Takumi Kitamura’s past of being rejected for “Natsuzora” “Isn’t my face suitable for the morning?” Revenge achieved with decision to appear in morning drama for the first time | ORICON NEWS

Actor Takumi Kitamura attended a press conference for the TV drama series “Anpan” (first half of 2025) held in Tokyo on the 26th. He was selected to play the role of Takashi Yanai, the husband of Nobu Asada, played by the heroine Mio Imada, and he humbly said, “I’ve been nervous about this day coming for a long time.” I will be working on two new works, but I hope to be able to spend every day to the fullest with you all,” he said with great effort.

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Miho Nakazono’s 112th TV drama series is based on the couple who created Anpanman, Takashi Yanase and Nobu Komatsu. The lives of the heroines, Nobuto Asada and Takashi Yanai, who lost the meaning of life and never forgot their dreams. The film tells a story of love and courage that will make you feel the joy of living as it follows the journey of two people who were nobodies overcoming all the turbulence to become Anpanman, the embodiment of “unreversible justice.”

Takashi Yanai, played by Kitamura, lost his father, who was a newspaper correspondent, when he was young, was taken in by his uncle’s house, and met Nobu at the school he transferred to. Since he was young he loved comics and drawing. Although he gets a job in the advertising department of a pharmaceutical company, he is drafted into the military and sent to war. After the war, he meets Nobu again at a newspaper company in Kochi. After following Nobu to Tokyo, he worked in the advertising department of a department store, and with Nobu’s support, decided to become an independent manga artist and started doing various activities.

This will be Kitamura’s first appearance in a morning drama, and she confesses that she was unsuccessful in auditioning for “Natsuzora,” in which Suzu Hirose was the heroine. “At that time, I met Ryo Yoshizawa and his friends for the first time, but this time I didn’t have any luck…I was thinking that maybe my face didn’t suit the morning time,” he said with self-deprecation. I thought back on it.

He went on to say, “I was offered this opportunity, and moreover, I was asked to play the role of Yanase’s model, Takashi Yanai…When I asked, “Why me?” I thought, “I might lose my life, so how should I live my life?” My motto is that doing these things continuously is the way to live each day to the fullest.This is said to have been the inspiration for me when I was speaking to myself as an MC at a band performance. I was very impressed by the thoughts and feelings that Mr. Yanase had within himself, that it is wonderful to be able to live and be used in society. I think that something led me to discover this work,” he said, savoring the joy of appearing in the role.