"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode eleven 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 15.9%

Subs were one 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 most of 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. However she is a tough woman who used to be a regular officer and knows how to use a gun well.

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    Episode three .... Episode four .... Episode five

Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight .... Episode nine .... Episode ten

   

 

 Haven't been slowing down at all with this series though wonder if I'll still be enjoying it as much ten episodes from now? Most drama recaps these days get twice as many views as they did years ago, can't say that's been the case for this series. Probably because it's so old but I have to say this is one highly recommended drama and if you're a member at DA the info on how to get this series is there. This is the second episode of the second season which will also have nine shows like the first season did, the rating listed at the top was the highest to date. There was no gap between any of the seasons. Lot of action in this episode though not as much are previous shows as this time the 'heroes' Oshita and Takayama had to use their brains a bit more.

 In that top screenshot is Karou who is an investigator for the Juvenile Division, her chief Yuko is in the bottom screenshot with a very astute question and soon you'll find out what she was referring to. Karou was on the phone with Takayama who said he was on a stakeout with his trusty sidekick Oshita, not much of a stakeout as the pair were in a bar with Oshita showing off his billiard skills! Karou had learned there may be something shady going on at the 17th birthday party of a girl named Yasuko, would the pair check it out? They did though Oshita and Takayama arrived just a few minutes late to witness an odd incident. At this birthday the teens from an elite high school were living it up and having their fair share of weed. There was a knock at the door and what should be there but a man dressed in a gorilla outfit! He said there was a package for Yasuko and he was allowed into the party, he opened the package and guess what was inside?

 A shotgun(!) and this man dressed in a gorilla outfit began to fire but not to kill. He did nick Yasuko in the arm though it was nothing major, the gorilla truly could have killed Yasuko if he wanted to. The man then fled the scene with the party goers in a panic, the gorilla went down to the parking garage, jumped in a van and sped away but had been seen by a witness. More on her later and as the van was fleeing the crime scene it ran into a man, perhaps he could have been helped but this culprit couldn't stick around and kept on going. Above saying the victim died later on that night is Kondo who is the chief of the Investigative Division at the Minato police station. He also stated there is a delivery service called Gorilla, one of their vans had been stolen that night which was used in the crime and of course the culprit had worn one of their uniforms. Yuko in the bottom screenshot above had asked how this gorilla man could have known there was a birthday party going on? That's what Oshita and Takayama are going to have to find out, they did arrive at the crime scene but too late to do anything.

 Though I rarely mention names other than Oshita, Takayama and Machida there are other investigators in the unit. The man in the second screenshot above with Takayama is Yoshi who has possibly discovered a valuable piece of evidence. Yasuko is the daughter of a man named Eiji Tarenishi, will just use his last name from here on out. Ten years ago he had worked at a real estate office, at that time there was a cash truck robbery of 150 million yen that belonged to the real estate office, the crime was never officially solved. Not positive but think back in 1986 that was around $190,000 and the money was for bribing some homeowners. Shortly after the robbery Tarenishi quit the real estate office and opened his own import car company. Of course the question was where did Tarenishi get the cash to open it, to Takayama there's no doubt this man was involved in the cash truck robbery. The only thing known about it was there were two unnamed men though possibly Tarenishi was one of them, could they have had an accomplice? Questioning Tarenishi was fruitless but you could see he was shaken up when the robbery was mentioned, a little bit more digging by Yoshi and Machida revealed even more possible clues.

 The guard/driver of the cash truck was a man named Naito, at the time of the robbery he said the culprits were short which eliminated Tarenishi for he was tall. Ten years later Naito has opened his own upscale men's clothing store while his wife is now a designer, once again the question came up of where did Naito get the cash? As you can see above Takayama has quickly put two and two together, he knows that Tarenishi and Naito were in on the robbery but how can he prove it plus where is the other robber? That's him in the bottom screenshot above, his name is Narumi but we only saw brief glimpses of him in the first half of the show. Two screenshots above that is Narumi again wearing the mask of Frankenstein. Yes, he's the man who was dressed in the gorilla suit and this time around donned the mask to do another shooting. That took place at a flower shop where Narumi just fired at the flowers and ceiling not harming the attendant Junko. She's the niece of Naito and this goon is sending him and Tarenishi a message but why? The bullets are the same as the first crime, a shotgun was used and during this investigation Takayama noticed a face in the crowd. It was Narumi who Takayama also remembered being at the first shooting incident, both times he dashed into the crowd but Narumi was gone in a flash and Takayama is wondering is this man involved in the shootings?

 Things are becoming much clearer, there's no doubt the trio of Tarenishi, Naito and this unknown man(Narumi) were the culprits from the cash truck robbery from a decade ago. So how does Takayama, along with Oshita, go about proving it but there was a break in the case though not a good one for Tarenishi. That's him in the top screenshot, he's received a call from someone he thought had perished a decade ago! That man is Narumi and he wants his revenge with what took place ten years ago, he's ordered Tarenishi to meet him at a pier that day with 50 million yen! That would have been Narumi's cut from the robbery but this man had more on his mind than money. When the pair met up at the pier Narumi told his old partner in crime Tarenishi that the money will be nice but what will be even nicer is slowly cutting up Tarenishi until be bleeds to death! And that's what Narumi began to do and it looked like there was no way out for the whimpering Tarenishi. But the cavalry was on their way, Takayama and Oshita had been staking out Tarenishi's office, for so long they didn't realize he had slipped out the back door.

 Tarenishi's trail led the investigators to his bank where he withdrew the 50 million yen, instead of taking his own car to the pier Tarenishi had hailed a cab which was easy to trace. So Takayama and his loyal yet goofy sidekick Oshita arrived just in time to save Tarenishi's life, he's hurt badly but will survive. Narumi's profession is being the operator of a boat, when the police arrived he jumped on his vessel and zoomed away. However Takayama is such a daredevil, he hijacked a motorcycle and trailed Narumi going down a river! Takayama then jumped off a bridge that was above the river and as you can see above has nabbed Narumi who Takayama knew nothing about until now. But at the station things didn't work out as planned, at least at first. Narumi claimed he stabbed Tarenishi in self defense, with the man in the hospital unconscious that charge went nowhere. Also not going anywhere was the charge of fleeing from Takayama on a boat, what a maddening man this Narumi was and even us viewers wanted to take revenge on him! So eventually Narumi was released but in a way that may be a good thing, that's according to Takayama. Odds are very high that the third of the trio Naito will be next on Narumi's hit list, to Naito's high class clothing store went the investigators.

 An attempt was made on Naito's life by Narumi who failed but was able to escape easily from the police. Not escaping was Naito who was dragged down to the Minato police station and finally the story of what really took place ten years ago was revealed by Naito. Yes, he had set up the whole robbery with Tarenishi and Narumi who he had thought perished a decade ago. After the robbery of 150 million yen the trio had hid out at an abandoned mountain factory but it had been a trap for Narumi. He had been thrown into a vat of chemicals by Naito and Tarenishi who figured no one could survive the ordeal! Yet somehow Narumi did though from the neck down was scarred, it's why he always wears a scarf. So now that all of the details of what took place ten years ago are known the question is where to find Narumi? A person who I hadn't discussed yet is the woman in some of the above screenshots, her name is Ryoko. She was the witness to see Narumi flee from the first incident when he had fired his shotgun at the teen birthday party. When Narumi was arrested she went to ID him at the station but couldn't quite decide if he was the right man or not, Takayama knew she was fibbing at the time.

 Plus a few other things Ryoko said made Takayama wonder about her honesty such as the fact Ryoko said she didn't drink though when Takayama had first met her she had a bottle of wine with her. As a matter of fact both myself and Takayama had come up with a deduction, that Ryoko was connected with Narumi and was perhaps his girlfriend? But that deduction was amiss and in the final scene Takayama and Oshita had tailed Ryoko to another pier, they had a feeling she would meet up with Narumi. Which did happen but he was all prepared to kill the woman but his gun was shot out of his hands by Takayama! But Narumi had a knife and as you can see above had it against Ryoko's throat, there was no doubt he would kill if not allowed to go free. However Ryoko was able to escape from Narumi's clutches and ran to Takayama, it appeared Narumi would fling his knife at her back. But Takayama coolly shot the man in the wrist before it could happen, Narumi was finally nailed and it's a somewhat happy ending. We did learn that Ryoko had been the mistress of the man run over in the beginning by Narumi, he was on his way to her place. That's who the wine was for and Ryoko wanted to avenge his death! In the final few seconds you can see what Takayama said right above, he wasn't aiming for Narumi's wrist but his heart and was he telling the truth? Whew, don't know why but that was the longest recap of them all so far and even left a few tidbits out, the next post is the recap for the twelfth episode.