It has been announced that Yugo Kochi of SixTONES will appear in TV Asahi’s Oshidora Saturday “Musashino Rondo” (Saturdays, 11:00 pm) drama, starting April 19. Dumpling Box previously covered the announcement about “Musashino Rondo” and Masakado’s Yoshinori comments about the drama.
Yugo will portray Bunta Musashibara, Tamaki‘s (played by Rin Takanashi) younger brother, who has returned to his parents’ home after being dumped by his long-time girlfriend. He grew up with Tamaki and also with Ryuhei (played by Masakado Yoshinori), who lives next door, as if they were family, and knows them better than anyone else. He is also a colleague of the divorced tailor Tamotsu Kinugasa, played by Yu Inaba, who becomes Ryuhei’s rival in love, and is the closest person to the three as their love triangle unfolds.
His friendly and cheerful personality helps to boost the love between the three and sometimes misleads them with his innocent remarks…(?). Meanwhile, Bunta himself is unable to break his feelings for his ex-girlfriend, and is also affected by the feelings of Marina Yamanouchi, a friend of Tamaki, played by Yui Ichikawa, and there are hints of romantic upheavals ahead.
This is Yugo’s first appearance in a serial drama in four years, since Babel Kuusaku in 2020.
This is the first time that Yugo and his junior colleague from the same agency, Yoshinori, have appeared together in a drama. Before crank-in, Yoshinori said of Yugo: “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him too much, but I had the impression that he was the most comfortable person to talk to in the glaring SixTONES group, so I’m looking forward to it!”.
Yugo, on the other hand, was more reserved, saying, “I’m not good at talking to or getting on with my juniors, so I’ll start by having daily conversations with about three rallies a day and gradually increase the number of rallies, and I hope to get to know them as well as I can.” But on the first day of filming, when Yugo and Yoshinori acted together, Yugo said, “I felt like a co-star rather than a junior colleague, and it was genuinely easy to talk to him.” Yoshinori also said with a big smile, “He was just as I imagined him to be, easy to talk to!”.
In fact, the two have also found a common interest in liking American casual wear, and during the time between shoots, they had a lot of fun talking about that, as well as talking about their current projects with the Ae! Group and SixTONES‘ national tours, and they seemed to hit it off quickly in conversations that went beyond the “three rallies”.
Yoshinori, who was very fond of the friendly senior member Yugo, wanted to get to know him even better and asked him to call him Ryu-kun (his character’s name). But Yugo replied, “That’s the only thing I don’t feel comfortable with yet (laughs).” Yugo immediately rejected the idea, saying, “You have Masakado‘s face”. However, this exchange also showed how close the two had become.
Yoshinori said, “Kochi-kun once said to me, “I think Ae! group will sell well,” and I was able to work hard with those words in my heart!. Yugo added, “I’m very happy that he remembers me like that. But he was really shining. He was cool, and I felt his energy. In fact, he is still very active today! I’m sure that at the time, I honestly told him exactly what I was thinking.” Recalling those days, he added: “But I’m grossed out that I was saying things that sounded like a senior (laughs).” He is embarrassed, saying, “The fact that I immediately say what I think like this is just like Bunta.“ According to Yoshinori, there are other connections: “For some reason, I often meet Kochi-kun in the toilet. I’m worried that we might end up competing for the toilet at the location… (laughs)”.
YUGO KOCHI (BUNTA MUSASHIBARA) – COMMENTS
How did you feel when you were cast in this drama?
I usually appear in a lot of variety shows, so when I heard that I was going to appear in a drama, I felt a bit strange. But now that I’ve been asked, I want to give it my all!
What was your impression after reading the original manga?
I got the impression that the characters are a bunch of strange people with somewhat difficult personalities (laughs), and I thought it would be interesting if it were made into a drama. They all have different backgrounds, but I think it’s a work that makes you realise that love doesn’t change no matter how old you are, and there are many aspects of the story that adults and young people can relate to.
What is your impression of Bunta Musashibara, the character you play?
Of all the characters in the drama, I felt that he was the most naive or optimistic. The fact that he can’t read the air is probably similar to me! Bunta doesn’t read the air and says things like, “You don’t have to say that right now.” But even though I’m not as good as Bunta, I have a tendency to say unnecessary things (laughs). I hope I can make use of that from my own drawers. I also think that my interaction with my sister Tamaki, played by Takanashi-san, will be one of the highlights of the drama. I have an elder brother, but I don’t have a female sibling, so I’m looking forward to seeing what it will be like.
What do you think of your first collaboration with lead actor YOSHINORI MASAKADO?
I didn’t think anything of it (laughs). Actually, we don’t know much about each other yet, and I’m not very good at talking to or getting on with junior colleagues, so I’d like to start with daily conversations of about three rallies a day, and gradually increase the number of rallies, with the aim of getting to know each other as well as I can!
What are you looking forward to now that filming is about to start?
I think it will be a drama in a big but small world, so I hope to make it a scene with a good sense of intimacy, so that people watching the drama will feel that they seem to be getting along really well and enjoying themselves. However, I myself am a clumsy person, so please let Masakado-kun lead the scene and let me watch over it from the shadows (laughs).
Please give a message to the viewers who are looking forward to the broadcast
Although the drama is based on a popular manga, I would be happy if viewers could enjoy it from a different perspective. I think it will be a romantic drama with many scenes that are relevant to the current era or that overlap with my own life, so I hope you will enjoy it anyway while sympathising with the characters. I will do my best!