"Omusubi," a morning drama series starring Hashimoto Kanna, began airing on September 30th in the second half of 2024. The three morning dramas that followed, "Ranman," "Boogie Woogie," and "Tiger and Wings," were stories from the past with real-life models for the main characters, but "Omusubi" will have a rather innovative plot that depicts the Heisei era, and even gal culture. We spoke to production manager Usagawa Takashi about the casting of Hashimoto and others, the reason for setting the story in the Heisei era, and why they included the standard title call and "water drop" of morning dramas from the first episode.
◇Hashimoto Kanna, who leads the show at her own pace with a smile, is honest about "wanting to cheer up everyone's mornings"
"Omusubi" is the 111th NHK morning drama series. The heroine, Yoneda Yui (Hashimoto), was born on the day the era name changed to "Heisei". After growing up as a gal in Fukuoka, she moves to Kansai to become a registered dietitian after a certain incident... This is a "Heisei youth graffiti". It is an original work by screenwriter Nemoto Nonji, known for NHK's drama "Shojiki Real Estate".
Regarding this morning drama, Usagawa spoke passionately, "I want to make everyone's mornings cheerful and fun." He said, "I have always thought hard about how to make people cheerful and honest." As a result, he gathered the cast including the heroine Hashimoto Kanna and asked B'z to sing the theme song.
Regarding the heroine Hashimoto, he said, "She never pushes herself too hard, and she never loses that easygoing pace, and she leads us. She is there as the main character, and with her unchanging smile, she leads everyone effortlessly. That leads to a very reassuring feeling."
Regarding the main character, Yoneda Yui, played by Hashimoto, he said, "Everyone around her is amazing, but Yoneda Yui doesn't have any particularly amazing abilities. I think that by having Hashimoto play that role, we can bring out something new in her."
Matsudaira Ken, who plays the grandfather, also plays an active role from the first week. "When I thought about how to express the power of the people of Fukuoka, Matsudaira was the first candidate that came to mind. Recently, he has been giving power to people of a wide range of ages, and when I imagined Matsudaira wearing that Hawks happi coat, all the staff smiled, and I thought that there was no way he could give more energy than that, so I asked him," he explained the reason for casting him.
Matsudaira and the other cast members of the Yoneda family have already developed a bond like a real family, doing "health exercises" together when the cameras are not rolling.
The story begins in 2004, "right in the middle of the Heisei era, which is not a special era."
Why did you choose the Heisei era as the setting? "We felt that it was a challenge to try as a morning drama," she revealed.
"It's said that the Heisei era began with the 'lost decade' and is connected to the current uneasy situation, but our view is that, even though that's true, we managed to survive, and we even had fun, and we worked hard, and that's what got the staff excited. So, although it may be overly optimistic, we decided to set the story in the Heisei era, as we thought we could send a straightforward message that it's okay, that we should keep working hard and have fun now," she explained. She continued, "The story starts in 2004. In a way, the 1990s was the biggest period in the Heisei era, so it would have been nice to depict the fun parts of that era, but instead we decided to start in the middle of the Heisei era, in 2004. We don't want to force the Heisei era to look like a good time, but we really did have fun, and we worked hard. We want to show evidence of living through that era. Everything is connected to the present, so we chose it to cheer people up now."
Both Usagawa and screenwriter Nemoto say they "love morning dramas." This is immediately apparent in the heroine's title call and "water drop" in the first episode, which could be said to be the fastest in the history of morning dramas.
"I think of this as a kind of love letter from us, who love morning dramas. It's so sudden that you might laugh, but the reason why Hashimoto Kanna, who will be the star of morning dramas from now on, "fell into the water" to save someone is actually related to future themes. If we were to make morning dramas in the future, I'm sure we would include this kind of "fell into the water" scene. So we thought we should let everyone see it at the very beginning, and there was also a theme behind it that linked perfectly with the story, so we included it in the first episode. It's a bit meta, including the comments, but we hope that fans of morning dramas will enjoy it," she said.
The morning drama "Omusubi" has finally begun. We can't wait to see how it will liven up the mornings of the nation.
