The NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm, etc.), starring Ryusei Yokohama , is down to its final episode. In the 47th episode, "Manju Kowai", which aired on December 7th, Hitotsubashi Harusame (Ikuta Toma) was "punished" in an unexpected way, and the persistent theory that "Miura Shoji (Harada Taizo) is a spy" was denied. We asked scriptwriter Yoshiko Morishita how she reacted to this theory that had unexpectedly arisen.
"UNBOUND (Berabou)" is the 64th taiga drama and depicts the life of Tsutaya Juzaburo(or "Tsutajyu" for short), who is said to have laid the foundations for Japan's media industry and pop culture. The script was written by Morishita, who is known for his work on the highly talked-about "Drama 10: Ooku," which aired on NHK two years ago.
In episode 47, Sadanobu (played by Yuki Inoue) is cornered by Jisei (played by Toma Ikuta), who drove Osaki (played by Kurara Emi) to death with a poisonous bun. Tsutaju temporarily closes his shop, but when he visits Sadanobu, he proposes a surprising plan that involves Shogun Ienari (played by Kairi Jō). The plan is to have Jisei eat the poisonous bun instead.
The revenge plan is set in motion again, and when Ienari and Harusame arrive at the mansion of Shimizu Shigeyoshi (Ochiai Motoki), they succeed in making Harusame drink the "sleeping poison." Ienari returns to the castle with Saito Jurobei (played by Ikuta in a dual role), a Noh actor who looks identical to Harusame, and the real Harusame is sent to an isolated island in Awa.
Immediately after learning of his successful revenge, Miura reports the results to his late master, Tanuma Okitsugu(played by Ken Watanabe), and his eldest son, Ichi (played by Hio Miyazawa), with an expression that suggests he has achieved his goal. This also refutes the theory that Miura was a spy.
On social media, apologies were pouring in from viewers who still suspected Miura of being a spy, but this just goes to show how deeply rooted the theory was. It started when, while Okitsugu and Ichi were still alive, information about Tanuma's internal affairs somehow leaked to the Hitotsubashi side, and the theory continued to simmer as the drama drew to a close. However, as the cast credits continued to feature "Miura Shoji and Harada Taizo" in the finale, the initial revenge plan was discovered by Jisei in advance, and Miura was absent from the scene of the "poisoned manju disaster," all of which brought the theory back to a head. Ultimately, it could be said that people were reading too much into it.
Screenwriter Morishita revealed that he was "surprised" by the fact that not only the "spy theory" but also the "Miura mastermind theory" was whispered among viewers for a while.
"During the story, the theory that Miura was a spy and that he was the mastermind came up, and I had never thought of that at all, so I was really surprised by the viewers' speculation, and on the contrary, I thought, 'I never thought of that!' There's no going back now (laughs), but I think it's quite something. Saying 'it's quite something' sounds a bit condescending, but I think people are watching very seriously, and I think people are interesting, they think about all sorts of things, and I'm grateful (for the viewers' enthusiasm)."
The final episode (episode 48) will be titled "Tsutajueika no Yumebanashi" (Tsutajueika's Dream Story) and will be broadcast on December 14th with an extended run of 15 minutes.
