The ninth episode of the TV drama series "Zaibatsu Fukushu" (TV Tokyo, Mondays 11:06pm), co-starring actors Keisuke Watanabe and Miori Takimoto, aired on March 3rd. At the end of the episode, Yukiya's (Watanabe) ex-wife Erika (Takimoto) is shown smiling after achieving the status and honor she had aimed for, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 9, "Mom... didn't commit suicide..." the truth behind the death of Yukiya's (Watanabe) mother Saori (Murakawa Eri) is finally revealed. Not only was his father Seiichiro (Watanabe Ikkei) murdered, but the real culprit who drove his mother to her death was his brother Masayuki (Takeda Kohei).
Yukiya tries to make the truth about Seiichiro's murder public in order to avenge his mother and Masayuki. Kyoko (Takaoka Saki) is also investigating Seiichiro's death on her own, and when she realizes that Masayuki and Erika are behind it, she confronts Masayuki. Masayuki then tells Erika that Kyoko has found out. After hanging up the phone, Erika mutters, "I never thought I'd be this useless...thank you for everything." Later, through someone's scheme, Masayuki is arrested on suspicion of killing his father.
Furthermore, in order to corner Yukiya, Erika used the power of the Ise Group to unilaterally seize Yukiya's assets and personal belongings...and so the story unfolded.
At the end of the story, Kyoko, who believes that Masayuki's arrest may be her fault, takes the blame for killing Seiichiro for Masayuki's sake. Now that Seiichiro, Masayuki, Satoshi (played by Kenta Izuka) and Kyoko are gone, Erika, who has become the president of the Ise Group, smiles and says, "Now, in both name and reality, I am everything to the Ise family," as she is showered with flashes from numerous cameras.
On social media, many people expressed their fear of Erika, who succeeded in becoming the head of the Ise zaibatsu as planned. Comments such as "It's scary," "How far did she foresee and act before she did this...? It's too scary," "Is this Erika's strategy to get rid of her mother who is in the way?", "Erika could have predicted that much...?" and "Erika is so calculating... she's just like the final boss" were posted.
