( interview someya for messiah - trickster age october 2015 )

[devilism]

The relationship between Messiah - Hagane no Shou and Someya Toshiyuki

A genius violinist, yet enrolled into Church as a Sakura cadet: Mamiya Seiren. His unknown past is revealed in Messiah - Hagane no Shou. We talk with Someya Toshiyuki, who's finished playing Mamiya, and has graduated from this series. The topics are the Messiah series and his thoughts about his Messiah Ariga Ryo, played by Izawa Yuuki.

Having to show the development of subtle feelings. Although it was difficult to play Mamiya, it was fun.

Without it just being lip service, I was glad from the bottom of my heart that my Messiah was (Izawa) Yuuki. Rather than entrusting my back to Yuuki, I worry I haven't given him anything. I wanted to give him protection, or maybe I should rather call it support. Since I've privately talked about many things with him, it might seem like the opposite of our roles. (laughs) I personally wanted to support Yuuki so he could perform with all he has. Because he was always able to perform from the bottom of his heart, it was easy to play together with him, and I was also able to perform from the bottom of my heart.

Someya talked like this about Izawa being his Messiah. Performing from the bottom of his heart. The cast of this series has said before that rather than "performing" the role, it's more like you "live" as the role so you can show a worthy play. This is especially visible in Messiah - Hagane no Shou.

"No way, Mamiya!"

During the last interview, after having read the script for Messiah - Hagane no Shou and when being asked about the first things that came to mind after that, Someya had said those few words. Perhaps it wasn't only Someya who thought this, but the audience that saw Hagane no Shou as well.

In Messiah - Hagane no Shou Someya played Mamiya and graduated from the series in an unexpected way. In fact, it's revealed that he was a terrorist in the past before he entered Church, and he is unconventionally killed by his Messiah Ariga Ryo's bullet.

In the previous interview we weren't able to talk about the truth about Mamiya. When you played Mamiya, how did you deal with that yourself?

To be honest, when I got the role of Mamiya Seiren, I already knew that it would end like this. When I went to the filming location of the drama, everyone had the script of the movie as well. I thought, "I haven't gotten it, what should I do?" And then there was a line in the movie script-- "It's been acknowledged that Mamiya has died in the line of duty." "Eh? I'm going to die?" So that was the first time I was aware that I would die. It was a shock. (laughs)

Although you knew that you were going to die, you weren't told how you would die.

Well, when I read the script for Hagane no Shou, I thought "no way, Mamiya!" I had imagined that he would die while protecting Ariga. Because I never thought that he would betray Ariga, it was really shocking. Moreover, since I hadn't even considered such a thing while I was performing until now and still had to keep it consistent, I had to set the performances in Messiah - Eisei no Shou and Messiah - Hisui no Shou straight inside my head. "I wonder if the lines from that time had that sort of feeling," I tried to reconfirm it like that.

In the Messiah series a character's past often doesn't emerge until later on. For that reason they're allowed to have some freedom in forming their role, so Someya told us. However, this time it was just a shock.

Until now, I had no information about how I was supposed to play Mamiya or what his words and actions were supposed to be like. But the director Nishimori-san told me, "No, it's not like that, I want Mamiya to always waver." I wanted to align everything as neatly as possible inside of me since it's a very delicate work, but there was a time where I didn't know what the best thing was to do.

In Eisei no Shou, Hisui no Shou, and even this time's Hagane no Shou, Mamiya faces his Messiah Ariga and tries very hard to open his heart, and Mamiya puts great effort into opening up his own heart as well. But behind that, he's betraying the country as a terrorist. If he had been able to make a distiction between everything from the past and playing Mamiya with an innocent image, forming his role might have been easier, Someya said.

All scenes aren't entirely about being good or bad, Mamiya swings back and forth between complex feelings. Someya also swings back and forth while he's performing. That's why Mamiya is being played differently every performance.

Since it's no good to constantly let your feelings swing back and forth, I tried to solidify them so they would no longer be all over the place. Things like "today there was a lot of sadness", or "today the anger was strong." Since I was putting trust in my partner, I think the interaction with that partner was also different in the play every day. But I think the play turned out well because of that constant change in emotions. Although it was difficult to play Mamiya, it was fun.

There was constantly a conflict from day to day. After the end of every show, Someya had to set aside some time to calm himself down.

When I was angry I let my feelings out by yelling "wah..!", but when I got a little closer to acting out sadness in the play, I myself thought "it's just a little different", I thought about various things. But I think that Hagane no Shou surely ended up good because of this.

This work didn't end with the feeling of "ah, it's good." The audience also left the theater with the thought of "no way, Mamiya." Just like Someya.

From the point of view of passing the baton on to the next series, I now asked him about his state of mind.

I wanted to graduate normally. (laughs) I wanted to live and become Sakura, I wanted to graduate with the pleasant feeling of "thank you, Mamiya." As an actor, the role of Mamiya Seiren felt very much worth doing.

Since he now left the series through a death as a terrorist, we heard again what kind of work Messiah is for Someya.

There's an immense amount of emotional attachment. Until now I've never had trouble with any work, but this might be the first time I've had trouble. That's why, even though it might not be noticable yet now, I wonder if I'll have been able to grow once all this is over.

After the performances for Hagane no Shou have finished, the movie Messiah - Shinku no Shou is released to the public. Of course Mamiya isn't in it. I wonder what sort of feelings Someya has about it.

Since I haven't read the script, I'm really looking forward to what it will be like. Ah, but if Ariga gets assigned someone else as his Messiah and immediately opens his heart, I think I'll beat that guy up. (laughs) Since he's been so prickly to Mamiya until now.

(note: someya literally says "tsun" as in the tsun part of tsundere.)

Although Someya is talking about it with a laugh, we nonchalantly try to peek at his real feelings.

I wanted to keep fighting together with the four of us new Sakura cadets - Mamiya and Ariga, Shirasaki and Yuuri - just a little bit longer, I felt like I wanted to do more together. But since it's been decided that I would graduate, I want to entrust the Messiah series to those three who are left. I have faith that it'll be alright if I entrust everything to those members. "Remember me after this!" It's that sort of feeling.

Someya talked about the other people who are connected to Ariga in the Messiah series, the relationship between Shirasaki and Yuuri.

They're childhood friends. I think I'm envious of how they're connected through such a strong bond. But they can't become Sakura unless they seperate. I'm worried whether Yuuri will be able to endure that. Yuuri is really interesting, isn't he. During Eiri and Haku's graduation mission in Hisui no Shou, Eiri pretended to be dead even though he didn't die. If that would have happened to Shirasaki and Yuuri, I wonder what would even become of Yuuri. Although there's a part of me that's worried, because they're connected through such a tight bond, I also feel genuinely jealous.

Finally, if you could say anything as Mamiya who died in the line of duty to Ariga, what would you say. When we asked that, the only simple answer was "thank you."

If I were to add other words, it might become a little lighter. I really just want to say the simple words "thank you" with a lot of meaning.


( link to the original )