The first episode of the Fuji TV drama series "Ramune Monkey" (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on January 14th. The story is a "youth-recovering human comedy" written and written by Ryota Furusawa. Viewers have responded with comments such as, "It was more interesting than I expected!", "It was a mysterious story," and "It was serious, comedic, and suspenseful."
◇The following contains spoilers
The drama depicts the reunion and rebirth of three middle-aged men who were passionate about making kung fu movies together in junior high school in 1988, but now feel stuck in life, thinking "this isn't how it was supposed to be." The story is about a trio of very different characters, with different looks and personalities: Yuta Yoshii, also known as "Yun," played by Sorimachi; Hajime Fujimaki, also known as "Chen," played by Omori; and Kikuhara Kisuke, also known as "King Po," played by Tsuda.
The first episode begins under the night sky, with Miyashita Michiru (played by Kiryu Aso) explaining to three middle school boys, "The teacher is just a temporary figure. I'm going back to my own world." After erasing the memories of the three boys, Michiru says, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to erase all of your memories of me," and is sucked into a giant UFO...
Fast forward to the present day. Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke, who were all in the film club together in junior high school, are now 51 years old. One day, news breaks that human bones have been discovered at a construction site in Tanbe City. Curious, the three reunite and visit Tanbe City, where they used to live. There, they recall a strange memory: Misa, a substitute teacher whom the three call "Matilda," being sucked into a spaceship.
Meanwhile, Kisuke showed them a flyer with a photo of Misato that read, "Do you know this person?" and "Missing since December 31st." Kisuke then said to the two, "What happened on December 31st, 1988? When I saw the news about human bones being found in Tanbe, I couldn't sit still for some reason. I felt like I had to let Yun and Chen know, and that we had to investigate. I felt like I had to do that."
The three then sneak into the construction site where the bones were discovered in an attempt to solve the mystery of Matilda's disappearance. There they discover the same ballpoint pen that Misa had used, and the three become convinced that the bones belong to Misa, with this being the end of the first episode.
On social media, people were saying things like, "I enjoyed watching it because I'm close to the same generation as the characters," "It was more interesting than I expected! I thought it would be a heartwarming story about an old man, but there are also mystery elements so I'm curious to see what happens next," "The story and setting are a bit odd, but the atmosphere between the trio of middle school classmates is great," "It was really interesting. I'm curious to know who Matilda is!", "It was a mysterious story. Was Matilda murdered?" and "The nostalgic, good Showa-era feel made me tear up a little."
