The 18th episode of the NHK Taiga drama "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" (NHK General, Sundays at 8pm, etc.), starring actor Taiga Nakano, titled "Hashiba Brothers!", aired on May 10th and depicted the lives of the "Asai Three Sisters" two years after the death of Asai Nagamasa.
"BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" is the 65th Taiga drama. With Toyotomi Hidenaga (Koichiro) as the protagonist, it depicts the miraculous feat of unifying Japan together with his older brother Hideyoshi (Tokichiro) through their strong bond, a success story of dreams and hopes.
In the 18th episode, Hideyoshi (played by Sosuke Ikematsu) is promoted to chief retainer of the Oda family and is granted northern Omi Province. He builds Nagahama Castle in his territory and becomes a castle-owning daimyo, and together with Koichiro (played by Nakano), he adopts the surname Hashiba.
Koichiro is put in charge of governing the castle town, but he is overwhelmed by the lack of manpower. Hanbei (Masaki Suda) advises him to increase the number of his trusted retainers, so he decides to hold a selection test to find capable retainers. Many applicants gather, and unique young men such as Ishida Mitsunari (Leo Matsumoto) and Todo Takatora (So Kaku) remain for the final test...and so the story unfolds.
In this episode, two years have passed since Nagamasa's death, and Ichi (Aoi Miyazaki), "Are you afraid of me?", she clutches the amulet given to her by Nagamasa, which she keeps in her bosom, and replies, "I'm not afraid! Chacha is not such a coward," which makes Nobunaga say, "Just as you'd expect from Nagamasa's daughter."
Meanwhile, the "final moments" of Manpukumaru, the eldest son of the Asai family, whose whereabouts were unknown and whose fate was left ambiguous in the previous episode, were not revealed, prompting reactions from curious viewers. According to one theory, after Nagamasa's death, Manpukumaru was either impaled or crucified by Nobunaga (or Hideyoshi acting on Nobunaga's orders). Following this broadcast, numerous comments were posted on social media, such as: "What about Manpukumaru?", "So, in the end, Manpukumaru just died without ever leaving?", "I guess Manpukumaru's fate will also remain unknown," "Speaking of which, they were saying 'what will happen to Manpukumaru?' on X, but they just ignored him too," "They just ignored Manpukumaru's crucifixion after all," "So, they just ignored Manpukumaru's final moments," "It seems Manpukumaru will be skipped after all...", and "Manpukumaru's story was too tragic to show... so please understand..."
