1918-1993), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman." It is a "story of love and courage" that will make you feel the joy of living, depicting how these two, who were once nobody, overcame all sorts of rough seas to become "Anpanman," the embodiment of "unreversible justice." Imada will play the hero (heroine) Nobu Komatsu, who is based on Nobu Asada, and Takashi Yanase will play Takashi Yanai, who is based on Takumi Kitamura.
Kase plays Yutaro, a character who works for a trading company, travels all over the place for work, and cares very deeply for his wife and three daughters.
Regarding Yutaro, Kase said, "When I read the script, I got the impression that he was a calm person with progressive values for his time."
"Rather than telling his daughters to 'act like ladies,' he is the kind of father who thinks it's fine if they come home with scraped knees. He leaves all the household matters to his wife Hatako (Noriko Eguchi), but I think he is properly grateful to her. I'm sure he chose to work in trading because he dreamed of a free world. Although it's not depicted, I believe he repeatedly begged his father Kamaji (Kotaro Yoshida ) to 'take over the stonemason's business,' to 'let me do this job.'"
In the play, Yutaro is portrayed as caring for his daughters and speaking to them in an impressive way. Kase says, "He's a father who doesn't tell them what to do, but tells them not to hold back when it comes to what they want to do."
"The line 'Girls should be ambitious too' appears twice, and I think the scriptwriter wanted to emphasize this line. This is just my impression from reading the script, but I felt that if the words were too strong, it wouldn't leave much of an impression. I wanted to say it casually, but in a way that would really reach Nobu's heart. I approached it with that feeling in mind."
Kase-san's first appearance in a Asadora was in " Anpan ". When asked about his thoughts on the series, he said, "I've always liked Yanase-san, so I was happy to be able to participate this time."
"I remember reading the 'Anpanman' picture book a long time ago and feeling my heart warm. After that, I read various articles about Yanase's war experiences and the impression that he was a kind person remained with me. As mentioned at the beginning of the first episode, what is unchanging justice? I don't know what the story will be like from here on, but I hope that this work will carefully depict such a theme."
