On April 21st, actor Ikuta Toma and actress Yoshitaka Yuriko attended the stage greeting of their film "Bokura ga Ita Kouhen", which is the second part of the live-action adaptation of the popular manga "Bokura ga Ita".

The manga undoubtedly is a huge hit with over 12,000,000 copies sold and the live-action adaptation is in no way inferior with over 1,800,000 viewers and revenues of 2,200,000,000 Yen (26.97 million USD) alone, for the first part "Bokura ga Ita Zenpen", which opened on March 17th. This weekend, the second part of "Bokura ga Ita Kouhen" finally opened in cinemas nationwide and together, they are expected to gross more than 5,000,000,000 Yen (61.29 million USD) in the long run.

"Please also watch the second part," Yoshitaka said in a very good mood despite suffering from a huskier voice than usual. It's the result of all the promotions. "My voice has become hoarse, but that won't stop me!"

Meanwhile Ikuta revealed, "(During the filming) it was the first time in my life that I was troubled with skin problems." Yoshitaka immediately followed up, "Oh yes! It was like a rash and he was so depressed that he didn't say a single word anymore."

At the end of the stage greeting, director Miki Takahiro surprised the two actors by revealing his honest feelings by reading aloud a letter he wrote for the two of them.

He expressed his gratitude towards Ikuta and said, "He's a very considerate person who always thinks of others before himself. Ikuta helped me many times."

Towards Yoshitaka, he said, "While there are many people who mask their real character in fear of getting hurt, she's the exact opposite. She's too upfront about her feelings and expresses them too much for an actress. She isn't able to filter her own feelings and I think that this honesty of hers must have caused a lot of misunderstandings and caused her to be hurt many times. However, it's also that outpour of Yoshitaka's emotions which allows a fable-like character, like that of a shoujo manga to come to life."

He continued, "I'm happy from the bottom of my heart that I was able to work together with two kind and earnest individuals. Bokura ga ita - We were there, I'm going to treasure this memory for the rest of my life."

It was a very long and personal letter with around 1,400 characters, which completely touched the two actors. Ikuta commented, "I just recalled so many things... This isn't good! If we continue like this, I might start to cry."

Yoshitaka was trying very hard to hold back her tears as well. "He also wrote a letter at the start of the filming and... Ah~," she had to look up at the ceiling in order to keep the tears from flowing. "Crying in front of the reporters and getting pictures taken of your (tear-stained) face, how frustrating that would be. They'd write headlines such as 'Director's letter made Yoshitaka cry'... This is why I'll express my true feelings in front of the director afterwards."

She continued, "It was by no means all nice and easy at the set, but we overcame the difficulties. It's a very sincere movie and I hope that this feeling gets transmitted to the audience as well. Now if someone else could continue to speak, because otherwise I'm really going to..." The audience enjoyed her determination not to let the reporters see her cry on stage.

"Bokura ga Ita Zenpen" and "Bokura ga Ita Kouhen" are both open in cinemas nationwide.

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Sources: Sanspo, Cinema Today, TV Asahi