The second episode of the Fuji TV drama series "Ramune Monkey" (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on January 21st. Aso Kiryu's character, "Matilda" Miyashita Misaru, aka "Matilda", drew attention from viewers as being "charming."
◇The following contains spoilers
When Yuta (Sorimachi), Hajime Fujimaki (Omori), and Kikuhara Kisuke (Tsuda) were students, Misa was appointed as a temporary art teacher at Tanbe Junior High School. At Hajime and Kisuke's request, she became the advisor for the film club, but one day she mysteriously disappeared.
To find out more about Matilda, Yuta and his friends visit the cafe run by their classmate, Ohba Akari (Nishida Naomi), also known as "Minmei," along with cafe employee Nishino Hakuba (Fukumoto Riko). There, Akari tells them about what happened with Matilda.
At the time, Akari spread false rumors that Misa had appeared in adult videos. One day, she called Misa to apologize. Akari confessed her misdeeds, but Misa already knew everything and laughed, saying, "It's fine. It's cooler to have such a punk past."
When Akari worries that this might be causing problems in the staff room, Misa tells her that it's just a laughing matter, to which she responds, "The truth is, I'm not really cut out to be a school teacher."
On social media, people were excited, saying things like, "Matilda is too good," "The role of Matilda is so charming," "Matilda's kindness made me cry," "Kiryu Aso plays a wonderful, slightly mysterious teacher who is understanding of a geeky boy," "Kiryu Aso has an elusive, simple, and mysterious air about him. Is this his best role to date?" and "I didn't realize Kiryu Aso was also in the movie '5 Centimeters per Second'. He has a real presence."
The original story and screenplay for the drama was written by Ryota Furusawa. It is a youth-recovering human comedy that depicts the reunion and rebirth of two middle-aged men who were passionate about making kung fu movies together in their junior high school days in 1988, but now feel stuck in life, thinking, "This isn't how it was supposed to be." The story is about a trio of very different characters, with different looks and personalities: Yuta Yoshii, also known as "Yun," played by Sorimachi; Hajime Fujimaki, also known as "Chen," played by Omori; and Kikuhara Kisuke, also known as "Kinpo," played by Tsuda.
