On November 13th, Kazunari Ninomiya attended the Senjin Festival for the Netflix series "Ikusagami" held at Sensoji Temple (Taito Ward, Tokyo). When asked how he came to star in the series, in which lead actor Junichi Okada serves as producer and action planner, Ninomiya said, "I begged him to let me off the hook, but the producer said he really wanted me to appear..." and spoke of his joy at working with him.
Okada revealed, "I didn't say anything. It was really (Ninomiya) who said he wanted to be in it." He continued, "It was my first time as a producer on such a big production, so I was a little nervous, but I think Ninomiya wanted to be in it to show his support. I had juniors who supported me like that, and the cast members also appeared, so I think I was able to fight on with the help of everyone."
In response to this, Ninomiya explained, "Of course I wanted to see the set, and I'd never had the chance to work with him on the acting side, so I'd always said I wanted to do it."
"I had told Okada that he would look at a lot of different people and if he still thought I was the right fit, then he would call me, so I was really happy when he actually called me, and it was a really fun and luxurious experience," she said with a smile.
Also in attendance at the event were Yumia Fujisaki, Kaya Kiyohara, Masahiro Higashide, Shota Sometani, Taichi Saotome, Taiiku Okazaki, Riho Yoshioka Okazaki, Hiroshi Tamaki Tamaki, Hideaki Ito, and director Michihito Fujii.
"Ikusagami" is a live-action adaptation of the "Ikusagami" series, a samurai battle royale novel by Naoki Prize-winning author Shogo Imamura. The story is set in the Meiji era, when the era of the samurai came to an end. In the live-action version, 292 skilled warriors gather at Tenryu-ji Temple in Kyoto late at night in the year 11 of the Meiji era, with the opportunity to win a huge prize. They are told the rules of the game: each person must compete to grab the wooden cards they have been given, and whoever makes it to Tokyo will receive the prize. The protagonist, Shujiro Saga (played by Okada), decides to participate in the game in order to save his wife and child from illness... and so the story unfolds.
