I want you to watch 'Galaxy's One Vote' because it's interesting!

I feel like I can say that Monday at 10 PM has become my favorite time of the week lately.

The reason is that 'Galaxy's One Vote' is interesting. It's a story about a former campaign secretary played by Haru Kuroki and a snack bar owner played by Kayo Noro taking on the Tokyo gubernatorial election. If you only hear the synopsis, it sounds like a typical 'political drama,' doesn't it? I thought so too at first.

But once I started watching, it was completely different, and by the time I reached the fourth episode, I was convinced, 'Ah, this is the one for this season.'

However, at first, I couldn't even put into words why I liked it so much. All I could come up with was 'the pacing is good' or 'the dialogue is pleasant.' No, that doesn't really say anything, I thought, so I'm watching it a second time. That is the starting line for this article. Today, I'm going to write an article about what I felt while watching 'Galaxy's One Vote' just as it is.

In this note, I write articles where I put into words the appeal of entertainment works in my own way, titled the 'Entertainment Anatomy' series. If you're interested, I'd be happy if you could follow me and check out my other articles.

It's an election drama, yet there's no talk of policy.

The first thing that caught my attention was that even though this is an election drama, almost no talk of policy appears.

As a comparison, American political dramas vaguely came to mind. 'The West Wing,' 'House of Cards'—that kind of stuff. In those dramas, 'what policy to compete with' is usually at the center of the story. Arguments about economic policy, immigration policy, and so on, revolve around the center of the screen. And how the protagonist takes a position against that.

That is what an election drama is supposed to be, right?

However, when I re-watched 'Galaxy's One Vote' with that perspective, almost no policy-like talk appeared. At least not up to the fourth episode. There are no candidacy press conferences, no street speeches, no coordination of election pledges, and not even the specific names of policies.

This is probably not an oversight. It has been intentionally left out.

I was also curious about the rhythm of the conversation between Mari and Akari. At first, my impression was just that 'the back-and-forth is pleasant,' but when I re-watched it wondering why it was pleasant, I realized that the lengths of their lines were intentionally uneven.

Mari Hoshino, played by Haru Kuroki, is a former campaign secretary who was kicked out of the political world. She is quick-witted, calculating, and has a hidden streak of malice. But she is also a clumsily straightforward person.

On the other hand, Akari Tsukioka, played by Kayo Noro, is a snack bar owner. She has zero knowledge of politics, but she is a person who can instantly sniff out people's pain.

Mari talks at length. She constructs logic, corners her opponent, and speaks the truth. After that, a single word from Akari comes. Something short like 'But...' or 'Yeah, and?' And that short word blows away Mari's long explanation.

They do this every episode. Even though they do it every episode, I don't get tired of it.
If anything, I want to watch even more.

Even when they have the same conversation, I feel like the temperature of the 'But...' in the early episodes is different from the 'But...' in the fourth episode. Akari's 'But...' changes from something meant to deny Mari to something meant for the two of them to think about together. It might be because their relationship changes little by little, even though it's the same single word. Around the time I realized this, I said out loud, 'The script is interesting.'

Kohei Matsushita is also a perfect fit for the role, playing a politician named Ryusei Hiyama who uses different faces for his public and private life. I even feel like this is the best role for Kohei Matsushita that I've ever seen. He has a good balance of shadiness, deviousness, and sincerity. I think his signature style is moving emotions while keeping his voice tone one level lower.

Mari, Akari, and Kohei. Everyone has a double face, both public and private. Perhaps this drama is repeating the 'two faces' structure at the structural level.

In episode 4, an 'election genius' named Hayato Igarashi joins the camp. This strategist uncle played by Kenji Iwaya is just the best.

That strongest strategist is a former election specialist who is helping people in trouble at a laundromat. He's a bit tired and worn-out, with zero glamour, but the setting of having no choice but to climb back up makes me excited.

・Policies
・Strong allies
・Protagonist with conviction

This drama removes many things that seem likely to be in political dramas.
What do they want to leave behind? I think that is the main point.

In 'Galaxy's One Vote', Akari decides to run for governor not out of political ambition. It's because she has been watching the unspoken suffering of the regular customers who come to the snack bar. There are people who cannot say 'help me'. She wants to deliver the voices of those people. That is the motive for her candidacy.

In episode 4, Akari says this to someone who is feeling down.

She doesn't tell someone who fell into a hole to 'climb back up'. First, she gently rephrases the fact by saying, 'You just fell into it'.

This line, the fact that political game-like policies are not depicted, and the strategist being in a laundromat all felt connected in my mind. Perhaps what this drama is trying to do isto descend to the throat of those who cannot say 'help me'maybe.

Because it's a drama, it can descend to places that policies cannot reach.

This might be completely off the mark. But when I watch it with that thought, I feel like every line in every episode is facing that direction.

Naomi Hiruta and Kantele

I was curious about who wrote the script, so I looked it up.

It's Naomi Hiruta.

Looking at her past works, there's NHK BS's 'The Great Passage ~I'll make a dictionary~' (Galaxy Award first half winner, Tokyo Drama Award 2024 Excellence Award), NHK's 'This Won't Fall Under Expenses!', 'Shizuka-chan and Papa', and 'Turkey!'. The impression from the list is that there are many 'unforgettable once you watch' types.

When I was reading an interview with Hiruta-san, there was an interesting story. It seems her style is 'not to write a plot'. Instead of deciding the skeleton of the story first, she builds the 'brain' of the character first. What kind of environment did this person grow up in, what do they like, and what are they afraid of? She creates up to that point before letting the characters meet. Then, it seems like they start moving on their own and the story is created.

Creating a character's brain is, in short,“building a person from the inside out.”That is what I imagine it to be.

When I read this, it clicked: oh, that's whythe conversations between Mari and Akari don't feel "written."They aren't lines calculated backward from a plot, but words that emerged from within the characters, which might be why they reach us so naturally.

If you've seen 'The Great Passage,' you'll understand; that drama also treated "words" with great care through the humble work of dictionary compilation. A high resolution toward language. I feel that same quality flows through 'Ginga no Ippyo,' and that they share a similar foundation.

Come to think of it, I was curious about the fact that 'Ginga no Ippyo' is produced by Kansai TV.

Do you remember 'Elpis'? That work about a wrongful conviction case that won the Galaxy Award Grand Prize and the Hoso Bunka Foundation Award for Excellence. That was also Kansai TV. I loved it. 'Unmet: The Diary of a Brain Surgeon' also took a gamble with a setting usually difficult for a protagonist: a doctor suffering from memory impairment. This was also Kansai TV.

When I line them up, I start to feel there's a common thread. The subject matter is bold, and they employ screenwriters who are a bit different from the "standard of TV dramas." Aya Watanabe for Elpis, Eriko Shinozaki for Unmet, and Naomi Hiruta for Ginga no Ippyo.

Regarding why Kansai TV can produce such bold works, I've heard things like "the layers of programming decisions are thinner than key stations" or "they don't have a political department." I've forgotten where I saw or heard that. Certainly, such organizational characteristics might be an important condition for making an election drama head-on. However, since I don't know the inside, I can't say for sure. I'm just taking it as, "I see, that might be a factor."

In this day and age, it's probably difficult to depict "policy" straight on in a TV drama. The risk of overlapping with real political situations, sponsors, complaints, and online backlash. That is precisely why the choice not to depict policy itself is the correct answer. And perhaps the warmth of the company Kansai TV is reflected in their handling of dramas with such unsettling themes.

Lastly, let me talk about my favorite scene.

It's the part in episode 4 where Mari welcomes Hayato Igarashi as her strategist.

In the three episodes leading up to this, the two of them, Mari and Akari, were clearly trying to take on a battle they couldn't win. The Tokyo gubernatorial election. Their opponents are the incumbent and a major politician. Mari has knowledge of elections, but no money, connections, or organization. Akari has the power to capture people's hearts, but is a complete amateur at election practicalities.

Then Igarashi joins. A former secretary to the Secretary-General, a total pro at elections. But he has retired from the front stage and lives quietly in a laundromat that has become his workplace. Mari persuades him to join the camp, and the public bathhouse in the back becomes their election office.

If you extract just the structure, it's a classic team formation: "the strongest strategist joins a camp of two who seem unable to win." The strongest strategist is a slightly tired middle-aged man trying to set up an election office in a closed-down bathhouse. There is zero glamour.

That zero glamour fits the tone of this drama perfectly.

So, with that said,

On Monday nights at 10:00, I make sure to watch this drama above all else. As I watch, I keep discovering, "Ah, so this is why it's good," and that in itself is fun.

I want everyone to watch it too.

Well then.

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