The third episode of the Fuji TV drama series "Ramune Monkey" (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on January 28th. The scene in which former physical education teacher Junji Eto, also known as "Jason," played by Saburo Ishikura, slaps a student brought tears to the eyes of viewers.
◇The following contains spoilers
Eto was the physical education teacher of Yuta Yoshii (Sorimachi), Hajime Fujimaki (Omori), and Kikuhara Kisuke (Tsuda) in junior high school. He treated the three of them like enemies, and scolded Hajime especially harshly. Yuta and his friends called Eto "Jason" because he was not afraid to use corporal punishment.
The three, along with cafe employee Hakuba (Fukumoto Riko), go to visit Eto, who is currently hospitalized. Eto is barely able to move his arms and legs, but as soon as he sees the three of them, he declares, "I knew I was right. You guys haven't grown up to be any good adults." He then calls out to Yuta, "I heard you were arrested," to Kisuke, "You were a shadowy figure," and to Hajime, "You're a total idiot who only makes excuses." It seems he remembers the three of them.
After that, Eto continued to say whatever he wanted, saying, "Just look at your face. You can tell how miserable your life is," which made Hajime furious. "You can't even eat properly anymore, can you? We can still eat anything. We can eat steak and pork cutlets in one go. Are you jealous? We're only 50. We still have a long way to go!" he said, raising his voice and yelling, "Don't mess with me, you idiot!"
Eto then twisted his face in pain and put all his strength into his hand. Hajime deliberately brought his face close to Eto's hand. Eto weakly slapped Hajime's cheek and said, "You look better now. You're the brat I know." Afterwards, Yuta and Kisuke were also shown being slapped by Eto.
On social media, the comments included, "Jason's final slap made me cry," "He brought his face as close as his hand could move to get slapped, which made me cry," "His reunion with Dr. Eto and the hospital room scene really brought me to tears," "The three guys who wanted to get slapped were so cute," and "I think the scene where he goes to get slapped is one of the best scenes in TV drama history."
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.
