Actor Ryo Yoshizawa appeared on stage on the opening day of his starring movie "Baban Baban Ban Vampire" (directed by Shinji Hamasaki) on July 4th. He revealed his wish: "I hope I can bench press 100 kilograms."
In honor of Tanabata, the speakers wrote down the wishes they wanted to come true on strips of paper, and the audience guessed who wrote which wish. Regarding his wishes, Yoshizawa said, "Just like in this movie, I often have the opportunity to do muscle training to get in shape for my roles. Isn't it great to see myself getting bigger? It makes me want to aim higher and higher."
He continued by saying that he has only ever been able to lift 80 kilograms, and said, "No matter how hard I try, I can't go above 80. I want to be part of the small percentage of people who can lift 100 kilograms."
When asked how much weight he could lift, his co-star Mandy Sekiguchi replied, "I don't lift that much...it's about the same." Yoshizawa recalled, "That's not true. When I asked him on set, 'How much weight do you lift?' he said, 'I usually lift 80kg about 10 times easily...' and he called my highest number 'easily.'"
The film is based on the manga of the same name by Hiromasa Okushima, which is currently being serialized in Bessatsu Shonen Champion (Akita Shoten). Hiding his true identity, 450-year-old vampire Ranmaru Mori (Yoshizawa) works as a live-in part-timer at a public bathhouse. In search of the ultimate tasting "blood of an 18-year-old virgin," he struggles to protect the chastity of the bathhouse's only son, Rihito Tatsuno(Rihito Itagaki).
On this day, Itagaki, Nanoka Hara, Mitsushima Shinnosuke, Gordon Maeda, and Director Hamasaki also appeared. The MC was TV Asahi announcer Tsumugi Mitani.
