Takaishi Akari plays the heroine in the NHK morning drama "Bakeke" (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8am and others). At the end of the 90th episode, which aired on February 6th, Heaven (Tommy Bastow) suggests to Toki (Takaishi) that they leave Matsue. The preview for the next week that aired afterwards featured an "unusual" production in which only the facial expression of Yoshizawa Ryo, who plays Nishikori, was shown for about 20 seconds. What was the aim of this preview? We asked Hashizume Kuniomi, the production manager.
In the preview for Week 19, "I'll Understand," Nishikori's profile is shown with tears in his eyes, along with the lines of Snake and Frog (Asagaya Sisters) saying, "Next week..." and "Huh, I have a bad feeling about this." With Nishikori's expression in the background, Toki and Heaven are talking, "Heaven, you're the most important person to me, aren't you?" and "Nishiko-san, friend, demon..." and the preview ends with Nishikori gazing off into the distance.
Regarding this production, Hashizume explains, "Week 19 will be Nishikori's week. I'm planning to tell Nishikori's story, so I hope people will look forward to it. If we show too much in the preview, it will be a spoiler, so I hope to at least give them a sense that something will happen to Nishikori."
The trailer shows Yoshizawa's facial expression in one shot for about 20 seconds. Hashizume is impressed, saying, "He's able to act in a single shot for 20 seconds. Even if you just see Yoshizawa's profile for 20 seconds, the acting is complete. There's no music to it."
"It was a single shot that really showed off Yoshizawa-san's incredible talent. Week 19 is a week where the overwhelming charm of Yoshizawa-san's acting will shine, so I hope you'll look forward to it."
Hashizume says that when making the trailer, he decides not to give away any spoilers, and explains that he is particular about making sure that the plot is not revealed.
"The directors for each week create the trailer, and they compete with each other to see how to make it interesting while keeping the previous week's impact. There are some misleading scenes, so I think it's an interesting trailer. Izuminami Takamasa, who was in charge of directing the 18th week, said after seeing the trailer for the 19th week, 'It's going to take over everything' (laughs)."
Next week, the spotlight will be on Nishikori, who has not been explored in depth until now. In the preview, he has a somewhat serious expression on his face, so what kind of developments await Nishikori from now on? We can't take our eyes off it.
