Junichi Okada juggles many roles, from actor to producer and action choreographer on Netflix’s new drama Last samurai standing.
Critics who raved about the show have particularly praised the show’s fight scenes.
The creative behind them tells about them THR“As an actor [and fight choreographer]it’s very important to work with the choreography and the whole structure of those movements, and having that element actually helps build the character.”
He continues, “I appreciate thinking about the character’s concept and conveying it through action choreography. For example, there is a female character called Iroha [Kaya Kiyohara]you know she is a woman, so she [may not be that] strong.”
“In her fights, her fight choreography, there’s an element of yin and yang to it — like what’s apparent and what’s not. There’s movement, for example, when she’s baiting, but then she actually has another actual, intentional action,” notes the producer.
“So those are the things I really, carefully, thought about and prepared.”
“Another example [with Iroha]when she’s fighting a very physically big strong male, it’s impossible for her to fight as much, so we have to think about what would be realistic and how she would be able to handle this.”
“You have to think about being cohesive and you have to think about mixing the right concept and we gave the utmost care [to that]”, Junichi concludes.
The Last samurai standing streaming on Netflix.
