"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode fourteen 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 9.8%

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

   

 

 Will watch and recap two more episodes by the end of the month. Then will take a two week break from this show and it's not because I'm getting tired of it. Want to make sure I don't so will take a mini break and view a few other shows. Such as "Informa" which is a current drama but the subs are being done a bit slowly, hopefully will have the recaps for episode's five and six done shortly. Then there's a pair of other new dramas that have just started, will get to them right at the beginning of March.

 From 2016-20 must have done close to 200 recaps for Korean dramas, more than Japanese shows during that period. But only did a handful in 2021, zero for last year though did watch a few series but have been reviewing some horror films from Korea. Am about to begin my first one on a while which is "Taxi Driver" from 2021 and how did I miss it when it aired? The drama was popular and a second season began a few days ago so will watch the first season and by that time the second should be completed. In March will be doing recaps for season one and it really looks like the kind of show I enjoy, won't give any spoilers away. Will be a bit of a shock doing recaps as I'm so used to doing them for episodes like these which are 45 minutes, Korean shows are usually an hour or longer.

 No storyline has been confusing but what was slightly baffled at first with something but think I figured it out.... to an extent. This episode began off a bit goofy as the Minato Investigative Division was being entertained by a magician who was quite good. However he was a culprit who should have been interrogated instead of entertaining the office, the late arriving chief Kondo blew his stack when he saw what his troops were up to! That's the top screenshot, the second shows a man named Yamazaki which led to my partial confusion. Three years ago he had embezzled 80 million yen from his employer and is still wanted by the Rokura precinct. Word had it that Yamazaki ended up in Hong Kong but did he reappear in Yokohama? The embezzler had used an Escape Route to elude the authorities and that's the secondary storyline for this episode, an escape route for a trio of robbers.

 Shortly after that opening goofy scene there was an urgent call to the Minato precinct, there's been a cash truck hold up and two men have been shot to death! The whole office zoomed to the scene, the two that had been shot to death were employees of the Toyo Bank. A new branch was opening up in the Negishi section of Yokohama, the pair were delivering 50 million yen to the bank. There was a third person in the cash truck who was a guard named Kozai who wasn't shot but hit hard over the head. One of the dead men's watch stopped at 1:07 pm, probably the time of the heist. Kozai claimed he was hit over the head and couldn't call the robbery in for another ten minutes at 1:17 pm. As you can see above our two 'heroes' Oshita and Takayama are having a hard time believing the guard's story, he was out for ten minutes(?) which was enough time to allow the thieves to escape. One is in the third screenshot with a mask similar to what a goalie wears. To keep the Toyo Bank delivery a secret Koiza wasn't told of the destination until the cash truck left. But just before the ambush he made a call to his security office to let them know all was fine but was it actually a call to his partner telling him the route of the truck?

 In the last episode the young investigator Machida was shot in the leg but was fully recovered for this show. Working with Oshita and Takayama is rubbing off as Machida is becoming much tougher, he's the best fighter of the Investigative Division but doesn't get into all that many scraps. While Oshita has been assigned to stakeout Koiza's apartment Machida and Takayama's task is to find out there the guns in the robbery came from. The slugs were from a .38 caliber and were also plated in nickel which is very rare but much more lethal. The pair did confront two known dealers who claimed no knowledge of the guns nor where they came from, both were telling the truth but were still beat on a bit by the now toughie Machida! That man mentioned briefly in the beginning was named Yamazaki, we never saw him but seems could be a link to the above men. For it was discovered those two above, Yoshiura and Hisamatsu, were the perps who robbed the cash truck and will the pair be taking the same escape route Yamazaki did to flee Japan? 

 That escape route angle was interesting but wish it was more of the storyline. Meanwhile Oshita had been staking out the guard Koiza's apartment, the man finally left the place with Oshita in hot pursuit but not noticed. The pursuit ended up at an abandoned warehouse, there's one of them or a factory in every episode to date. At the empty building was one of the two robbers who was Yoshiura, where was the other of the team? Silently observing everything was Oshita who was close enough to hear their plans. The original one was to leave that night on a boat to Hong Kong, just like Yamazaki did, but the plans changed and now the ETA is the next afternoon. With Oshita watching silently there's no way he could contact the Minato precinct, for now there's nothing for his chief to worry about but within a few minutes it became a matter of life and death!!!!

 While Oshita was secretly watching the pair at the warehouse the third member of the group arrived and the investigator never noticed until it was too late. The third man was Hisamatsu and was armed, one look at what was taking place made him fire at our 'hero' Oshita and as you can see above he was hit in the stomach! Not bad enough to disable him and he aimed his own pistol at Hisamatsu telling him to join his two partners, that's all right above. So while Oshita may not have been too injured at first if the wound isn't taken care of then it just may be a case of life and death, for now Oshita has the trio trapped but how much longer can he hold on? Oshita did have a police radio/walkie-talkie but there was no signal in the warehouse. Yoshimura did try to pull out his own gun but to no avail as Oshita shot him in the leg, not too severe but bad enough where he wouldn't be running away.

 As the top screenshot shows the thieves are planning to leave via boat the next day at 4:00 pm, if they can just hold on there's no way Oshita can keep them at bay with his own injury. Oshita did pull a nice trick which us viewers noticed, he looked at his gun where we saw two bullets in the chamber. He announced there were three left and after shooting Yoshiura they thought two bullets were left though it was only one, that trick will come in mighty handy a bit later on. So that action took place at night and it's now the following morning, of course everyone at the Minato precinct is becoming frantic on what's happened to Oshita. In two of the screenshots above that Escape Route was mentioned once again and that's why the unseen Yamazaki's name was mentioned a few times. Takayama is now convinced the trio who pulled the heist will be fleeing the country and probably to Hong Kong, the question is who is this person that runs the escape route?

 Did take a break after writing up the first half which was a mistake as I can't get my rhythm back. Takayama, along with Machida, tracked down Yamazaki's old girlfriend who did had very little info on the escape route from three years ago. In an odd twist she's been dating Yoshiura and told Takayama he was too late as her man and his cronies have probably fled Japan though we all knew that wasn't the case. But she did have one piece of key info that was of the ship captain's name who was Nihei. Joining the investigation at this point was the Juvenile Division detective Karou and still have only seen her chief once in this second season. Karou met up with Nihei telling him her boyfriend wanted to leave Japan fast, she had a huge sum of money and could he help her out? Yes was the answer but Nihei tried to pull a fast one by ditching Karou though waiting nearby was Takayama and his crew, with a gun pointed at his head Nihei blurted out who the man was that ran the escape route. His name was Kajitani and his illegal activities have been so lucrative as he lives in an elite condo and drove a very expensive American car.

 Takayama and Machida met up with this creep at his condo who of course denied everything. Machida is the best fighter at the Minato station but was beaten in a scrap with Kajitani who fled but of course the beating was staged in order to follow this goon. Which paid off as he zoomed to the abandoned warehouse with Takayama in close but hidden pursuit, he made it there just in time. That's because Oshita was rapidly fading, after being shot and staying up all night he was in no position to defend himself as the trio of robbers finally subdued him. However that trick with the bullets came into play as the group thought there was a bullet left which wasn't to be as Yoshiura pulled the trigger at Oshita's pistol only to hear an empty click. A few seconds after that is when Kajitani arrived, of course right behind him was Takayama with his group and with not too much time to spare was there to save his partner's life. Bit of an exciting climax to this show though we did know that Oshita would pull through and once again have to say shouldn't have taken that break. Will have the next pair of recaps by the end of the month and as mentioned will take a few weeks off from this drama after that to concentrate on a few shows.