The NHK morning drama series "Bakeke" is currently airing (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and other times). Of the first 65 episodes, which were broadcast up until December last year, which episodes were most enthusiastically watched by viewers? The story of the heroine, Matsuno Toki (Takaishi Akari), the daughter of a fallen samurai, has been quite eventful so far. She encounters numerous shocking "incidents," and many episodes have become hot topics online. We looked into the "attention level," which indicates the degree to which viewers are glued to the screen.
The data used was a proprietary index called "attention level" published by REVISIO Inc., which surveys TV program and commercial viewing habits in 2,000 households in the Kanto region and 600 households in the Kansai region. A dedicated device equipped with a human body recognition sensor constantly measures whether people are looking at the TV screen, and calculates the percentage of people in front of the TV who are paying close attention to the program. The higher the number, the more people were engrossed in the program and unable to take their eyes off it.
◇The No. 1 individual overall ranking is that "Dakitakunai"
In the popularity rankings, we first looked at the top five broadcast episodes for "individuals overall," which is targeted at a wide range of age groups, as well as "men" and "women."
The No. 1 individual overall ranking was Episode 34 (broadcast on November 13, 2025), which recorded an attention rating of 74.0%. The line "I don't wanna leave" accidentally uttered by Heaven (Tommy Bastow) became a trending topic on social media, making it a hot topic. The minute-by-minute attention rating (preliminary figures) also hit 83.0% at 8:12 AM, when the line "I don't wanna leave" was uttered, the highest level of the first half of "Bakeke" broadcast period.
In episode 34, the Matsuno family finally finds out that Toki has started working as a maid for Heaven (Tommy Bastow). When her mother, Fumi (Chizuru Ikewaki), presses her, saying, "You got all that money, so basically..." Toki finally gives up and, with tears in her eyes, reveals that she has become Heaven's mistress. The story really picks up steam when her grandfather, Kan'emon (Fumiyo Kohinata), and her father, Tsukasasuke (Takashi Okabe), launch a "raid" on Heaven's house.
Kan'emon brandishes his wooden sword at Heaven, and Tsukasasuke grabs Nishikori (Yoshizawa Ryo) by the collar, saying, "You've deceived my daughter." Heaven, who doesn't understand Japanese, doesn't understand why Nishikori is angry and asks him to explain. When Nishikori explains that it's Toki's family that's angry, and that no family would be happy if their daughter became a concubine, Heaven then becomes angry. "You've got to be kidding me," he rages in English, and then shouts in Japanese, "Father, you're kidding me... Rashamen... It's different. Father, are you kidding me? Okay?"
In fact, the attention on this scene seemed to have dwindled a bit, as if people thought that the "commotion" would calm down for now. Then, the devastating words "I don't want to do it" were uttered.
Heaven frantically looks up the dictionary, trying to say something, and finds the word "dakitakunai." Toki blurts out, "Huh?" and "That's rude in itself!" Fumi immediately replies, "You want to hold me, don't you?", and Tsukasasuke also replies, "That's right!" Kan'emon shouts, "Perry, get ready!" and readies his wooden sword, preparing to attack Heaven.
It's a typical "Bakeke" scene, where a serious scene suddenly turns comedic. The late Rakugo performer Katsura Shijaku proposed that laughter comes from "tension and release," and this scene was a perfect example of a sudden change from tension to release, with the unexpected words "Daki taku nai" being uttered. The line "Daki taku nai" became a trending topic on social media, making it no surprise that this was the episode that viewers watched the most.
◇The heroine is struck by a shocking event. Will the woman be glued to the screen?
"Daki Takunai" ranked second among men and first among women, drawing a lot of attention from both men and women. However, the episodes ranked second and below among individuals overall are all episodes that drew a lot of attention from either men or women.
The 30th episode (broadcast on November 7, 2025) and the 16th episode (broadcast on October 20, 2025), which tied for second place in the "Overall Individual" category with 71.5%, are episodes that attracted "women," ranking fourth and third respectively. In comparison, the "men" ratings were slightly lower at sixth and eighth place, respectively.
Episode 30 is an important episode in which Toki happens to meet Sannojo (played by Itagaki Rikito) in town and hears from him what happened to Tae (played by Kitagawa Keiko) and Sannojo after they left Matsue. Upon learning of Tae's plight, Toki decides to become a "Rashamen" at Heaven. There is also a shocking scene in which Tae, who is begging, finally bows to the person who has given her money.
In the 16th episode, Toki's husband Ginjiro (Kanichiro), who had endured hardship and worked hard to support the Matsuno family, who were struggling with debt, runs away from the Matsuno household. Toki wakes up in bed and realizes that Ginjiro is gone, and screams, "Nooooo!" It was a memorable scene to see Toki crying and regretting, saying, "I was so dependent on him... I was so dependent on him, thinking we'd always be together..."
What the 30th and 16th episodes have in common is that they are both turning points in the life of the heroine, Toki. The women seem to react very honestly to the events that befall the heroine, as if they were their own.
◇ Men are captivated by the slightly "curveball" scenes
Episode 39 (70.6%, broadcast on November 20, 2025), which ranked 4th in the "Overall Individuals" category, and Episode 40 (70.3%, broadcast on November 21, 2025), which ranked 5th, were ranked 1st and 4th respectively in the "Men" ranking. In the "Women" ranking, they were ranked 28th and 11th respectively, attracting very little attention.
In episode 39, Toki (Takaishi), who has just started working as a maid, decides to relearn flower arranging and tea ceremony in order to gain some respect from Heaven. To do so, she visits Tae, who has started living in a tenement house. Heaven has kindly brought a pineapple, but Toki doesn't know how to cut it. The conversation continues with some comical moments, such as Tae asking, "How about filleting it?" It's a touching scene in which mother and daughter are able to spend some quality time together.
The 40th episode depicted the "Heaven Quiz," in which Heaven poses questions about Heaven herself to the students of Matsue Junior High School. Since the students "know nothing about Heaven-sensei," the quiz was held at Heaven's house as a "little fun," and Nishikori (Yoshizawa Ryo) and Toki also participated. The more Nishikori panicked, the more he couldn't get the right answers, and this episode also showed Nishikori's humanity.
If episodes 30 and 16, which attracted a lot of attention from women, were considered "standard" developments, then episodes 39 and 40, which attracted a lot of attention from men, were perhaps a little more "unorthodox." A mother and son continued to discuss how to cut a pineapple, going back and forth between the two. The "Heaven Quiz" was an unusual development that took up almost 15 minutes. Both were interesting, but the content strayed a little from the main storyline. Men may be drawn to such unexpected and twisted content.
Is the difference in the scenes that men and women found most captivating only limited to the first half of the series? We would like to report the results of the second half of "Bakeke." (Text by Sasamoto Hirozai/MANTAN)
