Another man in his forties, Makoto Noguchi, was cast as the coach for our golf team. Tsuyoshi Nomura was a distinguished-looking gentleman who would play our dean, and Tomoko Onishi was to play one of the female professors. Along with Haru, three other girls would be classmates: Misaki Hayashi, Kana Kojima, and Ai Sakamoto. Jiro, Kenta Ando, and I would play the male students that the girls would be interested in.
We then read through the first episode. The J-drama was focused on Haru’s character as she learned a lesson and experienced ‘firsts’ each week. It began with her move to college in the States. Haru was from a small community, while all the girls she lived with were worldlier. She was shy and reserved and had always been the good daughter, while the others were interested in boys and parties.
Having led a sheltered life, Haru’s character didn’t know how to fit in. The other girls ignored or took advantage of her because she was timid. At school, Jiro was also from a small town and recognized a kindred spirit. She was relieved to have someone like her she could be friends with.
Then my character walked into her psychology class and sat next to her. My character was used to being the center of attention and hadn’t come to class prepared. I borrowed a pen and paper from her. Haru was attracted to me and had never had someone like me pay her any attention. Jiro’s character wasn’t happy that she showed me interest and that I ignored her.
Unbeknownst to my character, the pen was given to Haru by her father as a special gift. At the end of class, I was approached by three girls who wanted to go to lunch, and I left with Haru’s pen. There were other instances where she didn’t stand up for herself that piled up until she snapped. A few classes later, she confronted my character and yelled at me in front of everyone about taking her pen. I got serious and asked for her forgiveness and returned it.
Haru’s roommates told her that I planned to join the golf club. She then convinced Jiro to sign up with her. She was oblivious to his interest in her, and he wasn’t happy when he discovered that I’d joined as well. Her roommates then found out about the golf club and also joined. That set the stage for future episodes.
Mr. Otsuki explained that Haru’s first growth experience was to learn to stand up for herself.
As we read through it, I wasn’t sure it would play well here. It didn’t have an edge or any real villains to play off; it had more a Hallmark or after-school-special feel. This series was the complete opposite of the dark J-drama,
◊◊◊
Lexi was waiting for me when I came out of the first read-through.
“Hair and wardrobe are waiting for you,” she reminded me.
We walked out front, and Manaia had a four-person golf cart waiting at the door. Lexi and I jumped in the back while Hana had stayed to talk to Jiro. It looked like they might be rekindling their romance.
I was the only cast member in wardrobe and makeup. You could usually pick out the people who do this for a living because they look great. They directed me to the hair stylist first.
“They want us to turn you into a surfer dude,” the woman told me.
“Gnarly,” I said in my surfer persona.
She showed me a picture of what they hoped to achieve. What jumped out at me first was the hair color. My hair is naturally brown. What they showed me was a dirty-blond guy with messy hair that looked like it had had blond highlights caused by being out in the sun.
“How do you intend to get my hair to look like that?” I asked.
“Dye it.”
“I’m fine with the change, but I have a photo shoot coming up, and I need to find out if the clients will be okay with this. Can you send me that picture?” I asked.
I sent the photo to Caryn and then called her.
“Hey, they want me to go blond for the J-drama. Can you get in touch with whoever I’m modeling for and make sure they’re on board?”
My first Range Sports contract had been pretty specific about changes in hairstyle or color. Since then, I’d signed a new one that hadn’t included that language, but they still tried to style my hair as close to original as possible. They wanted the same look and feel for their internet and catalog pictures.
While Caryn made her phone calls, I was sent to wardrobe. They measured me and then started having me try on different outfits. It looked like I would be in long shorts, with either a graphic t-shirt or button-up shirt, and sandals.
Caryn got back to me.
“They all said to go for it. As soon as you get dressed up, send me a picture.”
I wasn’t sure what she planned to do with it. If it was to show the clients, I was fine. If it was going out on social media to make fun of me, that was a different matter. Then I remembered that she worked for me, and I had to trust her.
