Actor Kento Yamazaki attended a stage greeting event in Tokyo on March 26th to celebrate the box office success of his starring film, "Golden Kamuy: Abashiri Prison Attack Arc." There was a moment when he gave a wry smile in response to a comment from his co-star, Hiroshi Tachi.
Tachi, who plays Hijikata Toshizo, smiled and said the atmosphere on set was "the best." Regarding Yamazaki, who plays the protagonist Saichi Sugimoto, he revealed, "What was really great was that I probably had the most retakes among us. Yamazaki had the second most. That was a great help to me." Yamazaki chuckled and said, "I was glad that I made a retake for the first time."
When asked what she learned from Tachi on set, Yamazaki said, "Tachi is really kind, and every morning when I see him he asks, 'Want some coffee?' I always say, 'Yes, I'd love some,' and he always gives me coffee. He boosts morale on set, and he does it while we're all relaxed. He's really wonderful."
Also in attendance at the stage greeting were Anna Yamada, Gordon Maeda Yamoto, Taishi Nakagawa, Asuka Kudo, Shuntaro Yanagi, Yu Inaba, Toshihiro Wada, Katsuya, Hiroshi Tamaki, and director Kenji Katagiri.
"Golden Kamuy" is based on the manga of the same name by Satoru Noda, which has sold over 30 million copies. Set in Hokkaido at the end of the Meiji era, it depicts a survival battle in the wilderness where eccentric characters fight over a vast treasure buried by the Ainu people. The live-action film, in which Kento Yamazaki played the protagonist, Saichi Sugimoto, a returning soldier, and Anna Yamada played Asirpa, an Ainu girl, was released in January 2024 and became a hit, grossing over 3 billion yen at the box office. In addition, a sequel drama, "Continuous Drama W Golden Kamuy - Hokkaido Tattooed Prisoner Scramble -," was broadcast on WOWOW from October of the same year.
The second film in the series, "Golden Kamuy: Abashiri Prison Attack Arc," is set in Abashiri Prison, where the "Noppera-bo," who knows all the mysteries, is imprisoned. A three-way battle unfolds between Sugimoto and Shinsengumi, the Hijikata faction led by Hijikata Toshizo, the "demon vice-commander" of the Hijikata Toshizo, and the 7th Division led by Lieutenant Tsurumi (Tamaki).
