Maika Yamamoto plays Yabuki Sachi, a classmate of Yui at Kobe Nutrition College, in the NHK morning drama "Omusubi" (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 a.m. and others), starring actress Kanna Hashimoto. Yamamoto, who is appearing in a morning drama for the first time, talked about her thoughts when she was chosen to appear and the role she will be playing.
◇First appearance in a morning drama: "When I heard about the role, I was like, 'What!?'"
"Omusubi" is the 111th NHK morning drama. The heroine, Yui Yoneda, was born on the day the era name changed to "Heisei", and after interacting with a gal in Fukuoka, a certain opportunity leads her to aim to become a registered dietitian in Kansai... This is a "Heisei youth graffiti." It is an original work by screenwriter Nonji Nemoto, who is known for the NHK drama "Shojiki Real Estate" and other works.
Yamamoto said, "When I heard about the role, I was like, 'What?!' (laughs). I was happy, but I didn't think I'd be asked to be in a morning drama, so I wondered why. After I'd been on set for a while, I heard that the scriptwriter had said, 'Sachi was originally written as Maika Yamamoto,' and I was like, 'You should have told me that sooner!' (laughs). But I was really happy to hear that."
She has been friends with the heroine, Kanna Hashimoto, since they co-starred in the movie "Karada Sagashi," which will be released in 2022, and revealed, "I was also really happy to be able to work with Kanna. It was my first morning drama, so I felt reassured to have Kanna there."
◇ "I thought about the level of anger" when playing Sachi
Sachi, played by Yamamoto, was a famous track and field athlete in high school, and her role is that she aims to become a sports nutritionist, which was still rare at the time. Yamamoto explains, "All the members of the nutrition school are really hoping to become nutritionists, but Sachi is aiming to become a sports nutritionist, which is said to be a difficult profession. Because she wants to become a sports nutritionist based on her own experience, she doesn't want to do it half-heartedly, and she sometimes coldly pushes Yui away."
"I thought it was a difficult role because it's unclear whether she wants to become friends with Yui or whether she's building a wall between them. She's still a teenage girl, and even though she's a child, she's trying to grow up and is desperately struggling to become a nutritionist."
In the play, there are scenes where Yui and Sachi clash, but she says, "Yui comes to school dressed like a gal, but Sachi also gets upset. When she goes out of her way to say, 'Are you kidding me?' She could have just ignored her, or responded coldly when she was spoken to, but she's always been concerned about Yui. It could be interpreted that somewhere in her heart, she wants to become friends with Yui."
"I thought she could have been a little less talkative, but to put it in a positive way, Sachi is someone who expresses her feelings clearly in words, so to put it in a negative way, she becomes a busybody and a noisy person, so it was difficult to find the right balance. When acting, I thought a lot about the level of anger. If I get too angry here, I won't be able to do it later. So I spent a lot of time facing the script."
◇First attempt at Kobe dialect "I don't want to do it half-heartedly"
Yamamoto, who is from Tottori Prefecture, said that Kobe dialect was very difficult, saying, "I didn't want to do it half-heartedly, so I kept listening to the audio. But when I spoke it out loud, it was completely different. I had a speech teacher with me all the time, and my head was full of Kobe dialect. I thought it was unfair that only Kote (who played Morikawa) was speaking standard Japanese! (laughs)" "It's frustrating when viewers say, 'You can't speak the dialect at all,' but at the same time, I know that I can't speak the dialect perfectly, so I want to impress them with my acting... I had a lot of conflicting thoughts. I was filming while battling the anxiety of whether I could do it," she recalls. "When I'm concentrating, people around me think I'm in a bad mood, but the makeup artist would say, 'It's okay! Everyone is doing their best!' and the staff were all really nice, which really helped me. It was also helpful that Kanna created a good atmosphere as the leader of the group, and I thought, 'She's amazing!' I struggled with the dialect, but I think it was a great experience to play a role that speaks Kobe dialect, and I hope I can make use of it in the future. I think I've gained a strength."
Finally, when asked about the highlights of the story, she appealed, "You can see Yui's great growth in the nutrition college arc. Yui's way of thinking, which was once normal for her, towards people, herself, and her boyfriend, gradually changes, and the highlight is seeing Sachi and the others supporting her as she grows up."
"As the series progresses, the bonds between Yui, Sachi, Kasumin (Yugami Kasumi/Taira Yuna) and Morimori (Morikawa Manabu/Kote Shinya) deepen, and since working together on one thing is important in any job, I hope viewers can see how they get along with kids who have completely different personalities. As for the Kobe dialect...I did my best, but I don't think you should get your hopes up too much. Well, I hope you'll look at my dialect with a kind heart, as if you'll forgive me here (laughs)."
