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The story
NHK’s Taiga drama “Toyotomi Brothers!” aired episode 40, “Asahi’s Marriage,” on October 18, depicting Asahi (Kurasawa Anna) divorcing Soeda Yoshinari (Maehara Mizuki) and marrying into the Tokugawa house as the wife of Ieyasu (Matsushita Kohei). Reactions on 5ch went well beyond simple praise — some viewers objected to dialogue that over-explained the characters’ feelings, others felt the portrayal of Ishikawa Kazumasa’s defection fell flat as historical interpretation, and still others dug into trivia about the actress playing Asahi or compared her role across past Taiga dramas.
Sports Nippon [Oct 18, 2026, 20:45]
NHK’s Taiga drama “Toyotomi Brothers!” (Sundays, 8:00 PM), starring actor Nakano Taiga (33), aired episode 40, “Asahi’s Marriage,” on the 18th, depicting the divorce of Asahi (Kurasawa Anna) from Soeda Yoshinari (Maehara Mizuki) and her marriage to Tokugawa Ieyasu (Matsushita Kohei). Here’s a look back at the scenes that got people talking.
<*Spoilers follow>
Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
she's going to be a hostage anyway
Yeah, the article was clearly written before the episode even aired
It's practically mandatory for a Toyotomi Taiga drama, right?
Izumi Pinko, Hosokawa Naomi, Shimizu Michiko…
Kurasawa Anna
In 2022, she was chosen from roughly 5,000 applicants in talent agency Repro Entertainment's 30th-anniversary 'Lead Role Audition' project, kicking off her acting career.[2][3]
Isn't she the daughter of Kurasawa Atsumi from the idol duo Warabe!?
Oh, it's NOT Ito Asako?
Just found that out today
then Asahi starts rambling her feelings out loud too
anyone watching can already tell both of them sacrificed themselves for the other
spelling it out like that is exactly what makes it garbage
is the screenwriter writing for little kids or something?
The real historical climax is handing their beloved mother over to the Tokugawa, the tearful parent-child reunion, and clearing up the suspicion that she was an impostor — digging deeper into that part specifically would actually be a bad move
was cute
the addictive kind of cute lol
this version's Asahi actress was good too, somehow
I did an image search and ended up becoming a fan
before he dies there's the whole scandal where a relative's indiscretion forces someone into seppuku
plus the falling-out with Hideyoshi
it's basically a bad ending, so how are they gonna dress that up nicely?
Even though Hidenaga was a major hero in the real historical conquest of the Shimazu in Kyushu, apparently they're just skipping that
I bet it just wraps up with 'We crushed the Hojo and achieved the unification of the realm Nobunaga once dreamed of,' the end
If they'd stuck with the original plot and kept Hideyoshi the psychopath he was meant to be, the two brothers could've actually been told apart
but Hideyoshi and Hidenaga end up feeling so similar that it's turned into 'well, guess we only needed Hideyoshi after all'
Asahi went down in history as Tokugawa Ieyasu's legal wife, so I'd call her pretty lucky
Divorced from her husband and shipped off, losing her appetite — that's a scene you see all the time in Tokugawa-themed Taiga dramas
And Princess Asahi was played by Matsumoto Akiko, right?
not interested in next week's episode either
Then why are you even watching it?
Obviously to drag the ratings down
Do you have a ratings meter installed in your house or something?
That's completely irrelevant
She looks like Oden-kun (the claymation mascot character) — cute
That's just because Ieyasu lived so long
she'd simply reached the end of her natural lifespan
Did the Tokugawa even have that kind of power back then?
Attacking the Kanpaku would make you an enemy of the Imperial Court, after all
Why's that?
The Kanpaku isn't the Shogun, so isn't that beside the point?
Isn't 'Kanpaku' just another term for whoever's the lord of Osaka Castle?
If you're seriously saying that in real life, that's way too embarrassing
The Kanpaku is the Emperor's chief aide, the highest-ranking vassal of the Emperor
the position that governs in the Emperor's place
Background and Key Talking Points
Asahi’s marriage to Tokugawa Ieyasu (the historical Princess Asahi) is a well-known episode in which Hideyoshi used a political marriage to bring Ieyasu to heel, and her former husband Soeda Yoshinari (Jinbei), whom she was forced to divorce, is likewise grounded in the historical record. What divided the thread wasn’t so much whether the scene was moving as how it was handled — many objected to dialogue that over-explained the characters’ feelings, and to the show sticking with the conventional take on Ishikawa Kazumasa’s reasons for defecting. Casting trivia, on the other hand — Kurasawa Anna’s audition background, comparisons with actresses who’ve played the same role in past Taiga dramas — drew a largely warm response, showing how reactions to the drama itself and interest in casting/behind-the-scenes trivia built up as two separate strands of discussion. Note that historical particulars like the exact year of Princess Asahi’s death allow for some latitude in interpretation between the drama and the historical record, so comments in the thread don’t necessarily line up precisely with established history.
*This article was compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geino/Sports News Flash+) thread “‘Toyotomi Brothers’ Asahi & Jinbei’s ‘Tearful Divorce’ — Deliberate Harsh Words, ‘Four Happy Years,’ Being Called ‘Tokichiro’ — Net Sobs Over Married Love“.
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