Attention Trends: Nobu, Ranko and Meiko were the highlights of the 108th episode, which had a peak of 76.1% at 8:10am. Who was the “main character”?

What was the most captivating scene in the 108th episode (broadcast on August 27th) of the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan " (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and other times), starring Mio Imada ? An examination of minute-by-minute trends in "attention level" (surveyed by REVISIO, Kanto region, preliminary figures), which indicates the degree to which viewers were glued to the screen, revealed that the highest level of attention in the 108th episode, when a yellow light was lit for the relationship between Meiko ( Nanoka Hara) and Kentaro (Fumiya Takahashi), was at 8:10 AM, towards the end of the series, at 76.1%.

"Anpan" is based on the married Takashi Yanase(1919-2013), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman," and his wife, Nobu (1918-1993). It is a "story of love and courage" that will fill you with the joy of living, depicting how these two, who were once nobodys, overcame all sorts of troubles to become "Anpanman," the embodiment of "unreversible justice."

◇The highest value was 76.1% at 8:10 AM. Nobu scolds Taka and Kentaro for being out of focus.

The 108th episode begins with the opening theme song playing, and begins with a scene where Takashi (Takumi Kitamura) is holding a signing event to celebrate the publication of his poetry collection. The signing event, held in an unusual location thanks to Yagi (Satoshi Tsumabuki), ends in great success, despite Takashi's worries.

Unlike the previous day's 107th episode, the "attention rate," which indicates the percentage of people actually watching the TV screen, rose sharply after the opening. At 8:02 a.m., it reached 70.5%, breaking into the 70% range and making its first small peak.

The first half of the two-minute segment shows a signing session where people line up in front of Takashi for an autograph, while the second half shows Ranko (Yuumi Kawai) wearing bright red lipstick and lost in thought in front of the mirror in her room. Ranko reminisces about the most popular exchange with Yagi in the previous day's 107th episode, and glances at a hanten jacket with the character for "kama" (pot) engraved on it hanging on the wall. The hanten jacket was a keepsake from her lover, Go (Kanata Hosoda), who died in the war. It's a somewhat meaningful scene, unusual for a Asadora where the plot is often straightforward, but viewers are still captivated by Ranko, just as they were the day before.

Expectations dropped slightly after 8:03 a.m., but remained around 70%.

At the four-minute mark, Meiko visits the Yanai household and looks enviously at the mutual understanding between Nobu (Imada) and Taka. "For years, (my husband, Kentaro) hasn't called me by my name. I'm not Kentaro's mom," Meiko reveals her painful feelings to Nobu and Taka. Afterwards, Nobu and Meiko go to Ranko's (Yuumi Kawai) room. Here, Meiko again voices her dissatisfaction with Kentaro, to which Ranko retorts, "Meiko, you want to act like you're in a drama?" Meiko denies it, saying, "No, no," and the three burst into laughter at her flustered expression.

When Nobu asks, "So?" Meiko cutely answers, "I want to dress up and walk with Kentaro."

"When we were at our most beautiful, we couldn't even wear lipstick. We couldn't even wear dresses... There were no men in town, so we just wore monpe and spent all our time digging holes for air raid shelters. But now that I'm a mother, I want to dress up and walk around town with Kentaro. That would be so exciting, wouldn't it?"

There was a scene where Meiko had previously expressed similar thoughts. It was a very good line, reminiscent of the poem "When I Was the Most Beautiful" by the poet Noriko Ibaraki. Hara's passionate performance as Meiko had kept the ratings from dropping significantly up to this point, and had continued to attract viewers.

The highest reading for the day was 76.1% at 8:10 AM. This is the scene where Kentaro (Fumiya Takahashi) visits the Yanai household and hears Meiko's feelings from Taka. Taka offers advice, saying, "Just say you love me," but Kentaro, a Kyushu man, immediately replies, "You can't say that. I'll burn!" Nobu, unable to bear the somewhat off-topic exchange between the two, exclaims, "Ugh, I can't listen to this anymore. You two are so out of it," and opens Taka's poetry collection and has him read "Song of Dimples." Nobu's powerful words are refreshing, and his good manners are likely a major factor in raising the profile of the scene.

Attention levels dropped slightly after this, but remained around 70%. They remained high from around 8:03-8:09 AM. At 8:14 AM, they rose again to 74.2% and moved on to the ending. Kentaro and Meiko meet at a cafe, make up, and head out into the city hand in hand. Just 14 minutes in, Kentaro suddenly realizes as he is leaving the cafe, "Oh no, I forgot the bill." This scene may have been a relief for viewers who had been following the development of the relationship between the two, and a chuckle from a line that was typical of Kentaro, which ultimately boosted attention levels.

The data used is a unique indicator called "attention level" published by REVISIO, a company that surveys the viewing habits of programs and commercials in 2,000 households in the Kanto region and 600 households in the Kansai region. A dedicated device equipped with a human body recognition sensor constantly measures whether people are looking at the TV screen, and calculates the percentage of people in front of the TV who are paying close attention to the program. (Text by Sasamoto Hirozai/MANTAN)