The second episode of the TV Asahi drama series "Reborn ~The Last Hero~" (Tuesdays at 9 PM), starring actor Issei Takahashi, aired on April 21st. In that episode, there was a scene in which Mitsunori Neo (Takahashi), who has been reincarnated as Hideto Nomoto in 2012, badmouths Mitsunori in front of Hideto's sister, Eri (Mayu Yokota), who was Mitsunori's secretary in his previous life, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 2, Mitsumasa, the president of the emerging IT company "NEOXIS," is reincarnated as Hideto living in the year 2012. Confused, he tries to understand the situation and searches for a way to reclaim his original life as Mitsumasa, but when he learns that the Mitsumasa of this era also exists, he realizes that he has no choice but to live as Hideto.
When Hideto looks at the circumstances he finds himself in, the shopping street is deserted, and the dry cleaning shop run by Hideto and his father, Hideji Nomoto (Fumiyo Kohinata), is heavily in debt. But Hideji and the people of the shopping street do nothing but party and make merry in the middle of the day. Hideto can't stand this situation and decides to try and revitalize the shopping street, but just then he hears from Sarasa (Anne Nakamura) that a large supermarket is going to be built in front of the station. The supermarket will be run by the top company in the industry, whose president is Hitoshi Ichimanda (Yoshiyuki Tsubokura), the man Mitsumasa tried to take down before he was reincarnated.
While the people of the shopping district were in a mood of despair, Hideto's fighting spirit was ignited, and he declared, "I'll do it! Now that I've decided, I'll definitely do it!" and began to take action to revive the shopping district...and that's how the story unfolded.
Kosei begins to accept living as Hideto and revives the Akari Shopping Street, which he had once tried to destroy. Meanwhile, Hideto's sister, Eri, returns from studying abroad, and Hideto, who is Kosei's reincarnation, realizes that Eri was his secretary in his previous life. Knowing that Eri had quit his job in his previous life because she had grown tired of him, Hideto thinks that "it wouldn't be good for her to join a company like that" and tries to prevent Eri from joining "NEOXIS".
However, Eri becomes acquainted with Tomono (Ouji Suzuka), one of the founding members of "NEOXIS," and takes him home with her. When Eri tells Tomono that she has decided to join "NEOXIS," a flustered Hideto turns to Tomono and asks, "What did you tell my sister?" He continues, "'FOR THE PEOPLE.' The philosophy your company president espouses is certainly admirable, I think it's wonderful. But I sense hypocrisy in it. Isn't the welfare business merely a means to make the company's name known to the world, and in reality, he's a devil disguised as a philanthropist?" He criticizes Mitsumasa.
When Eri tried to stop him, saying, "What are you saying!", Hideto said, "It's the hardest for me to speak ill of Neo Kosei! But I have to say it now."
On social media, many people found it amusing to see Mitsumasa, who has been reincarnated as Eito, spewing insults about himself in the new world. Comments such as "He's denying himself lol," "He's putting his own ideals into it lol," "Too funny," "He's dissing himself and it's killing me lol," "Neo is badmouthing Neo," and "Issei Takahashi's acting is absolutely brilliant" were posted and the topic became a hot topic.
