Kamen Rider Genms -The Presidents- The CEO Trio Interview

Hiroyuki Takami, Tetsuya Iwanaga, and Nachi Sakuragi discuss the latest Kamen Rider spin-off Kamen Rider Genms – The Presidents.

The following is a translation of an interview by Mantan-Web.

Interviewer: Tell us your impressions of each other.

Iwanaga: Sakuragi and I are from the same agency but this spin-off is where we first met. However, I heard that he has always wanted to have a conversation with me. Since we both portrayed a CEO-Type character, I had always wanted to meet him so I’m glad we got to work together for this spin-off. He’s a cheerful and good person, even though his role is a bit villainy.

Sakuragi: You and I both (laughs). The three of us here are pretty villainy.

Iwanaga: Takami hasn’t changed at all, so much that I still think he does the pose (referring to Kamen Rider Cronus’s time stopping technique). He’s so energetic and lively. He’s my ideal image. I want to be like him too in twenty years.

Takami: That makes me happy to hear. I’ve been watching Iwanaga’s activities on programs like quiz shows, and he’s so intelligent and cool. I wish he was my son. This is the first time I’m working with Sakuragi, and he’s so composed even though he’s young. I think he possesses the presence of a star.

Sakuragi: Thank you so much! When I was casted in Zero-One, both of your performances left an impact on me, and I’m so happy to be able to meet you in a work like this.

Interviewer: How did you feel about being casted into this spin-off?

Iwanaga: Ex-Aid and Zero-One both have the same writer, Yuya Takahashi. He told me that Zero-One is about a CEO Rider and if I were okay with appearing in it. I had no idea how it would turn out, and I’ve been looking forward to filming it.

Interviewer: What was your most memorable moment on set?

Sakuragi: Before we began filming, Director Satoshi Morota told me “these two are very powerful, don’t lose to them!”. “Even if it’s just with your face! Hit them back with a funny face!” (laughs). He helped me with the comedy portions of the TV series run so thanks to him so I was able to work hard to make something funny without worry.

Takami: It’s been a while since I transformed so there were parts of the pose that I forgot. I thought I had it somewhat memorized, but when I checked with the staff on set, they all had different opinions (laughs). They were all like “what kind of pose was it?,” so we had to watch a scene from the TV series to confirm.

Sakuragi: A lot of staff gathered for that (laughs).

Interviewer: Are Kuroto and Gai’s transformation poses still the same?

Iwanaga: This is the first time I’d be transforming from Kuroto to Level-2 (Kamen Rider Genm Action Gamer) so I wanted to think up a new pose, so made one on set. One was the “kick”, which I adopted from Kiriya Kujo’s transformation pose. The other pose is the “sorry” pose, which means “I’m sorry for skipping level one.”

Sakuragi: My pose is different from what was seen in the TV series. Since Gai is infected by the Bugster Virus, my transportation contained suffering through pain.

Iwanaga: Is this your first time transforming while in pain? I did that all the time.

Sakuragi: Yes (laughs). I actually imitated you.

Interview: Tell us some highlights.

Takami: These three quirky and overpowered trio get in each other’s way, so I’d say the highlight is the entire thing. Particularly at the very end, something happens that you can’t predict from the characters’ relationship so far.

Iwanaga: You’ll get to see an exchange between father and son, something that hasn’t been seen in Ex-Aid. Those two who have been at odds with each other were changed all thanks to Gai. His words moved them both.

Sakuragi: Fans who’ve watched both Ex-Aid and Zero-One will get to see the three of us stand together, a very exciting development. Iwanaga mentioned it, look forward to hearing the words Gai tells to the other two, as well as seeing his development from the TV series.

Source: Mantan-Web