Why Is NHK’s Kaze, Kaoru Struggling Despite Being Based on a True Story? Experts Blame Its Dull Romance

There is also an actor who is one of the main cuprits

NHK’s morning drama “Kaze, Kaoru” continues to struggle in the ratings.

According to NHK’s official website, the drama is described as follows:

“The protagonists are two women, each carrying their own struggles in life. They enter the world of nursing, which was still largely unknown at the time, dedicating themselves to protecting injured and suffering people and, at times, fighting against those in positions of power. Set against the turbulent society of the Meiji era, this is an adventure story about two unconventional nurses who live in pursuit of happiness.”

The heroines are based on Chika Ozeki and Masa Suzuki, who became Japan’s first trained nurses.

Ai Mikami (25) plays Rin Ichinose, based on Ozeki, while Juri Kosaka (21) plays Naomi Oya, based on Suzuki. As a classic morning-drama premise—a coming-of-age story about women who survive through a turbulent era—expectations among viewers grew even higher when the production was announced.

However, the first episode recorded a 14.9% rating, 1.1 percentage points lower than the previous drama, “Bakebake,” getting off to a sluggish start. There was no significant rise afterward. On the contrary, the ratings continued to decline, with some episodes eventually falling below 10%, and the drama remains in a prolonged slump. So what exactly has gone wrong?

Looking back at the story from the very first episode, Rin’s father dies of cholera in Episode 4, and by Episode 7 she is married and gives birth. However, her husband is an alcoholic who engages in domestic violence—a thoroughly despicable man. Rin leaves home with her child, and by Episode 8, she is already facing a possible divorce. Viewers were stunned by the breakneck progression of marriage, childbirth, and escape all within just two episodes. Social media was flooded with comments such as, “The fastest development in morning-drama history!” and “A parade of misery, coming at such a furious pace—it’s astonishing.” The rapid pace was thought to have left viewers unable to keep up. From the middle of the series onward, however, the opposite problem emerged: the drama began to drag, with more and more scenes that make viewers want to fast-forward when watching a recording.

Film journalist Harumi Nakayama, who is also a drama watcher, was asked to analyze the reasons behind “Kaze, Kaoru’s” poor performance. She was quite blunt:

“It’s simply because of the utterly bland romance. I can’t help thinking, ‘Why not put more emphasis on the nursing?’ as the romantic entanglements of the two heroines drag on and on. Of course, when depicting the lives of women from a bygone era, whom they married was an important factor that could affect their lives even more profoundly than it does today. But it is fatal if that causes the drama’s original theme to become diluted. On top of that, every single one of their romantic partners lacks appeal.”

She also had the following harsh criticism regarding one particular actor:

“I can’t say who, but there is clearly an actor who is one of the main culprits. After being told, ‘This is the character setting,’ that actor simply continues performing according to the image they themselves have imagined. Normally, acting brings out emotions and reactions beyond what is written in the script through the chemistry between co-stars. But with limited acting experience, the actor is struggling just to manage their own performance and doesn’t have the capacity for that. I think it is the director’s advice and the environment created by the production team that should support an actor in that regard, but I don’t think that is functioning properly here.

Akari Takaishi (23), the heroine of ‘Bakebake’ (second half of 2025), constantly responds to her co-stars’ performances in ways that exceed what viewers expect. Perhaps that was the direction she received, but it was genuinely fascinating, and it alone made me want to watch the morning drama. As a result, the heroine she played became extremely compelling.”

The actor’s ability is presumably beyond question, yet it appears that the current drama has failed to make full use of the character’s potential.

The planning was half-baked from the very beginning

“I also think there were problems with the direction in failing to make good use of the material they had. Take Mikako Tabe (37), who played Sutematsu, the wife of Iwao Oyama. I thought she would be a key character in this drama, but in the end, they used her in a half-hearted way. Yuki Inoue (30), who played a newspaper reporter, is also an actor capable of very distinctive performances, but he was given an utterly uninteresting role: he persistently pressured Rin to marry him, got rejected, and that was the end of it.”

What about the casting and direction of the two actresses playing the heroines?

“It is the same with the two heroines. Naomi remains strong-willed throughout, while Rin remains gentle and easygoing, so there is little character development or surprise, making them insufficiently interesting to carry a long-running morning drama. Above all, I think the drama was supposed to address the importance of the nursing profession at a time when issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and problems facing the elderly were highlighting the importance of frontline care. But I don’t sense any passion to make this drama actually change society’s awareness. The decision to have two heroines aside, I can’t help but feel that the planning itself was half-baked from the very beginning.

“This is also partly NHK’s responsibility, but the image of the asadora as a gateway for new actors has long since collapsed. In recent years, viewers have become considerably more discerning because the network has cast actors who already had proven track records, such as Yuriko Yoshitaka (38) in ‘Hanako and Anne’ (first half of 2014), Shuri (35) in ‘Boogie Woogie’ (second half of 2023), and Sairi Ito (32) in ‘Tiger with Wings’ (first half of 2024). There is no longer the generous spirit of watching over the heroine’s growth while also seeing the growth of the actress playing her.”

On social media, viewers have been holding #ReflectionSessions, but by far the most criticism has been directed at the romance and the romantic partners. Some posts even said, “I don’t care at all about Naomi’s marriage or what happens with Rin’s love life. I couldn’t care less.” What was supposed to be a story about the growth of nurses who survived a turbulent era as pioneers of nursing instead turned into a cheap love story, apparently creating a major gap between what viewers expected and what they actually saw.

So, what do NHK insiders think? They say they are surprised that the ratings have not improved, but some insiders have this to say:

“There were voices questioning from the outset why there had to be two heroines. A dual-heroine setup might work if they were sisters, as in ‘Dandan’ (second half of 2008), but when you try to portray equally the backgrounds of two people who were born and raised in completely different circumstances, you need twice as much time. We were worried that the content would become diluted as a result, and unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.”

The drama has fewer than 30 episodes remaining until the finale. Will a miracle turn things around as it heads toward the end?—