The seventh episode of the Fuji TV drama series " Soda Master " (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on February 25th. Riko Fukumoto, who plays the cafe employee Hakuba Nishino, showed off her "Santa costume," which became a hot topic on social media, with people saying she was "just so cute."
◇The following contains spoilers
Hakuba is working in a Santa costume in a cafe decorated with a Christmas tree. Meanwhile, Yuta (Sorimachi), Hajime (Omori), and Kisuke (Tsuda), who are also in the cafe, catch glimpses of Hakuba in his Santa costume, but are unable to bring it up.
"It doesn't matter what it is, it would be easier if you just pointed it out (about the Santa costume)!", Hakuba pointed out, which upset the three. Hajime blurted out, "Old men don't know how to tease us. Is it wrong to just call us cute?", to which Hakuba replied, "Cute is fine."
Hajime immediately responded, "Well, it's cute. And sexy," but Hakuba refused, saying, "That's no good!" Hajime could only lament, "What a troublesome world we live in." The episode became a hot topic on social media, with comments such as, "Hakuba's Santa costume is so cute and lovely!", "Hakuba looks good in Santa costume," and "Santa Hakuba was just so cute in this episode."
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 both passionate about making kung fu movies when they were in junior high school in 1988, but now feel like their lives have reached a dead end, thinking "this isn't how it was supposed to be."
