The eighth episode of the NHK drama series "Tokyo Salad Bowl" (General TV, Tuesdays at 10pm), starring actors Nao and Ryuhei Matsuda, entitled "Pigeons and the Laundromat", was broadcast on February 25th. After the main story, the subtitle of the following week's episode, the ninth episode (broadcast on March 4th), was announced as "FINAL ep Love and lettuce!", leading to comments from viewers such as "What? Next week is the final episode? No way," "How are they going to wrap it up in one more episode!?" and "I'm really looking forward to it, but I don't want it to end. I have mixed feelings."
The drama is based on the manga "Tokyo Salad Bowl - International Investigation Case File" by Kuromaru, who is also known for "Kurosagi." Set in Tokyo, where about 700,000 foreign residents live, Nao plays the green-haired international investigation police officer Mari Koda, and together with the troubled Chinese interpreter Ryo Yukino, played by Matsuda, the drama is a socially conscious entertainment that picks up the lives of those who are about to fall through the cracks of Japanese society.
In episode 8, Oda Satoru (Nakamura Aoi) once lived a rough life with a group of delinquents who were his childhood friends. After being advised to start his life over by Toyokazu (Miura Masami), a police officer in the juvenile division, Oda becomes a police officer. Then, he has a fateful encounter with Yukino (Matsuda).
Koda (Nao) is shocked to learn that it was Oda Satoru who leaked Agawa's (Mikami Hiroshi) mistranslation incident to the media, and that he later committed suicide. Yukino has been avoiding Koda, who is getting closer and closer to the truth, but...
Towards the end of the film, Arikino is wandering the streets. Kouda finds her and runs over to her, calling out to her with a worried look on his face. Finally, Arikino reveals, "I was dating Oda," and regrets, "I couldn't help him. He was really stupid and straightforward. I should have protected him." Kouda tells Arikino, "It's okay, you don't have to force yourself to talk," but Arikino says, "I've always wanted to talk to you," and tells Kouda, "You're the only person I can tell you."
At this time, Koda's hands were tightly holding Yukino's arms...
Unable to contain herself, Arikino's sadness finally overflows, and Koda tries to accept it. On social media, viewers responded with comments such as, "Ryuhei Matsuda's crying performance made me cry too," "My favorite performance by Ryuhei...'I can only tell you' is the best," and "Arikino's 'I've always wanted to tell you' brought me to tears." Furthermore, comments such as, "It gets more and more interesting towards the end," "Ahh... it's exhausting. The actors' serious acting is exhausting (the best)," "This is the first time I've seen a drama that made me think so hard and have such strong emotions," and "This drama is really amazing. You'll regret it if you don't watch it!" were also posted.
