"Anpan" 59th episode opening video and theme song not played, "unusual" production becomes a hot topic

The 59th episode of the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan " starring Mio Imada (General TV, Monday to Saturday at 8:00 am and others) was broadcast on June 19th, and viewers were drawn to the "unusual" production in which the opening title sequence and theme song "Sage" were not played.

In episode 59, Iwao (Hamao Noritaka), who was shot, dies telling Takashi ( Takumi Kitamura) that Rin (Shibuya Soraji-kun) did a good job. Yagi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) tells Takashi that Rin has avenged his parents and asks him if he wants to avenge Iwao. Yagi then explodes with pent-up anger. Takashi is stunned by the sight of Yagi, whom he has never seen before. Eventually the food shortage reaches its limit and Takashi finally collapses to the ground. As Takashi loses consciousness, his late father, Kiyoshi (Kazunari Ninomiya), appears before him...

The episode was 15 minutes long and full of climaxes, including Iwao's brutal end, the background of Rin's revenge, and a conversation with her late father. At the beginning, the monochrome logo for the TV series "Anpan" was displayed, but the opening title back video was not played, and only the cast and staff credits were displayed at the end of the episode, with one and a half minutes remaining.

While the absence of an opening video and saving the theme song for the end of a drama is sometimes used in mid-series climaxes or the final episode, a production without an opening video or theme song would be extremely unusual, although there has been the example of "Yell," which aired in the first half of 2020 and also drew attention for its depiction of war.

On social media, people were saying things like, "It was a special episode without an opening. It was totally worth watching," "It was an incredible episode that didn't even use an opening...," "It was like a 15-minute movie," "It was a legendary episode that will go down in history as a Asadora," and "The passion of the creators was incredible. The lack of an opening really worked. The actors' performances were also fantastic."