It's not about words anymore. So I'll hug you silently!
The original interview can be found here. I decided to translate Okaeri Mone (mainly Kiyohara Kaya & Sakaguchi Kentaro) interview. I'm in love with this drama and I'm afraid that these interview may be deleted after the series ended. Hence, I'm archiving all the interview before it's gone. I hope that my translation makes sense because it's been awhile since I translate something.
Disclaimer: I'm still a novice translator, hence my translation is not 100% accurate.
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Nagaura Momone [Kiyohara Kaya] was born and raised on an island in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. While working as a forester in Tome, she falls in love with the world of weather and eventually becomes involved in the lives of many people as a weather forecaster in the TV series "Okaeri Mone" (Welcome Back, Mone). This time, as a special interview, we bring you an interview between Kiyohara-san and Sakaguchi Kentaro-san who played the role of Suganami Koutarou. The interview took place on a certain day during the broadcasting of Week 16, just a few days before the crank-up. Sakaguchi-san showed up wearing a bright golden yellow (yamabuki-coloured) shirt that he received as a birthday present from Kiyohara-san.
Kiyohara: (looks at Sakaguchi-san's shirt) Ah! It looks good on you!
Sakaguchi: Right~? This shirt was given by Kaya-chan. This July, on my birthday.
Kiyohara: I like second-handed clothing, and I found this shirt at a thrift shop. I thought it would look good on Sakaguchi-san, so I bought it.
Sakaguchi: I'm so happy. Once again, thank you!
Kiyohara: Sakaguchi-san gave me a shiny golden cup for my birthday (30th January).
Sakaguchi: It's made of pure gold.
Kiyohara: Ehh?
Sakaguchi: I lied.
Kiyohara: (laughs)
—Speaking of birthdays, in Week 19, Suganami proposed to Mone the day before her birthday.
Sakaguchi: It was obvious even before he started to talk. Suganami was talking by himself and getting nervous on his own... As a result, the tension became like when he explained "why the ground warms up first before the air" in a study session.
Kiyohara: That tension was due to Suganami-sensei's seriousness and sincerity, isn't it? Of course, Mone could feel it so I tried to take it seriously. It's a funny scene when you look at it from the viewer's perspectives (laughs).
Sakaguchi: He finally calmed down and said, "I want to get married," but it's good that he didn't ask for an answer right on the spot. After listening to Miyata-san's (Masanori Ishii) horn performance, they talked about it again and decided to put it on hold. It was a wonderful interactions of "What does it mean to be together?" and "Isn't it thinking about the future of the two together?"
Kiyohara: I love that scene too.
Sakaguchi: I feel like the relationship between Suganami and Mone can't be contained by words that represent love. They've never explicitly said anything like "we're dating". Personally, I think they are two very beautiful people.
—In Week 16, the confession line was "I don't understand your pain, but I want to understand.", wasn't it?
Sakaguchi: The scene where Suganami hugged Mone and when he let go, the zunda mochi was smushed. Although it was a punchline scene, I should have eaten it on the spot~! I eat it and then leave the laundromat. Isn't this good?
Kiyohara: It's pretty good, but it will definitely make me laugh (laughs).
—In this case, what will be Mone's reaction?
Kiyohara: If Suganami-sensei starts eating (the zunda mochi), well... Mone will start eating (the zunda mochi) too, I guess.
Sakaguchi: Good! That's it!
Kiyohara: Eh, do you want to reshoot? (laughs)
—Did you know that as the relationship between Suganami and Mone progressed, more viewers started tweeting their thoughts on Twitter with the hashtag '#OurSuganami'?
Sakaguchi: A while ago, the director told me about it. When I searched for it, I found a tweet that said, "Today, our Suganami was really our Suganami once again," and I thought, "What does that supposed to mean?!" (laughs). There were a lot of interesting tweets. When Ryochin (Nagase Ren) disappeared, someone tweeted "Meanwhile, our Suganami was planning for a shark exhibition date". I was so happy to hear that.
Kiyohara: From Week 1 to Week 4, Suganami-sensei was an unfriendly character who only threw out arguments, so I wondered "How will the viewers perceive him?". But, it became like this... It's more like "love" than "acceptance" (laughs).
Sakaguchi: There's also a hashtag called '#OurMone'!
Kiyohara: Yes, there is! I'm glad to see that everyone is attached to it. I'm truly appreciate it if you post your impressions and thoughts on social media.
—The response was particularly strong when it started on Week 17 with "Should we give them a show?" in Tome.
Sakaguchi: I was so embarrassed with that scene! When I first read the script, I thought "What's wrong with Suganami?!" (laughs).
Kiyohara: I was also like "Eh?! What's going on?!" (laughs).
Sakaguchi: Occasionally, he brings out the "man" in him. Week 17 was tough.
Kiyohara: It was a rather troubled week. All I could think about was how to deeply portray Mone who is in love. Now that it's over, I feel like I could finally accept it and said "I see! Is this Mone in love?".
Sakaguchi: When Mone threw the key in Week 17 and said "I wanted to see you. Even if it just for a while. Didn't you say the same thing?", I'm glad that it was fresh. Mone didn't have an image of being selfish, so it made me happy.
—I feel that Suganami always think about what's best for Mone.
Sakaguchi: As what Kaya-chan said, Suganami has changed a lot. In the beginning, he had a strong sense of justice in himself and said things like "You're spoiled" without considering Mone's feelings. But now, he interpreted his feelings properly and wanted to support Mone. Recently, there are many scenes where he takes a step back, look at what's happening around Mone and give her good advice. Suganami's desire to 'support others' has become stronger.
Kiyohara: I think that in addition to the changes in the script, there are also significant changes that were created by Sakaguchi-san's performance. It was because Sakaguchi-san plays the role softly and gently that the character has gained a sense of acceptance.
Sakaguchi: Thank you. I do hope that Suganami's appearance will make Mone feel relieved.
Kiyohara: In fact, he does. His words are the words that reach out to Mone the most. Not only do they give her hints, but every time she receives them, she feels closer to him. The relationship between Mone and Suganami-sensei is starting to take shape, isn't it? The two of them are so great and peaceful. Even though it's been a while since we shot a scene together, I don't feel like it's been a while.
—You both have established a relationship of trust in each other.
Sakaguchi: When I perform with Kaya-chan, I don't get stiff like "It's been awhile, so I have to do it properly". I think we were very close in the direction of what we wanted to do for the scene, and there was no hesitation at all about what to do for the scene. For example, there was a part of me that was a little intimidated by Suganami's "Should we give them a show?", we had no problem at all in acting together and it went very smoothly.
Kiyohara: That's right. I feel that we always go with the flow (laughs).
Sakaguchi: Our favourite scenes and lines are also match with each other. I think it's great that we can work well together on the same project.
—By the way, I heard that you sometimes liven up the scene in rehearsals by acting in a way that doesn't feel like Suganami, on the assumption that it will be rejected. What kind of things did you do?
Kiyohara: You used to do it a lot during the Tome Arc, didn't you? Like.. where you suddenly switch from Suganami to Sakaguchi-san and make a joke (laughs).
Sakaguchi: There was Suganami who was unusually energetic, and then there was Suganami who was suddenly enthusiastic about Kawakubo-san's (Denden) story. There were a lot of people at the forestry cooperative, and it was very busy, so I felt like doing something. Of course, it's only during the time between the end of the lines and the cut. (laughs).
Kiyohara: After taking a scene with me, there was a scene where you have to take with the forestry corporations staff. You left saying "I'm going to do ventriloquism in front of everyone!" and came back saying "I did it~" (laughs). You impersonated Ikkokudou-san (a famous ventriloquist), didn't you?
Sakaguchi: Yeah. It depends on the director, but it's quite long before the cut. So I was playing around a bit (laughs).
Kiyohara: You've been taking it very seriously lately (laughs).
Sakaguchi: But they keep it long enough to cut. The scene with Kaya-chan is especially long!
Kiyohara: It really doesn't take much to cut, does it?
Sakaguchi: That's why after the dialogue was over, I didn't want to just look at each other, so we just talked as Suganami and Mone. When the director finally cut the film, he came laughing and said, "Nah, we don't have to cut the scene". I said, "No, you have to!" (laughs).
Kiyohara: The director comes in with a smile on his face (laughs).
Sakaguchi: Yes, yes. But "it's alright not to cut the scene" is also a compliment, so I appreciate it though.
—The atmosphere was very friendly but the filming will be finished soon. Do you have a sense of reality?
Kiyohara: I haven't had one yet. They've already finished filming on the set! I'm like, "What do you mean?"
Sakaguchi: That's true.
Kiyohara: For the past one year, I've only been thinking about Mone, so it's becoming a part of me. Maybe it's because there are still some important scenes left, but I was like "What do you mean... it's over?".
—Sakaguchi-san, is there something that makes it difficult for you to leave Suganami?
Sakaguchi: After all, Suganami is very interesting, isn't he? At first, I thought "what's with this guy?" but now I think he's really cute. Ah, is it weird for me to say "cute" when I'm the one who played the role?
Kiyohara: No, I don't think so.
Sakaguchi: I'm glad (laughs). Compared to my role, I think Mone was the most difficult. I told Kaya-chan when we started filming that morning dramas are very long and there are many different cast members. Every time there is a new cast member, more power is injected into the scene, and I felt that the heroine who is there all the time would be worn out.
Moreover, Mone is a girl who takes in everything that happens around her. If the person who plays her doesn't have the capacity to take it in, she will overflow. When I first read the script, I thought it would be very difficult. But Kaya-chan tackled it wholeheartedly and tried to do her best. Watching her like that up close... Ah, I'm getting embarrassed! (laughs)
Kiyohara: I'm listening... (laughs).
Sakaguchi: What I want to say is that it's really wonderful. The word 'wonderful' is light and simple. I always think "You're wonderful, Kaya-chan" when you are acting.
—If Kiyohara-san has anything you'd like to say to Sakaguchi-san on this occasion, by all means!
Kiyohara: Well, Sakaguchi-san, as is still the case now, always chooses his words very carefully and speaks to me in a way that I can understand. Whether it's the advice you gave me when I first cranked in or the little talks we have during filming, all of it has been very supportive. I feel that he has always helped me, both as Mone and myself. I'm grateful to be able to act beside him... (clasps her hands together while looking at Sakaguchi-san)
Sakaguchi: (does the same pose as Kiyohara-san) I'm also grateful... I was thinking about what I should say to Kaya-chan after the crank-up, but I don't know what to say to her now that she's here. It's not about words anymore!
Kiyohara: Huuh?!
Sakaguchi: It's not about words anymore. So I'll hug you silently!
Kiyohara: (laughs)
Sakaguchi: No matter how many good things I say even if I say "good work" with all my heart, those things have already been conveyed, and that's not enough. That's why when I finished cranking up the drama, I'll give you a silent hug on the spot. (smug look on his face) That's it.
Kiyohara: ... So it seems. I'll be waiting~ (laughs).
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