This 2008 GRAPH feature had Top Stars answering questions from up-and-coming young stars. The Moon Troupe edition was published in the January issue and featured Sena Jun and Ryuu Masaki.
Please note that the translation was sourced from the reprint in Ryuu’s memorial book, but the feature does not appear abridged.
Otokoyaku Cram School – Moon Troupe
Instructor: Sena Jun
Student: Ryuu Masaki
Sena: Up until now, Masao (Ryuu), you’ve played 3 of my roles in junior performances, so doesn’t that mean when it comes to Brutus, Armand, and Szandor1, we’re the only two people to have ever played them? Since we’ve played the same roles we can share the understanding of their unique joys and struggles, so it feels like in some ways we share a common destiny.
Ryuu: You’re too kind… Thank you so much.
Sena: For me, I want to convey to the girls playing my roles in a junior performance what I felt when creating the character, or the things that I think only I can understand due to playing the same role, even above things like the specific emotions of each scene or the technical aspects.
Ryuu: You would always tell me “Masao, it’s okay if you develop the character in your own way”.
Sena: Yeah. Obviously, if it’s a different person performing the role the characterization and performance is going to change, after all. Since there’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when it comes to emotions, I think it’s perfectly fine if the feelings of the role change depending on the person. If it’s something like “While you might be performing with this emotion it doesn’t come across to people watching you”, then I think I need to bring it up, though.
Ryuu: I first played one of Asako-san’s roles in the junior performance for Rome at Dawn, and when you gave me that advice that I should develop the role in my own way it was as if the scales fell from my eyes…
Sena: The scales (laughs).
Ryuu: Yes (laughs). From then on, I started to rehearse with a stronger awareness of what it meant to develop a role in my own way, and I was able to realize how vital it is to find my own answers for myself. I’m so grateful to Asako-san for planting that consciousness in me. I feel like I’ve realized how fun it is to develop a character while searching for my own answers through trial and error.
Sena: I don’t want to cause any misunderstandings by saying this, but you look as if you haven’t experienced many setbacks up until now, Masao. I’m sure you’ve come up against your own barriers, but they don’t end up showing in your expression… It’s alright if you let others see that you’re having trouble, or stressed, or feeling down, don’t you think? Though there’s certainly a need to keep a cheerful expression to keep up your own motivation, there’s nothing wrong with letting your worries out once in a while, I think.
Ryuu: I know I don’t like letting others see any negative side to me, so I guess I have trouble expressing my emotions openly.
Sena: Yeah. But I’m sure that even if they saw you worrying or struggling, everyone around you would accept you as you are. Up until now, do you think that maybe when you have run into a barrier you sometimes end up turning away from the problem?
Ryuu: Oh, maybe.
Sena: What I think is important, when you’re facing a problem, is not to turn away from it, and keep struggling with it until you get through. If you keep struggling and crawling, and even if you see an escape route, you don’t run away, then when you keep putting in the effort to clamber out, you’ll find it broadens your horizons as a performer, I think.
Ryuu: Yes. I want to become someone with the mental strength to take on issues head-on and push through with my own effort.
Ryuu: Asako-san, what were you like as a junior actress?
Sena: When I was about your level, Masao, I was so laid-back. So thinking back I’m like, oh, that was no good~.
Ryuu: Really?
Sena: Yeah. So since I was way too laid-back, when I got the junior performance lead in SPEAKEASY, I was utterly depressed by my own incompetence. So in that moment it lit a fire under me. Though it was awfully late (laughs).
Ryuu: I see.
Sena: Yeah. When I was around Masao’s level I’d talk with the other otokoyaku near me in seniority about acting or being an otokoyaku. What about you?
Ryuu: Oh, yes, when I get a chance to talk to the otokoyaku who are just above me, often they’ve experienced just the same situation as I’ll be facing right then, and I learn a lot.
Sena: Yes, yes.
Ryuu: I want to try to make more opportunities like that in the future.
Sena: I know I said I want you to let yourself worry and struggle more, but I don’t want to lose your individuality or the relaxed, open atmosphere you have now. One of the childhood incidents you wrote about in your GRAPH column, ’87th Class Mini Encyclopedia’, made that side of you so clear, I was really moved.
Ryuu: Was that the takoyaki story? (laughs)
Sena: Yes (laughs). After begging for takoyaki and having them bought for you, you dropped them before you had a chance to eat them, I felt like the guilt you felt in that moment was so like the straightforward and earnest Masao I know.
Ryuu: Thank you so much (laughs).
Sena: The way you aren’t afraid of anything is another of your good points, Masao (laughs). From now on I hope you’ll treasure that, and your straightforwardness, your individuality, and how fun you are (laughs).
Ryuu: Yes.
Sena: And like I said before, I hope that if you worry a lot, and struggle a lot, you’ll become an otokoyaku double or even triple the scale you were before. Since I think you have all the tools you need to achieve that, Masao. You’re already doing so much to support Moon Troupe, but I’d be so happy for you to become even stronger, and push Moon Troupe to greater heights from below.
Ryuu: Yes. I’ll do my best!
Sena: I know you’re doing your best (laughs).
Ryuu: (laughs) I’ll keep the advice I got from Asako-san today in my heart and keep trying to advance every day.
1 – Sena’s roles in Rome at Dawn, Higher than the Sky of Paris, and A Magician’s Misfortunes, respectively.