Hio Miyazawa plays Tanuma Okitomo in the historical drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (NHK General TV, Sunday 8pm and others). At the end of the 27th episode (aired on July 13th), Ochi is attacked by Sano Masanori (Yamoto Yuma), and in the 28th episode (aired on July 27th), he dies before he can achieve his goal. Until the moment he is killed, he can see a happy future with the Yoshiwara prostitute Daresode ( Haruka Fukuhara), with whom he has a crush. Miyazawa, who is reading the script with a disappointment, said, "It takes it to the peak and then suddenly drops. When I was reading it, I thought, oh, he's going to die here," and he looked back on Ochi's final moments.
◇ The first thing I was worried about was who was in charge. I felt Ichi’s humanity once again at the very end.
Episode 28 depicted the final conversation between Ichi and Okitsugu(played by Ken Watanabe). Ichi had been deeply wounded by Masatomo and was so weak that he could not stand up on his own. The first person Ichi worried about was Dareso. He told Okitsugu that he had bought a prostitute from Tsuchiyama (played by Shuntaro Yanagi) and that he had been taken care of by her, so he asked Okitsugu to take care of her. He also entrusted the Okitsugu to Okitsugu ...
"I had the strong impression that he was always willing to act for the sake of others, whether it was for his father or the suffering people, and that he was not the kind of person who put himself first until the very end. I think there were still many things he wanted to accomplish, and he still has regrets about that, but the story goes that he leaves it up to his father, and although it is a very short scene, I thought it beautifully portrayed Ichi's life itself."
Ichi did not even blame Masagen for assassinating him.
"In reality, one would think, 'Damn, it wasn't supposed to be like this,' but I could see until the very end that Ichinose had sympathy for Sano, and even if he didn't fully understand why he had killed him, he still tried to understand, so at the very end I was reminded that Ichinose was a truly kind person who sacrificed himself to create a more prosperous shogunate and country."
Miyazawa said that while his end was more peaceful than he had expected, "I had very strong feelings as I entrusted the Okitsugu to Okitsugu ," and when he heard Okitsugu lament, "Why not me?" beside Okitsugu, "He was already dead (laughs), but it was painful to hear."
"One of the reasons that led to Ichi's fate was that Okitsugu threw away the Sano family tree. After that, Ichi repeatedly asked Ikenori if he could bring Sano into the spotlight. I think all of his past mistakes came flooding back to him in an Okitsugu, making him think that if Okitsugu had treated Sano with a little more care, perhaps the story would have ended differently."
◇ Learning from Ken Watanabe, who shared his thoughts on the show
Miyazawa revealed that there was a lot he could learn from Watanabe, who played the role of Okitsugu.
"He's a really kind person, so he teaches me properly. The recording goes like this: dry (rehearsal without cameras), then a test, and then the real thing. After we've solidified our acting in the dry rehearsal, there's a little bit of time for the cameras to be set up, and during that time Ken-san is very generous in sharing his thoughts with me as he watches, saying things like, 'You should say this line a little more like this,' or, 'You should emphasize this part,' or, when something was good, 'Let's keep it like this,' and constantly improving the scene."
Miyazawa reiterated, "I learned so much just by watching how they carried themselves."
"I've worked with him on stage before, and even then he's always created just the right amount of tension, but he's not unapproachable. I naturally want to talk to him, and ask him all sorts of things. There were a few times during the recording when I got stuck and didn't know what to do, and it was Ken who I turned to first for advice, and he's the first to notice when I'm struggling, so being around him is a very reassuring and helpful presence."
