It was revealed on June 28th that voice actor Ryusei Yokohama Hirata, known for his role as Sanji in the popular anime "ONE PIECE", will appear in the NHK Taiga drama "UNBOUND (Berabou)" (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama. He will play Magabuchi Kageaki, who was busy taking measures to ensure public order in Edo after the Tenmei uprising.
As the magistrate of the northern part of Edo, Magabuchi Kageyoshi was popular among the common people. However, due to repeated natural disasters, the price of rice rose sharply and the people became increasingly dissatisfied. In order to improve public order in the city, he made a proposal to Tanuma Okitsugu(played by Ken Watanabe).
This will be Hirata's second time appearing in a taiga drama in three years, following "The 13 Lords of the Shogun" which aired in 2022. In the previous drama, he played the Hitachi samurai Satake Yoshimasa, who was on the side of the Taira clan, and was "instantly killed" by Kazusa Hirotsugu, played by Koichi Sato, who played the role of a person who was killed.
"This is my second time appearing in a taiga drama, but I was still as nervous as ever when I heard about the role. When I received the script and started to read it, the first thing I thought was, "My name is difficult!" For some reason, I got nervous again. When I went to the costume fitting, and when I was in the studio filming, I saw everyone looking great in their costumes and how the wigs suited them, and I got nervous all over again. Also, I have more lines than last time, so once again... I'll continue to fight the tension every day until the day of filming," she commented.
"UNBOUND (Berabou)" is the 64th taiga drama, depicting the life of Tsutaya Juzaburo(or "Tsutajyu" for short), who is said to have built the foundations of Japan's media industry and pop culture. The script was written by Yoshiko Morishita, known for "Drama 10 'Ooku'" which was broadcast on NHK two years ago and became a big hit.
