On April 11th, Kora Kengo and Mizukawa Asami attended the press conference for the upcoming WOWOW drama 'Tsumi to Batsu A Falsified Romance'.

The drama is a live-action adaptation of a manga by Ochiai Naoyuki, which successfully managed to transfer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" (1866) into modern-day Japan. It's a great fusion of a historic masterpiece with modern society and cleverly touches various topics such as 'hikikomori' and schoolgirl prostitution. Kora plays the protagonist 'Tachi Miroku', while Mizukawa plays the heroine 'Ameya Echika'.

Kora commented, "I'm really glad that this drama is going to mark my first drama starring role. Halfway into the filming I could feel that this is going to become an incredible drama with an atmosphere that people haven't been able to experience in any other drama before." He continued, "There may be positive and negative reactions once it went on-air and I even hope that everyone will experience it differently. It's not some lukewarm but a very deep drama."

Meanwhile Mizukawa talked more about her character, which turns out to be a very unique heroine. She plays a woman who married the same man who raped her once during senior high school, when he was still her homeroom teacher. She said, "Echika is a woman who, before she even realized, had chosen a path of unhappiness in her life. It was really difficult for me to understand her actions. However, it also felt like a new challenge to play a woman with whom it's difficult to sympathize."

The two actors have already worked together a couple of times and are even said to be great drinking buddies in private.

"I was able to feel a bit at ease with Mizukawa playing the heroine," Kora shared his feelings. "We were able to work together while understanding each other completely. I don't think this would have been the same with a different person."

Mizukawa shared the same feeling and added, "Kora is younger than me, but I have great respect for him. I'm glad were able to tackle those difficult roles together."

'Tsumi to Batsu A Falsified Romance' will be comprised of six episodes and air its first free-to-watch episode on WOWOW on April 29th.

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Source & Pictures: Cinema Today, Cinema Cafe