Rihito Itagaki plays Sannojo , the third son of the Ushimizu family, in the NHK morning drama series " Bakebake " (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and other times). In episode 15 (broadcast on October 17th), there is a scene in which Sannojo speaks his true feelings for the first time, just before his father, Fu ( Shinichi Tsutsumi ), dies. What were Itagaki's thoughts as he faced this scene? We spoke to him about what he kept in mind when acting and what went on behind the scenes of this scene.
Sannojo , played by Itagaki, is the third son of the Ushimizu family, relatives of the heroine Toki ( Akari Takaishi ), and is two years younger than Toki. Since his older brother will inherit the family business, he has no particular role to play. Since he has no place in the family, he spends all his time hanging out at Toki's workplace. In episode 11 (broadcast on October 13th), the eldest son, Ujimatsu (Yasuda Hiroto), suddenly runs away from home, and Sannojo is left in charge of factory work without knowing anything about it.
Episode 15 depicts the inner cry of Sannojo who was never able to face his father head-on. Fu laments the terrible state of the factory while he was away, and even as he falls ill, he demands an explanation from Sannojo. As Toki and Tae (Keiko Kitagawa) look on, Sannojo replies, "It's impossible, it's too late now. I've always been surrounded by my older brothers and never learned anything. They've conveniently called out the third son, who has never even spoken to me," revealing that Toki is Fu and Tae's daughter. "If letting go makes me love someone more, I would have preferred to have grown up somewhere else," she confesses.
Looking back on this scene, Itagaki said, "I wanted to portray the Ushimizu family as someone who was at the mercy of the times."
Regarding the line that Sannojo utters in this scene, "I wanted to grow up somewhere else too," he feared that "depending on how he conveys this to Fu and Tae, it could come across as just showing that the family ties within the Ushimizu family were simply weak," and so he was conscious of acting in a way that would avoid that.
"It's not that there wasn't any love between father and son, but it was precisely because he was born in that era that Sannojo ended up the way he did, and as a result, misunderstandings arose between him and his father. It's precisely because Sannojo loves his father and mother that he makes the effort to say it... I wanted to make that line. I felt that I had to show that there was love, so I put a cushion before that line, looked Fu and Tae in the eye, and wanted to convey it in the context of the three of them as a family."
Regarding this expression, Kitagawa also said, "As a mother, there's no way I wouldn't love my son," and Itagaki revealed, "I acted with the desire to really show that in the play."
Also, when delivering this line, there is a scene in which Fu says to Sannojo, "What are you talking about," and strokes his cheek.
"Tsutsumi-san said, 'If Sannojo is going to say his lines like that, then I'll act like that too.' When I saw Tsutsumi-san's performance, I finally felt the sense that the three family members were connected by a single thread. Even though they were about to die, they reached out their hands... I felt sadness, but also a bit of warmth."
