It has been revealed that actress Keiko Kitagawa will play the lead role in the drama series "Anata wo Ubatta Sonohikara" (Kantele/Fuji TV, Mondays at 10pm), which will begin in April. This is her first drama series since giving birth to her second son, and Kitagawa plays the role of a housewife who loses her young daughter in a food accident and decides to take revenge. She said, "When I received the offer, I wondered if I could do it, but I was also very happy."
It was also announced that Nao Omori will play the president of the delicatessen store who becomes the target of the revenge. With the cause of the accident still unclear, the company is forced to close, and he lives with his two daughters left behind by his ex-wife. After reading the script, Omori commented, "The content is hard, or should I say heavy, and as I have children myself it really hit home. I thought it was a very well-written script as entertainment."
Nakagoshi Hiromi (Kitagawa), a mother who lost her child in a food accident 10 years ago, holds a grudge against Yuki Asahi (Omori), the president of the delicatessen store that caused the accident, but accidentally kidnaps Asahi's child. Hiromi is determined to get revenge, but there is a big miscalculation in the kidnapping... This is the story. The script is written by Ikeda Natsuko, who has worked on "The Day the World Ends with You," and the director is Matsuki Hajime, who has worked on the "Rika" series.
Kitagawa plays Hiromi, a character who suffers from the crime he committed, struggles with it, and lives a strong life despite dragging those around him into it. Although the revenge was supposed to have begun with hatred for the other person, a new form of love inadvertently blossoms within it, and the story takes an unexpected turn. Young actors are also cast in the roles of the reporter who relentlessly pursues the truth of the accident, Asahi's twisted eldest daughter, and her tutor.
◇Comment from Keiko Kitagawa
--Please tell us how you felt when you received the offer.
Personally, this will be my first drama series since giving birth to my second child, so when I received the offer I was a bit skeptical about whether I could do it, but I was also very happy.
-What were your impressions when you read the script?
There is a character named Hiromi who, after realizing that he has begun to develop a true parent-child affection for the girl he kidnapped in order to exact revenge, and that the man he is seeking revenge on also has feelings for his child and is a warm human being, he is no longer able to focus solely on revenge. I thought it was very realistic that his own feelings can sometimes be uncontrollable and unpredictable, and I think the story realistically depicts the sometimes not-so-beautiful emotions that humans have, so I wanted to express that in a realistic way.
What do you want to convey about your work to viewers?
I think people will be able to empathize with the fact that humans have many different sides to them, and that not all of those sides are lies but the truth.It's not that you shouldn't make mistakes, but rather, I believe this work gives hints on how to deal with people in your own way when you do make a mistake, so I hope people will be able to see that.
-What is your impression of your co-star, Omori?
He's kind and cheerful. What's impressive about him is that the staff also say he's "cool," and I think he's cool from both the opposite sex and the same sex.
◇Comment from Nao Omori
--Please tell us how you felt when you received the offer.
I worked with Kitagawa-san on a taiga drama two years ago, so I was happy to be able to work with her again.
-What were your impressions when you read the script?
It was a well-made story, so I enjoyed reading it, but the content was hard and heavy, and as a parent myself, it was very difficult for me. I thought it was a very well-written script as entertainment.
What do you want to convey about your work to viewers?
I act every day hoping to be able to effectively express the conflicts and human aspects of parents with children.
- Please give a message to the viewers.
I think it will be a very well-made work, so I am enjoying filming it while wondering what will happen to me and what will happen to Kitagawa-san. Please look forward to it in April. Thank you.
◇Comment from Planner Ayako Mizuno (Kyodo Television)
I have always believed that "whether or not you are related by blood is not that important" and "no matter how unloving your parents are, you can create a real family if you have someone to spend a lot of time with" and I always (unconsciously) include such messages in the works I create, but this time I also took as my theme "human preconceptions" - "if you look at someone assuming they are a bad person, they will always appear to be a bad person, but if you look at them from a slightly different angle, they will appear in a completely different light" - and created a book with suspense elements woven in. Both Kitagawa-san and Omori-san gave passionate performances that exceeded my expectations every day, and I was moved every day as I watched the filming, sometimes crying.
◇ Comment from producer Yuto Mikata (Kantele)
"What does it mean to forgive?" This may have been the thing I thought about the most during the preparation period leading up to filming. In this story, many people make mistakes, get lost, and stumble. What do they think and how do they act at such times? What does it mean to "forgive"? Along with the breathtaking suspenseful developments, the story also carefully and carefully weaves the theme of "forgiveness."
On set...Keiko Kitagawa and Nao Omori are performing their best every day. I can almost believe that somewhere in this town, Hiromi and Asahi are living, worrying, struggling, sometimes crying and laughing. The story of two families begins in April. I hope you will watch until the end.
