In the 122nd episode (aired March 24th) of the NHK Asadora drama series "Bakebake " (NHK General, Monday-Saturday 8:00 AM, etc.), starring actress Akari Takaishi , what scene captivated viewers the most? We examined the minute-by-minute changes in "attention level" (according to REVISIO, Kanto region, preliminary figures), which indicates the percentage of viewers glued to their screens, and found that the highest value was 74.5% at 8:09 AM.
" Bakebake" is the 113th morning Asadora. The heroine, Toki Matsuno, and her husband, Lefkada Heaven, are modeled after Koizumi Setsu, the daughter of a fallen samurai family in Matsue, and Lafcadio Hearn(Yakumo Koizumi), known for his works such as "Kwaidan." The drama boldly reconstructs these events, changing some of the character and organization names to portray them as fiction.
◇The peak was Heaven's "end"
In episode 122, Heaven (Tommy Bastow), who had been experiencing chest pain in the previous day's episode 121, suddenly meets his end. In a sense, this episode can be considered the climax of the final week.
The "attention rate," which indicates the percentage of viewers watching the screen intently, hovered around the low 60s for most of the time, but jumped sharply to the mid-70s only at 8:09 AM, when Heaven's "final moments" were depicted.
◇Nearly one minute of silence and no dialogue: Heaven resting on Toki's shoulder
The drama begins with a scene of Toki (Takaishi) and Heaven watching children skipping and playing. Out-of-season cherry blossoms are blooming again in the garden. The maid, Kuma (Natsume Touha), sees this and says it is "an ominous sign."
One day at mealtime, Heaven asks Toki to remove the small bones from the fish. It's been a while since they've done this, and both Toki and Heaven reminisce about the past. In the evening, Toki and Heaven sit on the veranda of their west-facing room, wanting to see the cherry blossoms one more time, and begin to watch the beautiful sunset. It's around this time that the timeline shifts to 8:05 AM (59.7%). Heaven says, "The cherry blossoms that bloomed yesterday bloomed to say goodbye to me." Then she says to Toki, "I will not... cry, and I will never... die."
In response, Toki laughed and replied, "I play karuta with my kids," and "After we finish karuta, I skip," and the viewership rose to 63.0% around 8:06 AM. However, when Toki continued, saying things like, "When my kids grow up, I'll drink beer and get drunk," the viewership plummeted to 56.1% around 8:07 AM. When Heaven said, "Excuse me, but I'll go ahead and have a rest," Toki replied, "Not at all. Please have a rest." It was a heartwarming exchange between the two, but even at 8:08 AM, the viewership remained low at 56.3%.
Then, at 8:09 AM, the rating suddenly jumped to 74.5%, a jump of 18.2 points. It was precisely at the 9-minute mark that Heaven rested his head on Toki's shoulder, and soon the music stopped, leaving only silence. Occasionally, the faint sound of insects that Heaven also loved could be heard. Toki could no longer hold back his tears, and a single tear rolled down Heaven's cheek.
The quiet scene between the two seemed to foreshadow Heaven's "end." There was no music or dialogue, but perhaps that's what made it so compelling for viewers.
◇A little curious? Eliza is coming from the United States.
At around 8:10 AM, Heaven suddenly turned to bone and was placed in a small bottle. The scene shows the family arriving at a lonely mountain cemetery to lay his ashes to rest. Sawa (Wan Marui) and Shoda (played by Shogo Hama) also rush in from Matsue, and it's a pretty good scene, but the viewership drops to 66.8%, and then plummets to 59.9% at around 8:11 AM when Toki places the Nishikiori hat that Shoda brought with him at the grave.
The final segment, around 8:14 AM, ends with Eliza (Charlotte Kate Fox) visiting Toki from America. Perhaps due to the unexpected visitor, viewership rose to 66.7% by the time of the ending.
The data used is REVISIO's proprietary "Attention Level" index (Kanto region, preliminary figures), which surveys 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 recognition sensor constantly measures whether people are looking at the television screen, and calculates the percentage of people in front of the television who were paying close attention to the program. (Text by Hiroki Sasamoto/MANTAN)
