Journalist Maruyama Gonzales is the "underworld supervisor" for the TBS Sunday Theatre "Reboot" (Sundays at 9pm), starring actor Suzuki Ryohei. Maruyama, who covers the underworld and dangerous areas, spoke about why he accepted the offer and the reality of the underworld that appears in the show.
◇ "There must be something to this."
--Please tell us how you received the offer to be the "underworld supervisor."
The first time I was approached was by the producer of "Crazy Journey" (TBS), who asked if I was interested in supervising the script and whether I was interested in a drama. I replied, "I won't know until you tell me more about it," but he replied, "If I explain in detail, we'll have trouble if you don't accept."
I thought there must be something to it if they said so, so I said, "I'll consider doing it," assuming that I would accept the offer. As a result, when I heard that Suzuki Ryohei would be playing the lead role, I thought, "This sounds interesting!"
--What impression did you have when you actually met Suzuki-san?
When we met, Suzuki-san was explaining the work he was involved in at the time to those around him, including me, in a logical manner, and he was actively asking questions. It was striking to see that he was always seeking information and opinions.
I really got the feeling that he was just "exploring" in a straightforward manner, and since I'm also the type of person who really likes to "explore," I was happy to see that we were the same.
◇Detailed advice on how to kill
--What specific aspects of supervision did you provide for this "reboot" film?
The first thing the staff told me was, "Please make sure it's not too far removed from or contradictory to current crimes." They weren't asking me to come up with a new crime, but rather to create a collage of things that already exist, which I found interesting.
--In the film, there are scenes of beatings with batons and burying bodies in the mountains. Did you also mention the details of those depictions?
Yes, I did point out quite a few small details. When I pointed out that it wasn't good to suddenly shoot someone to death (with a gun), they asked me why, and I replied that cleaning up would be a lot of work, and we continued working in that manner.
Criminals tend to think logically, with simple and rational ideas like "we won't kill them here because it would be a pain to clean up" or "the soil is weakly acidic to neutral because they decay quickly and microorganisms are active there." I also needed to update my own knowledge to the "current methods of killing," so I gathered information with that in mind.
◇What are the “warnings” for scriptwriter Kuroiwa Tsutomu?
--What is the difference between conveying facts as an "interviewer" and presenting fiction as a story as an "editor"?
I thought about it a lot, but halfway through, I realized that "that's something that Kuroiwa (Tsutomu, screenwriter) needs to think about." I thought it would be better not to do that at my stage. I do add notes like "This is the reality," but I thought that my role was to convey realistic information to the professionals who would be incorporating it into the story, so I focused on that this time.
--What was the warning given to Mr. Kuroiwa, for example?
Regarding the scenes at the beginning of episodes 1 and 2 where Suzuki's character, Gido Ayumu/Hayase Riku (double role), is tied up in a birdhouse, I wrote, "In the underworld, they basically strip people of their underwear as well in order to break their spirit." However, I thought that "undressing them would probably not be an option," so I just mentioned the "realistic" part, that "In the underworld, they would be completely naked," and then took the stance of "I'll leave the rest up to you."
-Through your work supervising the underworld scenes in the drama, have you noticed or discovered anything new about yourself?
I had always thought I was living my life as a normal, upstanding citizen, but I was reminded of how I can answer questions about the underworld so matter-of-factly. When the drama production team asked me questions, I found myself thinking, "Oh, so they don't know about these things."
It's supposed to be common knowledge in the "underworld," but I guess it had become so common knowledge to me without me even realizing it. I was reminded that what I think is common knowledge among my YouTube channel team is actually not so common knowledge in the real world.
◇ Bad people are "normal"
-How do you view the idea of "reboot" in the context of the underworld?
"Impersonating a specific person," as in this work, is not something that "doesn't happen" in real life. Rather than becoming a specific person like the protagonist in this work, "impersonating a fictional character" is a common story, exemplified by fugitives who have been in the news in the past. It's a common example in the history of crimes, so if you change your perspective, I think you'll see that it's not such an unusual story.
Fugitives often assume other identities to hide, and in addition to changing their faces, they also forge identification documents. Overseas, there are even more variations on assuming other identities.
-What do you want viewers to feel and realize through this work?
In the play, the companies and people involved with the underground organizations are portrayed as particularly evil, but in reality, in real life, bad people involved with such organizations could easily exist as close neighbors you might pass on the street. It's not that there is a special layer called the underworld, but rather that society is always "two sides of the same coin."
And in modern society, crime can happen suddenly, even without any special steps or procedures. Even I, Gonzales Maruyama, always think that depending on the situation, I don't know if I'll be able to stay calm if I'm caught up in a crime.
In that sense, I think it's also good to enjoy a crime-centered drama like this one as entertainment, while also imagining and imagining what it would be like if it were you. If you get into the habit of imagining things on a regular basis, such as "If I was threatened in this way, what would I do?", I think it will be surprisingly useful in an emergency, and I hope that people will enjoy it in that way, especially with this drama.
