"Toto Neechan," a Asadora drama series that aired in the first half of 2016 and starred actress Mitsuki Takahata, began airing on terrestrial television on NHK General TV (Monday to Friday, 12:30 p.m.) on May 5th. The heroine is the eldest of three sisters, just like the currently airing Asadora"Anpan," and they also share a common thread: their father dies when they are children. I'd like to take a look back at other "three sisters" stories that have appeared in Asadora in recent years.
◇ In "Manpuku," the eldest daughter dies early...
"Toto Neechan" is a drama based on the life story of Ohashi Shizuko, the founder of the lifestyle magazine "Kurashi no Techo." After losing her father at the age of 11, the heroine becomes a father figure for her family, moves from Hamamatsu to Tokyo, and launches a magazine for women. The story unfolds as she gains support from women living in the era of rapid economic growth.
As mentioned above, the three sisters are the eldest, the heroine Tsuneko, the second, Mariko, and the third, Miki, and are played by Takahata, Sagara Itsuki, and Hana Sugisaki, respectively. Sugisaki, who plays the third sister, Miki, later returned to the Asadora as the heroine in "Ochoyan" in the second half of 2020.
Hidetoshi Nishijima played the role of Takezo, the father of the three sisters. Takezo died of tuberculosis when Tsuneko was 11 years old, so Nishijima himself only appeared in the first week of the three sisters' childhood...or so you might think, but he "reappeared" in the final episode of the drama, and although it was only a dream come true, he was able to co-star with Takahata, something that didn't happen in the first week.
From here, I would like to look back on the Asadora with three sisters, from "Toto Neechan" to " Anpan ."
After "Toto Neechan," the next drama to feature three sisters, including the heroine, was "Manpuku." The drama was based on the life stories of Momofuku Ando, the businessman who created instant ramen, and his wife, Masako, and starred Sakura Ando.
The heroine Fukuko, played by Ando, is the third daughter, one of three sisters, along with Saki (the eldest sister) and Katsuko (the second sister). The two older sisters are played by Uchida Yuki and Nao Matsushita. Fukuko's beloved "older sister Saki" dies from illness in the 11th episode, but this does not mean she is gone, and she frequently appears in the show as a "dream pillow character." Additionally, Matsuzaka Keiko's adorable performance as Suzu, the mother of the three sisters, whose catchphrase is "I am the daughter of a samurai," gained popularity. The father of the three sisters is deceased at the start of the drama.
◇"Scarlett" is the "eldest heroine type" What about "Yell" and "Chimudondon"?
"Scarlet," which was released in the second half of 2019, also features three sisters, including the heroine. The heroine Kimiko, played by lead actress Erika Toda, is the "ultimate working girl" who is a pioneer among female potters, and the cast includes Kimiko as the eldest sister, Naoko as the second sister, and Yuriko as the third sister. This is the same "eldest-daughter heroine" type as "Toto Anpan" and "Anpan," and the two younger sisters were played (at the time) by Nanami Sakuraba and Mayuko Fukuda.
The next series after "Scarlet," "Yell," to be aired in the first half of 2020, also has a heroine family of three sisters. The lead role in the series is played by Masataka Kubota, with Oto, played by Fumi Nikaido, as the second daughter, and the older sister Gin and younger sister Ume, making it a "second-daughter heroine type." Gin is played by Rena Matsui, and Ume is played by Nana Mori. Incidentally, the father of the three sisters, Yasutaka, played by Ken Mitsuishi, died when Oto was an elementary school student in Osaka on a business trip after being hit by a train while trying to save a child who had fallen onto the tracks. However, in episodes 56 and 57, "Father Returns," which were broadcast as part of a "special project," he returns to this world for the first time in 10 years and is reunited with his family.
The heroine of "Chimudondon," starring Kuroshima Yuina in the first half of 2022, has a family of four siblings, three of whom are sisters. The family is made up of the eldest daughter Yoshiko, the second daughter Nobuko, and the third daughter Utako, played by Kawaguchi Haruna, Kuroshima, and Kamishiraishi Moka, respectively, but perhaps because the character of the eldest son Masahide, played by Ryusei Ryo, was quite strong in a way, the image of the series as a "three sisters story" is a little weak. On the other hand, as is the case with many other dramas, the father Kenzo, played by Nao Omori , passed away when his siblings were children, and the family struggled to make ends meet after that. The sickly character of the third daughter Utako also stirred up excitement among viewers in a way that was different from Masahide.
And then there's " Anpan " starring Mio Imada
The film is based on the married couple Takashi Yanase(1919-2013) and Nobuyuki (1918-1993), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman." It is a "story of love and courage" that will make you feel the joy of living, depicting how these two, who were once nobody, overcame all sorts of rough seas to become "Anpanman," the embodiment of "unreversible justice."
The three sisters are Nobu, the eldest played by Yuumi Kawai, Ranko, the second played by Nanoka Hara, and Meiko, the third played by Hara Nanoka. In the fifth week of the most recent broadcast, talk of Ranko's marriage was brought up at the Asada family, the family of the heroine from whom Nobu left, and there was a slapstick drama typical of Asadora. After this, the story moves forward to war (World War II), but the path the three sisters walk and the acting of Imada and the other cast members will continue to be of interest.
