The sixth episode of the TV Asahi drama series "Reborn ~The Last Hero~" (Tuesdays at 9 PM), starring actor Issei Takahashi, aired on May 19th. Towards the end of the episode, a scene was shown of NEOXIS president Mitsunori Neo (Takahashi) eating something resembling a hamburger, and the way he ate it caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
Kosei Neo, who has been reincarnated as the past Hideto Nomoto (played by Takahashi in a dual role), suddenly collapses during the Akari Shopping Street Spring Festival, but is supported by Sarasa (played by Nakamura Anne) and admitted to the hospital for tests before returning to his normal life. However, he feels a lingering unease, wondering if he will have to pay some kind of price for living as Hideto using his memories from his past life.
Meanwhile, through Tomono (played by Ouji Suzuka), Hideto receives an offer of employment from Mitsunori Neo, a man living in this era, and becomes an advisor to NEOXIS. Having completed his own company building, Mitsunori Neo moves towards entering the Tokyo Olympics-related business and acquiring a bank. Hideto knows that these plans will deal a blow to NEOXIS in the future, so he advises them to avoid it, but because he can only offer intuition as the basis for his advice, the executives do not accept it.
Then, just as Mitsumasa, who had been reincarnated as an Englishman, had predicted, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. The Tokyo Olympics were also postponed to 2021.
In the final scene, Neo Mitsumasa, the president of NEOXIS living in this era, is shown alone in his office, eating something resembling a hamburger wrapped in a bag with his bare hands. As he eats, Mitsumasa looks out the window and mutters, "The future..." Up until now, Mitsumasa in his previous life had always used a fork and knife when eating hamburgers, so on social media, theories such as "A hamburger! He's biting into it!", "I was like, 'Huh?' because he's not eating it with a knife and fork", "Since he's not eating the hamburger with a knife and fork, is President Neo not President Neo!?", and "Maybe Hideto is inside the current Mitsumasa?" have been popping up and generating a lot of buzz.
