The second special episode of the NHK Asadora drama series "Anpan ," starring Mio Imada , entitled "Meiko's First Stage," aired on September 30th. The episode depicted the behind-the-scenes of the musical "Kaiketsu Anpan," and viewers were captivated by the interaction between Meiko ( Nanoka Hara) and comedian Hamabe Hirame (Hamano Kenta), who plays Anpanman.
"Meiko's Stage Debut" is the opening day of the musical "Anpanman." As the opening day approaches, some problems are occurring backstage. Hirame confides in Kentaro (Fumiya Takahashi) and Mano Goro (Irei Katakana) her dissatisfaction with the Anpanman headgear.
Hirame, holding the Anpanman headgear, said, "This is the face, right? And I'm going to stick my face out from here. That means I have two faces, right? This is weird, isn't it?", unable to accept the situation. Goro tried to calm him down by saying, "It's inevitable that Hirame-kun will show his face," but Hirame replied, "I looked at it again today and was shocked. Frankly, isn't this weird?" He then raised his voice and said, "I'm a comedian. My job is to make people laugh. But I can't stand being laughed at!" and left the place.
Mamoru Furukawa (Jun Nishiyama), the voice actor for Yaruse Nakasu, was so nervous that he said he didn't want to appear, and one of the chorus members was hospitalized with a fever. Takuya (Motoki Omori) was at his wits' end with the series of problems, and Meiko stepped in to persuade the other cast members, saying, "This is my brother-in-law's important production! I can't let it fail!"
Meiko absorbs Mamoru's nervousness, just like she did at her daughter's piano recital, and goes to persuade Hirame to make the performance a success. When Hirame remains stubborn, she asks, "This is a headgear that we all made just for you. Are you going to throw it away?"
He continued, "A comedian's job is to make people smile. It doesn't matter whether they make people laugh or are laughed at," to which Hirame replied, "What do you know?"
Meiko snapped, "You don't even know! What was Taka thinking when he created Anpanman? He lost a lot of people, experienced a lot of sadness and pain, and as a result, Naga, the hero, was born. You are the one and only hero in the world!"
Hirame put on an Anpanman headgear and asked, "I'm a professional too. I do it when I have to. I ask at the end. Isn't that weird?" Meiko replied, "Yes!" while trying to hold back the laughter that was welling up inside her.
Comments on social media included, "I laughed so hard," "When I watched the film, I felt it was strange that Hirame was showing his face, so I laughed when they made that point," "That Anpanman headgear is really weird, isn't it? It's been bothering me!", "Meiko was definitely trying to hold back her laughter the moment Hirame asked, 'It's not weird, is it?' lol," "Meiko was really active behind the scenes, it was almost a comedy skit (lol)," and "I like how hard she tries."
