A New Year's special of the popular drama " Extremely Inappropriate! " (TBS), starring Sadao Abe and written by Kudo Kankuro, titled "Soon after the New Year, itExtremely Inappropriate! ! ~Can't we talk seriously?~" will be broadcast on January 4, 2026. The special will depict what happens after the drama series. We spoke to producer Isoyama Akira about the behind-the-scenes production of how they reconstructed the world that continues from the drama series.
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The drama, which aired from January to March 2024, tells the story of a Spartan junior high school physical education teacher, Ogawa Ichiro (Abe), who, by chance, travels back in time from 1986 (Showa 61) to 2024, where he makes a series of remarks that are inappropriate in the Reiwa era and disregard compliance. Meanwhile, it gives the Reiwa era people, who are bound by compliance, an opportunity to think, and portrays people who, no matter the era, continue to live their lives to the fullest, valuing their family and their work.
How did you decide on the story this time?
The final episode of the drama series ended with Inoue (Ono Takehiko) saying, "I've discovered a time tunnel that can take me to any era," so we decided to make it a story about traveling to any era.
"If that's the case, we can easily travel to the future, so what will Japan be like in the future?" That led to a discussion. Then, someone said, "We've already had a female prime minister, haven't we?" "So after she's born, an incident similar to what we would call cancel culture today occurs, putting the prime minister's position in jeopardy. That'd be great if Ichiro got involved in a commotion."
After that, the political situation actually turned to one in which it seemed like "we might actually have a female prime minister," and we started to wonder if this was really going to happen, but we had already finished filming (laughs).
The subtitle, "Can't we talk seriously?", was decided on early on. Japanese people tend to avoid serious discussions, and they tend to hold back their opinions for fear that debates and arguments will affect their relationships, so Miyato (Kankuro) (who wrote the script) said, "Let's speak out more," and the result was this special drama.
--The structure from the previous work, in which Ichiro talks about the present by referring to the past, is still alive and well.
That's true. But this time, it's Inujima Nagisa, played by Riisa Naka, who asks, "Why can't we have serious conversations?" Ichiro's time was an era when there were politicians who thought it was normal to argue. The perspective is that modern Japan tends to try to make conversations "inoffensive."
--You said that Miyato-san "confirmed the direction of the script," but what kind of conversation did you have?
We started writing after deciding on the outline, but Miyato-san became very troubled midway through. Normally, scripts are submitted very quickly, but even when the deadline came, he was unable to finish at all, which was a very unusual situation.
He contacted me saying, "I've written part of it, so I'll send it to you," and when I read it, I thought it was pretty fun. I told him, "I'm sure it would be fun if a drama like this was aired on TV during the New Year holidays!" But for Miyato-san, since he could go back to any era he wanted, it seemed like it was really difficult to maintain consistency, like, "Is it okay for this person to know this information here?"
He was in a really tight spot, which was unusual for him, so all I could say to him was, "Good luck," but about two weeks later I got a call saying, "We made it to the end."
-Were there any major changes to the finished script from that point on?
Not much has changed since then. The future of Ichiro and Junko (Yuumi Kawai) had been decided long ago, so the story had progressed up to that point. The difficult part was figuring out what Ichiro should do in 2036 to himself in 2026. But it was fun to read.
-Was there anything that made an impression on you on this trip?
This time, Abe appears in various eras, so he apparently changed clothes over 100 times just for this special drama. I decided that "if the difference was about one year, I wouldn't use makeup to make him look older," so I used only the clothes to create the age difference (laughs).
Towards the end, he found joy in changing his clothes over 100 times, and he had fun with the costume and makeup artists, seeing how many seconds it took to change (laughs). Furthermore, in the musical scene, seven Ichiros danced, so the filming was really high.
If you actually watch it, you'll understand that it's a scene where Abe's hard work, acting as the voice of seven people despite being a one-man musical, is truly rewarding.
-What was your impression of Naka-san?
After Nagisa is transferred to the news department, she begins to think, "I wish we could do this" from a housewife's perspective, even though she wasn't originally interested in it. Then she meets Taira Junko, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly played by Noriko Eguchi, and they begin to strongly resonate with her. If anything, Nagisa is someone who is seen from the viewer's perspective. In the previous work, it was Sakae (Mukaizaka) (Yoshida Yo) who played that role, but this time I think Nagisa will play that role.
--Please tell us an episode about Eguchi-san.
Eguchi-san, I'm sorry that you had to prepare so much, singing and dancing, even though you were so busy at the time... There were also many scenes where you got rained on and had to put your body on the line, but you really enjoyed it, and when it was over you said "it was fun," which made me so happy.
The dialogue between him and Abe was well-paced, and I found myself thinking, "I wish a politician like this actually existed."
-Finally, please give a message to the viewers.
The drama series received a great response, and I was really happy when viewers said, "Thanks to Ichiro, I was able to discuss various things with my family or at work." By broadcasting this time for two and a half hours on New Year's Day in 2026, I hope that viewers will realize that "what is common sense for us is not common sense for other generations," and that with Japan at a crossroads in diplomacy and the economy, they will be able to discuss with those around them about the future of their country with a positive attitude.
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" How Extremely Inappropriate! - Can't we be serious?" will be broadcast on TBS at 9:00 pm on January 4, 2026.
