Interview with Daisuke Hirakawa as Noriaki Kakyoin in the TV anime "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders": !!!!

Following the fan-favorite first and second parts, the popular third part of the TV anime "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders" has been airing since April 2014. The first half of the series ended with Joseph Jouster and Sorajo Jotaro and his friends leaving Japan and arriving in Egypt after a long journey. The second half, "Egypt Arc," will finally begin in January 2015!

Before the broadcast of the "Egypt Arc," we interviewed Daisuke Hirakawa, who plays the popular character Noriaki Kakyoin. Mr. Hirakawa, who discovered the work "Jojo" through his participation in this anime, talked about his encounter with the work and his role as Kakyoin.

I started reading it before the post recording, and I couldn't stop halfway through.

─ Mr. Hirakawa, you had never read "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" before playing the role of Noriaki Kakyoin.

It has been serialized since I was a student, so of course I knew the title. But I had never read most of them. When I read Weekly Shonen Jump, I skipped over it. I don't even know what section it was in when I happened to flip through it, but it was kind of horrifying, and to my childish mind, the pictures were a little strange, and I had an image of them being creepy or scary.

It was a world that was a little different from the good-punishment world that was common at that time, and I had the image of a manga that appeared in a young men's magazine. I felt that it was still a little difficult for me. I felt that even if I read it from the middle, I wouldn't be able to understand it.

─ ─ Among the cast of "Stardust Crusaders," who are the most ardent fans who say, "I've always loved JoJo! Who among the cast of "Stardust Crusaders" is an ardent fan who says, "I've always loved Jojo!

Daisuke Ono (who plays Jotaro Kujo) and Kenta Miyake (who plays Mohammed Abdul).
According to both of them, Jojo used to have an underground image. Both of them said that they felt somewhat shy about saying "I like JoJo" or "I am a fan of JoJo" ...... out loud in various places. Whenever I'm struggling or lost in my performance, I look at these two faces. If I see two Jojo fans grinning at me, I think, "Okay!" I think, "Okay!

─ Did you read the original comic before playing the role?

Yes, I did. After I was chosen to play the role of Kakyoin, the first time I met the main cast was when we were recording comments for an event, a little before the recording session started. At that time, Ono-kun presented me with a set of all the paperbacks of the third part of the original work. He gave it to me and told me to read it without saying a word. I was really grateful because I had been planning to buy and read them myself for the recording sessions.

─ ─ How did you feel when you first read it?

I started reading it when the recording was getting close, and then I couldn't stop! Maybe my senses have changed since I was a child because I have gained a certain amount of life experience. Maybe my senses have changed since I was a child because I have gained a certain amount of life experience. I was so excited.

The characters are fascinating, and the "stands" that are an integral part of Part III are unique. I was drawn into the storyline so fast that I couldn't put it down. ...... I was so drawn in that the word "interesting" doesn't even begin to cover it.

At first, I opened the book as a preparation for the recording session. When I finished one volume, I read the next, and the next, and the next, and the next ....... In the end, I read the whole book, though it took me quite a while. I couldn't stop reading because I was so curious about the rest of the book.

I ended up reading the entire third volume, all the way to the end, and said, "Ahhh, that was fun!" ......It was like that. I forgot that I was playing Kakyoin and didn't have time to think about the play, and once I started reading, I was just a reader. I really read it all at once.

It was cool and calm, but with a touch of madness.

─ So at the audition stage, you had not yet read the original comic book?

That's right. One of Kakyoin's lines from the audition was this line that appeared in the fourth episode, "Tower of Gray.

My 'Hierophant Green' is ...... torn off, and it curls up and swells with joy!"

This is one of Kakyoin's most memorable lines. This is one of the most memorable lines of Kakyoin's, because it is the first scene in which Kakyoin fights for his friends after he joins Jotaro and his friends. Also, the director gave me a lot of instructions for this line during the audition, which is another reason why I am so attached to it.

─ How did you create the role of Kakyoin, given that you were not familiar with the original story?

The first thing I did was a tape audition. I really didn't know anything about it, so I looked at a copy of the page of the scene in question and imagined Kakyoin as a young man in my mind and played him. He was rather cool and calm, and the lines were lines, so I really tried to put the madness that was inherent in Kakyoin in my own imagination.

Then, the manager of the office who recorded the audiotape for the tape audition at the time said to me, "Make it bigger, like this!　Please make the play bigger! I thought I had made it big, but he said, "Make it bigger! I thought I had done it big, so I thought, "What? More? I thought I had done it big, so I thought, "More? I felt that this would be a departure from the image of Kakyoin that I had at the time, and for a moment I was flustered, but then I tried to reconstruct the role in my own way, and tried to make it "bigger. Then I was told, "Now we are going to have a studio audition. When I went to the studio, I was told to "try it a bit like Kabuki, with a cut-off gesture.

And especially for the part "Kurui Moderu Nodare no Dare", I was instructed to show the madness, ferociousness, and cool-headedness that I had hidden inside me, "Rather than oozing it out, please show it more suddenly. So, when I was auditioning for the tape, I honestly thought that I might have overdone it. But on the set, I was asked to give a bigger performance, or more explosive power. Of course, I had to express Kakyoin's quiet and cool side. I remember thinking, "No, no, no, this is a lot of work" (laughs). Looking back on it now, I realize that from that point on, I was doing a lot of "harsh" acting with a very firm voice (laughs).

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