The 36th episode of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and other times), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , entitled "The Parrot's Kick is a Duck," aired on September 21st and depicted the final moments of Koikawa Harumachi (played by Okayama Amane). Harumachi's death, which he claimed was caused by "hitting his head on the corner of the tofu," sparked a flood of reactions from viewers.
" 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.
At the 36th event, Tsutaya's new works "Oumugaeshi Bunbu no Futamichi" and "Tenkaichimenkagami no Umebachi" sold like hotcakes.
Sadanobu (Inoue Yuki) is furious at Tsutaju's (Yokohama) book and orders it out of print. Kisanji (Omi Toshinori) decides to give up writing, and Harumachi is summoned. Then, Tsutaju learns from a letter from Nanpo (Kenta Kiritani) that Tosaku (Kimura Ryo) is ill, and visits him with Suharaya (Kotaro Satomi Kotaro) and Nanpo... and so on.
In the second half of the story, Tsutaju comes face to face with the body of Harumachi, who has committed suicide, and notices tofu residue on his head. At a gathering of playwrights and fellow kyoka poets, it is revealed that Harumachi committed suicide by cutting his stomach open, then plunged his head into a bucket of tofu, killing himself.
Kisanji commented on the manner of Harumachi's death, saying, "He was a playwright. He was a serious, damn serious man... Even when he was joking around, he was serious. I think Koikawa Harumachi thought he wouldn't joke around until the very end," he said, laughing and crying as he explained the reason.
Shocked viewers responded one after another on social media, with comments such as "Harumachi-sensei... why...", "Harumachi-sensei, why...", "No way Harumachi-sensei~", and "I don't want to say goodbye to Harumachi-sensei like this", as well as many other comments such as "That really is so Harumachi-sensei-like...", "His head on the corner of a piece of tofu...Harumachi-sensei was a man who played around until the very end", "I can't stop crying", "This is the most I've cried in this episode so far", "The only way to say goodbye to him is to laugh while crying", and "Morishita's script... he's truly demonic".
