The Only Serenity in the Heavy Drama “Kyobo” & Why Mayu Hotta’s Popularity is Soaring!
One morning before GW, the location shooting of “Kimichika Kazama – Kyobo 0” was taking place in front of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters in Yokohama. With strong winds blowing from time to time, Mayu Hotta (25) was standing by in front of the camera, inside a windshield cloth prepared by the staff.
As the camera rolled, Hotta, wearing a white light down jacket, white skirt, and a white tote bag, walked down the sidewalk in a good mood, probably on her way to work. Suddenly, perhaps sensing an unpleasant presence behind her, she stopped and turned around. Behind him stood a suspicious-looking man dressed in black. Hotta stared at the man for a while with a miffed expression on her face, and then started walking again.
When the scene was done, Hotta rushed over to the crew and talked earnestly with them for a while. The filming of the scene continued for several takes.
Hotta is covered in a black fabric, possibly to protect her from the wind.The protagonist of the drama, Kazama (played by Kimura Takuya), is said to have alienated viewers by intimidating the inexperienced detectives with his power, but many claim that Hotta’s character, Iue Koha, is the only one who can put them at ease.
(According to a TV magazine insider) “Iue Koha works as a clerk in Kazama’s supervisor’s office. She not only listens to the new detectives’ complaints, but she also gives them advice and occasionally spits venom in her dialogues. Despite having little to do with the investigation, she is a very strong character in the film.”
Hotta made her acting debut in “Themis’s Chase” (WOWOW) in ’15. She gained attention for her role as the younger sister of heroine Aoi Wakana in the 2017 morning NHK drama “Warotenka,” and has appeared in numerous dramas since then. However, she did not have a distinctive presence, although she had a neat and friendly image like the commercial girl for “Zexy” that she did in ’20.
Recently, however, her role as Hina, wife of Hojo Yoshitoki in the NHK historical drama “Kamakuradono no 13-nin” showed her edge and depth of emotion. In the role of Tokugawa Iemitsu in “Ooku” (NHK), she played the difficult role of a lonely woman who appears at first glance to be a fierce tyrant but is in fact deeply wounded, and her ability to express herself has become well known to all. She is one of the most popular actresses in the industry today.
Her popularity in the industry is not only due to her talent.
She is not only popular because of her talent, but also because of her friendliness. “Despite her beautiful visual appearance, she is very friendly, saying that she loves yakiniku (grilled meat) and that she can’t do without harami and beer, or that she likes local sake and feels she can drink four or five bottle of it,” says the source. And as she said in a magazine interview, “It’s like my motto that I want people to think, ‘I’m glad I worked with Mayu Hotta,'” she is always attentive to those around her so that everyone on site can enjoy their work. She even runs to thank people who rent the location site to her, and it seems that everyone who works with her falls in love with her.
(A women’s magazine insider said, “Hotta has a movie coming out in September, “Bakanuri no Musume” (Daughter of Bakanuri), in which she plays the lead. This year may be the year she makes a big leap forward.
Photographed by： Yusuke Kondo
