The 47th episode, "Manju Scary," of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8:00 PM and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , aired on December 7th. In this episode, Hitotsubashi Harusame (Ikuta Toma) falls into a trap set by Tsutaju (Yokohama) and his men, is captured, and then secretly sent to a remote island in Awa. Meanwhile, the name of the man prepared by Sadanobu (Inoue Yuki) and his men to act as Harusame's double was also a source of attention: Saito Jurobei (played by Ikuta in a dual role).
Saito Jurobei was a Noh actor employed by the Awa Hachisuka family. He is also said to be the true identity of the mysterious painter Toshusai Sharaku, according to art history.
Already in " UNBOUND ," the theory that Sharaku's true identity was a multiple-person story centered around Utamaro (Shota Sometani) was adopted. "So, what about Saito Jurobei?" one might ask, but the role he was given in the drama was a surprising one: a Noh-loving "double for Jisei."
Yoshiko Morishita , chief producer and production manager for " UNBOUND, " prefaced his remarks by saying that screenwriter Morishita Yoshiko "places great importance on historical facts and documents," and then spoke about the appearance of Saito Jurobei, who is "the spitting image of Jisei," as follows:
"I had been thinking for a long time about what to do with the character Saito Jurobei. On the other hand, as the story progressed, Jisei became a character who was in some ways charming and in some ways hateful, and in actual history he lived a long life without any incident after that, but Morishita and I were talking about how we wanted to punish Jisei in some way. What kind of punishment would that be? We thought it might be something like not being able to leave his name in history. As one trick for that punishment, we thought we could make good use of Saito Jurobei, a character whose true identity and background are not well known."
The idea, including Ikuta playing two roles, apparently came up around spring this year. This time, " UNBOUND" adopts the theory that Sharaku's true identity is "multiple people," but Fujinami says that even before that, many people had asked him, "Who is Sharaku?", and Ikuta, who was chosen to play Saito Jurobei, was one of them.
When Ikuta found out that he would be playing two roles, Jisei and Jurobei, he responded, "It sounds like a lot of fun," and said he was "looking forward to" playing Jurobei.
Regarding the "punishment for Jisei" this time, Fujinami explained, "Morishita also said, 'We can't let evil go unchecked like this.' I began to wonder what it would be like as a drama to let Jisei, who has accumulated so many evil deeds, get away with it." He then praised Ikuta's "Jurobei" once again, saying, "He gave a very charming performance, and compared to Jisei, he subtly expressed the differences in the way he stood, walked, and spoke." He also said, "I would like to find out at some point who the 'Jiro-like person' who has been in the city up until now is."
