"CHEAT" drama: Episode three recap

 

 Air Dates: October 3rd to December 6, 2019   Thursday nights at midnight on N/YTV. There was a total of ten episodes plus a mini five minute 'special' following those shows.

Subs were done by ECOTV, also goes by the name of Trap the Con Man.

Link to the show's site: CHEAT YTV site

 Main Cast: All save for the bottom person are part of the 'CHEAT' team though that person was the one who had created it. The CHEAT team are the top four who get revenge for those who have been swindled but don't think the scammers are ever or rarely sent to prison.

Tsubasa Honda as Saki Hoshino/Momo Kisaragi.... Two names, Saki is her real one but in her spare time she moonlights as an Idol named Momo. Saki is the leader of the CHEAT team and also a bit of a hothead, she's tried to keep her Idoling passion a secret but it was discovered by Kamo who for now isn't saying anything.

Haruka Fukuhara as Mizuki Maruyama.... Genius hacker and the youngest of the team plus her attractiveness at times can be a bit too overwhelming!

Daichi Kaneko as Yuto Kamo.... Newest person of the team who joined in the first episode. He's an undercover police detective assigned to the team by Anzai, Kamo can be overly naive most of the time.

Shuhei Uesugi as Shun Negishi.... Master of the team at creating and installing surveillance equipment, was once a detective.

Shunsuke Kazama as Kazuki Anzai..... Created the CHEAT team and is Kamo's superior, seems to be quite a dark and ruthless man.

Guest Stars:

Emi Kurara as Ryoko Mochizuki.... Woman about forty in age who has swindled close to a hundred artists such as singers, writers, illustrators, etc.

Kisuke Iida as Masakazu Onuki.... Ryoko's partner who acts as the boss when she ropes in a 

new victim.

Links to the previous episodes:

Episode one recap

Episode two recap

 Know I'm a bit late for a date again(!) but the subs for this series weren't completed until July or so, just learned about that recently. This is a drama I had really been itching to see as those top two are such massive faves of mine plus both are superb actresses. Just added in the above links to the previous shows but wasn't at first. That's because I didn't think there would be any major ongoing storyline(s) but after viewing this episode realized there will be, they're minor now but could be key storylines soon. Such as what's the story with Saki's father who had fled to Thailand but has returned to Japan and that's unknown to her. But not to Anzai and we need to learn why he created the CHEAT team, also about a character we met briefly this show but won't be discussing him yet. That's Hasumi who appears to be slightly above Anzai at the police station and doesn't like the idea of a CHEAT team. This was an excellent show and it really set up such possibilities for future episodes.

 As will be the case for very episode there was a two minute scene where Saki and Mizuki save someone from being scammed and it's usually funny how they ended up being there. The best part is always after Saki has gotten rid of a swindler and sent them packing as she's actually more irate at the victims! She can't understand how everyday people can be duped so easily and she lets them know that, have to agree with her on her saying 'how can fall for such a sham story?' or whatever. Scams seem to be the rage in Japan as Saki and her CHEAT team are always on a major case, above is one new victim whose name is Tomoko. She's an illustrator who happened to meet up with another woman named Ryoko though it may not have been an accidental meeting. Ryoko claimed to be a writer and what would make her novels that much better would be illustrations, should the pair team up?

 That sounded like a dream to Tomoko who really wasn't planning on making her hobby a career but if it can make her wealthy why not give it a shot? In the bottom screenshot above is Ryoko in the middle who brought Tomoko along to meet a publisher named Onuki. However it was all part of the swindling operation as he was no publisher nor was Ryoko a writer. But they gave such a convincing story to Tomoko she fell for the pitch and ended up giving them 1.5 million yen! Needless to say Tomoko never heard back from her 'friend Ryoko' plus Onuki's business address was a fake one. The police are often useless in these cases so the only place that could help was CHEAT and she was referred to them by the team's creator Anzai. Ryoko has been only one of fifty to have been swindled by the pair but it was her case that got the ball rolling and led by Saki they're on the case. There's no doubt she's the mastermind behind solving the cases but seems that the newcomer Kamo is the one who has the hardest job as he always has to go undercover to meet the criminals.

 Kamo has become Kenta who is a bit of a country bumpkin and has just arrived in Tokyo from Atami. It was all set up for him to accidentally bump into Ryoko which is what took place perfectly but more importantly his briefcase popped open. Tumbling out were pages of a novel Kenta claimed he wrote, in her mind Ryoko immediately thought this bumpkin was her next victim. After saying she read the draft Ryoko told Kenta he should visit her boss named Onuki, she works at his publishing company. This all happened rather quickly and in less than three hours Onuki(above) has said he would publish Kenta's novel but of course being a rookie it meant he would have to pony up some startup costs. Saki's plan was running smoothly as she expected all of that to happen, she was listening in via a device Kenta was wearing. He could also hear her and she said to increase(!) the startup money Onuki wanted which was two million yen. 

 To Kenta it made no sense but then again he doesn't have any brains for this kind of work. But he followed Saki's instructions and told the publisher he would invest 5 million(!) in the project if they would print and promote a certain amount of copies which of course Onuki readily agreed to. Kenta said not to worry about the money as his father is a wealthy real estate bigwig back in Atami and that claim will soon haunt him. So the following day Kenta arrived with the first installment of 2.5 million yen, the rest would be when the printing was done. Ryoko is actually the brains behind the operation as she did a good job creating a cover and some promo material which she e-mailed to Kenta. But in a moment that may have revealed his fake identity Ryoko gave him a box of candy, a very special brand that didn't mean anything to Kenta who just said thanks. But the candy was a famous brand from Atami and if Kenta had never heard of it was he really who he said he was? Needless to say that made Saki go into one of many rages as Kenta/Kamo hadn't done his homework.

 Ryoko and Onuki knew something was up after that incident and did think about bailing out as 2.5 million yen was still a nice windfall. In that scene above when they're at a bar a bottle of wine was sent over by a customer who put his name on a note addressed to Ryoko. On it was just the name.... Namioka(!) and if you read recap one you'll know about him. He seems to be the mastermind behind so many swindling cases and doesn't look like he was sent to prison. The remaining 2.5 million may have been too much to ignore so Onuki headed to Atami to check out Kenta's story of being from there. And what should he see shortly after his arrival but the above screenshot, somehow Kenta's novel was already being published by a rival company. Onuki scooted back to Tokyo with the news but the whole setup was a scheme by Saki though they did print 500 copies of the novel which Kamo did write.. The cover was one which Ryoko had designed.

 Back in Tokyo a meeting was immediately set up and Kenta arrived in tow with his old junior at high school who was Mizuki pretending to be Kenta's girlfriend Saito. Their claim was that she loved the story so much she had her parents print up the 500 copies which were selling like hotcakes in Atami. Mizuki is the main computer nerd and she created some sites where 'readers' were besides themselves with how fabulous the novel was and would there be more printed? That got Ryoko and Onuki thinking, 5 million yen from Kenta was a hefty sum but how much more could they make if they actually published the book? So that's what they're planning on doing and thanks to Mizuki's hacking abilities they're thinking the preorders are already over 10,000 copies and they'll be in for such a shock.

 While it's Kamo who does most of the dirty work as he's the one who has to get close to the criminal(s) it's Saki who delivers the fatal blow to them. That's her above impersonating as a lawyer and what she was claiming to the duo of Ryoko and Onuki was that Kenta's novel was a rip off of one written by an American author named Steve Geller. While that is a real name and writer he's not a novelist and Kamo did actually write a book that was called 'The Great Knight'. Saki never gave her name but claimed this writer had ties to the mafia and unless they pony up 1.2 million yen they may not be around to see tomorrow. Which is what they did but don't know why the total wasn't higher? Tomoko had given them 1.5 million yen so who would cover the difference or was that her penalty for being so gullible? Ryoko and Onuki did lose that money Kenta gave them when the pair did become a bit honest and had thousands of copies of the book published. 

 This was the best episode of the four though thought the ending was a bit rushed and the events not explained as well as they could have been. Ryoko was arrested and in a bizarre moment began to chat with Saki's 'boss' Anzai about Namioka and how she may have been working for him! That character from the first episode has been mentioned in each show and will be making a return in the final two episodes. The fourth screenshot down is of an older street fortune teller who we may see for about forty seconds in each show when Kamo asks for some advice. That man's name is Minoru Hoshino who is Saki's father and to date we don't know much about this mysterious man. Doesn't appear as though Saki was aware her father was so close to her as he had fled to Thailand some years back but has now has returned to Japan. Anzai and his superior(?) Hasumi are aware of the father's return and have a feeling this man may be an important part of the finale.

 Right above is the father and mentioned the name of Kamo's novel was 'The Great Knight'. As far as the CHEAT team went the story was fit more for a comic book aimed at eight year olds as it dealt with a businessman falling in love with an alien and much other nonsense. These ongoing storylines are getting a bit more intense but also are being kept under wraps for the most part and know that it may not be explained fully until the last two shows. Hard to tell you every single thing that takes place which is why it's good to skim through the screenshots to understand the story a bit better.