Animate Times is currently running a series of interviews titled “The Job of a Suit Actor” featuring people working at the forefront of the industry!
The second episode will feature Gomi Ryoko, known for her roles as Kiramei Green in Mashin Sentai Kiramager, and Sakanari Yume, known for her roles as Bun Pink in Bakujo Sentai Bunbunger.
The two are close friends, as they both belong to the talent agency “Japan Action Enterprise (JAE)” (Gomi was previously affiliated with the agency). We asked them about their usual training methods and what they consider important when acting out their characters, and, as with the last time, they also answered questions submitted in advance by users.
■Gomi Ryoko (pictured right)
Born May 26th. Height 160cm.
In 2014, she played various heroes such as ToQ 3 in “Ressha Sentai ToQger” and Patren 3 in “Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger”, and has many fans. She
is currently actively expanding her scope of work to include stage performances and motion capture. She
is also planning to hold her third self-organized event in Nagoya from September 14th to 16th.
■ Sakanashi Yume (left photo)
Born August 3rd. Height 157cm. She
made her debut as a regular hero in the 2023 “King Sentai King Oger” as Kamakiri Oger, and has gained popularity for playing the energetic Bunpink in “Bakujo Sentai Bunbunger”.
The movie “Kamen Rider THE SUMMER MOVIE 2024 / Kamen Rider Gatchard & Bakujo Sentai Bunbunger” is currently being shown to rave reviews.
──First, I would like to ask about how you two met and the beginning of your relationship.
Ryoko Gomi (hereafter, Gomi): That’s how we first met (laughs). I first became involved with her by helping out on set.
Yume Sakanari (hereinafter, Sakanari): We became good friends when we had the chance to drink together! (laughs)
Gomi: I drink a lot. Really.
Sakanashi: No no, I’ll lose. I’m no match for him (laughs).
–Please tell us how you got into this world. I would also like to know which special effects hero you liked as a child.
Sakanashi: When I was a child, or rather when I was in elementary school, the show that made the biggest impression on me was “555” (Kamen Rider 555). I think I was in the third or fourth grade when I watched “555,” and I remember really liking it.
I was also very impressed by “Hurricaneger”. I naturally moved away from special effects after that, and came back when I was in high school with “Kamen Rider OOO”, “Gokaiger” and “Go-Busters”. I entered this world because I admired Yellow Buster from “Go-Busters”.
–What was the trigger that made you start watching (special effects) films again?
Sakanashi: I like the actor Yu Kamio, and I started watching it because I thought, “He’s in OOO as Dr. Maki.” From there, I got hooked on Sunday morning shows. When I was in my second year of high school, during the year of Go-Busters, I joined the show team that put on hero shows.
–So you started out because you wanted to be a hero and a suit actor!
Sakanashi: Yes. I joined a show team when I was in Hiroshima, and I was thinking of moving to Tokyo, so I started doing it hoping that I could be useful when I got there.
──Next, Gomi-san, please.
Gomi: When I was little, I had never seen special effects. Even when I joined JAC, I didn’t know that they were doing special effects…
When I was in the training school, I was told, “Jiro Okamoto, Naoko Kamio, and Yasuhiro Takeuchi are coming!” I wondered, “Who are they?” and looked them up on the Internet, and for the first time I learned that such people existed. At that time, the practice place for the dropout was a place called Sky Theater, and I also learned for the first time that they were doing hero shows there.
After I entered the training school, I started to pay attention to special effects hero programs. So, when ordinary people say “I do stunts” or “I do hero programs,” they might ask “Momo Ranger?” That’s the level of knowledge I had.
*Japan Action Club, the predecessor of JAE.
— Were you interested in becoming an action actor or a stuntman?
Gomi: A stuntman. But I wasn’t particularly fond of action movies, so I just had an admiration for stunts.
When I was working for a company, I was surfing the internet in my free time and by chance I looked up “stuntman”. Then I found out that auditions were being held for training schools, so I thought “I’d like to get a glimpse into what the entertainment industry is like” and applied out of curiosity.
──Have you always been good at moving your body?
Gomi: When I was in college, I did Shaolin as part of a club activity, but I hadn’t really done anything else. When I entered college, I wanted to do martial arts. Only elites could join the karate and kendo clubs, but even amateurs could join Shaolin and Aikido, and it just so happened that Shaolin was the first club I was recruited to join.
坂梨：へぇ～初耳です！ 普段そんなに詳しくは聞かないので。
五味：話さないもんね、過去の話は（笑）。
──日常のトレーニングはどんなことをされるのでしょうか？
坂梨：最近はマシンピラティスに通っています。柔軟や体感を主に鍛えていますね。私は筋肉がゴリゴリになりやすい体質で、やればやるほど筋肉が付いちゃうんです。
──あんまり筋肉がゴリゴリし過ぎてもダメなんですか？
坂梨：私はそれは理想的じゃないかなと思っています。スーツアクター、ヒーローもそうなんですが、女優さんの吹替をしなければいけないときもあるので、ムキムキすぎて、筋肉モリモリでもおかしいので、太くなりすぎないようにしていますね。
五味：私もゴリゴリすぎて（笑）。
坂梨：人によっては、バシバシやった方がキュッと締まる人もいるとは思うんですけど。私は、わざと重めのトレーニングはしないようにしています。その代わり、ただ立っているときとかちょっとしたときの姿勢で、体の芯を取るように意識していて。なるべく軸を取れるように、体幹が弱くならないようにしています。
──普段から意識されているんですね。
坂梨：日常で姿勢が悪いと思ったら正すようにしていますね。事務所の練習会が週に1回あるので、仕事が無いときは練習に行っています。
──五味さんはいかがですか。
五味：昔は色々やっていたんですよ。ホットヨガを10年ぐらい通ったりとか。私は効果がなくて、全然身体が柔らかくならなくて。お酒を抜くため、みたいになっていますね（笑）。
私もゴリゴリしちゃうので、ヒーローのスーツってつるっとしているので、とくに肩のラインが出ないように気をつけていますね。上半身のトレーニングはあまりしないようにしていて、下半身の瞬発力トレーニングを重視しています。
長く走るのは全然しないんですが、撮影って一瞬で「ヨーイ、カチン！」で動くので。その瞬発力を鍛えるために、0から100まで一気にもっていく運動を自分で考えて行っています。
──0から100まで一気に動く運動とは？
五味：止まっている0の状態から、「1歩目から100」を意識して、10歩でいいのでダッシュするトレーニングをしたり、足を前後左右にいろんな方向に動かすことはしていますね。撮影では敵にやられた芝居などで予測できない負荷がかかって怪我する人が多いので。それは嫌だなと思って、自分で考えてトレーニングしています。それは太らないので！（笑）
坂梨：取り入れようと思います！
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