#003 Gekidan Engimono: Unlucky Days

劇団演技者。アンラッキー・デイズ〜ナツメの妄想〜
Gekidan Engimono.
Unlucky Days
~Natsume Fantasy~

Summary

Gekidan Engimono: Unlucky Days aired on Fuji TV from April 14 – May 12, 2004. It was the 1st program in the rebranded Gekidan Engimono series; a Johnny’s program in cooperation with a theater company. Each story consists of four episodes and a “making of” special.

In this story, Sakurai plays a young man in debt with Hirayama Aya as his former girlfriend. They both get wrapped up in a bank robbery and find a mysterious bank note with tiny writing on it. The story on the bank note turns out to have the power to control people’s minds, but a disillusioned bank teller uses the power for evil. A silly yet emotional story about finding your way in life even through ~unlucky days~.

Cast

Kantoku (Nomura) – Sakurai Sho: A part-timer in debt
Sanada – Koyama Keiichirou (NEWS ): Manga magazine editor.
Miki – Hirayama Aya: A former girlfriend of Kantoku. The real hero.
Soseki & Yukichi – Yamaguchi Ryouichi
Voices – Sugai Kin
Igarashi’s Boss – Kawahara Sabu
Miki‘s Boss – Seto Youichirou
Igarashi – Yamazaki Hajime: Banker. Computer nerd.
Kunio Steiner – Hankai Kazuaki: A popular manga artist.
Amano – Komura Yujirou: Bank robber.
Narita – Yamazaki Shigenori: Bank robber.
Nomura – Shimizu Hiroshi: Detective. Kantoku’s brother.

Original text and screenplay: Nishinaga Takafumi
Director: Tsutsumi Yukihiko

Wiki

I loved this strange and creative series! The characters and story were fantastic and the visuals always impressed me with how creative and aesthetically pleasing they were. The music was great too (how is it that all the engimonos have fantastic soundtracks!?) This work was directed by the same guy who did the Pikanchi movies, Stand Up!!, and other amazing works, so I’m not surprised that I enjoyed this one so much. Sho did a great job as usual (I’m telling you he is underrated as an actor!). The whole scenario was silly and crazy and that’s exactly what I enjoy about the Engimono dramas.