I thought you were dead.” The “reason” for the discomfort felt by viewers of “The Beginning of the Sea,” which became a hot topic on the Internet.

‘Isn’t he too much of a dead man?’

The Fuji Television drama “Umi no Hajimari,” in which Meguro Ren (27) of the popular group Snow Man plays the lead role for the first time on Gekkan 9, has only the final episode to air on the 23rd.

The drama is written by Miku Ikuta, directed by Taiki Kazama, and produced by Ken Murase. The team of “silent,” a drama series that Meguro appeared in during the October 2010 season and which became a social phenomenon, has reunited to create a completely original work that portrays the theme of “parent-child love.

The main character, Tsukioka Natsu, played by Meguro, had broken up with her boyfriend, Minamigumo Suiki, played by Furukawa Kotone (27), when they were in college. Seven years later, Natsu, now a working adult, is told that Mizuki has passed away, and when she attends the funeral, she learns that a girl named Umi, played by Sena Izumiya (7), whom she met at the funeral, is the biological child of both Mizuki and Natsu. Natsu decides to live with Umi and struggles to fulfill his role as a father.

The drama will run for a total of 12 episodes, a rarity in recent dramas. “In late August, Meguro’s agency announced that he had suspended his activities due to health problems and was undergoing a period of recuperation, and it was feared that he would have a very hard schedule, including the filming of the drama. Now that filming has finally ended, Ms. Meguro is probably feeling much better physically than she did during the filming.

The drama has become a hot topic, trending on SNS after each broadcast, and the sixth episode, which depicted the secret story of the birth of the sea, received more than 4.34 million views within a week of its airing. In addition, the sixth episode, which depicted the secret story of the birth of the sea, became a hot topic with 4.34 million views in the first week after it aired. The phenomenon has occurred on the Internet, with people whispering, “Isn’t Furukawa’s character, Mizuki, too much even though she’s already dead?

Mizuki was supposed to have passed away at the beginning of the drama, leaving behind her child, but she has appeared in every episode since the first. Rather than reminiscing, the drama depicted her relationship with Natsu in college, her daily life with Umi, her workplace, and conversations with her mother, played by Shinobu Otake (67), at home, as if they were “ongoing” scenes. In some episodes, Meguro appeared in more scenes than Kasumi Arimura (31), who played her current summer lover.

In addition, because the broadcast of episode 9 was postponed one week due to Meguro’s illness, a “special episode” was hastily aired on August 26, featuring Mizuki and Haruaki Tsuno, played by Sousuke Ikematsu (34), a colleague who had fully supported her in raising her child. A source analyzes this “appearance of Mizuki, who was supposed to be dead” as follows.

Somehow, a character from “Ichiban Sukina Hana” also appeared.

In the previous Murase/Ibukata works, “silent” and “ichiban suki na hana,” a considerable amount of time was devoted to scenes that delved into the pasts of the main characters. Viewers want to know what kind of life the characters had in the past and the relationships in the protagonist’s past. However, due to the number of episodes broadcast, most dramas are not able to depict them in detail.

By depicting these details, the story is given more depth and the viewers are able to feel closer to the emotions of the characters. In the case of “The Beginning of the Sea,” the story began with the death of Mr. Furukawa, an important character, which probably had a stronger impact on the viewers. However, this time, because of the “special edition,” there is more time for scenes from the past than in previous productions,” said a reporter in charge of broadcasting.

In addition, the fact that Mio Imada (27), who was one of the stars of “Ichiban Sukina Hana”, made a friendship appearance in the 11th episode broadcast on April 16 as a hairdresser at the very same hair salon as in the same drama was a hot topic on the Internet immediately after her appearance. This also coincides with the current hit movie “The Last Mile,” in which characters from the dramas “Unnatural” and “MIU404” (both on TBS), which were produced by the same production team, appeared in the same world line.

The production departments of the TV stations must have learned a lot from the methods used in these dramas. All stations share the common problem of sluggish growth in average household viewer ratings and should try something newer to overcome this problem. In the future, we may see more frequent patterns such as intentionally casting big names as deceased characters in other dramas, or having characters from other dramas produced by the same production team appear in other dramas.

It will be interesting to see what points will be talked about on the Internet in the final episode on the 23rd, as well as the outcome of the story, which is still completely unpredictable.