The fifth episode of the NHK Asadora drama "Bakebake " (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and other times), starring Akari Takaishi, was broadcast on October 3rd. In the episode, 11 years have passed in a flash, but viewers noticed that Toki's (Takaishi) father, Tsukasanosuke(Takashi Okabe), and grandfather, Kan'emon (Fumiyo Kohinata), still wear their topknots.
Okabe's Tsukasanosuke, Tsukasasuke, was a high-ranking samurai in the Matsue domain, but even in the Meiji era, he was unable to let go of his samurai pride, so he stopped working, lost his income, and lived a difficult and impoverished life. In the fourth episode (broadcast on October 2nd), he failed in his once profitable rabbit sales business and ended up in debt.
The fifth episode is set in 1886. Toki (Takaishi), now 18, is working at a weaving factory run by her relative Den Ushimizu(Shinichi Tsutsumi) to pay off her debts. Struggling with debt, the Matsuno family has moved from the samurai-run area around Matsue Castle to the other side of the river, where they now live in a tenement house adjacent to the red-light district.
Tsukasanosuke, who was unemployed, has also started working, and although he has changed jobs several times, he has been working as a milkman for five years. Both Tsukasanosuke and Kan'emon still wear their topknots, just like they did 11 years ago, and it is clear that they have not given up their samurai pride.
Comments on social media included, "He still has his topknot lol," "It's so funny to think that he's still delivering milk with his topknot on!!," "Delivering milk with a topknot...it's basically cosplay," "Even when wearing Western clothes, the topknot is an irreplaceable part of a samurai's pride," "The sadness of a fallen samurai...," and "Even though he may be a fallen samurai, his samurai spirit hasn't disappeared."
