Tao Tsuchiya will appear as the villain (!?) of the main character played by Snow Man’s Raul in the film “Akabane Honeko’s Bodyguard”

Tao Tsuchiya plays Masachika Jingu, who is the sister of Natsuki Deguchi (Natsuki Deguchi) but was raised as a boy from an early age and hates her so much that she wants to kill her.

Tao Tsuchiya has been confirmed to appear in the film “Akabane Kotetsu’s Bodyguard” (released August 2nd), starring Raul (Snow Man).

Due to certain circumstances, Akabane Honeko (Deguchi Natsuki) has a 10 billion yen bounty on his head. The mission given to Ibuki Arakuni (Raul), who became a bodyguard for his beloved girlfriend, is to protect her without her finding out! But all of his classmates are bodyguards!? Will he be able to complete the mission safely…?

Tsuchiya plays Jingu Masachika, the daughter of Jingu Masato (Endo Kenichi), the Director General of the National Security Agency. Although she is Jingu Masachika’s biological sister, she was trained from an early age and raised as a boy. Wanting to receive her father’s love, she worked tirelessly to become an elite member of MI6, but no matter how hard she tried, Masato paid no attention to Masachika and doted on Honeko. Eventually, Masachika’s hostility was directed towards Honeko, and he came to hate her so much that he wanted to kill her.

She comes face to face with Ibuki Arakuni (Raoul), who is trying to kill Honeko and protects her as her bodyguard, but due to an unexpected turn of events (?!), she begins to have feelings for Arakuni. Masachika has an overwhelming presence and appears to be a formidable enemy, but after meeting the pure and straightforward Arakuni, he gradually begins to change and become more human. Although he is perfect, he is somewhat clumsy and shows his emotions openly, making him a lovable and charming character that is hard to hate.

The image visuals were also released, overturning the image of Tsuchiya so far, and show her in a black leather coat, silver hair, and an eyepatch on her right eye, creating an overwhelming and mysterious visual presence. Not only does she perfectly portray the difficult role of a girl born as a daughter but raised as a boy.

Comment from Tao Tsuchiya (role of Masachika Tsujimiya)
Q. How do you feel now that filming has wrapped up?
To be honest, I feel lonely. The time I was allowed to act was very short, but the more I acted, the more I felt the love for the role and it seemed to enter my heart.

Q. Please tell us how you felt when you were offered the role of Masachika.
When I read the original work and the script, I thought, “This is a big responsibility!” Although she was raised as a boy, she wants her father to recognize her as a “daughter,” and she is also the key person who brings Arakuni and Honeko closer together, so on top of that, Masachika has to overwhelm Arakuni. I thought it was a difficult role.

Q. I imagine you put in a lot of effort into preparing for your role, but could you tell us specifically what you paid particular attention to?
First of all, it’s the scene where he appears. I have to overwhelm Arakuni as Masachika. If I can’t do that, I can’t express the cute and lovable parts that follow, so I just kept thinking about how Masachika felt growing up and put that energy into it. However, Masachika-likeness can’t be expressed with just feelings, so I asked a male actor at Takarazuka for tips, had a seminar held by someone involved in Takarazuka’s makeup, and learned posture, walking style, and how to project my voice from my family, and lived the life of Masachika in my own daily life. So I think I was manly even in my everyday life at that time. If I make my voice too low, it will become hoarse, so I tried to change the tone and nuance of my voice and take a breath while keeping it low, but it was very difficult. I felt that I finally got through it with a lot of power from the costume, makeup, and wig.

Q. What scene left an impression on you?
We started filming with the school scene, but there were many things I wanted to reflect on. I thought I could have done a bit more research on my posture and the way I walked, so I worked on it a bit. In the aquarium scene, I wanted to make the action more like a fight, so I practiced until the last minute. During the break, Arakuni-san (Raul) said to me, “I can feel Masachika’s spirit,” and I was very happy.

Q. What was it like working with Raul?
I felt that Raul-san was someone who was constantly evolving on set, using both his brains and physical abilities to the fullest. In the action scenes with Masachika, he was in charge of the defensive moves, but in fact, if you don’t do defensive moves well, it’s not action. And defensive moves are dangerous. Even though there was a big difference in our physiques, he worked hard to face me, which I thought was really wonderful.

Q. What did you think of Deguchi-san and Endo-san?
She was very cheerful, and I was energized by Natsuki’s cute smile while we worked together. Endo-san is someone I’ve always wanted to work with, so it felt like I finally got to meet her. It may be presumptuous of me to say this, but she’s really good at acting, she’s wonderful, and it really touched my heart.

Q. Finally, please say a few words to everyone who is looking forward to the release.
I think it’s a refreshing, colorful, and fascinating work that you can enjoy to the fullest. Please come and experience the passionate days of Class 3-4 of Shojo High School on the big screen!

■ Comment from Tatsuya Kato (Producer)
Sorry for the wait. This is the final cast announcement for “Akabane Honeko’s Bodyguard.” I am very happy to finally be able to announce the role of Masachika. He is a popular character in “Akabane Honeko’s Bodyguard,” and is like a joker.
She is a woman who can be mistaken for a man, and she has to be overwhelmingly cool and beautiful. On top of that, she has to have a masculine and rough side on the inside, and suddenly become cute, and yet she also has to be funny, so it’s a really difficult role.
I wanted to create a character that had never been seen before in film history, so I wondered if I could ask someone who was completely different from her usual public image, someone whose image I could not imagine. I wondered what kind of person could play this difficult role. I thought about it a lot and agonized over it. And the person I arrived at is Tao Tsuchiya, who I am announcing today.
When I thought about it carefully, I decided that I definitely wanted to ask Tao Tsuchiya to play the role, not based on logic, but on inspiration and intuition, and so I made an offer to her. She, the director, and the staff tested costumes, wigs, and makeup many times, and the visual of Masachika was perfected without compromise. In addition, there were many intense action scenes this time, and she practiced until the very last moment of filming, performing almost all of the action herself. When I saw Tsuchiya playing Masachika on camera, I was so overwhelmed and trembling that she had elevated the character far beyond my initial imagination.
I am confident that this will be an outstanding character that will go down in film history, and I hope everyone will enjoy seeing Masachika move freely and energetically on the big screen.

Movie Information

“Akabane Honeko’s Bodyguard”
08/02 (Fri) ROADSHOW
Original work: Masamitsu Tanzuki’s “Akabane Honeko’s Bodyguard” (serialized in Kodansha’s “Weekly Shonen Magazine”)
Starring: Raul
Cast: Natsuki Deguchi, Daiken Okudaira, Hikaru Takahashi (the official spelling of “taka” is “Hashigodaka”), Kenichi Endo, Tao Tsuchiya and others
Director: Junichi Ishikawa
Screenplay: Hiroyuki Yatsu
Distributor: Shochiku
(C) Masamitsu Tanzuki/Kodansha
(C)2024 “Akabane’s Bodyguard” Film Production Committee

Movie “Akabane’s Bodyguard” production site
https://movies.shochiku.co.jp/akabanehonekomv/