The fourth episode of the TV drama series "A Little Esper" (TV Asahi, Tuesdays at 9pm), starring Yo Oizumi, aired on November 11th, and the unexpected plot twist caused quite a stir.
◇The following contains spoilers.
The drama is based on an original script by Akiko Nogi , known for works such as "Unnatural," "MIU404," and " Diamonds Sleeping in the Sea ." Bunta (Oizumi), a salaryman at rock bottom after being fired from his company, ingests an "E Capsule" at his new job at the mysterious company Nonamare, where he becomes a "slightly psychic" who can hear the inner thoughts of people only when he is in contact with them. He is given a mission to "save the world" by the company's president, Cho ( Masaki Okada ), under the rule that "you must not love people."
In the episode, Ichimatsu ( Takumi Kitamura ), a university student who is a member of the Takoyaki Research Club, arrives at Takoppi, a meeting place for espers, through an introduction from Shiki ( Aoi Miyazaki ). Seeing how friendly the two seem, Bunta becomes jealous. At the same time, having heard Shiki say, "I always feel like someone is watching me," Bunta suspects Ichimatsu of being a stalker and confronts him.
Ichimatsu then makes a surprising request, asking Bunta to take him on as his apprentice. Ichimatsu reveals that he happened to witness Sakurasuke (Dean Fujioka) and Hanzo (Shohei Uno) using their powers, but Bunta quickly lies to avoid revealing the details of his esper abilities. They then decide not to report what happened between them and Hanzo to the company president, Cho.
Meanwhile, Sakurasuke deepens his relationship with his son Shion ( Niihara Taisuke), from whom he was separated when he was young, but Shion secretly throws away the bouquet of flowers that Sakurasuke gave him, and smiles defiantly.
Towards the end of the episode, Shiki's powers manifest when she drinks an E-Capsule that Bunta had left on his desk while she had a cold. Just as she was about to blow out the candles on her cake, Bunta was blown away onto the veranda by a gust of breath. The scene then changes, with Ichimatsu and Shion ingesting what appears to be an "E-Capsule" at the urging of a new character, a mysterious woman named Hisajo (Mukairi Yuka), and the episode ends.
The series of mysterious developments has led to a flurry of comments from viewers on social media, such as, "I'm totally surprised by Shiki's abilities," "When Shion threw away the flower I said 'Huh!?'," "It looks like we'll be facing off against a new character," "A sudden battle has developed," and "Are we going to see a battle between people with special abilities starting next week!?"
