I planned to post this much much earlier but thanks to procrastination the translating was put off until now oops.
Seven Days Pamphlet
Yamada James Takeshi Interview (Please do not repost)
Q: Reading the original work
A: My (first time) reading it was during the audition. I met the director, went through (the audition), and then I left the place. After that I was curious about the rest of the plot, so on the train back home I went to a rental site and read through the whole thing in one go. Such a thing as boys love exist, at first I was a little opposed to it but as love between two normal high school mates, I found it really interesting and was drawn in by it. Even if I weren’t involved in this production, as a viewer, I would like to watch this movie once it’s completed.
Q: What kind of person is Yuzuru?
A: Although he is very straightforward, when the necessity arises he starts thinking, or perhaps I should say he has a relatively sensitive/delicate side. The more I think about it, he may be somebody whose weak points can be easily seen by others. There are quite a few traits that he have that are similar to mine. We act first without thinking of the consequences, we overthink…… That’s why I usually get dumped having this said to me, “after having dated you, you are completely different from who I thought you were.” I reply something similar to “but that’s me!” (laughs)
Q: Acting Yuzuru
A: The director said this to me a lot, “because you think too much it doesn’t work.” And comparing this character with all the other characters I’ve done before, rather than thinking and thinking, there’s a feeling like I’m doing relatively flat acting. Since Yuzuru and I have certain similar personality traits, I thought to act in between myself and Yuzuru. It wouldn’t be okay if I were to act as myself and if I were to fully become Yuzuru, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to naturally bring out his frankness. For example, the kiss scene in the room, I acted that out while thinking about the girl I used to date back in my second year of middle school. Then the plan was forgotten (laughs). Don’t think about too many things at one time, just have resolve and do it immediately.
Q: How is it like on set?
A: We are like a family, it was really fun. They also talked with Tomoki-kun but these 3 people, the director, Itakura-san from filming and Midokawa-san from lighting, jointly contributed their opinions (for this production). “This is a good (idea), let’s try this”, there were many scenes that they made together. So much that they told each other what they wanted to say and it made things easy for us. “They get along so well, I wonder if they have always been working together”, I thought, I was shocked when the director told me that this is the first time they are working together. I talk to everybody on set (at other productions) but I never really made any companions. This time everybody became my companion so I thought (that this filming was) fun, as filming progressed, “Ahh James, I understand I understand”, somehow everybody treated me like an adult (laughs). The duration for this filming may have been just right. It should end just right before people start saying “don’t you think that guy is dull?” It’s the pattern where if you talk too much it’ll end badly (laughs).
Q: What kind of person is Hirose-kun?
A: Just by looking at him, he’s really beautiful, my first thought was that he really resembles Seryou! However the truth is, he’s a really air-headed person (laughs). Even though he’s really serious and stoic during filming, behind the scenes he has many air-headed moments. During breaks, he will fall asleep with his mouth wide open, during conversations he doesn’t perceive (what we’re talking about) normally, there are times when I cannot get what I’m saying across. When I retort, he says something like “Eh, did I just say something wrong?” (laughs). This gap (in personality) is good. Even though he’s 3 years older than me, he doesn’t feel like my senior at all. But he does feel like my older brother, from the start I didn’t need to humble myself* and just retorted him casually. (T/N: *In Japan when you’re speaking to your senior, you need to use humble language)
Q: If you only had one week to date the person you like, what would you do?
A: I want to spend it looking at various things (scenery) while cycling on our bicycles or going for a drive. I just want to spend as much time with my partner as I can. Thinking about it, Yuzuru and Seryou were with each other most of the time during the one week. Well, if I were in this situation, I won’t probe my partner, but I would say at the start “I like you!” (laughs).
Q: What’s your favourite day of the week?
A: Monday or Friday. I’m bad with the weekend crowd, I like the weekdays where there isn’t much people around. It’s just that in relation to drinking, I love pubs where there are huge masses of people. There are times where I worry about the public gazes since I’m doing this job but, there are different voices flying around, I thought it’ll be good if I talked in a loud voice with everybody else. Monday is because it’s the day Jump goes on sale (laughs). Today too, the moment I woke up at 6:30am, I went to the convenience store to buy it. I’ve been buying it ever since Elementary 6. (That’s because) I have never finished reading it while browsing.
Q: Focus on this!
A: In the first half of the movie at the stairs in the school, the scene were (Yuzuru) heard Shino’s voice from Seryou’s hand phone and snatched it away. Until then I think Yuzuru had the strong will to (date Seryou) for fun but (that’s the scene where) Yuzuru’s feelings towards Seryou were exposed. From that point onward, the both of them show their feelings towards each other differently so focus on that. That and at the end, the scene where you can see the harbour from Okakouen (T/N: literally hill park), whether it was a kyun* scene or a scene that made you feel relieved, many things were conveyed in there. (T/N: *kyun is an expression used to describe the tightening off your chest from emotion or “dying of cuteness”). After the week past, you will be able to feel that there will be a new beginning for the two of them.
Q: A message to Hirose-kun
A: When I’m troubled with what to do, you helped me out, there were many times you casually showed me kindness indirectly, there were many times Tomoki-kun have saved me, for that I am very thankful. Also, it would be good if you could fix your air-headedness (laughs).
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