It has been announced that the drama series "Reborn: The Last Hero," starring actor Issei Takahashi, will be broadcast on TV Asahi on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. starting in April. This will be Takahashi's first time starring in a prime-time drama series on the same network. He will take on the challenge of playing two roles that are complete opposites in terms of both life and personality.
The drama tells the story of a man's "rebirth" after being reincarnated as a different person and starting his life over again. One day, Neo Mitsumasa, an IT company president who achieved great wealth and fame and was called the "charismatic leader of the times," is pushed down the stairs by someone and supposedly falls to his death, but when he wakes up, he finds himself in 2012, 14 years earlier. What's more, he has been reincarnated as a completely different person, Nomoto Hideto, who looks exactly like Mitsumasa. Hideto ends up living a completely different life as the heir to a dry cleaning shop in a shuttered shopping district in downtown Tokyo, but in 2026 he decides to find the culprit who pushed him down the stairs. He begins to restart his life while searching for the meaning of his rebirth.
Takahashi plays two characters with polar opposite personalities: Mitsumasa, who will do anything to achieve his goals and is unpopular, and Hideto, who is loved by those around him for his righteous nature and will fight with all his might for his friends. He commented on the film, "It's a story of reincarnation and rebirth, and has many fascinating elements. I hope to work closely with the staff and cast to carefully create this work, thinking about each and every aspect that viewers will find interesting and compelling."
Although he is taking on a difficult role, he said, "Mitsumasa and Hideto live in different places, and the people I act with are also different, so I feel that these environments will naturally help create the Mitsumasa and Hideto I play."
He also stated his personal opinion, saying, "I've always thought that there isn't actually that much difference between people's personalities and specs," and enthusiastically said, "Perhaps a person's personality is shaped by the position they are in, the environment around them, the people around them, and the situation they are forced into. I think it would be interesting if I could express that aspect."
The script is written by Hiroshi Hashimoto, who has also written the dramas "The Magnificent Clan" (TBS), "Job Hunting Family: Everything Will Go Well," "Otona High School," and "Sky Castle" (all TV Asahi).
