The 18th episode of the NHK Taiga drama "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" (NHK General, Sundays at 8pm, etc.), starring actor Taiga Nakano, titled "Hashiba Brothers!", aired on May 10th, and the opening narration became a topic of discussion among viewers.
"BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" is the 65th Taiga drama. With Toyotomi Hidenaga (Koichiro) as the protagonist, it depicts the miraculous feat of unifying Japan together with his older brother Hideyoshi (Tokichiro) through their strong bond, a success story of dreams and hopes.
In the 18th episode, Hideyoshi (played by Sosuke Ikematsu) is promoted to chief retainer of the Oda family and is granted northern Omi Province. He builds Nagahama Castle in his territory and becomes a castle-owning daimyo, and together with Koichiro (played by Nakano), he adopts the surname Hashiba.
Koichiro is put in charge of governing the castle town, but he is overwhelmed by the lack of manpower. Hanbei (Masaki Suda) advises him to increase the number of his trusted retainers, so he decides to hold a selection test to find capable retainers. Many applicants gather, and unique young men such as Ishida Mitsunari (Leo Matsumoto) and Todo Takatora (So Kaku) remain for the final test...and so the story unfolds.
At the beginning of the episode, Sakura Ando narrated, "Having expelled Ashikaga Yoshiaki and achieved victory in battles against the Asakura and Azai clans, Nobunaga defeated his arch-enemy Takeda at the Battle of Nagashino, expanding his power. Akechi Mitsuhide, based at Sakamoto Castle in Omi Province, Niwa Nagahide of Wakasa Province, Takigawa Kazumasu of northern Ise Province, and Tsutsui Junkei, who replaced Matsunaga Hisahide, who had turned against Nobunaga, in charge of Yamato Province, and Araki Murashige, who controlled the important region of Settsu Province. As new warlords rose to prominence and the Oda army became even stronger, this man, who changed his name to Hashiba Chikuzen-no-kami Hideyoshi and became a chief retainer of the Oda family, also... Around this time, Koichiro also changed his surname to Hashiba and called himself Hashiba Koichiro Nagahide."
Among the comments, viewers reacted to the part that said, "Nobunaga defeated his arch-enemy Takeda at the Battle of Nagashino." On social media, comments included: "Nagashino narrated!?", "The Battle of Nagashino is over with just narration...", "The Battle of Nagashino is skipped", "Super-fast Battle of Nagashino", "The Battle of Nagashino is over with just narration", "Nagahama Castle is already built, so time has skipped", "I can't believe the Battle of Nagashino was skipped...", "I thought they skipped an episode", "Wow... they skipped so much... they even skipped the Battle of Nagashino..."
