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earth_colors ([personal profile] earth_colors) wrote2024-03-17 10:16 am

FuteHodo Ep4: Drama Notes

Ep. 4: "Is It Bad to Leave Messages on Read?"
 


Kaze to Ki no Uta [風と木の詩] (lit. "The Poem (or Song) of Wind and Trees"). Written by Takemiya Keiko from 1976 to 1984, wiki article HEREThe "monumental BL manga" that teen Inoue was reading, which was about the "tragic romance between Gilbert Cocteau and Serge Battour, two students at an all-boys boarding school in late 19th-century France."
BTW, in TV Tokyo's "Kinou Nani Tabeta? (What Did You Eat Yesterday?)", one of the recurring characters named Inoue(!) Wataru (played by Isomura Hayato who stars in FuteHodo as "Mutchy") is a gay character whose nickname is also "Gilbert".


Kiyohara on the right, Kuwata on the left
 
Kiyohara and Kuwata. They were also mentioned in Ep 1, the two famous high school baseball players, who played at Koshien in the 80s, Kiyohara Kazuhiro and Kuwata Masumi. They belonged to Osaka PL Gakuen high school, with "PL" (not BL lol) an abbreviation for "Perfect Liberty" because it was founded by "Perfect Liberty Church".


Waiting Naked... Again.  Aside from "Gilbert", the drama pokes fun again at another character played by Isomura Hayato. Along with Abe, Naka Riisa, and Yoshida Yo, Isomura starred in TBS 2020 drama "Koisuru Hahatachi". Mutchy-senpai's almost naked scene seems an homage to Isomura's scene in KoiHaha where he was buck naked unexpectedly, catching Yoshida Yo's character off guard (pic above), which created the hashtag "#全裸待機 (WaitingCompletelyNaked). Viewers said this time it was "WaitingAlmostNaked" since he was wearing briefs.
 
Jomon and Yayoi. Inoue suggested a "Jomon VS Yayoi Uta Gassen". You can read THIS ARTICLE about the two ancient peoples and settlers of Japan. And THIS ARTICLE about the gene theory that Jomon have moist earwax, while Yayoi have dryer ones. And THIS ARTICLE explains about the difference in teeth.


The WTW logo becoming like a church altar
when the "Wedding Bell" tune-like song came on
 
Song Inspirations:
The "SNS Ettiquette" song was inspired by "Wedding Bell", the 1981 debut single of trio musical group Sugar. Give it a listen HERE. BTW, when the song came on, notice that the interiors and logo of the fictional WTW cell phone network service shop became like those of the inside of a church.
The "Phone Tree" song Ogawa sang was a tribute to Yazawa Eikichi's 1986 cool song "Tamaranai Ha Ha (Can't Stop Ha Ha). Listen HERE.
 
 
Message Board called "dengoban"
 
Retro Communication Tools. This episode pays tribute to means of communication before the age of smartphones, most of which have been discontinued or already phased out:
Message board "Dengonban". Found in train stations, they were used for communication between commuters using a blackboard and chalk installed near the ticket gate exit of a train station. In this episode, it is where a distraught Junko wrote "Baka Kiyoshi!".
It is also featured prominently in the manga (soon to be a live action NF drama!) "City Hunter", as a means of communication. Like Batman's bat signal, one can call on the services of City Hunter by writing "XYZ" on the message board at Shinjuku Station.
Other nostalgic communication ways shown in this episode were passing of notes in the classroom, the phone tree, rotary phones with tacky phone covers, and public pay phones.

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