Long Awaited Sequel to Hit J-dorama Hanzawa Naoki Explodes Out of the Gate with Over 22% Ratings in Episode 1

It takes something extraordinary to bring nearly half the population together to watch a television show and the last decade (2010-2019) it’s only happened once with the dorama finale episode of financial underdog gets justice story of Hanzawa Naoki. The last episode of the 2013 dorama brought in 42.2% ratings, the best ratings on Japanese television in 30 years. Of course there was immediate talk of a season 2 but 7 years and one COVID-19 slight delay later it’s finally dropped. Hanzawa Naoki 2 is here and its premiere brought in higher ratings than the premiere of the original. HN2 got 22% in episode 1 and the original got 19.4%, and the early reviews are positive with folks excited to see Sakai Masato back as Hanzawa to deliver “bai-gaeshi”, his signature catchphrase which means, “pay back your enemy multiple times if they cross you”. Nice, and good lord I’m expecting Masato’s expressions to be just as overwrought and meme-able this time around.