"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode three 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 14.9%

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

 There were four movies based upon this drama as it was so popular and it did star the major characters, here's the trailer for the 1996 film.

 

 Think I'm going to zip through this series at a fairly quick pace but even if four episodes a week are viewed it still means it'll take three months! Even though it's only been three episodes am growing very comfortable with this series and getting to know the traits of the two major characters so much better. That 'comfort feeling' is such a nice zone to be in when you're viewing a drama. Am starting this on Sunday and haven't watched the next episode yet. But have a strong feeling you may not be seeing these two recaps until Friday as it'll be a busy weekend for writing up posts but will try my darndest to get this pair done by tomorrow but the odds on that are lower than winning Mega Millions!

**** TV shows in Japan before the 1990's were shot in a 4:3 ratio or full screen. These days the ratio is 16:9 which is why the screenshots look so different.

 Really didn't seem to me as though the team of Oshita and Yakayama were partners until the first episode, they've quickly bonded and not many gangsters are going to escape from their clutches! If anything it'll be the unorthodox methods used by the investigators that screw up a case, that did happen in the beginning of this show but of course all worked out well at the end. In the top screenshot the pair are waiting for a Yakuza thug named Shinjo to come down from his hotel room, Oshita was eager as a beaver to nail the criminal but Takayama told him to cool his heels for thirty minutes. This Shinjo man had served four years in prison and was currently working at a shady Yakuza shop, he had been upstairs in the room with a call girl. Shinjo had been with her for half an hour and Takayama told his partner that after four years in the joint with no women to let Shinjo enjoy himself a bit longer! Reluctantly Oshita obeyed his slightly older and experienced mate but that would prove to be a mistake, not on Oshita's part but Takayama's!

 After thirty minutes the duo were about to raid the room as Shinjo should have had enough time to enjoy himself. No need for a raid as coming down the stairs was the gangster with the call girl, one look at the investigators sent Shinjo in a mad dash out of the love hotel but within a matter of seconds was nabbed by Oshita. And seconds is how long Shinjo was in custody for as Oshita and Takayama were putting the man in their car a very silent shot rang out, to the investigators shock Shinjo had been shot in the chest and was dead within the minute! The duo quickly went hunting for the shooter but it was a lost cause as it was nighttime and this assassin escaped with leaving no clues. Wouldn't say Oshita was extremely irate as he does hate losing out in any way to a criminal but he was a bit peeved at Takayama. Had the pair raided Shinjo's hotel room instead of waiting thirty minutes everything would have turned out differently and Shinjo would probably still be alive. Have a feeling in most shows one of the two will be pulling a boner though in the end run they will solve the case. 

 So now of course it was a hunt for the shooter of Shinjo but where to begin? To Oshita and Takayama the most obvious starting point was to question a gangster named Hirose whose is an underground gun dealer and his guns are famous with the Yakuza. A stakeout was set up and episodes being 44+ minutes in length it wasn't a long wait but a worthwhile one. The pair trailed Hirose to a shop where they not only caught him with boxes of guns but another person who may be even more of a key to solving the case. Hirose is in the second screenshot above, while he did have some useful info about the Yakuza when a test was done on the bullet that killed Shinjo it proved that none of Hirose's guns were involved in the crime. In the third screenshot is a man named Takegami and while his guns weren't involved in the killing either he did give the investigators some key info. The weapon appears to be of a Prop Gun which I presume is used in dramas and movies. According to Takegami they can be modified to work just like a regular gun can but they do overheat easily so can't be used for firing more than five or six shots.

 More on that Prop Gun coming up, at the Minato police station the Juvenile department shares the same office as Oshita and Takayama's investigative unit. The chief of the Juvenile department is a fashionable woman named Yuko who never seems to do much work which she often leaves for her assistant Karou. In the Fukutomi area of Yokohama gangs of young hooligans have been running rampant and Yuko wants other teams to take part in a stakeout where they can arrest some of these young thugs. Every unit turned down that plea but somehow the investigative unit's Machida was roped in to help out that night, he was the key figure in the last episode. It's quickly nighttime with Karou and Machida on the scene at a highway in Fukutomi, one that's known for motorcycle racing. They weren't there all that long when zooming down the road was a group of cyclists, how could the police stop them? That wasn't necessary for to the amazement of all a shot rang out from a nearby bridge sending the lead cyclist flying, an ambulance was called for but it was to no avail. Machida did dash to the bridge and though he saw the shooter but there was no way to nab or even identify him.

 In that third screenshot above is a Prop Gun, Oshita was firing one to see how they operate. One key thing is that the bullets leave no identifying marks and the other is that they do indeed overheat after four or five shots. If a shooter attempts a sixth shot the gun will explode, it would probably kill the shooter plus anyone within a few feet of them. So that's another key reason for nabbing this killer who now has two victims to his credit, the Yakuza Shinjo and the biker whose name was Araki. Though it may be hard to believe there were computers 35 years ago and were they ancient! Also very much slower but a computer did help solve the crime. The Juvenile and Investigate units did do a top notch job on entering information in those computers, they found a match of someone who knew both Shinjo and Araki. It was a young woman named Reiko who works at an office, she had briefly dated both of the victims and could she be the reason why they were killed? That's Reiko in the second to last screenshot who was being interviewed by Takayama.... for the second time(?!). Takayama has such a 'cool persona' about him and people open up easily to him, Reiko didn't the day before as for the first time ever Takayama's methods failed with a woman!

 Reiko had broken up with both men for she didn't approve of their gangster ways, she seemed like a down to earth woman so how did she get hooked up with them? During this interview with Takayama Reiko revealed some info about a man we hadn't heard of until now but had seen his face briefly. His name is Shiro Wakisaka who works at the same office as Reiko and though a nice young man has also come off as a bit creepy. To Reiko he had the potential to be a stalker, when she had told him about Shinjo and Araki Wakisaka had made some comments about how they should be punished for the way they treated Reiko, now that both men are dead could he be the main suspect? There's no doubt of that to Takayama who went to the office to question Wakisaka who wasn't there. His supervisor did have some useful info which was that Wakisaka often practiced at a shooting range, now the hunt is on for the man but who would be his next target?

 That next target was of all people Reiko, was it because she rebuffed Wakisaka's advances? Not sure of that but to me it was a case of 'If I can't have you no man can!'. Takayama was kicking himself badly for leaving Reiko all alone as it finally dawned on him that Reiko may be the third victim and rushed back to her place, also rushing there was Oshita. When they arrived Reiko had been shot but just in the shoulder, don't think Wakisaka could go through with killing his dream woman. Quickly the investigators dashed from the apartment and not far from there was Wakisaka who saw the pair and jumped on the back of a delivery truck. Oshita and Takayama did give chase but on foot so it was just a matter of time before they lost him. However a miracle did happen as who should be cruising by then but the Juvenile investigator Karou, the duo jumped into her car and it was a chase to of all places.... a carnival.

 By Takayama's count Wakisaka has fired four shots, one more could make the gun explode killing him and any close bystanders. During this final confrontation Wakisaka just couldn't make himself pull the trigger, was he scared because he wasn't a sniper or did he believe Takayama's words? Who knows but while Wakisaka's eyes were averted Oshita fired at him, he's an ace shot and wounded him in the leg, quickly the culprit was nabbed and sent to the police hospital. So ends this case and there was a strange twist in the final minute. The forensics department said Wakisaka's prop gun could have fired two more shots before exploding, had Takayama known that would he have said those words to the killer? So ends this third recap and hope I didn't forget anything as I took off four days after writing up the first segment, another fun and interesting show and the next post has the recap for the fourth episode.