"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode nine 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 15.5%

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. 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

   

 

 These two recaps for today were actually the final two episodes for the first season. What happened was that this drama had been scheduled for ten episodes but it proved to be quite popular so it was renewed for another ten episodes, they too were a hit so it was renewed three more times after that! So instead of ten shows it ballooned into 51(!) and there was no gap between these 'seasons'. At the top have the rating for each episode and I didn't think they were all that impressive. The first twenty shows were right around 13-15% which is solid but not a mega hit, this episode's rating was the highest to date. But starting with the 30th episode none went below 18% and most were well above twenty, numbers like that are a major success!

 This was another excellent episode but will confess I enjoyed the first eight a bit more. In this show we didn't see as much of our two 'heroes' Oshita and Takayama, have to admit I really enjoy watching those two in action. But every character needs a turn in the spotlight, we've seen that with Machida and his role has been important since he was featured in the third show. Also with an increase in screen time has been Karou who is an investigator for the Juvenile Division. Who we hadn't seen much of to date is her chief Yuko, she's about forty in age and for this show she was on screen 80% of the time. Yuko has been a bit of a daffy woman who is really into fashion and never seems to do a lot of work. The Juvenile Division is busy but most of the work is done by the feisty Karou and a few others in the unit, not so for this show. Karou had busted a pair of teens for buying cigarettes and in all honesty an act like that usually isn't all that major.

 But a girl who was busted was found with Toulene on her, don't know much about the liquid but guess in 1986 it was used a compound to make drugs stronger. This girl confessed to Yuko where she got the Toulene, it was at seedy joint and are they selling much of the compound to other teens? Yuko thought so and asked the Investigative Division's chief Kondo to lend her some men to make a raid, Yuko was refused and was a bit irate. But it's understandable why as Kondo's unit is on a major case, these two cases will eventually merge into one. The previous week there had been a robbery at a major jewelry store, the four men were captured but they didn't have the weapons or gems on them. Plus during the robbery there were two guards shot to death, these four robbers are extremely dangerous as they were once part of Japan's Special Forces. Earlier on this day the four had escaped from jail and Kondo needs all of his men searching for the goons so it was easy to see why Yuko was rebuffed. Below are three of the four robbers, the Investigative Unit better get into gear for as you can see they have plans to leave Japan that night.

 Kondo was also peeved at Yuko for her team had thwarted a stakeout. Oshita and Takayama had been trailing a woman named Akemi who was the mistress of the robber's leader Saito. When Karou had arrested those two teens for buying smokes from a cigarette machine a slight fracas occurred and Akemi was able to elude the police but would eventually be found again. With no other options Yuko knows it's up to her to find out if this place called Genroku House is a major drug dealing place, she took her trusty assistant Karou along with her as backup. At this semi-desolated and run down 'house' were the four robbers, they knew the elderly owner Genroku who himself had been a criminal in his prime. Saito and his gang had hid their weapons at this run down building along with the stolen gems, the gang's plan is to hop on a boat that night traveling to Liberia. That has to be a fake country but it is located in Africa, the gems are worth a few million so the four will be able to live in luxury. 

 Also at this house was a twelve year old boy named Gen who is the grandson of Genroku. At first the gang didn't realize this boy was there but when he was discovered the creeps knew he had to be eliminated as he could identify the four. As Gen was being dragged outside appearing on the scene was Yuko and Karou, they had seen the mugshots of the robbers so knew who they were. The pair did make an error here which was never mentioned, they should have called this immediately to Kondo at the Minato police station but instead took matters into their own hands. The pair of women didn't realize this gang was armed, a short shootout took place which ended badly for our two 'heroines' Their pistols hold five bullets and soon both were out of ammo, Karou had wandered close to the building so when her pistol was empty she was captured by the gang. As you can see in the bottom screenshot above one of the creeps had ideas of what to do with Karou(!) but luckily she beat this man off for the time being. Meanwhile Yuko knew she couldn't save Karou so jumped into her vehicle, to her shock also jumping into the car was the twelve year old boy Gen.

 The pair sped away but in hot pursuit were the three remaining robbers who could care less if they killed a policewoman as they were leaving Japan that night. Had mentioned Yuko and Karou had made a major mistake in not calling into the Minato station to say they had located the four dangerous robbers. Yuko finally did try to notify the station but the car in pursuit was firing at Yuko's, they didn't hit anyone but did manage to damage the radio transmitter so no one still knows what's taking place. Have noticed in these episodes car chases probably take place on a Sunday morning as there's rarely any other vehicles on the road. Soon the two cases will merge into one as Oshita and Takayama are still working on finding the woman Akemi who was the mistress of the gang's leader Saito. They eventually did and pulled a fast one on her to find out where the gang was holed up at.

 

 In the top screenshot the pair of investigators had managed to convince Akemi that her boyfriend Saito had been shot but forgot the location of where he and his goons were at. Some good play acting by the radio team at the Minato station convinced Akemi that Saito truly was hurt and soon she revealed the gang were holed up at the Genroku House, a mad dash was made by all available police to the scene. But then it dawned on Oshita and Takayama that the place was where Yuko and Karou had been headed to for that potential drug raid. No word had been heard from them so did that mean their comrades were in a heap of trouble? In the second and third screenshots above the creep that had remained behind still had Karou as his hostage but a daring Oshita was able to shoot at the punk, not to kill him but just to put him out of commission. Oshita and Takayama are a pair of ace shooters but never try to kill a criminal, to date they've always been spot on with just injuring them. So this goon is out for the count but couldn't say where his other three mates were, of course the question now is what's happened to Yuko????

 This boy in Yuko's fleeing car was named Gen who was the grandson of the owner of the Genroku House. What a sassy and annoying twelve year old brat he was.... which meant he should get along with Yuko well as she's the same type of person! During this car chase Gen really tore into her with insults such as why didn't she just shoot the men chasing her along with many other barbs. Obviously Gen had watched too many police shows on TV and didn't take it seriously enough that his life could be snuffed out at any minute! Yuko eventually ended up at an amusement park which for some reason was closed even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Also arriving there was the car with the three robbers and this final scene is where Yuko showed her true colors. She was finally able to convince Gen the situation was quite dire and Yuko had a few ideas to get them out of this mess. Yuko had one of those old tape recorders where she taped her and Gen talking. In the third screenshot above Yuko also had the ingenious idea of taping a note to her leg, just in case something fatal should happen to her the police would know the criminals were set to board a ship that night.

 Yuko and the criminal's vehicles were spotted by a patrolling officer as an APB had been put out by the police, Oshita and Takayama quickly dashed off to the amusement park. That tape recording proved to be a bright idea as Yuko had hidden it below Gen's shirt which she had put on a figure she had taken from the Merry-go-Round. The three hoodlums fell for her trick and were trapped like rats above as you can see. One thing that was baffling was that the three had been members of Japan's elite Special Forces yet they appeared to be anything but elite trying to get a woman and a young boy. Yuko's pistol only held five bullets and the leader Saito knew that, he asked how could she shoot them when she had no ammo?! Unlike most female investigators Yuko did have a few bullets in her purse, when Saito tried to jump her he was shot in the shoulder! Right at that moment is when Oshita and Takayama along with many other detectives arrived on the scene so the other pair of hoods immediately surrendered. So our heroes weren't needed to solve this crime as Yuko proved why she's the chief of the Juvenile Division. At the conclusion Yuko and Gen were still trading barbs with each other again, I had the impression Yuko thought about adopting the boy as she's single and Gen's grandfather is now dead. Who knows if that took place and the next post has the recap for the tenth episode.