Mio Imada stars in the NHK Asadora drama series "Anpan" (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 a.m. and others). In the 41st episode broadcast on May 26, Takashi Yanai's (Takumi Kitamura) uncle Hiroshi (Yutaka Takenouchi) suddenly passed away, drawing tears from viewers. In the drama, Hiroshi always encouraged Takashi and others and continued to show them the way to live, but here we would like to look back on the many memorable quotes that Hiroshi left behind that we want to remember.
◇The lines are based on the lyrics of "Anpanman March"
Hiroshi took in his nephews, the brothers Takashi and Chihiro (played by Motoki Nakazawa), and raised them with love as if they were his own sons. With his gentle personality and tolerance, he was a character beloved by viewers, as he would often utter words that served as guides for Takashi and the others.
Hiroshi often quoted lines from the works of Takashi Yanase(1919-2013), the manga artist and picture book author who was the model for Takashi. The drama's weekly titles, "What were we born for?" (week 3) and "What do we live for?" (week 4), were quoted from "Anpanman no March," a song written by Yanase, and were delivered to viewers as Hiroshi's words.
Hiroshi has been saying many great things to Takashi since he was a child. In the third episode (broadcast on April 2nd), Hiroshi was surprised at how good Takashi (Yuki Kimura), an elementary school student, was at drawing, and told him, "Draw a lot. If you do what you like, you'll love it a lot."
In the fifth episode (broadcast on April 4th), Nobu's (Yuzuna Nagase) father, Yutaro (Ryo Kase), passes away, and Taka is worried about what he can do for the depressed Nobu. Taka tells him, "Living is sad. Living is painful. Living is good, and one day you will get better and be able to laugh."
In the 11th episode (aired on April 14th), Taku, who is now in his fifth year of junior high school and has started drawing manga, is worried about what he should do in the future even though he will be taking entrance exams next year. Hiroshi advises him, "What were you born for, and what do you want to do with your life? What makes you happy, and what gives you joy? Think about it over and over again, desperately, until you find that one thing that you think is right."
Furthermore, in the 18th episode (broadcast on April 22), Hiroshi tells Takashi and Chihiro that he doesn't need a successor after they fight over who will take over Yanai Clinic. He then says, "I don't want you to regret and say, 'I wish I had done this at that time.' You have to struggle to find out why you were born and what you want to do with your life. You have to struggle even if it means you have to fight." He shows that he respects Takashi and Chihiro's opinion.
Also, in the 20th episode (broadcast on April 25th), Hiroshi had already uttered the phrase "Next to despair is hope," which would later appear as the title of the 9th week. It was also impressive to see Hiroshi gently speak to Takashi, who had failed his entrance exams and lost his mother Tomiko (Nanako Matsushima), and was in despair about his life, saying, "Whether you cry or laugh, the sun will rise again. Next to despair is...hope."
◇ Yutaka Takenouchi looks back on his famous lines
The 25th episode (broadcast on May 2nd) was an episode in which Hiroshi uttered a series of famous quotes over the course of 15 minutes.
On the day of the Tokyo Higher School of Fine Arts entrance exam results, Taka was sitting alone on a bench with his head down when Hiroshi called out to him, "Accept reality and move forward. Next to despair is hope." This was a jump to conclusion for Hiroshi, and when he later found out that Taka had passed, he said that Taka's late father, Kiyoshi (Kazunari Ninomiya), would have been very happy if he were alive, and said, "What are we born for, and what do we live for? That's what I think. It's to make people happy. Seeing your happy face made me happy too. Life is a game of making people happy."
Takenouchi, who plays Hiroshi, said that the line, "Life is a game of pleasing," was also a memorable one for him, and in an interview he said, "All the lines are truly wonderful, but the one I could relate to the most is, 'Life is a game of pleasing.'"
"It really hit home for me, and I thought it was true and I could really relate. We live in an age where everyone is living with anxiety. If this kind of spirit could spread throughout Japan, I think we would become a wonderful country, and if we can raise this awareness in as many people as possible, including myself, I feel that we are guaranteed a wonderful future."
Furthermore, in the 41st episode (aired on May 26th), which depicts Hiroshi's "final moments," Takashi regrets that he prioritized his graduation project and was unable to finish it in time for Hiroshi's death. Hiroshi's wife Chiyoko (Naho Toda) tells him the "will" that Hiroshi left behind before he died.
"If you don't finish it to the end... if you come at me half-heartedly... if you come at me half-heartedly... I'll hit you. This is the path that Takashi has chosen. This is the path that Takashi lives for. I won't forgive you for giving up. I won't forgive Takashi... Chihiro... for giving up."
Regarding this line, Takenouchi sympathized, "If I had a child, I think they would probably say the same thing." "Just believe in what you've decided and what you want to do, and never give up. Even if you run away or can't do it well, keep going. I think there's value in that. I think he said this line with those feelings in his heart."
On social media, people have been praising the many famous quotes that Hiroshi has left behind, saying things like, "I want a collection of his famous quotes to be published," "Uncle Hiroshi's words really touch my heart," and "I wonder how much virtue one must have to accumulate to become such a great person." Hiroshi has left the drama, but his memorable quotes will remain in the hearts of viewers forever.
