"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode four of 51(!!!!) recap

 

 Air Dates: October 5, 1986 until September 27,1987 on NTV, Sunday nights at 9:00 pm

Director: Toru Murakawa, this episode's rating was 13.4%

Subs were once again done by GEO9875, this was one huge project to do so will give a huge thumbs up for doing the subs and hope the recaps gives the series it's proper justice. 

Main Cast: Wrote this up after viewing the first two shows and know there will be a lot of editing to the bios as we have so much to learn about the characters. The first two get the most screen time by far but the other four main characters are also very key to this drama. The setting is the Minato Police Station in the Naka ward of Yokohama and the station is part of the Kanagawa prefectural police. If you enjoy J-Pop songs then this show has some superb tunes, most know I'm a fan but do prefer the music from the 80's. Plus there's no beating the hairdos of women from that era! This series also goes by the name of....

 Hiroshi Tachi as Toshiki Takayama.... You'll see Taka often in the screenshots. He's about a 35 year old man who is an investigator of serious crimes and the gangsters go out of their way to avoid him! Takayama has a bit of a 'cool persona' about him and is an ace with guns, he's the partner of Oshita but seems they didn't start working closely together until the first episode. While both are aces with guns their methods also get them in hot water with their superiors but the pair usually come out on top at the end as far as solving cases go.

Kyohei Shibata as Yuji Oshita.... About the same age as Takayama but looks younger. During the first episode Oshita blurted out he's got a bit of a shady past and it surprised many he became a sergeant. He knows how to pick a lock and some other methods criminals use, sure we'll find out more as time goes on. Like his new partner Takayama he is quite adept using all guns, unlike his partner Oshita isn't much of a 'people person' as Takayama is the one who often interviews witnesses, criminals or others. 

Atsuko Asana as Kaoru Mayama.... Member of the Juvenile Division which shares the same office as the Investigative Unit which Takayama and Oshita are a part of. Karou has gone out to crime scenes with the detectives but they never let her get in on the real action.

Toru Nakamura as Toru Machida.... Not a rookie but hasn't been an inspector for all that long. Machida is the best fighter in the unit and also the women swoon over him but he does have a girlfriend which he said in the first show. 

Nana Kinomi as Yuko Matsumura.... How about that hairdo?! Yuko is the chief of the Juvenile Division but haven't seen her make much of a contribution to any cases so far. She does share some unknown secret from the past with the Investigative chief Kondo that took place ten years ago, will that become part of the story? She's also quite the 'Fashion Queen' who often shows up at the station in some new glittering outfit.

Shizuo Chujo as Takuzo Kondo.... Chief of the Investigation Unit, smart man but seems to be more concerned on what he'll be having for lunch! But at one time Kondo was feared by the Yokohama gangsters and has been on the force for thirty years.

 There's a few more minor characters such as the detective Yoshi, chief Tanaka and female officer Hitomi,  if their roles become larger will add them onto this list.

 

Previous recaps

Episode one .... Episode two

  

 Though this is an action packed and intense series at times it can be a bit humorous. For instance this episode began and ended off the same way... with Oshita's police car running out of petro! In the opening scene Oshita was pushing his car due to it being out of gas, it was nighttime and bet he forgot to top off the tank. He wasn't paying attention and unknown to Oshita he was approaching a hill, soon the car zoomed off without him and though Oshita gave chase there was no way he would be able to stop it. But luckily the police car crashed into a huge pile of trash and wasn't really damaged however the crash may have knocked out his police radio for it wouldn't operate. While Oshita was cursing to himself an extremely loud BANG(!) came from the roof, the reason is in the second screenshot above. It was a young girl of nineteen who had jumped down three stories from a building, what a dent on Oshita's roof. This guest actress was played by Michiko Kawai, her stage name, who was a semi popular J-Pop Idol back in the 1980's and has done so much acting.

 She plays the character of Miyuki, at the time Oshita didn't know her age but Miyuki said she wasn't a minor which was a lie. She claimed some weirdo had chased her from Miyashita park, this takes place in the Minato section of Yokohama. Oshita checked the area out but found no one suspicious, he was going to investigate further but an urgent call came via his walkie-talkie. There was a shooting in the park Miyuki just came from, Oshita dashed there thinking he would never see this young woman again. At the park was a man shot twice in the chest, he was deader than dead! This victim had no ID on him but in the coat's lining was the name Sakurai, perhaps the man's name? No it wasn't and there were no other clues there save for a matchbook from a club. Oshita recalled that mini conversation with Miyuki, could she have seen the shooting and the killer's face? If so maybe she wasn't lying about being chased from the park and now the hunt was on for her.

 There was no need for Miyuki to be hunted down for the next day she contacted Oshita at the station, he had left his card with her. Miyuki told him to meet her at a nearby phone booth but there was a very suspicious man observing her, one that looked like the man Miyuki saw at the park the previous night. No time to wait for the investigators so Miyuki took off in a flash and was able to elude the potential killer, her fleeing also meant Oshita and Takayama couldn't find her. But in another humorous moment Miyuki found Oshita's car.... by once again leaping onto his vehicle's roof! Before Miyuki could escape again Takayama was there to nab her, the trio soon went to a cafe. Miyuki told the investigators some useful info such as the murdered man may have been staying at her seedy residence called the Star Hotel. Upon investigating the lead that was the truth, Oshita and Takayama had also discovered this man had frequented a hostess club named Four Leaf Clover.

 While they were on the case Miyuki was entrusted with the Juvenile department's investigator Karou. That's her above in the second to last screenshot and while she's competent it didn't take long for Miyuki to escape from her! Meanwhile Oshita and Takayama paid this hostess club a visit, the owner did recognize a picture of the victim who at the time of his death was dressed very shabby. But at the hostess club the man was always dressed to the nines and spent money as if there was no tomorrow, to the tune of over a million yen in a week. While there Takayama became so suspicious of the bartender named Sudo, we'll be hearing from him again later. Back at the station the third key member of the Investigative unit is Machida, not a rookie but not a veteran either. He did some thorough investigating and discovered this murdered man's name was Ichiro Yamakawa who had lived in the Nakamoto section of Yokohama, he was an upstanding citizen until a few months ago.

 Machida is the young man in the top two screenshots. In the second one is the Investigative unit's chief Kondo who is so irate with Oshita for letting the roofs of two police cars get leapt upon(!) plus later on Oshita will cause a lot of damage to a bowling alley. So much damage that Kondo told Oshita that his pay will be reduced even though him and Takayama make such an Ace team. Back to the case and Machida has found out Yamakawa had worked at the Toto branch of the Ginza bank, a few months ago he disappeared as he had embezzled 100 million yen! So that's how Yamakawa could afford to spend a million at a hostess club and also why he head been killed, did his murderer know about the money and if so how? Once again Miyuki has been found and since Oshita met her she's always carried around an orange suitcase, she's very protective of it and wont let it be opened. 

 Oshita had a bright deduction, it ended up being wrong but it made sense. Seeing as how Miyuki was in the park when Yamakawa had been killed could perhaps that suitcase be full of close to a hundred million yen? No was the answer as Takayama was 100% certain there was no money in the suitcase which was actually never opened, if it's not there where is this loot? As mentioned Takayama was very leery about the bartender at the Four Leaf Clover hostess club, he called the club  telling the owner Miyuki would be at a local park hoping the bartender Sudo would overhear the conversation. He did and rushed to the park with Takayama pursuing him but that too was a fruitless lead. Sudo only confessed he knew about the money Yamakawa had stolen and he too thought Miyuki may have the cash in her suitcase which of course wasn't the case. Miyuki was at the park and Takayama had used her as a bait which did make Oshita a bit irate. He finally said enough is enough and brought Miyuki to the bus terminal as her true identity was found out by Karou. Miyuki was from Kobe, was nineteen and until a few months ago had worked at her uncle's jewelry factory which went bankrupt.

 But of course Miyuki wasn't heading back to Kobe, she never got on a bus and back in Yokohama she once again noticed this mysterious man following her and we never saw his face until now. In the second screenshot above on the right is the man who shot Yamakawa and guess what, his name was never revealed! So why not call him Suzuki and with his two cohorts have kidnapped Miyuki, to me if this gang had just escaped from Yokohama there would have been nothing to worry about. But being a drama they naturally didn't and have brought Miyuki to an abandoned warehouse, it's not a question of if they will kill her but when!!!! But back at the station the investigation has continued, thanks to the continuing questioning of the bartender Sudo and some digging by the Juvenile investigator Karou the police know where Miyuki has been brought to. First on the scene was Takayama and it would be a little while before Oshita joined the action for once again.... his car ran out of gas!!!!

 Will have to say that Takayama is one of the cooler characters I've seen in a drama. At the warehouse he threw his pistol down and told the trio of gangsters if they're going to kill anyone make it him and let Miyuki go! That wasn't going to happen and while that was going on Oshita finally arrived on the scene, he too is a cool dude and like Tarzan leapt through the air on a vine(wire) and knocked two of the hoods to the ground. They regrouped and started firing but they're the gang who couldn't shoot straight and before long they were subdued and tied up by the pair of investigators. In the back of their car was the bag with Yamakawa's 100 million yen, as I mentioned why didn't they just leave Yokohama with the loot?

 One other mystery was solved as there was less than three minutes to go in this episode. Takayama opened up Miyuki's orange suitcase and not sure what he was expecting to find but it was certainly a surprise to him, Oshita and us viewers. What he found is in the second to last screenshot above, a few dozen sparkling gems! So it appeared Miyuki had stolen them from her uncle's jewelry factory and Oshita wanted to arrest the girl but as it turned out the uncle said the jewels were fake! Miyuki never knew that he had created imitation gems and thought they were the real deal, in the end the uncle never pressed charges. During the warehouse scuffle Miyuki had hurt her leg badly and was brought to a hospital to recover under the watch of Karou. But when Oshita and Takayama came to visit her Miyuki had once again flew the coop never to be seen again though the actress does make an appearance in the second season. That ends this recap which was slightly longer than expected but quite a bit did take place. Below are many more screenshots from the show which helps you follow the story a bit better. This pair of recaps was done a few days later than I had planned but the next pair will be done sooner, am thinking within the week.