In the eighth episode (aired April 8th) of the NHK Asadora drama series "Kaze,Kaoru " (NHK General, Monday-Saturday, 8:00 AM, etc.), Ai Mikami and Juri Kosaka , what scene captivated viewers the most? We examined the minute-by-minute changes in "attention level" (according to REVISIO, Kanto region, preliminary figures), which indicates the percentage of viewers glued to their screens, and found that the highest value was 71.2% at 8:14 AM. For the fourth consecutive episode since the fifth, the attention level has peaked in the 70% range.
" 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, clash with each other, grow as individuals, and eventually become the "ultimate buddy duo." Mikami plays Rin Ichinose, and Uesaka plays Naomi Oya.
◇Attention steadily increased towards the end of the season.
In the eighth episode, Rin (Mikami) gets into an argument with her drunk husband Kameki (Miura Takahiro) one night over their daughter Tamaki (Miyajima Ruka). Meanwhile, Naomi (Uesaka), who longs for America, coincidentally meets Oyama Sutematsu (Mikako Tabe) on her way to a church soup kitchen.
The "attention level," which indicates the percentage of viewers watching the program intently on the screen, dropped slightly in the middle of the program but gradually increased towards the end, peaking at 8:14 AM during the ending.
◇The argument with Kameki escalated into a fire, attracting increased attention.
In the early part of episode 8, there were a few small peaks in viewership at 8:04 AM (62.8%) and 8:05 AM (65.5%), when Naomi accidentally encounters Sutematsu. Sutematsu, who has arrived by carriage, is passing the time on the carriage, which is stopped on the road while his horse tack is being changed, when Naomi, who happens to be passing by, drops some potatoes intended for a soup kitchen onto the road. Sutematsu picks up the rolling potatoes and hands them to Naomi. It's a scene similar to when Sutematsu and Rin met in episode 5, when Sutematsu arrived by carriage. Just as this encounter scene was the peak in episode 5, it seems that scenes featuring Sutematsu tend to increase viewership.
The next scene shows Rin writing a letter to her mother, Mitsu (Mizuno Miki), one night when she gets into an argument with Kamekichi, who has come home drunk. However, the first half of the episode sees viewership drop to the high 50s.
The ratings begin to rise sharply from 8:10 AM (69.4%) as the argument heats up. For three minutes until 8:12 AM, the ratings remain flat at around 68-69%. When Kamekichi says about Tamaki's education, "I'll just marry her off to a good family as soon as possible. Girls don't need education," Rin bows her head and says, "Please let her go to a girls' school." However, Kamekichi retorts, "That's pointless. She's going to get married off anyway," and the ratings start to rise around the 10-minute mark when he tries to wake up the sleeping Tamaki.
When Rin tries to stop him, Kamekichi becomes enraged and starts to rampage. Kamekichi throws things while yelling, "You think you can get away with this?!" so Rin throws her on top of Tama to protect her. The flames from the fallen lantern spread to the shoji screen and the fire quickly spreads. Kamekichi cries out, "Mom!" and runs away with his mother, Sada (played by Negishi Kie), leaving Rin and Tama behind. Rin is left stunned for a while before carrying Tama on her back and running away. The part where Rin returns to her family home, the Ichinose house, is between 8:10 and 8:12 AM.
◇The peak was around 8:14 AM when the song "I'm running away to Tokyo" was aired.
Rin begins to tell Mitsu what happened with Kamegichi, but she is upset and her explanation is incoherent. After a while, she seems to have gathered her thoughts and suddenly prostrates herself on the floor at the front door, declaring to Mitsu, "I'm so sorry, Mother! I'm quitting. I'm quitting being a wife!" At around 8:13 AM, the level of attention drops to 64.7%, but at 8:14 AM, it suddenly rises again to its highest point of the day, 71.2%.
What will Mitsu do after hearing Rin's resolve? Mitsu welcomes Rin into her home and instructs her to "run away to Tokyo," handing her a piece of paper with the address of her uncle, Nobukatsu (played by Yoichiro Saito), who lives in Tokyo. Mitsu's words, "We must not prolong this losing battle," are reassuring. Immediately afterward, there is a knock on the door, and the drama ends.
The drama took a dramatic turn in the second half. Attention began to rise as Rin and Kamegichi's argument heated up. Rin's cry of "I'm quitting being a wife!" was shocking, but it may have been largely what viewers expected. Mitsu's response of "Let's run away to Tokyo" was the peak of attention for the day.
The data used is REVISIO's proprietary "Attention Level" index (Kanto region, preliminary figures), which surveys program and commercial viewing habits in 2,000 households in the Kanto region and 600 households in the Kansai region. A dedicated device equipped with a human recognition sensor constantly measures whether people are looking at the television screen, and calculates the percentage of people in front of the television who were paying close attention to the program. (Text by Hiroki Sasamoto/MANTAN)
