Screenwriter Shin Adachi, Mastermind Behind the Hook of NHK’s Morning Drama “Boogie Woogie”

The morning drama “Boogie Woogie” (NHK) in which Shuri plays the heroine. In the 8th week, Tsuya (Asami Mizukawa), the mother of the heroine Suzuko, dies of illness. The drama was expected to be sad, but an unexpected surprise awaited the viewers.

 

The model for the heroine Suzuko Fukugi (Shuri) in this morning drama is Shizuko Kasagi, a great postwar star who sang many famous songs such as “Tokyo Boogie Woogie” and “Kaimono Boogie” and was called the “Queen of Boogie”. It is a human story in which she brightens up a damaged Japan with her singing, dancing, and natural cheerfulness.

In episode 39, Suzuko returns home to Osaka after a performance. She is reunited with her mother, who is in critical condition.

It seems as if they will be parted forever, but the story takes a sudden turn. After eating a peach that the idiot old man (Takashi Okabe) spent a week looking for, Tsuya regains her strength and the “Hanayu” comes back to life.

But it is short-lived. Suzuko sings “Koi wa Yasashi Nobe no Hana yo” for her beloved mother, who is once again on her sickbed, and Tsuya departs with a smile on her face. The netizens were surprised by this dizzying turn of events.

In previous morning dramas, the story would have ended with a quiet farewell to the mother. However, this drama is very appealing because it does not become humid at any time.

Producer Toshitake Fukuoka, who is in charge of production, says that the miraculous development in which the old fool eats the peach he found and miraculously regains his strength is the result of the script that was developed over time by screenwriter Shin Adachi, who wanted to cheerfully take care of Tsuya-san in the end.

 

But the miracle continues. In the 40th episode, just as Suzuko and her friends are thinking about closing “Hanayu” after losing Tsuya, Mitsuko (Manami Honjo), who knows an employee Gombei (Shohei Uno) who has amnesia, appears. The two become husband and wife and take over “Hanayu”. The physiognomy that Tsuya wrote in the past pays off and saves “Hanayu,” and the surprising recovery of foreshadowing can only be described as “brilliant”

As a screenwriter, he won the Best Screenplay Award at the Japan Academy Prize for the film “Hyakuen no Koi” (2014). As a director, he has worked on the films “Kigeki: Aisiwife Monogatari” (2020) and “Zogyo-tachi yo, Taishi wo Hakemake” (2023). His style is to reflect his own experiences and those of people close to him in the characters of his films.

 

“In “Hyaku-en no Koi (Love for 100 Yen),” starring Sakura Ando, Adachi’s experience of working at a “100 yen store” when he was 37 years old and struggling to make ends meet was utilized. In “Kigeki: Aisai Fuuma Monogatari (Comedy: A Wife’s Tale),” Adachi has attracted attention for his portrayal of the world of private fiction, as in the nakedly fascinating story of his own married life.”

“In “Boogie Woogie,” the heroine’s mother, Tsuya, played by Asami Mizukawa, is a reflection of Adachi’s mother, and the heroine’s younger brother, Rokuro, is modeled on Adachi’s son, according to the director himself.” 

The movie “You small fry, embrace your ambition!” is a story of seven elementary school students struggling hard to grow up, with problems from the environment and bullying, modeled on real children who were around Director Adachi during his childhood. This film won the Best Picture Award at the “15th TAMA Film Awards” along with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film “Kaibutsu”.

Incidentally, Masatoshi Nagase’s strong-faced yakuza Makio is also modeled after a really scary yakuza with burns on his face who lived next door when he was a child. In fact, the script is based on the only script praised by film director Shinji Somai, known for “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun” and “A School of Fish Shadows,” which he studied under Somai before his death.

 

“He would not give acting explanations to young inexperienced actresses such as Hiroko Yakushimaru and Yuki Saito, but would let the actors come up with their own plays, and would have them redo them over and over again until they came up with a play that satisfied Somai. This devilish method of directing has nurtured many actresses.”

“The resulting plays are full of dynamism and have a special brilliance because they are plays that they have thought about and discovered on their own. Director Somai, as well as Mr. Adachi himself, must have witnessed these moments many times,” said a producer from a production company.

The script is the source of the actors’ special brilliance. That is why it cannot be neglected.

That is why the truth that you have witnessed firsthand is so precious. It is with this in mind that screenwriter Shin Adachi takes on the challenge of creating a work that is like a private novel. 

Finally, the time has come to enter the wartime era. How will Mr. Adachi depict the war, which is said to be the greatest showpiece of morning dramas?