A talk show for the NHK Taiga drama "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" was held in Okayama City on July 5th, featuring Sosuke Ikematsu, who plays Hideyoshi, Tsutomu Takahashi, who plays Hachisuka Masakatsu, and Yuki Kura, who plays Kuroda Kanbei. In an after-talk following a public viewing of the 26th episode, "Make Nobunaga Laugh!", which aired that day, Ikematsu reflected, "It was a shocking episode. A shocking episode," and regarding the next episode, the 27th episode, "The Honnoji Incident" (to be aired on July 12th), he said, "As you can see from the preview, it's finally time for everyone's favorite Honnoji Incident. We've arrived. From here on out it's a whirlwind."
In the 26th episode, Hideyoshi is ordered by Nobunaga (Shun Oguri) to "Next is Bitchu! Go and conquer the western provinces quickly." Perhaps because he was in front of fans in Okayama, Ikematsu spoke hesitantly, saying, "It's a bit awkward to say I'm going to attack, especially in front of all of you," and made excuses, saying, "It was Nobunaga's order, so it's not like I wanted to do it."
Ikematsu also shared a "special" behind-the-scenes story about the scene in episode 11, "The Honkoku-ji Incident" (aired March 22), where Hideyoshi farts. "I really don't like sound effects, and Hideyoshi stops a fight by farting, between important people. That's some serious guts. I didn't want to use sound effects, so I spent two weeks recording my own farts on my iPhone and auditioning them myself. I managed to record something amazing, and they used it," he revealed.
He said he also sent the audio recording to Taiga Nakano, who plays his younger brother Koichiro, and added, "Apparently, he still listens to it when he's feeling a little down."
"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.
