Actor Yuki Sakurai stars in NHK's "Drama 10 ' Shiawase wa tabete nete mate'" (General TV, Tuesdays at 10pm). The drama will air its final episode on May 27th, but it has been well-received by viewers so far. Production manager Komatsu Masayo shared her impressions of Sakurai's delicate portrayal of the protagonist Satoko's emotional ups and downs as she continues to live alone while suffering from a lifelong illness (collagen disease).
The drama is based on the manga of the same name by Tori Mizunagi. The main character, who is troubled by various issues such as health, work, apartments, and future plans, regains her mind and body through delicious medicinal food and the gentle human relationships of the housing complex, and realizes the happiness that is close to her and depends on her. It is a heartwarming story that will warm your heart.
Sakurai plays the main character, Mugimaki Satoko, who suffers from collagen disease, quits her company, and ends up working part-time four days a week to barely get by. Although she can still go about her daily life, her body cries out when she pushes herself too hard. She gives up on renewing her apartment lease and starts living in a housing complex with a rent of 50,000 yen. She hesitates because her landlord lives next door, but what makes her decide is the soup and medicinal food made by the mysterious freeloader, Tsukasa. She has a lot of stress and scars from her previous workplace, but little by little, as the seasons change...that's the role she plays.
This was the first time that Komatsu had cast Sakurai in one of his works. Having seen her in other works, he said, "I really thought that there must be a lot more to her that isn't like the usual."
"I think Satoko is a very honest person, and in that sense, her reactions were really good (in Sakurai's acting). The script this time had a lot of '...' and she reacts to what the other person says, so of course I was interested in and had high expectations for how she would express that 'wavering' in her, where she reacts, but there is a situation where she can't express it directly at the moment, and I think Sakurai went above and beyond that."
Komatsu also speculates, "I think they must have put a lot of thought into creating the character of Satoko, played by Yuki Sakurai."
On the other hand, he was impressed that "he doesn't get too hung up on that sort of thing, and instead places great importance on how he responds to the reactions of the people on set, which is why he was able to make so many small changes."
"Watching through the editing, I realized how much attention he paid to the small details. I think it's because he actually paid attention to so many small details within a scene that the exchanges look so natural. In this drama, it's not about people getting surprised or angry at some huge event, but how people express the feelings that have been building up inside them. So I discovered that in order to make that seem natural, Sakurai-san was paying attention to the small details before and after, and I'm sure he had to do that to create exchanges that looked natural. I really felt the stamina, in many ways, of Sakurai-san, who never let us see how hard he worked."
*...The special episode of the drama in which Sakurai also appears, "Shiawase wa tabete nete mate- Thank You SP," will be broadcast on NHK General TV from 9:30 am on May 24th. The three main cast members, Sakurai, Hio Miyazawa, and Kaga Mariko, will gather on the set immediately after filming wrapped and talk about memorable scenes and lines that made a big impact.
