ARATA moves from the big screen to the small screen with "Saigo no Senpan"

by Chris MaGee

Okay, a big screen star doing television work in Japan is not big news. Stars show up on dramas, panel TV shows, cooking shows and commercials fairly regularly, but when I saw the story posted at Tokyograph that ARATA was going to be making his television debut in the upcoming NHK series "Saigo no Senpan" I was kind of surprised. Despite the fact that he's made appearances in such high profile films as Fumihiko Sori's "Ping Pong" and Tsutsumi Yukihiko's current blockbuster "20th Century Boys" most of his film work has been in smaller indie/ art house fare like Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Distance", Kôji Wakamatsu's "United Red Army" and Yukio Ninagawa's "Hebi ni piasu".

I guess I shouldn't worry too much though. "Saigo no Senpan" is set to to explore the story of an army officer during WW2, of course played by ARATA, who has to struggle ethically and morally with orders given by his superiors that will ultimately lead to the horrendous war crimes perpatrated by Imperial Japanese Army. No soft-focus romance "doramas" for ARATA.