Miu Arai will be appearing in the drama series " The Reluctant Preacher " (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm) starring Alice Hirose . Arai, who started out as a child actor, is also known for playing the protagonist's childhood and the "Ryugu Kozo" in the 2017 NHK Taiga drama " Naotora: The Lady Warlord". Eight years later, this year, Arai also made headlines for appearing in "UNBOUND (Berabou)", saying, "The costume and makeup artists were the same as in 'Naotora', and it felt like there were lots of moms and dads on set." Meanwhile, in "The Reluctant Preacher", Arai shows off a different side of herself as a high school girl with a boyfriend. We spoke to her.
◇Reasons why I love auditions: This time, I'll talk about love disputes
"The Reluctant Preacher" is a school entertainment with the theme of "preaching." The basic story is about a Japanese teacher who reluctantly became a high school teacher and tries to avoid trouble and not get too involved, but before he knows it, he gets caught up in the affairs of his problematic students and finds himself in a situation where he has to lecture them, even though he doesn't want to... The cast for the students in class 2-10, where the main character, Reimi Shizuka, played by Hirose, is the homeroom teacher, was selected through auditions.
Arai reveals, "I like auditions."
"The nervousness never goes away, but when I'm nervous, I can act differently from how I've practiced, in a good way. It's not like adrenaline, but I can perform better than I've practiced, and that's why I always look forward to auditions."
The character I'm playing this time is Oota Riko, who belongs to the top-tier group in her class and is dating Hata Rintaro (Hamura Hitonari). She's a strong-willed and reliable character, but she also has a weak side when she's hit.
Arai says that she possesses both strong will and a sensitive side, and adds, "The role is just like a real-life high school girl's worries, so I didn't have to do anything special to prepare for it, and I was able to get into the role right away."
Through the role, he also experienced romantic conflicts.
"I've never played a character with a boyfriend before, and it's the first time I've had to deal with conflict within that relationship. It's a high school drama, so in addition to creating individual characters, I'm also thinking about how to balance things within the group, and I'm working on it while thinking about things like that, so I hope I can use this experience to grow as a person."
◇ "Acting" is something that is absolutely necessary in life. I don't set a goal for myself.
Arai herself just graduated from high school this spring. "I feel that I was truly blessed to have so many people around me in middle and high school who supported my entertainment career," she said.
"I was also in the dance club, which sometimes caused trouble for my friends and teachers, but with everyone's help, I was able to take part in the national championships every summer when I was able to, and I was able to give my all to school events with everyone, so I didn't have any regrets about my high school life. Even when I look back at the camera roll on my smartphone, I can see that it was the best time; I really don't have any regrets."
Arai, who has now reached the milestone of graduating from high school, is now 18 years old. As an actor, we can expect to see even more success from here, but he himself states that "I've never thought about quitting acting, and it's something I can't do without."
"I think I would be very anxious if it didn't exist, but since it's something that is absolutely necessary in life, rather than it being something I find rewarding, I feel like it has become my purpose in life. I'm the type of person who wants to try a variety of things, so recently the number of character roles that I want to take on has been increasing, which makes it harder, but the more I don't know, the more I want to learn, and when I think that if I try to learn, I can go anywhere, it's really fun."
Arai-san says he doesn't set any goals.
"If you don't decide on a goal or ideal image, you can come across unexpected roles and think, 'Oh, I could do this!' So I'm excited to see what kind of role I'll be playing in six months or a year."
