Natsuki Deguchi look.2

Natsuki Deguchi is turning on the charm in various media as a model and actor. One moment she is warm and friendly, and the next she is putting on a demure persona. She has cultivated a huge following with an unassuming allure. In a stark contrast with the Look 1 ambiance, Look 2 has her dressed in cazh. I ask her about her work as an actor.

For Look 2, Natsuki is dressed in an oversize denim blouson over a monotone one-piece ensemble for an adult but cazh ambience. Added to this ensemble are the Onitsuka Tiger-yellow stiletto boots which add a little bit of flair. She was excited for the shoot remarking, “this ensemble is just right!”

“I prefer blue and tend to choose blue for both my own garb and dress-up. While I enjoyed the matching colors too, I really liked the oversize jacket! I like to mix and match a slightly big outer over a slightly constricting one-piece or slacks to give my silhouette some balance. Colorwise, I tend to throw on a lot of black garb so this year I want to throw in some pastel colors like beige and mocha. I wear a lot of black during the winter so it would be nice to throw on some brighter colors! I’ve never had the occasion to try on yellow boots before, but they are cute when worn in an ensemble consisting of subdued colors.”

Ms. Deguchi is in touch with the garb everyday as a model and actor. What is fashion for her? She says, “garb gives me positive energy in life.”

“In the past when I would go on site early morning to a shoot I liked to dress in a stretchy which is easy to throw on and remove. But I once dressed down properly in the morning to go to work and felt really good about it. I was in good humor the whole day because even after the shoot I felt like going out somewhere straight off. So now, even when I have to get up early for a shoot, I try to wear an elegant but cazh ensemble (laughs).”

I asked her about the relationship between fashion and acting. Putting on the garb not only gets her in the right mindset, but provides input on the role that she is trying to play.

“I feel that the garb is important not only in daily life but for acting. The garb that is preselected for a character is expressive of that character’s persona and putting it on makes it easier for me to inhabit the character’s skin. This is also true of your everyday garb; the clothes set the tone.”

Soon after her debut, she has appeared in numerous noteworthy and popular TV dramas and movies. While she has won accolades for her act, she says “there were times when I felt I couldn’t fill the shoes of the part I was trying to play on an emotional level.”

“I once had an aversion to putting on an act. I was afflicted by performance anxiety, but my attitude began to change when I experienced a fun work environment populated by stage actors. My attitude gradually changed from ‘the work environment is a lot of fun’ to ‘acting is a lot of fun.’”

It is easy to imagine how difficult it must be to try walking in someone else’s shoes. In confronting her fears portraying different roles, she was taken aback by the complexity of acting, but her thinking gradually changed due to the following two film roles.

“These films were ‘Silent Parade’ which is a film adaptation of one of the Detective Galileo novels and the Netflix TV series ‘The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House.’ I felt that I was afforded with a lot of time to talk with the directors and staff who talked with me to figure out who I am and patiently spent time teaching me the craft of acting so that my feeling of uneasiness gradually abated. But I still feel that acting is challenging for me. Now I want to hone my acting skills by facing each film and my roles seriously.”

Now that acting has become a source of pleasure for her, she is mindful of certain things when putting on a character such as to “feel distance between yourself and the character.” She is at a point wherein she is trying out different approaches.

“This may be because I don’t think I can create an in-depth character like more advanced actors are doing, but I generally just try to convey through my character what I think about the piece and my role. If I receive a part, I first think about how the character is similar to me. I read the script and think to myself ‘I know how the character feels’ or ‘I can’t relate with how the character feels.’ For example, I do research on characters who are in similar straits, or I gather evidence that will help me understand the character of the person I am playing. But I am in the process of trying out different things as I don’t know if there is just one method to building a character. I think about it on my own, I consult the director, the director’s staff, and my manager and try things out on a film site.”

She thinks about such things on the job rather than just on her own. This is important not just for actors but for anyone undertaking any kind of task. Lying beneath her cute exterior was this firm conviction.

“Perhaps I don’t like to admit defeat. The reason I continue to act is that I am mortified when things don’t work out that well. This isn’t only a negative feeling but also a fun feeling of wanting to get better at the craft.”

Now that I know more about Ms. Deguchi, she seems much more mature. Her skill at putting on the garb and striking diverse expressions is encouraging; I know to expect great things from her in the future!

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Direction : Shinsuke Nozaka
Photo, Movie: Yoshiaki Sekine(SIGNO)
Stylist : midori(W)
Hair & Make up : Tomoe Nakayama
Text : Hisamoto Chikaraishi(S/T/D/Y)