Anpan:The 113th episode, in which Taka put his life as a manga artist on the line to create a new work, had the highest attention rating of 73.0% at 8:09 AM.

What was the most captivating scene in the 113th episode (broadcast on September 3rd) of the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan " (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00 AM and others), starring Mio Imada ? In the 113th episode, in which Takashi ( Takumi Kitamura) puts his life as a manga artist on the line to create a new work, we looked at the minute-by-minute trends in "attention levels" (surveyed by REVISIO, Kanto region, preliminary figures), which indicate the degree to which viewers were glued to the screen, and found that the highest level of attention was at 8:09 AM, at 73.0%.

"Anpan" is based on the married couple Yanase (1919-2013), the manga artist and picture book writer who created "Anpanman," and 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."

◇ 73.0% at 8:09 AM Taka declares, "If this doesn't work, I'll quit being a manga artist."

In episode 113, Taku comes across a page about a manga contest in a weekly magazine and, at Nobu's (Imada) urging, decides to enter the contest. Nobu tells Taku that it's more important to draw the manga he wants to draw than to focus on the results, but Taku says he has his own pride and stays holed up in his workroom for days.

The "attention level," which indicates the percentage of people actually watching the TV screen, followed the previous day's 112th episode, and showed a "mid-stage" graph, showing high attention in the middle of the episode. What was different was that while the middle of the 112th episode was consistently high, the 113th episode only peaked once at 8:09 AM (73.0%). This episode may have had fewer scenes that drew viewers to the screen, but the attention level at its peak was higher than the previous day's 70.6%.

What was the scene like at 8:09 a.m. when the peak of 73.0% was recorded?

"Ranko is who she is now because you truly love Go-chan (Kanata Hosoda). Live true to your feelings," Hatako (Noriko Eguchi) tells Ranko (Yuumi Kawai) as she gently places the hat that was a keepsake from her late father, Yutaro (Ryo Kase). Ranko smiles slightly and replies, "It's warm. It feels like my dad is stroking my head." Nobu, who is standing next to her, also smiles and watches. The day before, there had been progress in Ranko and Yagi (Satoshi Tsumabuki)'s relationship, so Hatako's words gently encouraging Ranko must have resonated with viewers.

However, this scene was taken in the late 8:08 AM time slot. Expectations were high at 70.3%, but it was just before the 9-minute peak.

In fact, at 8:09 AM, Taka is holed up in his workspace, immersed in creating his work, but his ideas just won't come to fruition, so he declares to Nobu at the dinner table, "If this doesn't work, I'll quit being a manga artist. I'll do my best." With that, he gets up from the dinner table and returns to his workspace. Hatako panics, asking what to do, but Nobu says, as if to convince himself, "It'll be fine, I believe in your talent, Taka."

Taka and Nobu are finally pushed to their limits. Then, when Taka sees Nobu vacuuming while wearing his late father Yutaro's hat, an idea pops into his mind. From 8:10 AM onwards, they go from rock bottom to completing the piece in one go. The story gets brighter, but expectations plummet after peaking at 8:09 AM. At 8:13 AM, they fall to 62.4%.

Taka receives a call from the genius manga artist Teshima Osamu (Gordon Maeda) at his workplace, saying, "I'd like to ask you for a job." Perhaps thinking it was a prank call, Taka simply hangs up, saying, "Hey, stop doing this kind of thing." It's a fun scene, but this is just before the 13-minute mark. Attention levels have started to drop sharply. They do pick it up a little at 8:14 a.m., when the submission is completed, but it's not a big recovery, and the drama ends.

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)