TV Guide 2023 PokeTsume Interview

Dogasu's Backpack | Features | TV station PokéTsume

The October 7th to October 13th 2023 issue of the Japanese TV Guide magazine features an interview with Cram Adventures Into a Pocket star Nanase Nishino in order to promote the then-upcoming show.

Below is a translation of that interview.

Nanase Nishino Interview

The interview with Nanase Nishino can be found on Page 31.

Nanase Nishino
Born May 25th, 1994 in Osaka. Blood type O. Her latest works have been the TV series "Dr. Chocolate" and the movies "Shin Kamen Rider" and "Ichikei no Karasu" (all released on 2023).

Q: What adventures have you had lately?
Somewhere around...I think it was in the spring? I went on a two day, one night trip to Taiwan and then took the return flight home all by myself. I really love being alone in airports because it makes me feel like I'm in the middle of this big adventure. Even just sitting in the terminal waiting to board my flight back home made me feel adventure-ish since I was in a country where I don't speak the language, and so if anything were to happen I wouldn't know what to do and the whole thing would turn into this thrilling and exciting experience.

If I could choose to go on a journey with any Pokémon I'd probably go with one of the flying types. Whenever I got lost I could just have one of them take me up to the skies to get a better look of my surroundings and then figure out where to go from there. And then if my feet got tired it'd be nice to be able to hop on and have them carry me the rest of the way instead.

Nanase Nishino

Featuring tons of elements from the "Pocket Monsters" video games!
"Cram Adventures In a Pocket"

Nanase Nishino plays the "player character" in the very first live action TV show based on the "Pocket Monsters" video games. We talk to Ms. Nishino and get some behind-the-scenes info on her getting offered the role as well as hear about her most recent adventures!

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

When Pocket Monsters Scarlet & Violet came out last year I beat the game but then kept playing, and it was right around the time my Pokémon fever was rising even higher I was contacted about being in this new show. I had just been thinking about how I'd love to work on something with Pokémon someday and so I was really shocked by how perfectly everything lined up.

I've been playing Pokémon ever since the very first games, but the first one I ever got my own copy of was the Pocket Monsters Sapphire game I got for Christmas one year. I love filling out the Pokémon Bestiary and so I worked hard to trade with my other friends but I never ended up being able to get all the Pokémon. But my older brother, who had the other version Ruby, was able to complete his. I kept playing Pokémon games even after that but I never ended up completing the Pokémon Bestiary, not even once. And so when Pocket Monsters Violet came out I decided that this would be the one I had to fill up. I ended up meeting that goal and I have to say, the feeling of accomplishing something I had been trying to do for so long felt really, really huge.

When I had my first face-to-face meeting with the show's directors and producers I ended up telling them this story, and then after that they gave my character Madoka an older brother who played Pokémon with her. And so it felt like they had taken that little bit of myself a put it into the show. Madoka's appearance, the way she speaks, and her energy are all pretty close to the way I am in real life and so I didn't have to do too much to act out the role. But, I don't have the same kind of player character energy Madoka has in my own life. She loves people and will spring into action regardless of whether or not it involves her, making her words and actions very much like the player character in a video game. I don't do all that for other people so I guess we're different that way (laughs)

In this show Madoka's not the "main character," she's the "player character." We interact with the Pokémon world through the player characters so I thought playing Madoka more like a video game protagonist would make the show's connections to Pocket Monsters Red & Green that much stronger. And so I kept that in mind while playing Madoka. If there's a problem Madoka will take the initiative to go out and talk to lots of different people in a very proactive way. She'll call on the help of others to help, and it's that ability to pull others in that makes Madoka so appealing.

The cast and crew of the show is like this big gathering of Pokémon fans and so we had a lot of bonding take place on set thanks to this shared interest. The child actor Towa Watanabe would bring his Nintendo Switch to filming and so I'd start to bring mine as well, and before long the two of us would start trading in Violet. And in the waiting room we had a lot of fun when Ms. Aya Hirano used the AR feature in Pokémon Go to take photos of the cast.

So what should you be on the lookout for? We hope you notice the feeling of Pokémon that oozes out of every scene. The title for Episode 1 is "It's Super Effective!" and some of the show's most important lines of dialogue and even the names of the characters themselves are all taken from Pokémon. As someone who loves the series it was a bit surreal saying some of those Pokémon lines out loud, but at the same time it felt really natural and made me happy (laughs). Every episode has scenes with gameplay footage in them as well and so I think it'll be easy to see just how much this is a show filled to the brim with love for Pokémon.

Thursday Drama 24 "Cram Adventures in a Pocket"
TV-Tokyo stations, every Friday morning from 12:30 am - 1:00 am
After graduating from her local university, Madoka Akagi (Nishino) is unable to throw away her dream of working at a company and so she starts working at a small advertising agency in Tokyo. But it turns out that real life isn't so easy. A package from back home containing her old Game Boy sets into motion major changes in her life.

Photography: Risa Kozai
Interview: Yukiko Hanakura (花倉有紀子)
Hair & Make-up: Mai Tokunaga (Beautrium)
Stylist: Yudai Ichinosawa (Ten10)

Clothing Cooperation: LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS(LO「), Amitie CREDIR, ALM.

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