The first preview of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND ," starring actor Ryusei Yokohama and set to begin on January 5, 2025, was held on December 16 at the NHK Broadcasting Center (Shibuya, Tokyo), with screenwriter Yoshiko Morishita in attendance. After watching the first episode, Morishita said in her unique style, "The script I wrote was a 'seed', and what emerged was a 'forest.' A lot of trees have grown, creating a worldview that is bigger than I had imagined."
As for the scene that surprised him, he mentioned the great fire scene at the beginning of the first episode, saying, "In my mind, I had imagined it being shot closer, but there were a lot of long shots, so it really had a sense of scale."
He also laughed and said that the members of "Banghachi," the owners of a Yoshiwara brothel, played by Adachi Yumi and Ito Atsushi, "are even worse (when they're on screen)!", and of the scene in which the main character, Tsutaya Juzaburo(Yokohama), rebels against "Banghachi" and is dragged along, he said, "He was dragged along more than I imagined...he was dragged along too much (laughs)! It looked painful, and it was amazing...the worldview expanded to places I never imagined."
When asked about his enthusiasm for writing his second taiga script since "Naotora: The Lady Warlord" in 2017, he confessed his difficulties, saying, "It's difficult...I'm drowning in a sea of materials to the point that I've lost sight of my enthusiasm (laughs). Since it's a publishing deal, there are just mountains of materials..."
"UNBOUND" is the 64th taiga drama, depicting the life of Tsutaya Juzaburo(Yokohama), who is said to have built the foundations of Japan's media industry and pop culture. The production team bills him as "a dashing young man who was born without parents, money, or artistic talent... but who became the darling of the era as the 'Edo media king.'"
