Ex-Aid’s Hiroki Iijima and Hayato Onozuka Interviewed on Kamen Sentai Gorider

Iijima and Onozuka discuss their involvement together in the production of the web series Kamen Sentai Gorider.

In a recent interview with au’s video distribution service Video Pass, Hiroki Iijima (Emu/Ex-Aid) and Hayato Onozuka(Kiriya / Lazer) were asked questions relating to their involvement with one another during Onozuka’s time on Kamen Rider Ex-Aid as well as the new web series Kamen Sentai Gorider.

Onozuka states that, while he had heard that his character would eventually be leaving the TV series, he did not know just when this would be. When it happened suddenly on Christmas Day 2016, he say, “I felt a little guilty.”  Iijima says it was hard to see kids receiving Lazer toys on Christmas day.

Nevertheless, the character of Kiriya was loved by fans. Onozuka remembers, “after I stopped appearing, Kiriya became more popular! (laughs) I’m not so happy about that.” With only twelve episodes to work with, Onozuka worked hard with Iijima to build a character to eventually be trusted and leave a large impact on the other characters in the show.

Now, Onozuka will be reprising his role as Kiriya both in Kamen Sentai Gorider as well as the film Kamen Rider x Super Sentai Chou Super Hero Taisen, both of which debuted on March 25th, 2016.

Iijima and Onozuka both state that they frequently talk to each other in a large Ex-Aid group on the mobile chat service LINE, and that, while Onozuka is not present on the set, he remains a talkative member of the group. Reina Kurosaki who plays Nico Saiba joined the conversation after Onozuka left the show, and Onozuka was forced to change how he interacted with the group.

In regards to Kiriya’s revival in the new Super Hero Taisen film, Onozuka states that he’d heard he’d be back in a spring movie and was truly thankful. Afterwards he learned he’d be in the Gorider production and was happy to be working with Iijima again.

During the filming of Gorider, Iijima was directed to go through multiple stages of emotions. “It’s hard to convey just two stages,” he says, “but I have to split it into about five stages.”

The two actors commented on the brief amount of time they were able to spend with the elder Kamen Rider actors on set, stating that it was filmed in only two weeks. For that reason, Onozuka was not able to communicate with the older actors much. Iijima says that once they were all in one place, they had a good relationship.  Both actors commented on how much they respected Takanori Kikuchi, the actor portraying Kaoru Kino / Another Agito. Iijima praises him saying he “has a really awesome voice, and the importance of his words were amazing.”

Commenting on what the relationship is now between the characters of Emu and Kiriya, Onozuka tells Video Pass that previously Kiriya had to lie as a defense mechanism to keep from getting to close to other people. But Emu has the pure white heart of a child that causes Kiriya to change.

Both actors are excited for their audience to see Kamen Sentai Gorider. Onozuka leaves the interview off by saying, “the scene where I appear is totally cool.”

Source: au Video Pass