The first episode of the NHK Asadora drama series "Kaze,Kaoru " (NHK General, Monday-Saturday 8:00 AM, etc.), starring Ai Mikami and Juri Kosaka , aired on March 30th, and the unsettling final scene attracted the attention of viewers.
" Kaze,Kaoru" is based on the story of two trained nurses, Chika Ozeki and Masa Suzuki, who graduated from the same nursing school. The drama depicts how these two women struggle with how to interact with patients and doctors, grow through their conflicts, and eventually become the "ultimate buddy" duo. Mikami plays the main character, Rin Ichinose, and Uesaka plays the other main character, Naomi Oya.
In the first episode, set in 1882 (Meiji 15), Ichinose Rin was living a modest but happy life in a village in the Nasu region of Tochigi Prefecture with her mother Mitsu (Mizuki Mizuno), her younger sister Yasu (Miumi Hayasaka), and her father Shin'emon (Kazuki Kitamura), a former chief retainer.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Naomi Oya, who had no family, was somehow making ends meet by working in a match factory.
At that time, a marriage proposal came to Rin. The suitor was the eldest son of a former samurai family in Tokyo, a 23-year-old who ran a clock shop. The conditions were perfect, but Rin was not enthusiastic. Then Yasushi offered, "Would it be alright if I accepted the marriage proposal?" When Rin asked, "Perhaps you'd accept it in my place...?" Yasushi smiled and said, "It's a rare opportunity to marry into a wealthy merchant family in Tokyo. It would be a great achievement." Yasushi then added, "A woman's life depends on where she marries. If she marries into an inn, she'll be the proprietress. If she works for a company, she'll be the mistress of the house," and noticing that Rin seemed to be conscious of her childhood friend Kotaro (Toranosuke Kobayashi), he said, "If you marry Kotaro, you'll be a mother."
Towards the end, Rin remembers Yasu's words and grins, saying, "Mommy..." Just then, Kotaro comes running up to her and tells her, "There's been a case of cholera." Rin is surprised and asks, "What, cholera?" Then a narration (by Ken Naoko) explains, "It was the infectious disease cholera," and the first episode comes to a close.
The ending, which shifted from a peaceful everyday life to one that foreshadowed an epidemic, prompted comments on social media such as, "Wow... what an ominous turn of events," "An ominous ending right from the start," "The first episode started off so gently, like an introduction to the characters, but the atmosphere changed with the appearance of Korori at the end," "Kotaro and Rin seem to have feelings for each other, but... uh, Korori... I have a bad feeling about this," and "Korori showing up in the first episode is pretty heavy right from the start."
