"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode thirteen 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 9.6%

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

   

 

 This and the next episode received the lowest ratings of all 51 shows. That's because they aired during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, during that period most viewers are watching specials which are usually music shows. Had a real nice surprise this episode, probably the best one for the entire series. One of my top five actors of all time has been Joe Shishido and bet I've seen him in at least twenty films, just watched a pair last month. He was such a superstar from the early 1960's until the 80's, he made a guest appearance in this episode and his character's name was Sawamura. Shishido died three years ago at the age of 86, I highly recommend any films he's starred in, mainly the very older ones and you won't be disappointed!

 Most of the action in the eighth show took place in the southern city of Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku, at about the ten minute mark all of the show will be taking place there again. There's been a credit union robbery in the Minato area, of course the precinct is on the case though as mentioned most of the action will be switching from Minato to Matsuyama. Both robbers were easily identified as they've both had an unsavory history with the police. One criminal's name is Mamoru who is the younger of the pair, the other man is named Inagaki and he's well known by Kondo who is the chief of the Investigative Division. Six years ago he was involved in another robbery but ended up not being charged. The arresting detective was our guest star Shishido as Sawamura, during the robbery his pistol had been stolen and Sawamura had been shot. According to Kondo he was the best detective on the force but after being shot retired and moved to Matsuyama.

 Sawamura's hometown is Uwajima which isn't too far from Matsuyama, in an odd twist that also was the hometown of Inagaki who all felt had stolen Sawamura's police pistol. But for some reason Sawamura stuck up for someone from his home territory, he backed up Inagaki's alibi so after six years the cases are still open, the stolen pistol and the bank robbery. So on to this new robbery, Mamoru and Inagaki weren't too hard to locate but both had split up after this new heist. At first our two main 'heroes' were working with another partner on the case, Oshita was tailing Mamoru while Takayama was with someone else following Inagaki. The thieves did try to meet up at the Marine Tower in Yokohama but discovered they were being tailed, once again they spilt up but in the melee Inagaki shot the investigator Machida in the leg. He wasn't badly hurt but was no longer on the case. A very key discovery was made, the bullet that hit Machida was from a Colt .32, the same pistol that had been stolen from Sawamura! Our main investigators are back trying to locate the perps, both had headed to Matsuyama to divvy up their take from the heist, Oshita had permission to head there but not Takayama who didn't follow orders and tailed Inagaki there.

 The older man in four of the above screenshots is Shishido as Sawamura, he was the first person Takayama wanted to talk to when he arrived in Matsuyama. However Sawamura isn't the talking type these days and seemed so bitter about his days at the Minato police station. Wonder if it was more of a case of him feeling so guilty about what happened with his pistol and how a creep like Inagaki was allowed to go free thanks to him. The woman in the second to last screenshot is Haruko who is Sawamura's ex-wife but he sees her often at a bar she runs. The pair got divorced after Sawamura quit the police force and that pistol case was the main reason. In a few of the screenshots above Takayama is pleading with Sawamura to be more helpful, as he says in the bottom screenshot it's his stolen pistol that got an investigator shot and why is he sticking up for Inagaki?

 Soon Takayama hooked up with his mate Oshita who has been tailing Mamoru, where he currently is hiding out isn't known but it's in Matsuyama. So there was a bit of a waiting game going on as Oshita and Takayama are biding their time until the thieves make contact with each other. Inagaki's location was known but it was Mamoru who had the loot but contact between the two should be made soon. Meanwhile back in Yokohama Takayama's chief Kondo is furious with him yet again for disobeying orders and heading to Matsuyama. One person we've only seen briefly in this second season is Yuki who is the chief of the Juvenile Division though we've seen plenty of her top investigator Karou. The waiting game has paid off for Oshita and Takayama, don't know how they tapped a payphone but the meeting for Mamoru and Inagaki to reunite has been set for the next morning.

 Took a day break after writing the first half up, never seem to keep the momentum going after that but think(hope) we'll end up strongly. Don't know how it happened but it being a drama some things never get explained. Which is of Sawamura showing up the next morning at 7:00 am when the thieves Mamoru and Inagaki were to meet, it's the second man Sawamura really wanted to see. Before the robbers met to divvy up the loot from the heist Sawamura intercepted Inagaki and there's a few screenshots of their encounter above. Naturally Sawamjura wants his pistol back and it took time but he's regretting how he stood up for Inagaki just because they came from the same hometown. Though of course Inagaki isn't going to give up that pistol too easily and the pair did get into a minor scuffle, Sawamura is thirty years older so Inagaki soon had his way with the man. But arriving on the scene in the nick of time was Takayama, seeing that Inagaki fled and even fired two shots at Takayama but missed badly. Meanwhile Inagaki's partner Mamoru had no clue what was happening, he was nabbed rather easily by Oshita and dragged down to the Matsuyama police HQ.

 Also going there was Sawamura and Takayama is furious with this man for not cooperating, this case should have been solved a while ago. However arriving soon on the scene all the way from Yokohama was his chief Kondo, there's no way he wanted his very brash yet best investigator leading this case. It was hard to tell if Sawamura was still mad with Takayama or even with Kondo who made the long trip. It took some years but Sawamura finally realized he made a grave mistake in backing Inagaki six years ago. That's why he went to the park to confront the robber but besides that what else can he do to help this case(?), probably nothing. While that was going on Oshita had been interrogating Mamoru and that went nowhere, what an arrogant young man this robber was. After the interviews were done the chief of the Matsuyama HQ received a call, it was from Inagaki who now has Sawamura's ex-wife Haruko as a hostage! He's demanding that Mamoru be released and also wants 30 million yen for a ransom delivered to the Matsuyama train station at 2:00 pm, if not Haruko will be history!!!!

 Time is ticking as it's close to noon but the police chief was able to gather all of the money. Of course the Matsuyama train station was heavily staked out but not in sight was Inagaki. As Mamoru was released at the station with a bag containing 30 million yen he received a call that was placed to a local shop. It was Inagaki who said hop into a taxi and meet him at a pier which he did, following were Oshita and Takayama though not too closely to let Mamoru think he wasn't being tailed. Waiting in a car at the pier was Inagaki and to everyone's surprise this man turned out to be a double crosser! When Mamoru was approaching the car Inagaki floored it and ran over Mamoru, not sure if he was killed but it appeared so. Quickly Inagaki jumped out of the car to retrieve the bag full of the ransom money, arriving then were our two 'heroes' Oshita and Takayama. Inagaki then grabbed Haruko from his car and said he would shoot her unless the investigators threw down their weapons, after what Inagaki did to his partner there's no doubt he would have shot the woman to death.

 However Takayama was near the bag of money and picked it up. Slowly he began to throw out piles of cash onto the ground as you can see above. It was windy so the cash began to blow away, should Inagaki chase the money or get away with Haruko as a hostage? Also arriving on the scene at the time was Sawamura and as you can see above is demanding his pistol back from Inagaki. While the criminal was distracted both Oshita and Takayama picked up their own guns, they both aimed at Inagaki's head which finally forced him to surrender. Finally Sawamura has gotten his pistol back after six long years, also at the pier was his ex-chief Kondo and he handed the man the weapon. So it was a happy ending which only got happier for as you can see above Sawamura left the pier with his ex-wife Haruko but all had a feeling the ex would soon be a thing of the past! That ended up being such a terrific episode, not the best to date but would put it in second place. Now on to watch the next episode and that will be the next post.