Mio Imada stars in the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan" (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00 a.m. and others). In the 15th week "Let's go! Tokyo" that begins on July 7, Toda Keiko, the voice actor of Anpanman in the popular anime "Soreike! Anpanman" (Nippon TV), will appear. The character she plays is Maki Tetsuko...
"Anpan" is based on the married couple Takashi Yanase(1919-2013) and Nobu (1918-1993), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman." It is a "story of love and courage" that will make you feel the joy of living, depicting how these two, who were once nobody, overcame all sorts of rough seas to become "Anpanman," the embodiment of "unreversible justice."
Maki Tetsuko is a congresswoman from Kochi whom the heroine Nobu (Imada) meets for the first time. She is a lively woman (a Tosa dialect word for a cheerful woman) who moves ahead at a faster pace than Nobu, and has a strong belief in "reaching out a helping hand to those in a weaker position." She will later have a major impact on Nobu's life.
When her appearance was announced in June, Toda commented, "When the TV anime 'Soreike! Anpanman' started, I read the script for the first episode and cried at Anpanman's lines. Similarly, when I got the script this time, I was so happy I cried. I am so happy to have been given such a wonderful, righteous line. I will do my best, Hachikin Makitetsuko, to make all Anpanman fans across the country and Yanase-sensei in heaven happy!"
In addition, Chief Producer Ken Kurasaki, who is in charge of production, revealed, "Ever since we announced the project for ' Anpan' in October 2023, we have been receiving a lot of expectations for Toda Keiko's appearance, and we have been hoping that she will definitely appear somewhere." He continued, "In fact, I have had the opportunity to talk to Toda at length about Yanase and Anpanman in 'interviews' for quite some time now. Every time I was touched by her love, I was convinced that the pieces of the puzzle for ' Anpan' would come together by having Toda join the team. I'm sure Yanase and Nobu are both happy in heaven. Please look forward to the appearance of Toda Keiko as Maki Tetsuko, who is even more of a haughty chick than Nobu!"
