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Japanese Comedian Tetsurō Degawa Just Not Heroic Enough for Dragon Quest
posted on by Eric Stimson
A set of three commercials for the smartphone game Hoshi no Dragon Quest will air in Japan beginning on June 11.
Tsubasa Honda (the live-action Blue Spring Ride, the upcoming live-action Fullmetal Alchemist) stars as an adventurer searching for a hero. She and her companion find one... but it's Tetsurō Degawa, who was once ranked the "most disliked man" for five years in an an women's magazine's yearly poll. They keep looking.
Degawa keeps struggling to be taken seriously in this one; Honda and her partner are impressed with Degawa's ability, but focus their appreciation of his sword instead of him.
This commercial stars Honda as... well, a star (likely a reference to Hoshi no Dragon Quest, "Dragon Quest of the Stars"). It announces that the game has surpassed 10 million downloads and that a free lottery will take place everyday.
This video showcases the activity behind the scenes of these commercials. It seems to involve a lot of joking around. In an interview, Degawa and Honda brag about their work and compliment their clothing. They both reveal themselves to be real Dragon Quest fans (as opposed to "business" ones) and even claimed to have had disagreements with the director. Honda also compares Degawa to the Dragon Quest monster Sluggernaut. (He approves.)
The commercials follow the same character as these commercials released in February.
Takayuki Yamada, another Dragon Quest aficionado, also starred in Dragon Quest commercials. Square Enix has been actively promoting its flagship series' 30th anniversary this year. Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden also received live-action commercials in 2013.
Sources: Model Press, Walker + and Spotlight: Shūkyū Futsuka-sei
