The third episode of the TV drama "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (Nippon TV, Wednesdays at 10pm), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on July 23rd. The episode featured "Nikuman-kun" Nishida Yusei (played by Yamoto Yuma), also known as "Nikuman-kun" from the film series, and became a hot topic on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In the third episode, Meguru (Touma) retracts her plan to quit, and the Umezono High School Competitive Karuta Club, now with five members, is now able to participate in team matches and aims to compete in the national karuta tournament. However, Meguru is not physically strong, and Chieri (Arashi Rina) is struggling to remember the songs, so at their current pace it is unclear whether they will be able to make it to the Tokyo qualifying tournament in time. The anxious group decides to join a "Karuta Club," which can be considered a karuta club team, in order to improve their level.
With the help of Oe Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi ), the Umezono members knock on the door of the local karuta club, "Fuchu Yugiri-kai." The president of "Yugiri-kai" is Nishida, also known as "Nikuman-kun," an alumnus of the Mizusawa High School karuta club. Nishida presents an entrance test, saying, "The condition for admission is to take three cards from me." Meguru and Chieri challenge Nishida together, but fail without taking a single card... and so the story unfolds.
When Kanade and Meguru visit the "Yugiri-kai" room and wait for Nishida, the children who have arrived show up and say, "Huh? The meat bun hasn't come yet." Then Nishida comes running in, shouting, "Who's that?! I said meat bun!" After messing around with the children, he excitedly says to Kanade, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Kana-chan!" After that, Nishida takes the entrance test against Meguru and Chieri, and with a smile on his face, he continues to pick up cards one after another with a look of enjoyment.
On social media, there was a flood of excited voices about the appearance of "Nikuman-kun" Nishida. Comments such as "Nikuman-kun is here!", "It makes me laugh how unchanged he has been, I'm so happy," "He's still as fluffy and cute as ever," "Nikuman-kun is amazing," "I miss him!" and "He's still the same great character..." were lined up.
Also, since Yamoto is currently playing Sano Tanuma Okitomo Ochitoshi in the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) ", comments such as "The image of Sano-dono is strong right now, so it's a relief to see him in his cool form as Nikuman-kun", "Sano-dono has been reincarnated and his character has changed 180 degrees", and "Sano-dono is bright and cheerful..." were posted.
