Mio Imada will be appearing in the Asadora drama series "Anpan" (NHK General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00am and others), starring Sara Shida Mio. She will be playing Usako Ogawa of the heroine Nobu Asada (Imada). This will be Shida's first Asadora . Speaking of "classmate and childhood friend" of the heroine, the so-called best friend role is still fresh in our memory of "Hanae-chan" ( Misato Morita ), who gained popularity in the Asadora"The Tiger and Her Wings " one year ago. "My mother wanted me to appear in the Asadora drama as a best friend role, so I was able to make my mother's dream come true," said Shida with a smile. We spoke to her.
◇I never thought I would be given such a wonderful role.
Shida was born on July 28, 1999 and is 25 years old and from Kanagawa Prefecture. After appearing in the drama "Cheer☆Dan" (TBS, 2018), the live-action "Laid-Back Camp" series (TV Tokyo), and the Sunday Theatre "Dragon Zakura" (TBS, 2021), Shida played the role of the 14th Shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi, in Season 2 "Bakumatsu Hen" of NHK's "Drama 10 "Ooku"" (2023).
Furthermore, in January of last year, she played the lead role in two dramas, "The Unforgettable 'I' - Chain of Revenge" (Nippon TV) and "Betrayal in a Place Like This" (Chukyo TV), and has been steadily gaining a foothold ever since her debut in the Asadora.
"I never thought I would be given such a wonderful role, so I'm really happy. My grandparents have always said that they wanted me to appear in NHK's productions, so they were very happy when I appeared in "Ooku." But now that I've been cast in "Anpan," they're even happier. I've also had a lot of people in my hometown say, "We'll definitely watch it." This is an opportunity for people of my generation, as well as my grandparents' generation, to see me, so I feel like it's a chance for a different generation to get to know me."
Shida herself thought, "I never expected to find such a wonderful role," and played the role of Usako Ogawa, a childhood friend and classmate of the heroine Nobu. When she attended high school with Nobu, she dreamed of finding a good partner and becoming a bride before graduation, but...
"Usako-chan enters the Women's Normal School under the influence of Nobu-chan, but I think she is a very proactive girl. She sometimes cries and has a weak side, but she grows from there through her encounters with Naginata and Ms. Kuroi (Yukiko Kuroi, a teacher at the Women's Normal School, played by Kumi Takiuchi). She cries, but she doesn't get discouraged and keeps moving forward, one step at a time, which I think is what makes Usako-chan so appealing."
◇ When it came to trying naginata, "I was incredibly bad at it at first (laughs)"
There is a scene in the play where she swings a naginata, which is said to be an essential item when talking about Usako.
"Before filming began, we had naginata practice, and through that practice, I created the role. I had no experience, and at first I was incredibly bad (laughs). I was so nervous at first that I closed my eyes, and my instructor told me, 'Open your eyes!' But when it finally took shape, I felt a great sense of accomplishment, and I think Usako must have had the same feelings, working hard every day, telling herself, 'I don't want to lose.'"
It will be fun to watch the broadcast to find out why and how Usako will be wielding the naginata. Shida-san points out that she and Usako have something in common: they both hate to lose. This "hate to lose" was one of the things she kept in mind when playing the role.
"When things don't go well at work, I sometimes cry myself to sleep, but I don't want to quit. The next day I think, 'OK, I'll try my best,' so I can empathize with Usako-chan in that she doesn't just cry and leave it at that, but uses her tears as fuel. I also think we're similar in that we both hate to lose. Although I do cry a lot, I really don't want to lose, so I was very conscious of how I expressed that feeling when I worked hard behind the scenes."
Once again, on the set of her first Asadora, Shida realizes that "I'm able to approach this with a fresh feeling that I've never experienced before."
"One of my goals as an actor was to be able to appear on the set of a Asadora, so I felt like I was back at my roots when I took on the role of Usako. Through this role, I have a stronger desire to pursue acting even more, and I think this will be a new turning point for me. I don't know what the reaction will be yet, but at this point in time, I feel that this is a very important piece of work for me."
By the way, when I asked Shida if her mother had wanted her to be the best friend of the Asadora heroine...
"Of course, I aspire to be a heroine, but for some reason, my mother has always said that I should be in the 'best friend position.' I don't really know why, but I think there's a possibility that I could go from being the best friend to being the heroine in the future, so I'm happy that I've been able to take that first step, and I think that's where I'll start."
