"CHEAT" drama: Episode two 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 oveerly naive quite often.

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:

Tomohiro Takahashi as Reiji Kamiya.... 22 year old college student who had been usig Chuuutube to dupe viewers on his own channel, then pretended to be Sasuke to deceive even more.

 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. In a very odd scenario was unable to find out who played the guest character of Sasuke in this show, checked four sites including the show's home page but came up empty. Not that it's a major deal but that's never happened before for a character playing such an important part.

 If you read the above recap you'll know the major swindler that Saki and her team brought down was Namioka but did they really complete the job? Unsure if the man was sent to prison(doubt it) and according to the detective Anzai the real man behind the swindling team wasn't Namioka but a 41 year old man named Endo Genta. He told the team that info at the beginning of the show but after that no mention was made of it but it could play a part in upcoming episodes. All these shows appear to be stand alone episodes but there may be some ongoing stories such as why Anzai recruited the team and what was their background before becoming a CHEAT member?

 All shows will have one major story though the episodes often begin off with the team thwarting a con man. That's how this show opened up with Saki saving a young man from giving all of his dough to a man who claimed he could do such miracles with an investment. Of course that wasn't so and Saki at times seems angrier with those who were duped than the actual swindler, as the old saying goes if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Will end off the post talking about Saki and her secret Idol life but let's get into this show's main story which dealt with a 22 year old college student named Kamiya. He's been such a sensation on.... Chuuutube(!) and by Shun's estimate had swindled close to a billion yen from his followers. That was by signing up for his 'get rich quick on Chuuutube' scheme and over two hundred viewers did and often had to send in an initial fee of 500,000 yen so you can see how he may have made a billion.

 When I mentioned Sasuke's name in the intro it was because this character was so key to the story. He had a Chuuutube channel where he had developed quite a following but somehow Kamiya was able to get Sasuke's account suspended and took over his channel. No viewer knew that as Sasuke had worn a mask during his shows so when Kamiya began to impersonate him no viewer knew. So shortly after is when Kamiya started duping those viewers into sending him money, all have been scammed but there wasn't much of an outcry until Sasuke enlisted the help of Anzai and the CHEAT team. Sasuke was quite an odd chap and the reason he wore a mask is because he was so timid but when he donned it his personality completely changed. The team doesn't waste time and after meeting with Sasuke were right on the case and first off was to learn everything they could about Kamiya's life.

 He was a college student but never appeared to attend classes and why bother when you've made a billion yen and the cash is still rolling in. After learning more about Kamiya the team has decided to get him at his own game which was to also create a Chuuutube channel and character. Kamiya knew nothing about that until be visited his top hostess club, there impersonating as one was Mizuki. That's her right above and words can't being to describe how ultra hot she looked, whew!!!! At the club she went by the name of Rino and showed Kamiya this new channel which she said was her fave. He had never heard of this new channel/character and couldn't believe he had over a million followers already. This fake character Kamoel didn't and you can see it's a play on Kamo's name, Mizuki is such an expert hacker and was able to change the views/followers of the account rather easily.

 To try to get some proof on Kamiya's 'get rich on Chuuutube' scheme Kamo pretended to be a viewer who wanted to sign up for the program. He had arranged a meeting with Kamiya to give him the cash but one of his henchmen was sent instead. That was okay as in the bag was a present which was the key thing as it contained a listening/recording device which Kamiya discovered at his apartment. Have a strong feeling Saki knew it would be discovered and it was probably part of her plan to make Kamiya start feeling a bit uncomfortable about his duping. But Kamiya already knew things couldn't last forever until he was eventually found out so had begun his exit plans before Saki's scheme, this just got it rolling quicker. Kamiya's last plan to get a huge horde of cash was to hold a seminar that would attract many new investors, after that he would cease his Chuutubing ways and perhaps create a different type of scam. At this seminar he would be impersonating as.... Kamoel!

 Attending the seminar was Shun and Saki, that's her above and she asked some probing questions after Kamiya's intro, he was wearing a mask so his identity remained a secret. The plan was for Kamo to burst into the seminar and expose Kamiya as such a fake. Saki had ambled over to the room's door and was prepared for Kamo to make a grand entrance which wasn't to be as Kamiya's two henchmen knew who Kamo was and were holding him hostage until the seminar ended. That was actually part of Saki's plan as Shun had slipped a 'pen camcorder' into Kamo's pocket which recorded the entire incident, that's what Saki had hoped would take place and it did. ****Also need to note that Kamiya had been able to hack into Kamo's Chuuutube channel and began impersonating his Kamoel character. That's who he claimed to be at the seminar, though not ultra confusing it was to a slight extend for a while as some things never got mentioned until after the fact.

 That seminar wrapped up quickly with no new investors for Kamiya who then proceeded to his fave hostess club where he met up with Rino who gave him a warning. As Mizuki she had hacked back into the Kamoel channel and posted the above video that described all of Kamiya's misdeeds. On top of that there was an reward of 300 million yen offered for his capture, Kamiya knew it was time to flee and contacted his henchmen to leave the city with him, least he had quite a bit of cash. That departure didn't even begin as Kamiya's two cronies turned him in when they learned of his plans, they contacted Saki with the info but doubt if they got the reward. So at the end Kamiya was cornered and Saki has a gloating habit of saying 'How does it feel for a scammer to be scammed' when she brings down a swindler. Unlike Namioka in the first show think Kamiya was arrested by Anzai though we didn't witness it, my big question in the show's finale is where did that one billion yen go?

 To end off will briefly talk about Saki's hidden passion which is Idoling. She's been a 'Street Idol' in her spare time and what they do is to attract customers into a store or club. But her 'manager' Shinji has bigger plans for her and it was for Momo(her Idol name) to join a J-Pop group he's just created called Jewel ✰ Toriko with two other gals. The trio has been rehearsing and in all honesty what a horrible group they are. But Shinji has been able to get them booked at an Idol fest as long as they can sell a hundred tickets. That possible performance and who will be the center will take place in the next episode or at least hope so. Saki as Momo has been able to keep her passion to be a popular Idol a secret from her CHEAT team but it was discovered by Kamo who saw her perform with the group. He's a big fan of one of the members named Yuna, for now he's keeping Saki's secret under wraps but that's only because she knows about Kamo being a secret fan of Idols. 

 Two shows in and both have been solid watches but can be a tad confusing at times as many things, especially with what Saki's done, aren't explained until after the fact. But that happens in many dramas and you just have to live with it. In no rush with these recaps as it did air a year ago but this may become my main show to recap over "Start-Up" and have no clue what I'll be doing for the final eight shows. Did begin writing up episode nine but just couldn't see spending so much time doing the post, will wait until that series ends and make a decision then. So even though there's no rush do plan on having the next pair of recaps this weekend.