The 34th episode, "Thankful Mountain and Thankful Eggplant," of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , was broadcast on September 7th. Ken Watanabe , who plays Tanuma Okitsugu , will be making his final appearance in the drama, and he revealed his feelings immediately after filming wrapped up, saying, "It's like being freed from Edo Castle. It's also like being freed from the kamishimo (formal formal attire) (laughs)."
" UNBOUND (Berabou)" is the 64th taiga drama and depicts the life of Tsutaya Juzaburo(or "Tsutajyu" for short), who is said to have laid the foundations for Japan's media industry and pop culture. The script was written by Yoshiko Morishita, who is known for her work on the highly talked-about "Drama 10: Ooku," which aired on NHK two years ago.
In the 34th episode, Sadanobu (played by Inoue Yuki), who has been appointed as the chief senior councilor, advocates frugality and begins to impose strict control.
Meanwhile, Tsutaju (Yokohama) calls on Kyoka poets to create a spectacular Kyoka picture book. However, Nanpo (Kenta Kiritani) appears and declares that he is giving up his pen. Nanpo is in danger of being punished for creating a Kyoka satirizing Sadanobu.
As the world atmosphere created by Okitsugu(played by Watanabe) is completely changed by Sadanobu's policies, Tsutae visits Okitsugu's mansion with a certain determination to resist the tide of the times...and so the story unfolds.
Regarding the scene in which Okitsugu accepts Tsutae's decision, Watanabe recalls, "It was a scene in which they finally shared the view that they were both in similar circumstances and that they were both upstarts. There was a certain level of hostility between Tsutae and Okitsugu, so I felt the difficulty of balancing that while acting."
Another memorable scene is "the tea room scene with Takemoto (Koji Ishizaka) in the first half."
"As the relationship between the two finally begins to thaw, there was a lot of tension and mystery, and although it was a very long scene, it was very rewarding. From the middle onwards, there were scenes with Ieharu (Hidekazu Mashima). Ieharu is very trusted, but Okitsugu is unable to solve the problems that Ienari himself is having. There was a kind of dilemma about that, and as Ieharu himself is pushed into a corner, it becomes impossible for them to meet, and I had been building up scenes with Ieharu up to that point with that in mind, so Ienari held a very important position in Okitsugu's mind."
What kind of role was Ikenaga, who "left"the Okitsugu after the 34th episode? Watanabe said, "There was always something like an 'invisible sense of oppression.' It was a role in which he was subjected to that kind of oppression from above and below, and desperately continued to search for something."
