Kantele’s Drama is Great! …Praise for the “no-discovery” attitude in “Elpis” and the “surprising reputation in Kansai”…
The drama, “Elpis: Hope or Disaster,” starring Masami Nagasawa, was called “the most interesting” and “the most aggressive” drama of the October season, especially in the media industry.
The final episode of “Elpis: Hope or Disaster,” starring Masami Nagasawa, was broadcast on December 26, 2010, and was often called the “most interesting” and “most aggressive” drama of the October season, especially in the media industry.
Set at the fictional TV station “Taiyo TV,” this socially-conscious entertainment film was inspired by multiple real-life incidents in which, due to certain circumstances, female announcer Ena Asakawa (Nagasawa) and young director Kishimoto (Go Atsushi Maeda) are forced to investigate the truth behind the “Mt. Yatsuo serial murder case” targeting teenage women.
The film is inspired by the relationship between the news department and variety, the TV station’s reticent stance of “we can do follow-up reports but not treat them as scoops,” issues of sexual harassment and power harassment within the station and press assault, reminiscent of the “Moritomo Gakuen issue,” reports related to the Great East Japan Earthquake, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “under control” comment regarding the Tokyo Olympics bid, former Prime Minister Taro Aso’s “under control” comment, and the “under control” comment by former Prime Minister Taro Aso regarding the Tokyo Olympics bid. The “under control” comment by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe regarding the Tokyo Olympics bid, a character reminiscent of Taro Aso, and many others have kept viewers riveted by depicting the “dark side” of politics and the news media without making any discovery.
Although the false accusations were eventually cleared, many viewers were bothered by the fact that they gave up in the face of great power and the landing point, which was often left in the dark, but many admire the enthusiasm and determination of the filmmakers who delivered such a work to the public.
To begin with, the film was produced by producer Ayumi Sano, who has been working on the NHK TV series “Carnation” (second half of 2011) and “About the Crisis Here and Now and My Sensitivity” (NHK Sogo/2021) in Shimane, in between filming “Quartet” (TBS/ 2017) since 2016. It took six years to complete the film, which was written by Aya Watanabe, a scriptwriter who has worked on such works as “Carnation” (2011) and “Here and Now: The Crisis and My Sensitivity” (NHK Sogo/2021).
In terms of depicting the dark side of TV news reporting without any discovery, the film is more like the documentary “Sayonara TV” (Sayonara TV), which was made into a movie to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Tokai TV, or the documentary “Tulip TV,” a local TV station in Toyama, which took on the injustice of local politics and highlighted the cunning and ridiculousness of people through news reporting. The documentary program and subsequent film, “Haribote,” also seem to take a similar stance.
No discovery of Johnny’s!
How was this able to be portrayed in a prime-time commercial terrestrial drama series? In response to this question, P. Sano has stated in various interviews, “The script had to be made first.
I think the fact that the script was written ahead of time was a big factor. I don’t really know why this project was approved (laughs). (Laughs.) Some people at the company may have inadvertently passed it on without thinking too much about it, and then wondered what the story was about.
(Laughs.) “I think the production site at Kantele is a utopia at the end of the day, where the site is free to do what it wants to do, in a good way. (December 26, 2022)
I saw a concrete light of day before I joined Kantele, when I was talking to producer Hideyuki Kawanishi of the Tokyo Production Department (of Kantele) about changing jobs and having him read the script for “Elpis” along with various other drama proposals.
Mr. Kawanishi is also the producer of “Trap War” starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, which will air after “Elpis.” He read the script and said, “This is interesting and we should do it. At that time, Mr. Kawanishi did not have the authority to decide on the project, but (the following is an abbreviation)” (“TOKION,” December 23, 2022).
Some viewers speculate that there may be someone like Murai (Takashi Okabe) in Kantele who, having given up and become self-mocking after being forced to hold the scoop due to outside pressure, internal politics, and discovery, explodes in anger and runs amok after the person who holds the conclusive evidence is buried.
Looking back, “Avalanche” (produced by Kantele, Fuji TV/2021), directed by Go Ayano and Naoto Fujii, was also a film that exposed a crime that the state power tried to hide in the dark. Also to be broadcast in January in the same Kantele slot is “War of the Traps,” the first “war series” starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi in six years.
Kusanagi, despite being a well-known actor with many hit movies to his credit, has not appeared in a commercial TV drama since “Uso no Senso” (War of Lies). Needless to say, the reason for this is due to the TV station’s “discovery of Johnny’s,” but these circumstances have also added up, and a certain reputation has been built up for Kantele’s “amazing lack of discovery.
Because it is a “quasi-key station,” does it have less burden?
One Fuji Television affiliate executive said, “Kantele is a quasi-key station, so we don’t have much to bear.
Even though Kantele is affiliated with Fuji Television, it has no capital relationship with Fuji Television, so we can create programs relatively freely because Fuji Television does not interfere with our planning and scripts.
In addition, in the case of “Elpis,” a well-known producer from a key station (Ms. Ayumi Sano) planned the project, and even brought in Aya Watanabe to write the script and Masami Nagasawa to play the lead, so everything was already set up.
The president of an entertainment production company also commented.
In “Elpis,” there will be a line that says, “I can follow up, but I can’t get a scoop.
But the key stations are all looking at the power and the big entertainment companies, and they are all afraid to be the first to do something because they are afraid of being discovered.
In fact, NHK has had Mr. Kusanagi in various dramas before, including the Taiga Drama. In that respect, Kantele is the only “quasi-key station,” so they probably have less to bear.
Kansai’s reputation…
However, this does not mean that Kantele is a TV station that is completely free of any discernment, as one Kansai resident points out.
A Kansai resident points out, “Kantele has produced many good, solid works in the past when it comes to dramas. However, the only reason why they are able to make major criticisms of power, etc., is because they have little connection with the ruling government.
Conversely, the media in the Kansai region do not criticize The Japan Innovation Party at all. For example, on the 19th of this month, it was announced that Kantele had been selected as the designated manager of Ohgimachi Park in Kita Ward, Osaka City, which is adjacent to its headquarters building, and Osaka Castle has also been designated as a designated manager by the “Osaka Castle Park Management Joint Venture” consisting of Dentsu Kansai Branch, Yomiuri TV, Daiwa House, Daiwa Lease and NTT Facilities. The Osaka Castle Park Management Joint Venture, consisting of Dentsu Kansai Branch, Yomiuri TV, Daiwa House, Daiwa Lease, and NTT Facilities, is the designated manager.
In this way, the Kansai media originally benefited from being the designated administrators of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, and by being given candy by the prefectural and municipal governments, they are restrained from pursuing the Restoration Movement too much, no matter how many scandals it causes.
In other words, the Kansai media, including Kantele, are subject to a different kind of discovery: they can criticize the government, but they cannot criticize Ishin.
After all, it is the same everywhere that they cannot criticize anything that would be detrimental to their own company. In a sense, “Elpis” may have revealed this aspect.
