"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode fifteen 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 12.6%

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 much 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

Episode eleven .... Episode twelve .... Episode thirteen .... Episode fourteen

   

 

 

 Two episodes ago had a nice treat as one of my top five actors of all time made a guest appearance, his name was Joe Shishido and what are the odds of this happening???? Which is that another of my all time five actors made a guest appearance in this show, that's him right above. Masatoshi Nagase is his name and had no clue he was going to appear in this drama, it's nothing major but it kind of makes your day when you get a few unexpected surprises. Just a few weeks ago viewed the first two films of the 'Maiku Hama' trilogy for the umpteenth time, highly recommend the series that came out in the 1990's. Nagase had the lead role in all three films and guess what.... his character's mentor in the trilogy was none other than Shishido!!!!

 Like every episode this one had a very serious story but it was also the most lighthearted of all fifteen shows, have noticed that there's been a bit more humor in this second season. Also noticed that for about the last five episodes there's been two separate cases which end up merging into one, that also took place in this show. The top screenshot above is how this episode began off, 'our heroes' Oshita and Takayama were waiting at a pier to question a woman. Her name was Marie who owned a shabby boat, she didn't live there but that's where her business took place. Her profession is being a call girl but that's not what the investigators wanted to question Marie about. Rumor has it she's now also dealing drugs and the pair want to get to the bottom of this story but that will have to wait! For as Marie departed her tiny boat she secretly jammed a hat into their car's muffler which prevented it from starting, she then jumped in a taxi and sped away! It was a semi humorous scene and as mentioned there were many more than usual in this episode. But Oshita and Takayama did locate Marie again a short time later but were called out to a possible crime scene.

 That call out was from the Juvenile Division investigator Karou, that's her in a few screenshots above and for the second time had more screen time than any one else. There was a call placed to the Minato police precinct, it was a bomb threat and the caller would only talk with Karou. This young man said a bomb was planted at the Sanno Building and would explode in two hours. There was a problem with that as that building had been torn down two months ago(!), this man then claimed the bomb was at a different location but by then everyone at the station knew it was a hoax. But this caller wouldn't keep his mouth shut and it was easy to trace where the call was coming from. That's when Karou notified Oshita and Takayama about the situation and they quickly picked this youngster up. That's the man above whose name is Jin Takamura(Nagase) and Karou knew him very well. Jin was Karou's first arrest since transferring to the Juvenile Division and she thought Jin had cleaned his act up, he's nineteen in age which makes him Karou's responsibility. That didn't stop Oshita from roughing the young man up a bit though he was saved by Karou. Jin said he had recently quit his Barber Shop program and also his job at a service station, Karou soon got it back for him. But Jin wouldn't open up about why he made the fake call about bombs and the discovery on why will eventually be revealed.

 Jin is a semi-delinquent but all in all seemed like a decent guy, his problems were the crowd he hung out with along with doing some bonehead acts. One took place when he was being escorted back home by Karou, Oshita and Takayama in an unmarked police car. On their trip Takayama spotted Marie who is in the top screenshot above, the three investigators stopped the car to nab her. However with the motor running Jin hopped into the driver's seat and zoomed away! Oshita gave chase and was able to jump on the roof of the car which wasn't going fast as Jin didn't know how to drive that well. Have noticed the stunts of Oshita and Takaayama are performed by them, that's Oshita in the second screenshot. He had another athletic scene which is right above, he jumped on the back of a truck while it was zooming down the road, he somehow climbed down and talked to the driver! Jin was let go and his aim was to be arrested, why is still unknown but will reveal that in a moment. Meanwhile Takayama did corner Marie who claimed she didn't do or deal drugs though Takayama did find some syringes in her purse.

 Marie then claimed a recent trick had pilfered 200,000 yen from her, this she admitted after Takayama brought her to the Minato station though it wasn't him who did the questioning. Then it occurred to     Marie that this unnamed man had also asked her to hook him up with a pistol which she was unable to do so perhaps the theft of the cash was to purchase a gun for him? That it was and that gun is where the two cases merge, the ones between Marie and Jin. In the middle screenshot above is when Jin finally confessed to Karou what's been up with his recent erratic behavior. She does have a soft spot for this young man, he was her first arrest and is disappointed in seeing his life spiral downhill again. Jin has confessed he's been roped into doing a bank heist the following day with three other men. He does not want to take part in it but he's worried for his life if he doesn't help out, Jin thought that if he had got arrested then that would solve all of his problems! Which did make a lot of sense, not so much to Karou but being in jail meant Jin couldn't take part in the robbery which is set to take place the next day at 3:00 pm at the local Toyo Bank.

 Jin had much more info, two of the other group's names are Kujo and Nitta but he had no clue who the other man was that was at least five yeas older. The trio will be meeting at a bar called Louie's the next afternoon, an hour before the heist will take place. That other man does have a name, it was discovered courtesy of Oshita who hunted down a local gun dealer. This dealer named Miyashita worked at a disco and tried to flee from Oshita, that's where that screenshot of him hanging from a truck was from. Miyashita admitted selling the gun to a man named Hayami who is 26 in age and has a long rap sheet. After talking more with this gun dealer and with the info Karou has drummed up from Jin it appears this man Hayami is the third of the of the men who Jin says will be robbing the bank the next day. Though Karou enjoys working in the Juvenile Division have always had the impression she wanted to join the 'big boys' Oshita and Takayama in the Investigative Division, she has been brought in to help on a few cases but never takes part in the real action.

 Karou wanted a bigger role in this case and decided to visit that Louie's bar which Jin mentioned. She was hoping to find the two men mentioned by Jin who were Kujo and Nitta, just so happened that a man there knew where the pair were. The two young men were in a punk band and the man claimed he knew where they were practicing at the moment, in a remote abandoned warehouse and this guy will bring Karou there. She had used the story of her younger brother running away from home and said he had hooked up with Kujo and Nitta, this man didn't believe one word of the tale but was curious who Karou was. She was brought to the warehouse and seems every show has at least one scene in an abandoned warehouse or factory. At this warehouse is when we learned the identity of this young man, it happened to be none other than Hayami who was the other potential bank robber. He now has that gun he just purchased from Miyashita, before long Karou's secret of being a policewoman was revealed and it didn't appear as though her life would be lasting much longer. In Karou's bag was her pistol, Hayami took it and gave it to Nitta who is on the left in the above screenshot. He was told to pull the trigger but to me it really didn't appear as this man could or would go through with it.

 So much took place in the last fifteen minutes and hope I can squeeze everything into this final segment. There's been some lucky breaks for Oshita and Takayama in the last few shows, they had another as the owner of Louie's recalled Hayami's license plate number. That vehicle happened to be noticed by a passing patrolman parked outside of the warehouse, our two 'hero' investigators zoomed there and it being a drama arrived on time! As mentioned didn't think Nitta would have pulled the trigger on Karou but even if he wanted to it wasn't possible as Oshita nicked him in the arm, the punk rockers were soon cuffed. But not Hayami who fled in the melee and an interesting bit of info was revealed. He knows someone well who works at the embassy, this person was able to set up an escape route to flee Japan so Hayami better be nabbed soon. However Hayami first has revenge on his mind, he really wants to take down Jin who blabbed to Karou about the robbery. First Hayami looked for Jin at the house of Jin's close friend Harumi who was warned of Hayami by Jin. The fleeing Harumi was shot by Hayami but luckily Karou arrived in the scene to save her.

 Down to the final few minutes and naturally the action took place at an abandoned building! This time it was a factory, Jin was holed out there and still unsure how Hayami found out it was his hiding place. Oshita and Takayama learned it from the two punk rockers and it was a race to see who could get there first! It was Hayami but in this crowded factory it was hard to get a clear shot at Jin, shots were fired and all missed. But it would just be a matter of time until Hayami hit a bullseye but once again arriving in the nick of time were our two favorite investigators, they're ace marksmen and with it being two against one Hayami soon surrendered. Jin was oki doki and once again Oshita and Takayama did come out victorious though were much luckier in this case than in any prior one. That ends this recap which seemed to take forever to write up, the recap for the sixteenth episode is the next post.