The fourth episode of the Fuji TV drama series "Ramune Monkey" (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on February 4th. Tsuda's character, Kikuhara Kisuke, was touched by the way he confronts his own life.
◇The following contains spoilers
Kisuke has always been good at drawing and has been drawing manga since he was a child. He now takes over his parents' barbershop and looks after his mother, Shoko (Takahashi Keiko), who has dementia. Nishino Hakuba (Fukumoto Riko) and others advise him to try drawing manga, so he sketches out ideas and finally completes it.
Kisuke asked Yoshii Yuta (Sorimachi) and Fujimaki Hajime (Omori) for their opinions. "I don't think it's bad. If I fix it, it will get better. But..." Yuta hesitated, and Hajime clearly told him, "It was an impulse, yes. An impulse!" Kisuke responded, "I want to make this. I can't help but express it. I don't have that kind of impulse. Unlike Chen (Hajime). I've been aware of that since middle school."
As if to encourage him, Yuta tapped Kisuke on the shoulder, and Kisuke said, "Don't get me wrong. I'm really happy right now. (The reason) is that I remembered. Before I knew it, I felt like I was living a boring life and blamed my mother. But the truth is, it wasn't true." He revealed that at the time he had aspired to be a barber like his mother, and followed that feeling, saying with a smile, "I chose my own path. I was making my dreams come true."
The narrator said, "Life is a journey of answering questions that have no correct answers. That's why we all worry, hesitate, and regret. But perhaps there's no need to be afraid. If there are no correct answers, then there are no mistakes either."
Social media was buzzing with comments such as, "A truly amazing episode," "I cried at the lines of Kinpo, played by Tsuda Kenjiro. I envy people who can think that they have chosen their own lives," "I'm glad he was able to affirm his own life by taking over the barber shop," "If there is no right answer, then there is no wrong either," "I love this work because it's like a light that gently shines in your heart, making you think, 'this life isn't so bad,'" and "Ramune Monkey is heartbreaking for people of this generation. It's a really well-written script."
The original story and screenplay for the drama was written by Ryota Furusawa. It is a "youth-recovering human comedy" that depicts the reunion and rebirth of two middle-aged men who were both passionate about making kung fu movies when they were in junior high school in 1988, but now feel like their lives have reached a dead end, thinking "this isn't how it was supposed to be."
