The drama series will be available worldwide exclusively to Prime members on Prime Video from 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 28th, and the sequel film will be released nationwide on Friday, December 20th.
We have received a comment from Kaito Sakurai, who plays the main character Aqua in this work! She revealed how she felt when she received the offer.
“For me, acting is revenge.” Sakurai Kaito took on the role of Aqua, a man who infiltrates the entertainment industry with a burning desire for revenge to find out the truth behind the death of his mother Ai (Saito Asuka). In recent years, Sakurai has steadily built his career as an actor, appearing in popular works such as “VIVANT” (2023/TBS) and “Ao Haru Ride Season 1” (2023/WOWOW), but he revealed that he “felt a lot of pressure” in taking on this role.
“I had read the original work before I was offered the role, and it was one of my favorites. I had thought, ‘If it were to be made into a live-action version, I would like to play the role of Aqua,’ and then I was actually offered the role. It’s a work I love, and it has a lot of fans, so I felt a lot of pressure.” Sakurai decided to take on the role while feeling both excited and anxious about the live-action version of the original comic, which has sold a total of 18 million copies (as of July 2024), becoming a social phenomenon and gaining popularity all over the world.
“There was pressure, but more than anything, I wanted to play the role of Aqua so much that when I first spoke with the director and producer, I honestly told them, ‘To be honest, I don’t want anyone else to play this role,'” Sakurai’s words about how he felt when he received the offer are filled with extraordinary resolve and overflowing respect for the original work.
Sakurai re-read the original manga and thoroughly incorporated the character of Aqua into herself during the filming period, which lasted for over four months from November last year to March this year. “First of all, it was my feelings towards the original manga. I wanted to project what Akasaka Aka-sensei and Yokoyari Mengo-sensei had brought to this world onto myself and act as the character. I absolutely did not want to destroy the image of Aqua in the original manga, so before shooting each scene, I would look at the same scene in the original manga and check Aqua’s facial expressions, how she moved, whether she was sitting or standing, whether she had her hands in her pockets or not, and I tried to do as much as I could down to the smallest details.” As if to embody this determination, she frequently showed up on set even on days when she didn’t have a turn, communicating closely with the staff, and was seen sincerely trying to learn from the other actors’ performances and incorporate them into her own acting.
Apparently, the original authors, Akasaka Aka and Yokoyari Mengo, also visited the filming location several times. Sakurai recalled, “The first time I met them, I was so nervous that I just stood there stiff. I heard later that even Akasaka and Yokoyari were like, ‘You were extremely nervous’ (laughs). It was incredibly nerve-wracking to meet the authors of a work that I love and respect that much. But the second time I met them, they were very frank with me, so I was able to talk to them about various things without feeling nervous.”
Despite the great pressure, Sakurai completed a fulfilling shoot and revealed his satisfaction as the leader of the troupe, saying, “It’s a production I love, and a role I’ve always wanted to play. With the support of so many people, I was able to play Aqua, which was an incredibly valuable experience for me as an actor. I hope as many people as possible will see the live-action version of [Oshi no Ko] that we all created.”
The stills released at the same time show Sakurai Kaito’s serious gaze as she takes on the role of Aqua, a woman who will stop at nothing to exact revenge, using desire and lies in the “showbiz world” of light and shadow. Why was Ai killed? What is the tragic truth that awaits Aqua, who is obsessed with revenge? Please enjoy Sakurai’s passionate performance as she challenges herself to new heights.
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