Noritake Hamao, who plays Tagawa Iwao in the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan" (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00 AM and others), made a live appearance on the information program "Asaichi" (Same channel, Monday to Friday 8:15 AM) on June 12th, which was broadcast immediately after the drama aired.
In this episode of "Anpan," it is the summer two years after Takashi (Takumi Kitamura) joined the army. Chihiro (Motoki Nakazawa), who met him for the first time in a long time, has become a naval officer. Takashi cannot hide his shock, so Chihiro explains that she has applied to become a naval reserve student. "There's no turning back now," Chihiro says matter-of-factly, and hands Takashi an old notebook... and so the story unfolds.
During the "Asadora" segment, MC Hakata Daikichi of the comedy duo "Hakata Hanamaru & Daikichi" said, "It was an amazing 15 minutes," and Hakata Hanamaru also seemed moved by the exchange between Takashi and Chihiro that took place in a single Japanese-style room, saying, "Just in that room."
Afterwards, Daikichi introduced Hamao as "someone who resembles both Hanamaru and Daikichi," to which Hamao replied, "I'm very honored." When Hanamaru said, "Today you're a lot like Daikichi," Hamao smiled and said, "Today I'm leaning more towards Daikichi."
Hamao plays Iwao in "Anpan," a classmate of the heroine Nobu (Imada) and Takashi in elementary school. He falls in love at first sight with Nobu's younger sister Ranko (Yuumi Kawai) and proposes to her, but is rejected.
Since then, Iwao has not appeared in the play, but Hamao said, "Actually, Iwao will be reuniting again from tomorrow, so please look forward to it." When Hanamaru responded, "Don't do it, you'll get rejected," Hamao retorted, "You won't get rejected. Today, we're in the conversation (with Takashi and Chihiro). What if I suddenly come back tomorrow and get rejected?"
On social media, comments included, "I'm really looking forward to Iwao starting tomorrow," "He's likely to be rubbed with the fact that he was rejected by Ranko," "I'm happy that he's appearing on Asaichi, but it's not a flag, right?", "Iwao has a shaved head, so I guess it'll feel like a reunion on the battlefield," "Will he be in the same unit as Takashi?" and "It's fine if he's heartbroken, but don't die in battle!"
