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The story
On the August 27 broadcast of BS Asahi’s “Ie-nomi Kadai,” Daikichi of the comedy duo Hakata Hanamaru & Daikichi sparked buzz by declaring he “really hates” the main character of Fuji TV’s classic drama Kita no Kuni Kara (“From the Northern Country”), calling him “way too selfish” — with Hanamaru agreeing. In the resulting thread on 5channel’s Geinou/Sports News+ board, users debated the show, now more than 40 years since it first aired, from every angle: whether the one-off specials or the original serialized drama are better, how to tell the characters apart, the pervasive sense of hopelessness running through the story, and how odd the series looks to actual Hokkaido residents.
Hakata Daikichi Speaks Out Against That Classic Drama! Says the Lead is “Downright Hateful,” “Way Too Selfish” — Hanamaru Agrees
Hakata Hanamaru (56) and Hakata Daikichi (55), of the comedy duo Hakata Hanamaru & Daikichi, appeared on the August 27 broadcast of BS Asahi’s “Ie-nomi Kadai” (Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.). During the show, the pair had some choice words for Fuji TV’s classic drama Kita no Kuni Kara.
Since August 27, the day of the broadcast, happened to be “Otoko wa Tsurai yo Day,” the conversation turned to Mitsuo — the nephew of Tora-san, the hero played by the late Kiyoshi Atsumi in the beloved film series Otoko wa Tsurai yo (“It’s Tough Being a Man”) — and from there to Hidetaka Yoshioka (56), the actor who played Mitsuo.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
He walked in on his mom's affair right alongside Goro, that's why.
Re: #3
It's actually pretty messy and soap-opera-ish, and that's what makes it good.
The original series is way better
The series is great too
Goro's still young and full of fire, getting all worked up over some bar hostess,
and Hotaru getting furious about it was the best part
Honestly I always assumed these two were brothers from the same Hanamaru family
Then I saw they're listed as the same school year and went "wait, no, lol"
(though rarely, non-twin siblings can share a school year)
The one who looks like a "Daikichi" is actually Hanamaru, and the one who looks like a "Hanamaru" is actually Daikichi
That was true early on, but the later specials leaned way too hard into fantasy territory
A drama this bleak and hopeless
there's no way they could make something like this today
Hashida Sugako's dramas were way too gloomy for me, couldn't handle those
Goro… gas station attendant, around 40 with no title or rank.
Reiko… ran a beauty salon.
They lived in a danchi (public housing complex).
His wife dies of illness anyway, so college was probably a stretch regardless?
Goro… gas station attendant, around 40 with no title or rank.
Reiko… ran a beauty salon.
They lived in a danchi (public housing complex).
His wife dies of illness anyway, so college was probably a stretch regardless?
Back in their Tokyo days, Goro drifted from job to job
but he was actually big on education and was the family breadwinner
Then the mom divorced him and died about a year later
so… probably not happening, right?
There's Kinpachi-sensei…
oh wait, that's just because the actor is from Fukuoka, not because the show's set there
Now that you mention it, the only thing that comes to mind is Omusubi
For part of its run there's "Maa Nee-chan"
and for a recent one, there's Mentai Piriri (starring Hanamaru)
He was such a good guy
Guess that's what you'd expect from Seikichi's son
There was actually a subtle bond between young Hotaru and Sota too. The way Sota was the only one who stood up for Hotaru when she got pregnant by a married man — that was some brilliant long-running foreshadowing paying off lol
Oh, now I finally get who Sota is
he's the one who married Hotaru, right?
Setsuko, that's Shokichi you're thinking of, lol (riffing on the famous "Setsuko, that's not…" line from Grave of the Fireflies)
He married Miho Jun (older sister of Jun's friend, the porn-video connoisseur).
There are signs she used to work in the sex industry.
As for Tsurara (Sota's ex), I know she worked at a "Turkish bath" (an old term for a sex-industry job) before marrying someone practically saint-like.
every single character is just way too damp and gloomy, come on
But Hokkaido sure was happy to cash in on it as a tourism draw
A lot of Hokkaido residents don't really like it, yeah
Yeah, I hear that a lot, and I get it. It's basically the idealized "countryside" that city-bred transplant elites picture in their heads
if you actually live there, it must feel pretty off, lol
what makes it good is how messy and sordid it is
like Jun's girlfriend appearing in porn or Hotaru having an affair lol
Honestly the content was basically a daytime soap opera
Exactly
It's not about being moved — it piles on people's ugly sides, their pettiness, their pathetic moments so relentlessly that it's painful to watch, but every so often there's a moment in there that really hits you emotionally
Akane, writhing in agony, lol
Background and Discussion Points
Kita no Kuni Kara (“From the Northern Country”) is a landmark work by screenwriter Sō Kuramoto that began as a serialized drama in 1981, followed by a string of one-off specials produced intermittently through 1992; it’s known for tackling heavy themes like poverty, infidelity, and family strife. In the thread, opinions split over whether the show is “emotionally manipulative” or “a hopeless, unflinchingly real portrait of human nature,” with some pointing out that the tone shifted between the early serialized drama and the later specials. Hokkaido residents also chimed in, saying the idyllic, city-eyed view of rural Hokkaido the show presents feels off to anyone who actually lives there — a sign that even decades after it first aired, opinions on the show remain far from unified. Posters also spent time correcting each other’s memories of characters like Sota and Shokichi, giving the thread the lively feel typical of a long-running series’ fandom.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Hakata Daikichi Speaks Out Against Classic Drama Kita no Kuni Kara! Says the Lead is “Downright Hateful,” “Way Too Selfish” — Hanamaru Agrees“.
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