Story of My Family!!!

He asked for a memory of being 42. The last match killed him.

"The feeling when I act has not changed since IWGP," Tomoya Nagase said when TBS booked Story of My Family!!! as its Friday drama for January 2021. "I will make this a memory of being 42." He left TOKIO and Johnny's office at the end of March. The ten-episode run finished four nights earlier, on March 26. latestnetflix.com's read is that Japanese papers called it his last serial as a Johnny's lead.They were not guessing.

Kankuro Kudo had already written him as an Ikebukuro fixer, a rakugo yakuza, and a lovesick cop. The new pitch was a wrestler who goes home to care for a Noh father. "If I do the next one with Nagase, a home drama where a pro wrestler cares for his parent is good," Kudo told the official site. Producer Akira Isoyama took it. Nobody else would have, Kudo said. Isoyama talked about making "the current peak Nagase masterpiece." It was the fourth TBS serial for the three of them, after Ikebukuro West Gate Park in 2000, Tiger & Dragon in 2005, and Unubore Deka in 2010. ,

The childhood friend in the mask.

A stunt double was discussed. It did not happen. Number later reported that Nagase wanted every ring beat himself, and that a wrestler with his 182 cm, 80 kg frame was hard to find anyway. He put on more than 12 kilograms for Juichi Miyama, ring name Blizzard Ju. The man teaching him holds was Shuichiro Katsumura, a Ganbare Pro wrestler and a Yokohama schoolyard senior. When the job locked, Nagase called. "Shu-kun, I'm counting on you." He wanted Katsumura on set because the man already knew "the good parts and the uncool parts." Three days later Katsumura was at TBS. The network hired him as supervisor and as Super Tamaji Man, the masked opponent. DDT referee Daisuke Kiso came through that same circle and said Nagase moved like a top guy. "So this is what a superstar is." Riki Choshu played Riki Choshu. Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono dropped in. The gag that stuck was Super Zeami Machine, a Noh mask on a wrestler, because Kudo had noticed both arts hide the face.

A sendoff that wrecked the chart.

The finale put Juichi in a retirement match and did not let him walk out. Daily Shincho printed the death as the show's last trick, a family drama that doubled as a goodbye. Households jumped to 10.2 percent, the first double-digit figure since the premiere. In October the Tokyo Drama Awards gave the series the serial Grand Prix. Kudo showed up and said Juichi was something "only Nagase can do." Toshiyuki Nishida took supporting actor. Noriko Eguchi took supporting actress. Nagase was already gone.