Niihara Taisuke is appearing in the TBS Sunday Theatre drama " Mikami Sensei " (Sundays at 9pm) starring Tori Matsuzaka . He plays Migami Kota, the older brother of the protagonist Migami Takashi, who died when he was in middle school, and who has only appeared in flashbacks or as a vision up until now. "Honestly, at first I didn't know what kind of role it was," Niihara said, "but as I read through the script I realised it was a really important role, and I felt a great sense of responsibility as it was a role that was connected to the core of the story."
◇Did Mikami Kota have "too broad a perspective"?
The drama is an original "great reversal story of education revival" in which Takashi Mikami (played by Matsuzaka), a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who wants to change the Japanese education system, takes to the podium at a private high school and stands up to authority while guiding 18-year-old high school students living in the Reiwa era.
Niihara was born on October 7, 2000, and is 24 years old and from Saitama Prefecture. She is active in stage productions and musicals, and has been confirmed to appear in the musical version of " Itaewon Class."
"Mikami Sensei" was his first Sunday Theatre production. He said he was amazed by the power of the images when he saw the show.
"I was also a cast member, so I knew what the atmosphere was like on set, but when I saw it on air, I felt the power of the images on the screen, and each and every scene was powerful and energetic, and I felt that there was something about it that makes it the Sunday Theatre show that I long for. As for the story, it was woven with the current situation in mind, so as a viewer, I felt it was sensational, or rather, edgy."
The actor, Kota Mikami, "appeared" from the first episode, but his true identity was revealed in the third episode. Takashi Mikami said that Kota "committed suicide" after broadcasting a statement in the school's broadcasting room.
There are still many unknowns, such as the reason for his suicide, but Niihara's first impression was that "Maybe he had too broad a perspective," and he analyzed that "Migami Kota was the kind of person who ended up in this kind of ending because he was able to see things that he didn't need to see."
"Once I start to worry about something, I can't stop. I'm the type of person who delves deeper into things that I don't think need to be explored that much, and I end up worrying about a lot of things. That's why I think the role of Mikami Kota came to me so easily."
That's why, Niihara reveals, "I never had any doubts about a single line."
"Usually when I'm acting, there are lines that I find hard to say, like I get choked up. Whether it's something mental, or my brain senses something and blocks it, there are lines that are hard to remember or utter, but this time there wasn't a single one. And because there wasn't anything at all, I thought I should just go with the flow. If there was one thing, it was that because I was a person who chose "suicide", conversely, I tried to cherish everyday life. In the first episode, I say the key words, "personal is political," to Takashi Mikami, and I was conscious of trying to expand the role well from that scene."
◇ As an illusion, be aware not to blink.
It may seem like a difficult role to approach, as it involves the past and an illusion, but he firmly states that "there was no difficulty in playing the role."
"If I had to say, how do I interpret 'death'? I felt that if I acted like a dead person or a ghost, it would be disrespectful to the person and existence of Mikami Kota, so I discussed with the director the nuances and balance of that. In the first episode, there was a scene where I met Mikami Takashi (as an illusion), and it would be easy to say that I was an entity that only Mikami Takashi could see, but my (Mikami Kota) emotions were formed in conjunction with Mikami Takashi's feelings, so I discussed what kind of scene it was, how I wanted the viewers to feel, and why I should make that kind of face, before acting."
As the phantom Mikami Kota, he was conscious of not blinking.
"Blinking is a reflex action, isn't it? I think it's because we're alive. I didn't think that Mikami Kota moved by reflex, and if I didn't blink, the light wouldn't reach my eyes, so I tried to use that for the role."
Because he didn't have many scenes, it seems he gained a lot from playing the role of Mikami Kota, a role that required him to really dig deep into the details...
"If you just read the words of the script, it's difficult to understand, and there are many hints, so I spent a lot of time thinking about how to interpret the book, and I think I was able to improve my reading comprehension and my mental skills in interpreting things. This time, there were many scenes where I had to express emotions without lines, so just by raising and lowering the corners of my mouth by 1mm, I could go from anger to anxiety, or from anger to worry, and I realized on a technical level that people can really read emotions from the other person's face."
I plan to use the experience I gained here to move forward even further.
"I personally feel that this year will be one in which I have to approach acting more seriously, so I want to continue to study and take in new things every day, and make sure that I don't run out of the inner energy to output. I would also like to take what I have output and input it back into myself again to digest it."
