FuteHodo Ep2: Drama Notes

EPISODE 2: "Is it Not Okay to Handle Things Alone?"

Clarion Girl. In this episode, Junko who has ambitions to be famous someday, said she wants to become a "Clarion Girl". These are women who were selected every year to be the "campaign girl" for Clarion products which are car audio products. Many careers of Clarion Girls were launched because of this campaign, most notably, Renho (above) and Agnes Lum.

Wanchan. Nagisa's pet name at work is "Wan-chan" because her last name is Inushima. "Inu" means "dog". "Wan" means "dog's bark", "arf", hence, she's "Wan-chan". BTW, "Nagisa" means "beach". I thought, she was named after Pink Lady's song "Nagisa no Sindbad" but apparently she was not. If you want to see the original song and dance routine of the fabulous Pink Lady, here you go.

Song Inspirations. Responsible for the drama's music are veterans, Kenichiro Suehiro and Mayuko. Musical scenes in the drama may not be a hit with all viewers but many Japanese have now been looking forward to see what songs are going to be sung and which style it was inspired by. I think it's a nice homage to Japanese pop song history, and is in line with the drama's retro nostalgia theme.
In this episode, Ogawa's song "Beiju no Yoru (Night of my 88th Year) seems inspired by Ozaki Yutaka's 1983 song, "Jugo no Yoru" or "15の夜/Nights of my 15th Year". You can listen HERE.
Meanwhile, Nagisa's "Listen to my 4 selfish requests" song obviously was an homage to 1970 song "Yottsu no Onegai" (Four Requests) by Chiaki Naomi. Listen HERE.

INSIDE JOKE: "It can't be helped that your show was up against a Ghibli movie." In this scene, Ogawa, as counselor, was counseling an EBS TV employee, who seemed worried about a certain show's ratings. As you know, FuteHodo's time slot at TBS is at 10pm every Friday. It is up against "Friday Road Show" of NTV which features local and foreign movies, including Ghibli movies.

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FuteHodo Ep3: Drama Notes

EPISODE 3:  "Can't I Say 'Kawaii'?"

 

 
Yamashiro Shingo (left), on the cover of his comedy album, and Casey Takamine (right)

"Chome-Chome" and Zukki. Zukki's character is inspired by two celebrities:

First is Yamashiro Shingo [山城新伍], actor and host. His name was mentioned in Ep5, as having divorced, remarried, and then divorced his wife Hanazono Hiromi. His parent was a doctor, and he tried getting into medical school but it didn't pan out. He had a Fuji TV show called "Ai Ai Game" aired 10pm during the 80s. It's a quiz show where he gives questions in the fill-in-the-blank format. He called the "blank" or "xxx" parts as "chome-chome". The questions are usually naughty, and if you aren't careful, you might give a naughty answer as well.

Second Zukki inspiration is Casey Takamine [ケーシー高峰], comedian and talent. He is known for his trademark doctor costume because he did belong to a family of doctors (his mother was said to be a gynecologist). He also tried getting into medical school but failed. He also appeared in a KudoKan drama, "Kisarazu Cat's Eye" (2002, TBS).

"Maido o Sawagase Shimasu". Synopsis HERE, and sample scenes HERE. The 80s TBS drama that Ogawa mentioned after coming home, seeing his daughter wearing only a bath towel in front of house guests. It's a coming of age comedy drama of teenagers who are curious about the opposite sex. Some scenes have the young characters semi-naked or wearing underwear. Ogawa said, "I am Bando Eiji" because Eiji also starred in this drama, playing the role of the father of teen girl Nodoka Mori (Nakayama Miho).

"6 Timing". In the script, the term used was 6股交際 which means "6 way relationship", or "6股" for short. I couldn't use "6-Way" because it denotes having a "six-some", so I used "6-Timing". "6股" literally means "6-Pronged" which to me means Tsutsumin dating them all at the same time is like stabbing meat with a 6 pronged fork haha.

 

 

Reiwa VS Showa MCs. This episode showed the difference between the two MCs from different eras. Zukki (Akiyama Ryuji) putting on a persona who is inappropriately naughty on TV but was actually gentlemanly in real life. While Tsutsumin (Yamamoto Hiroshi) actually does inappropriate things behind a clean image. BTW, both actors belong to a manzai trio called "Robert".

"Weekly Bunsun". The tabloid that published the scandalous article was based on the weekly tabloid magazine "Shukan Bunshun". Viewers laughed at the name "Bunsun" because it's like "Bunshun" sounded out with a Tohoku accent. And incidentally, KudoKan is from Tohoku.

 

 

Yashima Norito. For those who aren't aware, actor and entertainer Yashima is playing as himself. And while this episode was being broadcast, there were indeed trending topics on X/Twitter such as "#八嶋無双" (IncomparableYashima). And also, his stage play, "Kamuyarai" was a real stage play, and the playdates he mentioned were real as well. It was actually being staged that night when the episode was being aired.

 

KudoKan's Tweet. Just before this episode aired, Kudo's statement (above) promoting Episode 3 was tweeted, using his radio show's X account, wherein he mentioned his daughter. I found it sweet and timely especially that this episode was a tribute about daughters:

"There's no use telling you all, but the snowman my daughter made... who are they? They're Yashiki Takajin-shi and Tsurube-shi, right? Today, we're featuring complaints about #HokkaidoPeople! And #FutekisetsuNiMoHodoGaAru too! Ep3, god-tier episode! (#KudoKankuro)"

 

♬ Dare ka kimeru harasumento ♬ 
 

Drama's Choreography. If you like the dancing, you'd be interested to know that it was choreographed by KudoKan's wife Hattanda Riko. Riko is an artist herself as well, known only to those in the know, and is active as a musician in several groups. She also has sung and written some songs and has choreographed dancing scenes, like in the movie "Waterboys'' (2001). and the drama "Unubore Keiji'' (TBS, 2010). In an interview, Kudo said: "My wife, who is in charge of the choreography, named Hattanda Riko, is thinking about the choreography for the sixth episode in a state of tension that could explode at any moment, so we will do it until the sixth episode.". It seems they have been reading reactions of viewers weekly, and has taken into account negative reactions :(. But it looks like they have decided to continue with the musical numbers beyond Ep 6 so yay.
The couple got married at a time when Kudo was still a struggling screenwriter. They are both members of a theater group and bands composed of mutual friends like Taguchi Tomorowo, Abe Sadao, Miyake Hiroki. As mentioned, they have a daughter named Azuki who was born in 2005.

 

 

Nanao Pose. This pose that the Timekeeper Girl (Yoshida Ririka) did is called the Nanao Pose.

 

 

"I even record this show without fail, in standard speed, not speeded up 3x." People in this era had VCRs that could record TV programs. People (even up to now) can record shows and set the preferred time speed. They would speed up the recording in order to save recording space, and be able to record as many shows as possible.

 

Song Inspirations.

The first song, "Harasumento", sung by Producer Kurita and Yashima was inspired by the 1979 song by Kuwana Masahiro, called "Sexual Violet No. 1". You can hear it HERE.

Of course, "Everybody, Somebody's Daughter" is obviously very Freddy Mercury/Queen-ish.

"Japanese people love kendama and enka music." This is poking fun at the annual NHK's Red and White Utagassen, where enka music is usually performed. And for the past 7 years, it's been featuring the annual kendama relay, trying to break the Guinness Book of Record for the most number of successful kendama attempts while a performer is singing (Explanation HERE).

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