The first works I saw from director Takeshi Kitano was Sonatine. I had seen many movies since I was a child, partially because one of my parents was an aspiring actor, but Sonatine was nothing like the others. I was still in elementary school, so I didn’t understand but I just felt like I saw something wicked. From then on, my curiosity drove me to watch all his other movies. I must say I enjoy the early works, around Boiling Point, A Scene at the Sea, and Sonatine. Among them, I was captivated with Kitano as an actor in Hana-bi. He just stands there silently in an ordinary suit and shirt, but there is an aura about him that is hard to describe. He’s ferocious, but different from that of the Italian mafia. He is cool and scary, and behind that façade I sense intelligence and sadness. To be honest, I rarely pay attention to the fashion in movies, but the suit Kitano’s character Onishi wore in Hana-bi still remains an intense memory in my mind.