The 23rd episode of the NHK Taiga drama "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" (NHK General, Sundays at 8pm, etc.), starring actor Taiga Nakano, aired on June 14th, and viewers reacted to the words and actions of Terumoto Mori (Shogo Hama), who made his first appearance.
In episode 23, when Araki Murashige (Tortoise Matsumoto) stages a rebellion, Kanbei (Yuki Kura) acts on his own initiative to try and persuade Murashige, but ends up being captured. As rumors spread that Kanbei has betrayed them, Nobunaga (Shun Oguri) gives an order to eliminate Kanbei's son, Matsujumaru, who is being looked after by Nene (Minami Hamabe) in Nagahama...
At the beginning of the episode, on the Mori side, having learned of Murashige's rebellion, Ukita Naoie (played by Hida Yasuhito) declares, "Now is the time to march to Kyoto and seize control of the country for Lord Mori," and confidently advises Terumoto, "If you give the order to me, Naoie, I will lead the entire army and put an end to Oda's rebellion for you to see." However, Terumoto retorts, "Is there any just cause in that?" and reveals his thoughts, "This battle is to save the local lords of Harima. If we are driven by greed and desire to rule the country, we will be punished by heaven."
Furthermore, when Ankokuji Ekei (played by Tachikawa Danshun) shared his impression of his enemy Nobunaga, saying, "I have never known a man who has been betrayed by so many people," Terumoto looked down on Nobunaga, saying, "If you ask me, being betrayed by your own retainers is the height of folly. It happens because you rely on force and have not gained true trust. The one who gets betrayed is the fool."
Towards the end of the episode, Hideyoshi (Sosuke Ikematsu) and his men attacked Miki Castle, and it was here that the funds from the Ikuno Silver Mine, secured through Hanbei's (Masaki Suda) insistence, proved their worth. Naohisa, "blinded by the silver," defected to the Oda side. Naohisa himself justified his actions, saying, "It was foolish to betray them." Terumoto then decided to withdraw his troops.
After making condescending remarks such as "the height of folly" and "those who are betrayed are fools," Terumoto got hit with a spectacular boomerang effect about 37 minutes later. Viewers commented, "Terumoto disses Nobunaga at the beginning and gets hit with a boomerang at the end," "It was satisfying to see Terumoto's 'it's the fault of those who are betrayed' boomerang back at him," "His opening line was such a boomerang, as expected of Terumoto," "Terumoto's boomerang was huge," and "Even more so, this remark from Terumoto will be a massive boomerang when he is completely outmaneuvered by that cunning Ieyasu at Sekigahara." In addition, there were comments on Hama's performance as Terumoto, such as, "He got hit with a spectacular boomerang, but his acting was good, as he didn't come across as foolish and maintained the dignity of the ruler of western Japan."
