Kazutaka Iida is a producer on TBS Sunday Theater drama VIVANT, whose 14-episode second season ends on the 8th. He has been giving episode-by-episode accounts of the season, most recently recalling the Izumo Taisha shoot in Episode 23.
Iida's accounts of VIVANT Season 2 run from the show's stated reasoning to its location work. In September he framed the season's AI element, including the AI Hayato operated by the Self-Defense Forces unit Bekihan, as a way to make the human cast read as warmer: the group's mechanical quality sets off scenes of people feeling for others. He said Episode 17, which aired on September 6, drew more emotional comments on social media than the episodes up through Episode 16.
In October the subject turned to how the season reaches viewers and where it was shot. Iida explained the introduction of dubbing, tied to the interpretation devices used by Yugo Nogi's multinational team, and said the C layer (ages 4 to 12) and T layer (ages 13 to 19) in the show's viewer demographic are increasing. He also recalled location scouting in Azerbaijan, where local staff said they had watched Season 1 on streaming but could not read all the English subtitles. Filming in Azerbaijan, he said, showed him a point very different from Season 1, with the characters now connected to an outside world of villagers and bystanders.
His episode recaps followed the season's back half. Episode 20's rescue arc had Nogi's team storm Shaki Castle in the Republic of Gorbad to free five captured members of the separate squad, including Kurosu, from the organization Shinshi; Iida said the castle scenes were shot night after night until morning in rain unusual for the season. Episode 21 brought Chinggis back to buy time as the retrieval team fled the Golbad Republic by private jet, and Iida pointed to how Barsalhagba Batabold holds his gun as the source of the character's fearsomeness. Episode 23, which aired on the 1st, took the story to Okuizumo in Shimane Prefecture, the hometown of Nogoon Beki, and to a gathering at Izumo Taisha. Iida said Koji Yakusho visited the shrine for the first time during the shoot. The 14-episode second season ends on the 8th.
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Kazutaka Iida, producer of TBS drama VIVANT, looked back on Episode 23, which aired on the 1st, and the shoot in Okuizumo, Shimane Prefecture, the hometown of Nogoon Beki (Koji Yakusho). Iida said the Izumo Taisha gathering of Nogi, Beki, Nokor and Chingis struck him, and that Yakusho visited the shrine for the first time during the shoot. The 14-episode second season ends on the 8th.
Producer Iida Kazutaka looked back on VIVANT Episode 21, which aired on the 17th, and spoke about Chinggis returning to buy time for Nogii Yusuke and the retrieval team as they fled the Golbad Republic by private jet. Iida said the production team shouted along when Chinggis appeared on screen, and pointed to how Barsalhagba Batabold holds his gun as the source of the character's fearsomeness.
Producer Kazutaka Iida looked back on Episode 20 of TBS's Sunday Theater drama VIVANT, which aired on October 11, and told Cinema Today that filming in Azerbaijan showed him "a point that is very different from Season 1." Iida said the characters are now connected to the "outside world," pointing to scenes of villagers entrusting their future to the rescue team led by Nogi Yusuke (Masato Sakai). The episode had that team storm Shaki Castle in the Republic of Gorbad to free five captured members of the separate squad, including Kurosu (Tori Matsuzaka), from the organization Shinshi. Iida said the castle scenes were shot night after night until morning, and that rain unusual for the season kept falling during filming, including at Lahij village. Japanese and Azerbaijani staff, cast, and local residents worked together under those conditions. He said the next episode is the escape arc, airing October 18, and noted viewer reaction to the preview line about what Tojo is doing.
Producer Kazutaka Iida explained why Season 2 of the TBS Sunday Theater drama VIVANT introduced dubbing, in remarks published on October 10. The multinational team led by protagonist Yugo Nogi (Masato Sakai) uses simultaneous interpretation devices that render Japanese, Mongolian, Thai, Azerbaijani, and Chinese dialogue, and the voices of characters wearing those devices were replaced with dubbing by a separate cast of voice actors. Iida said the C layer (ages 4 to 12) and T layer (ages 13 to 19) in the show's viewer demographic are increasing, and that dubbing lets children who cannot yet read watch without strain. He also recalled that during location scouting in Azerbaijan, local staff said they had watched Season 1 on streaming but could not read all the English subtitles. The director had been raising the importance of dubbing since before Season 2 entered production and devised the interpretation device as the in-story method. Episode 20 airs on October 11.
Producer Kazutaka Iida discussed the use of AI in the second season of "VIVANT," the TBS Sunday Theater drama, in remarks tied to Episode 17, which aired on September 6. Iida said the show's AI element, including the AI Hayato operated by the Self-Defense Forces unit Bekihan, has what he called a bigger aim than the era's inevitability or its function as an information organizer. That aim, he said, is making characters' emotions stand out more: the combination of the group's mechanical quality with AI heightens the inhuman atmosphere so that scenes of people feeling for others read as more human. In Episode 17, protagonist Nogi Yusuke, played by Masato Sakai, made a move applying AI technology. Iida also said Episode 17 drew more emotional comments on social media than the episodes up through Episode 16, and that he considers the episode the essence of the series.