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mottoyomitaiAbe-chan talks more about his role in the Osomatsu-san movie, concert production, and last year's Johnnys Fes ^^ It's good insight into how he prepared for his role, and some behind-the-scenes into the preparation for Snow Man's concert and Johnnys Fes!
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Abe Ryohei: Something I’ve got my eye on
Prior to the release of the movie “Osomatsu-san” that the 9 members of Snow Man are starring in, we interview him about the movie, and being an actor. As a member of a group that is steadily achieving their dreams, what has he got his eye on right now?
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Ever since the news broke that the members of Snow Man would star in the live-action adaptation of the movie “Osomatsu-san”, anticipation for the movie has been building with every day closer to the release. The character played by Abe Ryohei is Close, a “specialist in bringing stories to an end”, who is one of three original characters clothed in black who, together with End (Watanabe Shota) and Period (Miyadate Ryota), appear before the 6 brothers.
“It’s a role that you won’t quite understand when you hear about it for the first time, but I think that’s what’s good about it. I think the mystery surrounding these 3 characters helps to raise the anticipation towards the release of the movie. Although he does have a purpose they’re working towards, his methods are so over-the-top that the story just gets more and more complicated. It’s a pretty chaotic role (laughs). Because it’s an original character, I had many discussions with the director about various things, like his manner of speaking.”
Even though this a character who uses over-the-top methods, he explains that this goes in a different direction from the “angry act” he’s shown on shows like “Sore Snow Man ni Yarasete Kudasai”; it’s a character whose strong peculiarities shine through.
“It’s not that he gets angry, but he appears as this really shady character who clearly is plotting something, and he uses a fake Kansai dialect too, you know. At first, I asked (Mukai) Koji, ‘Could you read this line for me in the Kansai dialect?’, and he very kindly recorded each line into a voice message so that I could easily listen to it. But during the table read for the script, there was some talk about how it’d be easier to create his shady vibe if he purposely used a fake Kansai dialect, so that’s how that came about. When Close gives advice to Ichimatsu (Fukazawa Tatsuya) and Todomatsu (Raul) the situation does transform, so I think it’ll be a role that will create an impression in the audience’s minds, but rather than calling him an important character I’d say he’s probably more of someone who ‘seems like an important character’ (laughs). It’s the kind of character who’ll take charge of some of the usual tropes, like, ‘in times like this, you’d definitely see this kind of guy…’. “
Depending on the scene, his costume dramatically changes, but he says that the all-black outfit with the braided-back hairstyle was proposed by him.
“The director, Hanabuki Tsutomu, told us that the ‘specialists in bringing stories to an end’ could be designed freely, so I thought of it while placing heavy focus on making him look shady (laughs). At first I’d tucked my hair behind my ear, but then I thought, wouldn’t it look more shady if it was braided back? I thought that things like, ‘why would he braid that part?!’ would also help to create an impression that he’s good at his job. Previously when I did the stageplay “Ai to Seishun Kippu” I was more inclined towards not braiding my hair, but this time round I was relatively satisfied by it. This visual is pretty much just my regular look, so if you’ll end up surprised by how his looks change later on, or if you end up thinking ‘this isn’t like Abe-chan at all!’, that’ll be a win for me (laughs).”
On acting, he said with a smile, “I was told by Director Hanabuki that I’d improved a lot”, but also mentioned that “because there were so many lines, there were times when it didn’t go as smoothly”. Have there been changes to his outlook on the job of an actor after appearing in this movie?
“Among all of the members, I’m the only one who hasn’t properly appeared in a drama. I’ve always been saying that I’d like to appear in one, and in last year’s “Takizawa Kabuki ZERO 2021” I was finally able to take a human role and speak words on stage, which was really fun, you know. Because it was so fun, it really strengthened my desire to appear in a drama. This time round I tried out an old uncle-like role, but a role where I can properly wear a suit would be nice too, I think. As a role, I think it would be nice to show the more well-put-together side of me, too.”
It’s the 3rd year since his debut with Snow Man, who carry both an easy friendliness and a star quality, and whose momentum and shine are increasing. The fact that all 9 of them are able to appear in a movie together following on from “Takizawa Kabuki ZERO 2020 The Movie” is in itself also proof of their popularity and power.
“I’ve poured effort into my role with the aim of making the members go ‘yes, that’s what I’m talking about!’, so I’d definitely be happy if you’re able to laugh when you watch this in theatres. Looking back, Snow Man’s been able to appear in a movie together before, but to be able to have another chance after debut to appear in a movie together like this is really amazing, to me. I think it also definitely required quite a bit of courage on the production side, to say that they wanted to have all 9 of us. It felt like we were carrying a lot of hopes on our back, and that really does make you feel tense. We were able to provide the theme songs for Raul’s “Honey Lemon Soda” and Sakuma’s “Hakuja: Engi”, but with this I think another one of my old dreams has been fulfilled.”
The theme song for the movie “Osomatsu-san” is Snow Man’s 6th single, “Brother Beat”. It’s a song with a rock vibe, but in the setting of the movie it helps to raise the excitement in a lively manner.
“It’s something you haven’t really seen from Snow Man before. The lyrics are also linked to “Osomatsu-san”, and it’s a song where we sing about how well we get along, and our daily lives. There might be times where we just lie around, but it’s like, that’s just who we are. It’ll give you a warm and fluffy feeling (laughs). When the guitar riff comes in it makes a really fun sound, so I really want to watch the end credits soon.”
Becoming a big group while taking in various sources of motivation
At the end of last year, when the movie was filmed, they safely completed their concert tour “Snow Man LIVE TOUR 2021 Mania”. It was the first concert tour with an audience since their debut, and there was also a segment, “Snow In The Box”, which he had come up with himself.
“When the members talk about the concert, many of them bring up ‘Snow In The Box’, which makes me happy, and I think it was really great that it was able to tie in well with our theme this time round, which was ‘mania’. It’s not like I’m able to think of ideas that suit the theme every time, so I’d like to praise myself for quickly thinking of this one (laughs). But what makes me happier than anything else is that we completed the run of the tour. I think that was our greatest wish.”
It seems that Rhizomatics’ Mr Manabe Daito*, who we’ve spoken to many times for his regular column in this very magazine, also went to watch the concert.
[T/N: Rhizomatics is a famous visual production company that creates artistic visuals using technology for events such as concerts. Manabe Daito is its founder.]
“He very kindly told us that it was very interesting. He said that the transitions between songs were good, and the songs themselves were also simply good. Also, because pretty much everyone around him was a woman, he said he felt a little nervous (laughs). When he helped out with Perfume’s performance in “Kouhaku”, it seems that he also took the time to watch our performance. Manabe-san is someone who has a lot of knowledge and know-how on how to put together a cohesive, interesting performance. When I had the idea for ‘Snow In The Box’, I’d actually asked Manabe-san for advice, like how we should stage it. When I did, he gave me advice such as ‘to make it go smoothly, make sure everything is automated’ and ‘if you want the box to take a fixed path when rotating, then you either have to create a rail track or suspend it from above’.”
For the members of Snow Man, who aim to one day be involved in the staging of their own concerts, something that became a source of motivation for them was the “Johnny’s Festival ~Thank You 2021 Hello 2022~”, which was held on 30 December at the Tokyo Dome and for which Matsumoto Jun served as the overall producer. The 9 of them appeared on stage with a dynamic pop-up platform.
“There’s many ways you can appear using the pop-up platform, but we went with our usual jump-up appearance. Even though he wasn’t able to practice it until the rehearsal the day before, Meguro (Ren) managed to jump really high, and the time he spent in the air was unreal (laughs). Sakuma also jumped really high, but he wasn’t really captured by the livestream camera (laughs). During our free time we were always watching (the rest of the performances) on the big monitor backstage, and it seems like the seniors also came to watch. I really like Sexy Zone’s “Run” and Hey!Say!JUMP’s “Ookami Shounen”, and (watching them) I really thought, ‘as expected, they’re great songs’. There was also a part where we all sing our seniors’ songs, and I really felt anew that all of the wonderful songs that all the groups have put out up till now are creating the legacy of Johnnys’. Jun-kun gave us pointers after our joint rehearsal with King & Prince, and that was also really amazing. He knew all of our line distributions, and said things like ‘this is the part where you’re singing with Watanabe, isn’t it’, you know. It made me really happy when he told us, ‘This is the segment where I really want to show off the dancing so, while I know doing ‘Grandeur’ in full will be taxing, I’m counting on you’; and Kinpuri’s “Magic Touch” was also super cool. I think it was also really amazing that we got to dance “Kimi no Kareshi ni Naritai.”, which was choreographed by (Iwamoto) Hikaru, together with Kinpuri.”
We have the impression that he gets more talkative when he talks about the members compared to when he talks about himself, and today was no different. When we talked about the show “Sanma & Tamao no Otoshidama! Anta no Yume wo Kanaetaroka SP 2022”, which aired at the start of this year, and in which a 9 year old boy fulfilled his wish of getting to dance with the members of Snow Man, he said, with a gentle expression, “It was a good project. I really felt refreshed. It made me really happy to know that we’ve become such a presence (to someone else).”
“It’s one of our goals to make Snow Man appear everywhere, from TV, movies, theatre, to magazines; and I think that we’ve managed to get slightly closer to that. When I look at the other members working hard, I’m able to also do my best, so I think there’s a really good synergetic effect. Whether it’s in concert or on “Soresuno”, I think it would be great if we could become a group where, when you bring everyone’s strengths together, it’ll create something even more amazing.”
After he went to watch SixTONES’ concert, he said that “it would be nice to bring back the moving platforms* soon”. It seems that the list of things he wants to try out in their next concert has grown a little longer.
[T/N: Referring to the individual platforms that move around the concert stage on rail tracks.]
“But rather than talking about what we want to do, I think it would be nice to have an environment where the audience are able to properly let out their voices. Although in the end, I’m happy just to be able to meet them.”
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Date: 2022-03-23 04:44 am (UTC)I really enjoying this, I love the way he thinking about how to improving more.
I can't wait to watch Snow Man Mania Live.
Thank you so much, I love you
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Date: 2022-03-23 05:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-23 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-23 05:50 am (UTC)