Even though “Yamachan doesn’t look like him at all,” Shintaro Morimoto of “SixTONES” “his acting was well-received” for an unexpected reason.

One morning in the pleasant early summer breeze, a park square in front of Omori Station (Ota Ward, Tokyo). Amidst the commuters passing by, a man and a woman suddenly began to perform a manzai (comic dialogue).

They said, “Hello, my name is ‘Nankai Candies! My name is “Nankai Candies! 　We are doing a manzai!

A man in red glasses and an okappa (male kappa) with his arms outstretched shouted loudly, “We are doing a manzai! Then he and his female partner began their material, but no one stopped to listen to them.

At their feet is a white board with “Nankai Candies” written on it, but it is not real by any means. They were Shintaro Morimoto (25) and Mochio Tomita (23) of “SixTONES,” who play the roles of Ryota Yamasato and Shizuchan, respectively, in the drama “Dare but Passion Is” (NTV). They were filming a street live scene for the drama.

It was a hot day in the Kanto region, with a series of midsummer days. The season was set in winter, so both Morimoto and Tomita were wearing long-sleeved jackets during the scene, but they took them off when the camera was not rolling. I was impressed that Morimoto-san was alone in the shade of a tree, moving his hands and mouth the whole time, perhaps practicing a scene.” (A passing spectator)

The final episode of “But I Have a Passion” was broadcast on the 25th. However, the ratings were not good at all, averaging 4.1%. The number of subscribers to the Tver favorite list was also poor, at 620,000.

The drama follows the lives of Ryota Yamasato (46) of Nankai Candies and Masayasu Wakabayashi (44) of Audrey, who worked together as a unit called “Mitarinai Futari” from 2000 to 2009. Morimoto plays Yamasato, and Takahashi Kaito (24) of “King&Prince” plays Wakabayashi.

However, as mentioned in the narration at the opening of the drama, the content was neither a friendship story nor a success story between the two, and most of the story was about their pasts separately. This probably didn’t interest many people unless they were fans of Morimoto and Takahashi or fans of “The Two That Don’t Matter”” (production company staff).

However, closer examination reveals that the drama has a good reputation among “some people” who have watched it.

For example, it was ranked No. 1 in Oricon’s drama satisfaction ranking as of March 23, surpassing “Last Man” (TBS). The drama’s total number of views on Nippon TV’s official YouTube site exceeded 100 million, the highest in the drama’s history, and its reputation on SNS and other social networking sites was also favorable, with viewer ratings, which had been hovering around the 3% mark for a while, increasing in the second half, reaching a record 5.0% for the final 12 episodes.

The way the main cast members were drawn to the original is amazing. Morimoto and Takahashi do not look like Yamazato and Wakabayashi at all, but they look just like them. Tomita, who plays his partner Shiz-chan, and Totsuka Sumitaka (30), who plays Kasuga, are also perfect, and when Yamasato saw a scene in which they copied the material that “Nankai Candies” used to perform at M-1, he commented on Twitter, “I mean, it’s perfect! This Nankai Candies !!!!”. Morimoto’s performance was also praised by the audience.

Morimoto’s devotion to his role as Yamazato was particularly impressive. During the filming period, he was acting differently than usual, as “SixTONES” member Tanaka Tatsuru (28) pointed out on a radio show. Also, when Yamasato was playing the part of Shizu and Tomita during the period when they were not getting along, he did not speak to Tomita at all outside of the shoot, and the staff was worried about him.

In his speech at the crank-up, Morimoto said, “I felt that (having played the role of Yamasato’s life), I could grow even more in the life I lead as Shintaro Morimoto over the next four months. In fact, he seemed to feel that he was getting a good response.

The members of “SixTONES” had a reputation for their acting ability among Johnny’s groups. The members of ‘SixTONES’ had a reputation for their acting ability among the Johnny’s group, but Matsumura Hokuto and Morimoto were especially highly rated. Morimoto’s role in “But There’s a Passion” was a very different character from his original self, and the hurdle must have been quite high for him.

Nevertheless, as the drama progressed, he became more and more involved in the role and played it out with great skill. It seems as if her acting ability, which had always been there, has been further polished. In the future, Morimoto is likely to be called upon more often for movies and stage productions.

Morimoto will appear in the movie “G-Men” in August and on the stage “Dream Boys” at the Imperial Theatre in September. We can look forward to his future activities.