At the beginning, a male narrator is heard, surprising viewers by asking, "Who?" The narrator is supposed to be Sakura Ando, ​​but her true identity is later revealed!

The third episode, "The Night Before the Decisive Battle," of the 2026 NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!" (General TV, Sundays at 8 p.m. and other times), starring actor Nakano Taiga, was broadcast on January 18th, and viewers were surprised by the male narration that began the episode.

"Toyotomi Brothers!" is the 65th taiga drama. It is a success story of hope and dreams, depicting the miracle of the Toyotomi brothers, Hidenaga (Koichiro) and his older brother Hideyoshi (Tokichiro), who achieve the great feat of unifying the country with their strong bond.

The script is written by Hiroyuki Yatsu, known for his work on "Hanzawa Naoki" (TBS) and the Asadora"Ochoyan." The music is by Hideaki Kimura.

The story is narrated by actress Sakura Ando. However, at the beginning of the third episode, a male narrator looks back on the events of the previous episode, saying, "The year is Eiroku 2. At this time, Oda Nobunaga had inherited the family headship seven years earlier, but his future was not smooth. Nobunaga, who was determined to unify Owari, defeated hostile forces within Owari one after another, moved his base to Kiyosu, the region's key town, and continued to gain strength. However, the threat of Imagawa Yoshimoto, who boasted overwhelming power, was now looming. This is why Koichiro and his friends headed to Kiyosu where Nobunaga was."

On social media, viewers responded with comments such as, "Who's the narrator for the opening?", "Wait, who's speaking all of a sudden?", "Huh? Isn't it Sakura Ando who's narrating? Who's the opening?", "Has the narrator changed?", and "The commentary up until last week was a male voice... who is this person?" When the subsequent title sequence revealed that the voice was "Opening title narrator, announcer Shinichiro Taniguchi," comments such as "Opening title narrator?", "The opening narrator isn't Sakura Ando?", "Are narration and commentary different? I was a little surprised," and "So there's commentary separate from the narration."