The 26th episode of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , titled "Three Women", was broadcast on July 6th. A development in the last minute of the main story drew the attention of viewers.
" UNBOUND (Berabou)" is the 64th taiga drama, depicting the life of Tsutaya Juzaburo(or "Tsutajyu" for short), who is said to have built the foundations of Japan's media industry and pop culture. The script was written by Yoshiko Morishita, known for "Drama 10 'Ooku'" which was broadcast on NHK two years ago and became a big hit.
In the 26th episode, the price of rice doubled from last year due to a poor rice harvest caused by a cool summer. The number of servants also increased, and at Koshodo, where playwrights gathered, rice was quickly depleted, and Tsutaju (Yokohama-san) was also having a hard time.
Then Tsuyo (Saki Takaoka), Tsutaju's real mother, comes to the store and tries to stay there as a hairdresser. Meanwhile, in Edo Castle, Okitsugu(Ken Watanabe) takes measures to deal with the soaring rice prices, but they do not go down. The situation escalates to the point where Tokugawa Harusada(Hideki Takahashi) of the Kishu Tokugawa family, who is fed up with the shogunate's poor performance, issues a warning to the shogunate.
Towards the end of the film, Okitsugu suggests to Harusada, "Why don't we abolish the stock associations related to rice for a while?" Then, Ochi (Hio Miyazawa) explains that the root cause of the rice riots is that the stock associations, which are supposed to keep prices down, have conspired to drive up prices. He goes on to explain that if we "set this aside for now and allow anyone to sell rice," then "someone greedy will inevitably appear who wants to sell it cheaply and take advantage of this opportunity," and "if we don't let that person do what they want, everyone will have no choice but to move in the direction of lowering the price," revealing a plan he came up with from a conversation with Tsutae, and the Tanumas are able to get through this difficult situation for the time being.
Just when you think the matter is settled, one or two people follow Ichi as he leaves. They are Sano Masayoshi (Yamoto Yuma), who looks somewhat depressed, and Matsumae Hirotoshi(Hyoroku), who looks jealous. The scene then changes and Hitotsubashi Harumori (Ikuta Toma) appears. When he meets the brothers Michihiro (Kazuki Enari) and Hirotoshi, he asks with a smile on his face, "What's the story?" and the episode ends.
On social media, people were saying things like, "Oh no, it's coming," "Is Ichi's tragedy coming soon?", "Wow, the curtain is rising on Ichi-sama's tragedy...", "Sano-sama and Matsumae's younger brother...it's so ominous, it's getting close," and when Harumori made his appearance, people were on edge, saying things like, "When Ikuta Toma appeared I thought 'Wow'", "Scary, scary Toma!" "It all became so ominous," ominous, ominous, ominous, ominous", "And finally, Ikuta Toma! The height of ominousness!!", "Nothing good happens when you show up!" and "Here he is---but he looks good!!!"
