The 25th episode of the NHK Taiga drama "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" (NHK General, Sundays at 8 PM, etc.), starring actor Taiga Nakano, aired on June 28th, featuring the grown-up Yoichiro.
"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 episode 25, Nobunaga's (Shun Oguri) new castle, Azuchi Castle, is completed. At the celebratory banquet, Nobunaga suggests that his retainers have a sumo match, and for some reason, he nominates senior retainers such as Hayashi Hidetada (Taro Suwa), Sakuma Nobumori (Daikichi Sugawara), and Ando Morinari (Tetsushi Tanaka) to be opponents for his young attendant, Mori Ran (Tetsushi Tanaka). What was thought to be mere entertainment turns into a humiliating defeat, and Nobunaga banishes the three without question.
In the same episode, Yoichiro, who has grown up, is the only child of Kei (Riho Yoshioka) and her late husband. After his father's death, he lived with his grandparents, but was later taken in by Koichiro and raised as the legitimate son.
Taking over the role from child actress Haru Takagi, Riku Onishi will play Yoichiro from this episode onwards.
Onishi was born on May 16, 2006, and is a 20-year-old from Tokyo. In 2012, she made her first regular appearance in a drama series, "Going My Home," directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda and aired on Kansai TV and Fuji TV. Her major works include the films "Rurouni Kenshin: The Final" (2021) and "Water Flows Towards the Sea" (2023), and the drama series "Midsummer Cinderella" (Fuji TV), "Sky Castle" (TV Asahi, 2024), and "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (Nippon Television, 2025). She is also an avid fan of the professional baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, and even has a magazine column about them.
In the 2023 historical drama "What to Do, Ieyasu?", she played the role of Mori Ran.
On social media, there was a great deal of reaction to Onishi's portrayal of the grown-up Yoichiro, with comments such as "Yoichiro has grown so big!", "Yoichiro has gotten so big!", "Yoichiro has grown remarkably!", "Yoichiro has grown remarkably!", and "He's grown so much!"
