StereoSound Interview with Mio Kudo and Ichika Osaki [Call Me by No Name]

 

Full translation of the interview with Mio Kudo and Ichika Osaki, published on January 14th on the website StereoSound. Another wonderful chance to get a glimpse into the minds of the lead actresses of the new Japanese Girls Love drama Call Me by No Name:

The popular novel Call Me by No Name written by Yuuki Shasendou has been adapted into a drama that started airing on January 9 2025 on MBS, as part of their DramaPhil lineup. Starring Mio Kudo and Ichika Osaki, both renowned for their roles in the Super Sentai Series, the show is a heartrending love story, faithful to the original novel. Directed by Yuuka Eda, who has produced deep and inventive pieces starting with Girls’ Encounter, the series captures the world brought to life by the two leads with beautiful visuals.  

We interviewed Kudo and Osaki, making their lead debut together in Call Me by No Name:

Interviewer: Thank you for joining us! First of all, congratulations on your roles in Call Me by No Name. I heard you’ve just wrapped up filming. How are you feeling right now?

Ichika: I feel quite lonely, to be honest. It was a rich and wonderful experience, which makes the sense of loss even stronger. I remember being quite eager when we started filming, thinking about all the scenes we had ahead of us, but then we reached the end of the shoot so quickly, and I was like “Oh, it’s already over…”. I found myself wishing for it to continue longer.

Mio: I also feel really lonely! I cried like a baby when it was over. But I’m truly grateful to have been part of this project, and looking back, I feel like every encounter it brought me (including with the cast and staff) came at exactly the right time in my life. It’s been a daily learning experience, and it felt like a blessing to be immersed in acting so deeply, from morning until night, every day. I would really like to go back.

Interviewer: Now let’s rewind a little, back to before the filming. Tell me about your thoughts when you read the script, and about your impressions regarding your characters.

Ichika: I thought it was quite a challenging project. The darker parts are…really dark, and I struggled a lot to find the right way of properly representing them. The character I play, Kotoha Furuhashi, has this sort of sensuality to her, which was already present in the original novel and it’s an aspect that couldn’t be more distant from my own self, so I had to try my very best to figure out how to express it.

Mio: Honestly, I also found it to be pretty hard, and I was quite troubled in working out how to portray my character. It’s been really painful.  At the same time, I was completely captivated by the story, and I was filled with desire to be a part of it. The character I play, Megumi Yotsugi (nicknamed Meguchi) is cute and lovable, but she also has the strength to confront others head on. She has an extraordinary power. On the other hand, I’m the type of person that tends to pull back in confrontations, which meant I needed to draw out extra power from inside myself in order to play Meguchi. Thanks to having Kotoha, the character played by Ichika, by my side those feelings faded away, and I was able to turn into Meguchi very naturally. All credit goes to Ichika!

Interviewer: Listening to you, it sounds like Ichika has been taking the lead on set!

Ichika: Oh, not at all!

Mio: What? I absolutely think you have! (laughs)

Ichika: I think it wasn’t about me leading. It’s more that I’m the type to do things my own way, completely freewheeling, and you were kind enough to go along with me!

Interviewer: What can you share about your approach to building your characters? Did you encounter any particular challenge in terms of emotion building and expressions?

Ichika: To be honest, taking part in this drama led me to discover a personal weakness: the fact that I’m deeply uncomfortable with showing my shortcomings, asking for help, revealing my vulnerabilities…. I always do everything in my power to avoid doing that and I’m the type to run away if I find myself facing that sort of scenario. However, as I played Kotoha, there was a moment that allowed me to break down that barrier. It was a very painful moment. In my mind, I knew how I wanted to play the scene, and I was confident I could do it, but when the moment came, the me that wanted to hide any vulnerability at all costs ended up coming out…  It was a real struggle to overcome that instinct, and I was surprised that I could do it. So yeah, showing weakness was definitely the biggest challenge for me, both as Kotoha and as my own self. 

Interviewer: Given that you’re able to talk about it openly, would you say you have now fully overcome that challenge?

Ichika: I’m still slightly uncomfortable with it, but I’ve also come to see that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I hope that, little by little, I’ll be able to soften a bit.

Interviewer: What about you, Mio?

Mio: I’m quite the worrier, and I often end up holding back my opinions and going along with others. The director guessed as much during the script reading, which made me realize how obvious this side of me was.

The director also told me that Meguchi is supposed to be a sort of source of salvation for Kotoha, and I knew I couldn’t live up to that at that point. I kept wondering and wondering about what I could do to become stronger, to become that source of salvation. As I kept discussing with the director, my concerns started to vanish, and ultimately, I was able to embody that figure, which made me very happy.

Before going through this change, when confronting Kotoha as she was struggling to move forward, I would’ve just ended up mirroring her emotions, but that tendency has now completely disappeared! I was able to feel that I needed to be stronger, that I wanted to embrace Kotoha’s feelings. It made me extremely happy to feel that I grew stronger together with Meguchi.

Interviewer: Finally, what would you say are the highlights of the series?

Ichika: Every single episode is tremendously intense, and there are many sudden twists that will make everyone unable to look away. There are also many hints and nuances that are scattered throughout the episodes, not explicitly expressed by words. So, look closely, listen carefully and then, going back, you’ll be able to find out the meaning behind things seen or heard previously. Hopefully, in a way, it’d be great if you could enjoy it like a real mystery.

Mio: That’s so true. I’d love for everyone to watch while thinking things through with us. In addition, the visuals are absolutely stunning, and the clothes reflect the character’s inner state, so I’d be glad if viewers would take a close look at those details, wondering what the characters are feeling in any given moment.

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