( interview kento for messiah - trickster age vol. 18 )

[devilism]

Ono Kento for Messiah

The TV drama Messiah has finally started broadcasting. This work, which has advanced to a new media, serves as a comeback for Ono Kento after a break from the front stage. What kind of feelings does he have about the TV drama Messiah? He also talked about his thoughts on being an actor.


Ono Kento

Born August 9th, 1989 / from Tokyo / 187 cm
Through Motel was his first debut as an actor in the 2006 musical Prince of Tennis as Yanagi Renji. He appeared in the same series of stages until 2008.
In 2010 he acted out the role of Hyde/Gosei Blue in Tensou Sentai Goseiger as an energetic young actor. In 2014 he left the office for an break of one year, and made a comeback in 2015 with the TV drama Messiah - Eisei no Shou. Attention is gathered on his future activities.

It's the comeback of Ono Kento into the world of Messiah after a year. What are your feelings?

Right now I'm full of feelings of gratitude for the production called Messiah. It is a work of farewell to me, and now it's become a comeback work.

These words show that the connection between Ono Kento and the Messiah series is really deep. Last year, his last play before his break from public entertainment activities was Messiah - Hakugin no Shou in January. And now with the comeback work after a year-long break, the February broadcast of Messiah - Eisei no Shou, it can be said this connection was predestined.

Because there's a gap of a year, the night before I went to Eisei no Shou's photoshoot I honestly couldn't sleep since I felt so nervous! Since I was so frantic about preparing and going to the filming location, I don't even remember what I exactly was feeling. It might have been the sort of feeling like I would hear from the people around me, "that Kento, I'm seeing him for the first time!"

Even with those circumstances, once the camera starts rolling you're able to perform with a natural sort of flow, one gets the kind of feeling that it's like you don't feel the gap. Taking the break from activities must have been a good opportunity to experience a lot of plays and movies, it's a gift to be able to study plays like that.

Of course I've had the privilege of seeing the August play Messiah - Shibi no Shou. It was an opportunity to watch the play objectively since I wasn't in it, those chances are very few. So I went to see it while wondering what I would feel, but it was super powerful and great! Since the story became more and more intense, I'd think things like "The Council really came back?!" I really had a lot of fun watching it. While thinking things like "I wonder if it usually looks like this," I learned a lot.





From the beginning on I knew that Messiah was a work I would be completely absorbed in. So when the series begun, there was the strong atmosphere of making the series with all of us together from scratch. Although the setting and terminology may seem difficult, we, as the Messiah companions we're playing, represent a very simple thing that can be summed up in one word like "love." It's that people don't live by themselves.

We can't live alone as human beings. That is in the Hakugin no Shou pamphlet as what you want to convey with the play, that's what I remember the wording being. Behind the isolated battle of the spies is being carried out behind closed doors, there's the special partnership called "Messiah" who are only able to help each other. Such a small and simple theme was hidden beneath a difficult setting. This "Messiah" work is said to attract everyone and invoke sympathy, there is not a doubt that this is the main part that draws people in deep.

I think that the "Messiah" that comes to save you and lend a helping hand always exists for everyone. It's family, lovers and siblings. Although it can vary from person to person, there's definitely someone. Everyone who saw this production is able to call the face of their Messiah to mind, even if it's just a little bit. That's what we try to capture while performing this work, it's the one goal.

Lines like "it's not possible to gain trust unless you trust someone" that appear in the play are symbolic for the fact that people can't live alone. For that reason he believes from the bottom of his heart that the real message is to find the person that you're able to rely on. It's a glimpse of the strong nature of the fictional Messiah series' most important idea. It can't be simply summed up in a single notion like "friendship of men." Ono Kento and Matsuda Ryo will become Mitsumi Haku and Kaidou Eiri again on the stage this summer. As expected, their relationship and miraculous synchronisation are the main part of the story.







I have a good relationship with Ryo. Since we met up frequently even during my break, I wonder if Haku and Eiri's relationship won't have a power up this time despite us not having performed as them in a long time. When I act in a play it's like time stops, in other words, it's like time hasn't stopped for Ryo and me. So Ryo has ideas for the acting like "ah, let's try this" or "let's do it like this" and I steadily get into it again. But since we have to find a balance now in Messiah between us and the new members, we have to make choices.

Coincidentally, Eisei no Shou is the fourth time that Ono Kento has been part of the Messiah series. Inside an environment with a high degree of freedom and as the actor who keeps playing Mitsumi Haku, you must have been gaining merits in unexpected ways.

I'm not good at eating sweet things, but it's gotten to the point that I'm able to eat chocolate when I perform as Haku. A long time ago I was unable to even eat dessert after a meal! Aside from that I obviously normally am not able to try using a gun while fighting. At those moments I really feel glad that I can perform as an actor.

It's natural that whenever you're putting on a play, there's a lot of people present with varying personal circumstances, sense of values and personal taste, so usually it opens doors of exchange. That's the "nature" of being an actor. Ono Kento told us it has to do with doing a lot of varying things and have fun with it.

I have a lot of hobbies. Up until now I've done baseball, volleyball, skiing and snowboarding, and recently golf too.. Is it too much?! (laughs) Recently I miss playing soccer. I'm just a sore loser who hates to lose in sports, but maybe it's just that I like gambling. I think I might have the nature of a gambler.




In fact, in regards to an actor's work they often say "you can't be be resolved to do it unless you're willing to bet." There's that nature of high-risk high-return in it. Your comeback work after a year, Messiah - Eisei no Shou, is like one of those bets.

When I received the offer for this interview, before I announced my comeback, I was nervous about what people's reactions would be. I had no idea what it'd be like. For me personally, this comeback is a very happy thing. I quickly wanted to tell it to everyone, and I even wondered if it'd turn out to be a trend on YAHOO!.. I was looking forward to that. (laughs) The fact that people were still waiting for me in suspense after a year brought me to tears, but it also feels like the expectations are rising. As for Eisei no Shou, I just regret not being there for all of the filming. But since it's such a small thing, so I told myself "ah, in that case it's fine," and tried to look at the bigger picture. I think it'd be fine as long as I acted with all my concentration.

Moreover, with the announcement of Eisei no Shou it's the first time the Messiah series is having a TV drama. In other words, it's an ideal opportunity to let people experience Messiah who didn't know of it yet. That big difference is sure to inevitably make the work a tall hurdle..

A stage play is really different from a movie when it comes to what you can do. (laughs) Since you can make really different kinds of action scenes in movies and plays, it's become genuinely enjoyable to me. Even if the story's setting and premise is certainly difficult, I think the course of events in Eisei no Shou is comparitively simple. You can watch this drama and still understand plenty of it even if you haven't seen the previous installments. So even people who are seeing Messiah for the first time can enjoy it, and this part will also encourage you to imagine how the series will proceed from now on. Since it's going to be connected to the next stage play, Hisui no Shou, it'd be great if you could come to love this Messiah.






Ono Kento showed a very cautious attitude concerning the May performances of Messiah - Hisui no Shou. "If we haven't actually tried standing on the stage yet, it's still impossible to say what it's going to be like." As might be expected from an actor experienced at both films and stage plays, there was also that unshakeable policy he possesses.

If you don't perform the play yet, you can't see the image of it in your mind yet. But despite that, I want to gladly grab onto an offer for a stage play if I get one all the same. The only thing I want to avoid is performing so much that I'd be having two roles at almost the same time. But of course I want to be part of things often. Passing auditions is a good thing, it helps my self-confidence. I just don't want to cause trouble for a lot of other people. Every person in a production is important, I think that feeling I have is something that won't change.

Beyond such a sincere attitude, what is it that the actor Ono Kento is aiming at? When asked about that, he returned a wonderfully openhearted answer.

I want to become an actor who's seen as someone who leaves a lasting impression on people. To become a person who's recognized by a wide range of generations. Not being able to get to that would be a disappointment, but in that case it couldn't be helped! I'd still want to go out and do things anyway.

We want to thank you for returning to acting after your break. Now that you've returned from there with a resolution, we of course hope that you'll make a name for yourself as an actor. Carrying the gallantness appropriate for a gambler and the fighting spirit appropriate for a man's man in his hand, Ono Kento embarks out into the world of Messiah.










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