The first episode of the drama series "The Hot Spot" (Nippon TV, Sunday 10:30 pm), starring actress Ichikawa Mikako, was broadcast on January 12th. In the episode, Endo Kiyomi (Ichikawa), a single mother who works at a business hotel, is saved at the last moment by a "special extraterrestrial life form" just as she is about to get into a traffic accident. The true identity of the extraterrestrial life form is later revealed, causing a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
The drama is a "local alien human comedy" that begins when the main character encounters an alien. The first episode begins with 41-year-old Kiyomi, who lives in a peaceful town at the foot of Mount Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture. She is a single mother who works at a local business hotel and raises her daughter on her own. Every morning, she makes lunch for her daughter before going to work, and calmly works at the front desk with her co-workers Yumi (Kaho) and Eri (Sakai Maki). Her routine is that she doesn't feel any stress from the relationships at work. One day, while rushing home on her bicycle after work, Kiyomi is almost hit by a truck... and so the story unfolds.
In the story, Kiyomi almost gets into a traffic accident, but is saved at the last moment by her senior colleague Takahashi (Akihiro Kakuta), who has superhuman strength and is a shadow at work. Takahashi warns Kiyomi never to tell anyone about it, but later, when she wants to know why he needs to keep it a secret, Takahashi confides in her, "Actually, I'm an alien."
When Kiyomi tried to leave without believing him, Takahashi hurriedly stopped her, saying, "Wait a second... I'm starting to look like a weirdo, right?" He then bent a 10 yen coin with one hand, saying, "If you see this, I think you'll believe me." Takahashi tried to persuade the surprised Kiyomi, saying, "Normally, this is impossible, right?" and "Well, the reason I can do this is because I'm an alien... can you believe me?"
On social media, Takahashi's true identity as an alien became a hot topic. Comments included, "He's a perfect fit for the role, it's the best," "I didn't expect that to happen," and "It's perfect that it's Kakuta."
