The eighth episode of the Fuji TV drama series " Soda Master " (Wednesdays at 10pm), starring Takashi Sorimachi, Nao Omori, and Kenjiro Tsuda, aired on March 4th. Miki Mizuno, who plays Keiko Kuroe, performed sharp kung fu poses and even performed a "rakugo" storytelling performance. Viewers praised the episode, saying, "Her versatility shone through," and "Mizuno Miki Theatre is the best."
◇The following contains spoilers
Yuta (Sorimachi), Hajime (Omori), Kisuke (Tsuda), and cafe employee Hakuba Nishino (Fukumoto Riko) go to meet Keiko, the fourth member of the film studies club and the granddaughter of Kuroe's grandmother ( Bibari Maeda).
After making her CD debut as a singer of the Portuguese folk song "Fado," Keiko went on to compose music "Off-Broadway," work as a furniture maker, apprentice to a Living National Treasure Noh actor, and become a rakugo performer, before finally living a self-sufficient life deep in the mountains of Gunma.
When Keiko met Yuta and the others, she didn't seem to understand, but Hajime recalled the time, saying, "When I showed you the kung fu moves, you mastered them in an instant." Hajime then demonstrated the same kung fu moves he did in junior high school, and told Keiko to do the same. Keiko's memories immediately came back to her as she showed off her sharp movements.
At the same time, Keiko appeared in front of Yuta and the others, sitting on a zabuton cushion, and the opening song began to play. Holding a folding fan in one hand, Keiko recounted the events of the time in the style of a rakugo storyteller: "The year was 1988. The world was experiencing an unprecedented economic boom. The bubble economy was also hitting the town of Tanbe. A large-scale redevelopment plan was proposed."
On social media, comments such as "Mizuno Miki was amazing, as expected, in bringing out the individuality of the characters in the first episode!", "Mizuno Miki Theater was the best!", "Mizuno Miki was amazing, she was so good at both action and rakugo!", "Even the most outlandish characters are convincing when played by Mizuno Miki", "Mizuno Miki's acting was amazing", and "Mizuno Miki's versatility shone through" became a hot topic.
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."
