News - Wednesday, July 18, 2007 0:33 - 5 Comments

Masi Oka on TV Guide: “Kensei is NOT Japanese”

As we all know this week’s edition of TV Guide (in stores Thursday, and if you are a subscriber you might have received it already) includes an interview with Masi Oka.

Wonderful interview, lots of spoilers, background information and commentary from one of the most beloved actors on Heroes, Masi Oka.

We suggest you go grab a copy of TV Guide and read the whole thing, in the meantime we offer you here a short -but sweet- snippet.
When announcement was made that David Anders landed the role of Kensei, fans raised in arms: “Impossible!” “Kensei is Japanese!” “He’ll need lots of make-up!”, forgetting -maybe- that this is Heroes, not your average TV show. Masi Oka offers an explanation:

The characters on Heroes will leap forward four months when the show returns on September 24–everyone, that is except Hiro. The time-tripping fanboy, played by Masi Oka, was suddenly teleported to 1671 Japan in the cliff-hanger of last May’s finale. The Season 2 premiere will find him right where we left him–stuck in the middle of samaurai who are about to wage war.

Immediate danger aside, isn’t this Hiro’s dream come true?
Mine, too. It’s the dream of many Japanese boys. We grow up playing samurai like kids in the U.S. play cowboys. Even the crime prodeurals on Japanese TV are set in feudal Japan.

Will you spill some exclusive scoop?
Next season, Hiro meets the legendary warrior Kensei, his hero from childhood, but it turns out the storybooks have exaggerated. Kensei isn’t the kind of man Hiro idolized. This will put Japan’s future at stake, so Hiro has to make this Kensei into the one of legend.

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