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The story
Episode 19 of TBS’s Sunday Theater drama “VIVANT” aired on October 4 after a three-week hiatus for Asian Games coverage. The household rating rose 0.4 points from the previous episode to 15.4%, but on 5channel’s “Geinou/Sports News+” board (芸スポ速報+, an entertainment-and-sports-news discussion board), threads lit up with complaints that the episode’s torture scene “isn’t what you want on a Sunday night,” while others cried “trailer fraud” after the rescue operation teased in the preview failed to materialize on screen. Still, some pushed back — “holding back that much was them being considerate,” “they could’ve leaned even more violent” — splitting the thread between two running debates: how graphic the depiction should be, and how slowly the story is moving.
October 5, 2026, 11:05 PM
The torture scene depicted in Episode 19 of TBS’s Sunday Theater drama “VIVANT,” which aired on the 4th, has become a point of controversy among viewers.
Episode 19 marked the show’s return after a broadcast hiatus for the Asian Games — its first new episode in three weeks. The average household rating came in at 15.4% (Video Research, Kanto region; figures throughout refer to this measure), up 0.4 points from Episode 18.
Source: news.livedoor.com / Original article here
What people said
The scene in the final season where they beat a guy down and dig the SIM card he swallowed out of him — even knowing it's just acting, that made me gag.
Exactly — in real torture you don't actually cut fingers off, that just reduces the number of pain receptors available. You start by driving needles under the fingernails, then move on to the toes. Fixing someone's head in place and letting water drip onto their eyeball is also effective psychologically, since they can't even pass out to escape it.
I figured if someone had to die, they might pick the female Bepan agent (別班, the drama's secret black-ops unit) since it'd hit harder — but nope, smoothly skipped over again. I guess because with a woman it'd veer into fan-service territory, lol.
No action from Isao Hashizume or Akio Kaneda (veteran supporting cast members) either. If only there'd been a Season 3. Oh, it's a movie instead? Lame. Are they even trying anymore?
If this were '24,' they'd have already pulled off the rescue before the Asian Games break, then come back from the hiatus straight into a fight over the Purisha (プリシャ, a fictional resource/plot device in the show) and a final showdown with Shinshi — that's the pace this show should have.
Nowadays it's all about Chokky.
If you're planning to sell that acrylic stand figure you impulse-bought, now's the time.
I wonder why they're so insistent on carefully drawing out everything before the operation even starts. Last episode showed Japan being competent, but it was still rough going. They've already got the cook on their side — just poison everyone's food except the Bepan agents' and call it a day.
All I'm seeing is direction that shows nothing but a shadow and implies someone got killed, lol.
Personally, I don't think violent scenes are inherently a bad thing. If it's the hero's side cutting loose and coming out on top, that's actually satisfying to watch. But this episode was just one ally after another getting worn down and torn apart, over and over — it's pure stress and pure gore with nothing else to it. The Sunday Theater slot could stand to be a bit simpler than this.
That's exactly why the single, 40-something One Piece otaku crowd is hooked on this.
They cut off all five fingers and just left them lying there. There was also a silhouette-style shot of a knife going into someone's chest. But that guy's not actually dead, is he?
There are so many of those Mexico videos out there I can't even tell which one you're talking about…
There have been so many 'actually he was alive' reveals that it's starting to feel stale. Which is probably why Yamamoto (a character who actually died in the series) is so popular — he's one of the few who really stayed dead.
They're probably stretching things out because there's a movie planned. Though it doesn't seem to have been officially announced yet…
Still, the ratings are holding up. Haven't watched it myself. At this rate there'll be a Season 3. Not that I'll be watching that either.
You don't have to force yourself to watch it, you know.
Background and key debates
“VIVANT” is a sequel series to the TBS Sunday Theater drama that aired in 2023 to high ratings; the episode discussed here, Episode 19, aired after a three-week hiatus for Asian Games coverage. The 15.4% household rating was up 0.4 points from the previous episode, suggesting viewer interest held up through the break. The thread split along two lines. One was the intensity of the torture depiction: some felt it “isn’t what you want in the Sunday-night slot,” while others countered it was restrained compared to overseas shows like “24.” The other was the show’s slow pacing — viewers were frustrated that the rescue-operation footage teased in the preview never showed up in the actual episode, branding it “trailer fraud,” while others speculated the show was being stretched out ahead of a planned film. Commenters also compared the scene to real-world torture methods and referenced Mexican cartel violence, but these were offered as reference points for gauging the show’s realism rather than claims about any specific incident or person.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “‘VIVANT’ Returns After 3-Week Break to Viewer Complaints — Graphic Torture Scene ‘Not What You Want on a Sunday Night,’ Plus a Plot That Won’t Move.”
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