The second episode of the Fuji TV drama series "Ramune Monkey" (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on January 21st. The scene in which Hajime, played by Omori, says to Yuta (played by Sorimachi), "This guy is the one who discriminates against otaku," attracted attention.
◇The following contains spoilers
Yuta, Hajime, and Kisuke (Tsuda) decide to investigate the disappearance of Misa (Kiryu Aso), a substitute teacher from their junior high school who goes by the nickname "Matilda." However, they are unable to remember what happened on December 31, 1988, when Misa went missing. With advice from cafe employee Nishino Hakuba (Fukumoto Riko), Yuta and the others decide to look back on what happened at that time.
At the time, Yuta had been completely focused on baseball, but he quit the club after getting injured. He wasn't originally close with Hajime and Kisuke, and when asked to join the film club, he initially turned it down. Recalling that time, Hajime said with regret, "(Yuta) said, 'I'm not an otaku.' He was the one who discriminated against otaku," to which Kisuke replied, "It couldn't be helped - people thought we were creepy, and I think I was creepy myself."
"It was frustrating because it seemed like they were feeling sorry for me," Yuta recalls. At the same time, he remembers how Ooba Akari (Izumi Arino), the "Madonna of the school year" whom he secretly had a crush on, told him, "Don't do it. I'm not going to join the film club. I can't be an otaku."
On social media, people were talking about how he was "an otaku racist lol," "Otakus feel so uncomfortable...," "I think it's funny and brings back memories to hearing things like otaku persecution," "Back then, otaku was synonymous with being creepy...though now it has a much lighter meaning," "Otaku discrimination was horrible in the 80s," and "He always throws in some otaku talk."
The original story and screenplay for the drama was written by Ryota Furusawa. It is a youth-recovering human comedy that depicts the reunion and rebirth of two middle-aged men who were passionate about making kung fu movies together in their junior high school days 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 "Kinpo," played by Tsuda.
