Miho Nakazono is the scriptwriter for the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan " (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and other times), starring Mio Imada The story is based on the married couple Takashi Yanase(1919-2013), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman," and Nobu (1918-1993). Nakazono spoke to Nobu, who said he only knew about five episodes, about how he created the image of the heroine, a "militaristic girl."
◇How was the heroine Nobu created?
Nakazono read Yanase's poetry collection "Aisuru Uta" (Songs of Love) when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school, and began corresponding with him after sending him a fan letter. Although he had known Yanase personally, there was little information available about his wife, Nobu, and he initially struggled to write the book.
"When it came to Taka, I felt like I could write a story about Yanase, who I loved! But the heroine was modeled after Nobu. I only knew about five things about Nobu: that his father died early, that he was called 'Hachikin Onobu' and 'Idaten Onobu,' that he met Yanase at the Kochi Shimbun newspaper, that he threw his handbag at people who wouldn't pay their advertising fees, and that he enjoyed mountain climbing after middle age. From there, I had no choice but to use my imagination and create an original story, so I read through the memoirs of women born in the Taisho era."
After reading a wide range of memoirs and essays from people ranging from ordinary women to famous people, she says she realized that the majority of women at the time were militaristic girls. "My mother, who was born in 1933, was one of them. Famous people include Hashida Sugako, Katsura Yumi, and Tanabe Seiko. When I read their diaries, I could really see how much they were influenced by one color, and I realized that the purer you are, the more easily you are influenced," she says.
"Then, at the end of the war, she had an experience that wiped away all of her previous actions and thoughts. I wondered what kind of life that was. The more I looked into it, the more I felt I had to portray a heroine like that, but many of the heroines in previous Asadora have been women with strong anti-war sentiments. So I thought that maybe about half were anti-war, but when I read her memoirs, I found that most of the women were well-educated and militaristic. If that's the case, I felt I had to write about it honestly."
In the 38th episode (broadcast on May 21st), Ranko (Kanata Hosoda), who is in despair after her fiancee Gou (Yuumi Kawai) is killed in battle, is approached by Nobu (Imada), who tells her, "Ranko is more proud of Gou-chan's death in battle than anyone else."
Looking back on this scene, Nakazono said, "While I was writing, I thought, 'Is Miou okay with this?' I'm sure viewers will think, 'What kind of heroine is this?' with their current sensibilities, and it was difficult for me to write it."
"It was very painful for me to write it, wondering what it meant to say such a thing when the older brother that the younger sister loved and had known since childhood had passed away. I also heard from people around me that they couldn't keep up with Nobu, and I felt sorry for Miou. But the screenwriter mustn't waver on this point... I think Imada really did an excellent job. If you just look at that scene, she plays the villain. She wet the front of her kimono and played the role beautifully and with great bravery. I still strongly want many people living in the present day to know that militarism was the norm at the time. That is why war was so terrifying."
◇The confession scene was "the most memorable"
However, in episode 85 (aired on July 25th), Nobu tells Taka, "I love you. I love you twice as much as you do!", and the two childhood friends finally get together. Nakazono laughs, saying, "If we follow the historical facts, they just can't get that close. In historical fact, they weren't childhood friends, so I struggled to write them in a way that wouldn't happen."
"The scene where Nobu confesses, 'I love you twice as much as you do!' was the most memorable scene, and I cried when I saw it. I think that's because the acting by both actors was fantastic, and because Nobu had been forced to play a difficult role for so long, I felt like he was finally freed and could return to the free and innocent self he had as a child, and I felt really happy and congratulated him."
In the 105th episode (broadcast on August 22nd), there was a scene where Nobu confesses her true feelings to Taka, saying, "I never amounted to anything." Regarding the intention behind this line, she said, "A girl with dreams ends up becoming someone who supports her husband and children. I think that many women have the same feeling inside them, wondering why things have turned out this way. So I wanted to portray that cry from the heart."
"After getting married, Nobu became very ladylike, and I felt that her character had changed a bit from the time when she was throwing her handbag. She supported Yanase from behind the scenes, and didn't appear in public. I searched everywhere trying to find someone who knew Nobu, but it seems that neither Kumiko Hashimoto nor Keiko Toda, who lived in the same apartment building, nor any of the editors had ever met her. As I was thinking about this, I thought, 'Maybe there were days when Nobu reflected on the fact that she never amounted to anything,' something that worries many women, and so I wrote that scene."
