The final episode (episode 20) of NHK's night drama "Hira Yasumi" (General TV, Monday to Thursday, 10:45 PM), starring actor Okayama Amane, was broadcast on December 4th. The episode featured an important episode, "White Hydrangea," which was requested by the original author, Shinzo Keigo, and which producer Otsuka Yasuki "really wanted to include," and brought tears to the eyes of viewers.
The drama is based on the manga of the same name by Shinzo Keigo, which has been serialized in Weekly Big Comic Spirits since 2021. The story follows 29-year-old part-time worker Ikuta Hiroto (Okayama) who inherits a single-story house from his neighbor, Wada Hanae (Negishi Tokie), and begins living with his 18-year-old cousin Kobayashi Natsumi (Mori Nana), who moved to Tokyo from Yamagata. People with difficult life problems gather around them...
In the final episode, Hiroto and Natsumi receive a cardboard box from their family home in Yamagata containing a large amount of taro. So they decide to hold an imoni party. They invite Hideki (Yoshimura Kaito) and Akari (Mitsushima Nazuna), respectively. While searching for a large pot for imoni, Hiroto happens to come across a pressed white hydrangea left behind by Hanae.
It was something that Hiroto had brought as a get-well gift when Hanae was injured and hospitalized.
In the following flashback scene, Hanae, who received her favorite white hydrangea from Hiroto, tearfully exclaimed, "You're too kind. You'll definitely be deceived one day. I'm worried about you." Then Kobayashi Satomi's narration came on, saying, "At that moment, Grandma thought, even though it was dilapidated, she wanted to entrust that one-story house, surrounded by her favorite flowers and trees, to this young man."
Fans of the original work responded on social media with comments such as, "Ahh, White Hydrangea...the one that made me cry in the original...", "I was wondering when they would show the episode about grandma being hospitalized, but I never thought they would put it at the end...", "So they brought the episode from volume 1 here", and "I cried when I read the manga about White Hydrangea", as well as comments such as, "I cried. White Hydrangea...it makes me cry", and "Hiroto, you're such a guy, you made me cry in the final episode".
Afterwards, Hiroto and his friends are shown enjoying a yam-ni party, and the drama ends without incident, in a good way. Many viewers have expressed their desire for a sequel, saying things like, "Please make a season 2, Hirayasumi!", "I'm waiting for season 2!", "I'm waiting for season 2!", and "It was a truly beloved drama. Please come back again!"
