TBS drama ‘VIVANT’ episode 19 aired on October 4, and a new character relationship chart was released.
Added to the chart are Isaac, who leads a village along the route to Shaki Castle, and Tairan, an information broker who protects Elisha, a nuclear fusion technology researcher.
Season 2, whose setting has expanded to China, is generating varied reactions among Chinese viewers regarding its premise and language use.
3-Line Summary
1. New characters were added in VIVANT episode 19
2. Isaac and Tairan’s roles were revealed
3. The Chinese setting contrasts with realism
Isaac, Guarding the Entrance to Shaki Castle
The latest character relationship chart for episode 19, which aired on October 4, newly lists Isaac, the village chief of Orko Village. Isaac is the figure who leads Orko Village, located along the route to Shaki Castle in the Republic of Golbad.
According to reports, there is only one route to Shaki Castle, and the residents of Orko Village, located midway along it, take on surveillance duties throughout the village. For this reason, Shaki Castle is depicted as an impregnable fortress that makes use of the natural terrain.
In episode 19, Nokoru persuades Isaac ahead of the operation to retake Bessara. Isaac was shown attempting to persuade the residents not to report them. The newly added Isaac is thus presented not simply as a supporting character guarding the route, but as the representative of a village who could influence the operation’s success or failure.
Tairan’s Position Surrounding Elisha
Added alongside him, Tairan is an information broker connected to Elisha Mammadov, the researcher who discovered nuclear fusion technology. Episode 19 included a scene in which Han Linshin and Liu Mingxuan went to find Tairan.
In Tairan’s scenes, voice actor Norio Wakamoto provided the voice for the translation device. Wakamoto is also known for playing Anago in the Japanese anime ‘Sazae-san,’ and reports said that viewers who recognized his voice continued to react. The fact that the translation device’s voice itself became a topic of discussion alongside the changes to the character chart shows that this scene served both to convey information and introduce a character.
Reactions to Using China as the Actual Setting
Asahi Shimbun GLOBE+ reported that an explanatory video about the work had been viewed more than 50万 times on China’s video platform Bilibili, while several videos related to Season 2, which is currently airing, had also been viewed tens of thousands of times or more. However, the points raised by local viewers and people living in China were not limited to positive responses.
Viewers quoted in the article commented that the name of the covert information organization in the drama, ‘Shinshi,’ seemed to come from an expression meaning “information” in Chinese and was therefore too direct. The article also introduced reactions saying that the Chinese dialogue, the actors’ gestures, and the sense of space in scenes set in Beijing differed from reality.
The work’s depiction of China is being evaluated in greater detail because it uses actual China as its setting. Conversely, the article also included the assessment that placing such discrepancies alongside clues from reality is an element that prompts Chinese viewers to discuss what will happen next.
References
Tags #VIVANT #Vivant #VIVANT19 #MasatoSakai #Isaac #Tairan #ElishaMammadov #RepublicOfGolbad #ShakiCastle #OrkoVillage #ChineseSetting #JapaneseDrama