The second episode, "The Bell of Wishes," of the 2026 NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!" (General TV, Sundays at 8 p.m. and other times), starring actor Nakano Taiga, aired on January 11th, and depicted the tragic end of Nobuyoshi (Wakabayashi Tokihide), one of Koichiro's (Nakano) fellow farmers.
"Toyotomi Brothers!" is the 65th taiga drama. It is a success story of hope and dreams, depicting the miracle of the Toyotomi brothers, Hidenaga (Koichiro) and his older brother Hideyoshi (Tokichiro), who achieve the great feat of unifying the country with their strong bond.
The script is written by Hiroyuki Yatsu, known for "Naoki Hanzawa" (TBS) and the Asadora"Ochoyan." The music is by Hideaki Kimura, and the narrator is Sakura Ando, an actor.
In the second episode, Koichirou (Nakano) returns to his hometown of Nakamura and learns that Nao (Shiraishi Sei) has arranged to marry him.
Nao looks sad as Koichiro rejoices, suppressing his feelings. Meanwhile, in Kiyosu, Nobunaga (Shun Oguri Shun), who aims to unify Owari, launches an attack on Iwakura Castle. Tōkichirō (Ikematsu Sosuke), who has been ordered to remain in Kiyosu, receives a summons from Nobunaga's sister, Ichi.
Finally, the day of Nao's wedding arrives. Nao suddenly appears before Koichiro dressed as a bride. Nao says she has run away because she dislikes her partner. At that moment, the village is attacked by bandits. Koichiro cooperates with the villagers and drives them away, but then a group of bandits attacks the village, killing and plundering indiscriminately, and Nobuyoshi becomes a victim.
Nobuyoshi's head was cut off while he was trying to protect the seedlings he had planted in the rice field. Koichiro embraced the "corpse" and, overcome with grief, cried out, "What is this?!"
On social media, viewers screamed, saying things like, "Wait a minute... the head..." "The head..." "The head---" "The head chopped off... brutal..." "I can't find any other word to describe it other than cruel..." "Oh no, this is tough." Furthermore, comments such as, "Hasn't it been a long time since we've seen such cruel depictions in a taiga drama?", "Hasn't there been such cruel developments in previous war taiga dramas?", "It feels like a taiga drama set in the Sengoku period. It's been a while," "I was caught off guard and then they greeted me with, 'How is it? It's been a while since we've seen a Sengoku period taiga drama, right?'" "This is the Sengoku period, after all. The difference with ' UNBOUND' is stark," "The times have changed over the past two years, so they're really instilling in the viewers the absurdity of the Sengoku period right from the start..." and "I've been watching taiga dramas about cultural figures for the past two years, so this opposition party and the cruelty of the Sengoku period is... tough..." were posted one after another.
