On April 23, 2024, NHK uploaded a trailer for the live action Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan TV drama‘s upcoming ninth episode, Poaching Seashore. A day before that on April 22, Rohan Kishibe‘s actor, Issey Takahashi, Kyoka Izumi‘s actress, Marie Iitoyo, Tonio Trussardi‘s actor, Alfredo Chiarenza, and the director of the series, Kazutaka Watanabe, attended a press conference for the episode.
Episode 9 covers the sixth episode of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan manga. In addition, it includes the “Let’s Go Eat Some Italian Food” story arc from Diamond is Unbreakable to introduce Tonio. NHK initially announced the episode on April 1, 2024. The episode premieres on May 5th at 1 PM JST on NHK BSP4K, followed by a broadcast on NHK General TV on May 10th at 10 PM JST.
Poaching Seashore Trailer
The trailer showcases Rohan Kishibe and Kyoka Izumi visiting the new Italian restaurant, Trattoria Trussardi. They meet the chef, Tonio Trussardi, and his fiancée, Hatsune Morishima. Rohan learns about Tonio wanting to poach legendary black abalones to be able to cure his fiancée’s illness. Interested, Rohan agrees to help him out.
Source: NHK
Commercial
A few days prior on April 21, NHK also aired a commercial featuring highlights of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan drama’s third season, Rohan au Louvre film, and Poaching Seashore. Hot Summer Martha and Rock-Paper-Scissors Kid will be rebroadcast on May 5, 2024. Rohan au Louvre will air on TV for the first time on April 27, 2024 and May 6, 2024.
Press Conference
A press screening and press conference for the episode was held in Tokyo on April 22. Takahashi remarked “This is the first time I’ve gone directly into interviews after having the audience watch our show, similar to a movie premiere. I feel the weight of the past five years.” Since the drama series began filming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Poaching Seashore was the first time the staff and cast didn’t have to wear masks while filming. Takahashi expressed his pleasure, saying, “It’s nice to be able to see each team member’s face and film while observing their reactions.”
Finally Adapting Poaching Seashore
Keisuke Tsuchihashi, the supervising producer who attended, described the episode as “a very famous story within the original manga, and from the first year of the drama series, there was a strong demand from fans to see it adapted into a visual format.” He added, “Director Watanabe also felt it was a challenging episode to tackle, but after making the movie Rohan au Louvre, the entire staff felt we were now capable, and so we proceeded with production.”
Director Watanabe added, “It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally managed to reach what seemed out of reach (laughs). You can see the past four years of our accumulated experience. This is the most physically demanding performance yet, and there are new sides of Rohan and Kyoka. The episode condenses our consistent quality and new challenges into 60 minutes.”
Rohan’s Underwater Scenes
During the Q&A session with the press, questions first addressed Takahashi’s challenging underwater performance. Takahashi shared, “It really made me realize how our lungs work like air sacs (laughs). Unless you fully exhale, your body won’t sink. But then, on the contrary, after the cut, I couldn’t rise back to the surface. It was so sudden—I felt like I was about to lose consciousness because I couldn’t breathe… However, I don’t think this will come across to the viewers (laughs). The footage turned out to be realistic and, in a sense, artistic.”
Iitoyo, who witnessed Takahashi’s filming, remarked, “He dived about five meters, right? His physical abilities are amazing, and seeing everyone’s teamwork made me grateful to be part of such a great team.”
Lack of CGI
The drama is structured with the first half exploring Tonio’s arc from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4, followed by Poaching Seashore in the latter half. The underwater scenes were not recorded using CGI or compositing. They were real footage shot on location on the beach and in a pool. Takahashi reflected on the set, “We were exploring how far we could go with analog techniques. Abalones and an octopus appear in the scenes, but they were not created with CGI; we actually built and filmed them as physical models.”
When asked why he insisted on analog filming, Director Watanabe replied with a laugh, “Maybe it’s because I like it. Though CGI allows us to depict everything, there’s an interesting aspect to leaving things unsaid or unseen. I believe there’s a charm in the mystery created by what’s not shown. I’m confident that viewers will appreciate the unique sense of realism that only analog can offer.”
Iitoyo recalled scenes from Part 4, saying, “Eating Tonio’s cooking caused changes in my body, and it involved quite tricky movements. I thought I would drown during the crying scenes because of the challenge of filming without digital effects.” Watanabe explained “Including Part 4’s episode helps the audience understand Tonio’s abilities better than if Poaching Seashore was portrayed alone.”
Guest actor Alfredo Chiarenza, who plays Tonio, stated “Tonio is a popular character in the manga, so I do feel the pressure (laughs). I hope you all like it.” Takahashi commented on Chiarenza, “He’s earnest and serious about his role, and from the moment I met him, I thought, ‘This is Tonio.'”
“He’s put in a lot of effort in mastering Japanese and has elevated the quality of our work.” Iitoyo praised, “Tonio’s costume fits perfectly, just like in the original work.”
Back to the Drama after Rohan au Louvre
After producing the live-action movie Rohan au Louvre, returning to the drama version felt like getting back to basics, according to Watanabe. “Louvre was a quiet story delving into Rohan’s past and personal aspects. Now, incorporating an episode from Part 4 makes each session feel like a new challenge,” he said, adding, “We receive continuous feedback from the editorial department without direct interaction with Araki-sensei. We’re flexible, but we correct any misinterpretations on our part.” The team also expressed joy over seeing new scenes featuring Kyoka in Hot Summer Martha and other new works by Araki after the drama’s broadcast.
Sources: Natalie, Billboard-Japan, MyNavi, Oricon
Gallery
About Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is a spin-off of Hirohiko Araki‘s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. It is an ongoing series of one-shots featuring the titular character, Rohan Kishibe, from Diamond is Unbreakable. Rohan serves as the narrator and/or the protagonist depending on the story. These one-shots are intermittently published in various magazines such as Weekly Shonen Jump or Jump Square.
Using his special ability “Heaven’s Door” that can read the history and secrets of whoever he chooses and write commands into them, Rohan experiences strange incidents and encounters mysterious phenomena.
The series has spawned an OVA adaptation, a collection of short stories, and a live action TV drama adaptation that airs on NHK. The TV drama currently has eight episodes and a film released. All three seasons and the film are available to watch on Amazon Prime in certain countries.
