Ichika Osaki (24), who played the Pink Ranger in the Super Sentai series Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (2019), has taken on her first lead role in the MBS drama Call Me by No Name. Starring alongside her is Mio Kudou (25), who played the Pink Ranger in Mashin Sentai Kiramager. Call Me by No Name is based on a popular GL mystery novel by author Yuuki Shasendou. The drama tells the thrilling love story between college student Megumi Yotsugi and the mysterious Kotoha Furuhashi.
Osaki plays Kotoha, a woman who spends the night at various people’s places, enjoying a sort of time limited “ritual”. Megumi ends up being drawn by her and wants to become friends, but Kotoha accepts only on the condition that they’ll be lovers until Megumi manages to guess her real name, the one she had before becoming “Kotoha”.
“I found it to be a challenging role. My previous characters were somehow closer to my own personality, so it was easy to imagine their feelings, but I had a hard time with that when it came to Kotoha. Since the novel describes emotional states that were not included in the script, I’ve been going back and forth between the novel and the script while working on the character, marking all the words I perceived as important. I was very focused on keeping the character grounded to her essence”.
Particularly challenging for Osaki was portraying Kotoha’s mysterious and sensual aspects. Osaki herself is quite talkative, so Kotoha’s personality was opposite to hers.
“I’m the type who speaks quickly and continuously, but Kotoha speaks in a measured way, with pauses. If I let my guard down, my own tendencies would come out, so at times I had to remind myself “Hey, this is Kotoha speaking”. At the same time, I would say I’m similar to Kotoha in being strong willed and deeply valuing our own assessments. I believe Kotoha has been running away from many things out of fear of getting hurt. I also tend to build up defenses to protect myself from being hurt, so that is definitely another thing we have in common.”
Call Me by No Name is directed by Yuuka Eda (30), who has been gathering attention for movies such as Girls’ Encounter.
“Director Eda is also very talkative. I’ve relied on her a lot and not just in terms of work. Sometimes we’d talk for about an hour and a half during breaks, and she’d give me advice. The fact that I was able to bring out some of that sensual nuance that the character has, was all thanks to the director, producers, make-up artist and lightening crew!”
The visual beauty that is characteristic of director Eda’s work is part of the drama’s charm. How has your first experience as a lead been?
“I was really happy about it. While my enthusiasm doesn’t change regardless of the role or project, being at the very center of it all, this time, made me feel the strong desire to lift everyone around me up. As a result, I was very attentive to the performance of others, as well. I believe that this experience will become a key point of my life going forward. I wish to remember this feeling forever. I will never forget this drama”.
Post on Twitter:
[Translation] Encount Interview with Ichika Osaki
— SapphicLoner (@thesapphicloner) January 17, 2025
Some extra insight on her experience on set, differences and similarities with Kotoha, the role of director Eda and the importance of this work for her.
A short one, for once. Enjoy! 🤗#コルミノ pic.twitter.com/qq42z3N2Wa
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