"Informa" drama: Episode two recap

 

 Air Dates: January 19th until March 24th on Kansai TV, Thursday nights at 12:25 am

 Subs were done by Monchi at DA, episodes are ~24 minutes in length. This drama is based upon a novel by Garyu Okita that came out on December 5, 2022 so not a long wait until it became a show, it will also be a manga.

Main Cast: Sure there will be some updating as we go along but it appears after two episodes the top two characters will easily have the most screen time. Its nice to see Megumi whose role is a medium sized one yet important. She was a fave actress of mine for a while and was also a popular gravure model back in the 2000's, she's now 41 in age but still looks terrific to me. Hopefully won't have to add any more names to this list, it's only a 25 minute show but what a large cast.

Kenta Kiritani as Keijiro Kihara.... The 'Informa' in the series which is the Japanese word for informant. Which is what Keijiro is and he has his hands in so many shady activities involving celebs, politicians and criminals. There was a sordid affair five years ago that forced Keijiro to leave Tokyo but he's returned for good in the first episode.

Reo Sano as Kanji Mishima.... Young reporter for the Weekly Times newspaper, Kanji's wish was to have beefier stories and he may come to regret that wish!

Megumi as Asuka Nagasawa.... Editor of the Weekly Times newspaper which is a tabloid mainly reporting on celeb scandals and such. But Asuka does have a background in hard news and it was her who told Kanji to work with Keijiro aka the Informa.

Yasushi Fuchikami as Kyosuke Kawamura.... We didn't meet him until the second episode. Keijiro's 'younger brother' but just in the Yakuza sense of being brothers. The two are very close and Kawamura is the leader of the Mugurama group.

Go Morita as Saeki.... What a ruthless man who is a contract killer.

Toru Hakozaki.... Older reporter for the Weekly Times.

Kana Kita as Nana.... Works at a hostess club and has known Keijiro for many years. She has a five year daughter and is the father Kawamura?

Ryo Tajima as Okabayashi.... A member of Saeki's gang and appears to be the brains of the team.

Wataru Ichinose as Kim.... Also a member of Saeki's gang who is their 'heavyweight'.

Kazuya Takahashi as Katsuji Maruyama.... Detective with the Metro Police and their organized crime division, he has a long history with Keijiro.

Mototaka Mishimura as Mizukoshi.... Maruyama's partner..

  

 Don't have to discuss too much of what took place in that first episode as I'm sure all have read that recap. The show ended with a minister from the Japanese government Yamamoto being burnt alive and what a cruel way to go. It was witnessed by our two lead characters Keijiro, the Informa, and Kanji who is a reporter for the tabloid Weekly Times. This episode started out very similar and in the top screenshot is a thug named Kim who is a member of the the ruthless killer Saeki's small gang. He had stopped the car of another politician named Ishihara though he had retired and was working as a director of the Tachibana company. That's twice someone has been abducted from a car in broad daylight, don't important people in Japan have bodyguards? Ishihara was killed the same was as Yamamoto was, being burnt alive while wearing a gas mask to make the pain last longer!

 That death wasn't discovered until much later in the show and will get back to it briefly, one question is how many men are Saeki and his two cohorts going to murder? Our main character Keijiro is still a man of mystery, Kanji has been assigned to follow the man to report on his revengeful activities. The person who assigned Kanji the job was his editor at the Weekly Times Asuka who is right above in white. She had worked often with Keijiro many years ago and he really trusts her. As you can see above Asuka did make a comment about the incidents which took place five years ago, since then Keijiro had fled from Tokyo but is now back in the city for good and still want to know who has hired him to bring these lowlifes down? In the bottom screenshot above is a man named Kyousuka Kawamura who is the leader of the Mugurama group, don't think they're associated with the Yakuza. However Keijiro refers to Kawamura as his 'brother' but in the way gangsters refer to each other as 'brothers', the questions keep adding up as were both Keijiro and Kawamura in a Yazuza clan?

 Keijiro knows Asuka well and trusts her 100% but what about her young reporter Kanji? He did a test just prior to meeting his close associate Kawamura, he told Kanji to go into the man's lair and scope out the scene. This was all scripted out beforehand, Kawamura demanded to know who Kanji was and the young man responded by saying he knew Keijiro. This sent Kawamura into a 'rage', one of his henchman pointed a gun at Kanji's head and demanded to know where Keijiro was?! Kanji passed this test as he wouldn't utter a word of info, shortly after Keijiro appeared on the scene and now he trusts this reporter, he won't be a good fighter but can be trusted. Keijiro and Kawamura have worked so often in the past but this is the first time they'll be working together in five years. Thanks to the efforts of the Weekly Times editor Asuka some info has been uncovered about the Yamamoto murder, Keijiro will now be on the case and still don't know why's working so closely on this killing. 

 Still eight shows to go so sure much will be revealed. Kawamura has been working on the case since the death happened and he's one shrewd and smart man, his gang has been staking out the hotel where the killer Saeki and his two partners are staying at. In the second to last screenshot above that's Keijiro and Kawamura leading his troops to nab these creeps who at the moment are known of only killing one man. However there had to be a tip off as Saeki nor his mates were in the hotel room, they had fled and won't be returning. While in the room Keijiro had received a video from Asuka, it showed the second gruesome murder of Ishihara that opened this show. So while Saeki and his two cohorts may be ruthless killers they're also very intelligent, it's how they've never been caught plus Keijiro still doesn't know this man's real name. 

 In the second to last screenshot above is Saeki, he seems to think he's seen Keijiro in the past but can't quite figure out how and when. Right above that screenshot is one of Saeki's partners, his name is Kim and what a powerful man he is. Before Saeki had left the hotel room his other partner Okabayashi had set up a camera in the room, no one noticed it for a while until Keijiro did. During this time Saeki had been viewing Keijiro and Kawamura's gang, that's when he uttered that he knew Keijiro from somewhere. Saeki had been watching the action from a pet store owned by a man named Hamatsu, he's Saeki's man for getting him weapons. While at the hotel room Keijiro had received a call from the man in the second screenshot above. His name is Maruyama who is a detective for the Tokyo police's organized crime unit. He's discovered the burnt body of Ishihara and was asking for some possible help, Maruyama also shares a past with Keijiro and knows what took place five years ago, wish us viewers did!!!!

 So it appears Keijiro and possibly Kawamura will be helping out the detective in the investigation of the two burnt to a crisp bodies. Two minutes before the episode ended there was a key clue and could it be related to the case? It appears the man in the bottom screenshot above is the next target of Saeki's small gang. His name is Takizawa who is the leader of the largest Yakuza clan in Kanto. Just as the episode ended Keijiro, along with Kanji, paid the man a visit and this Takizawa is furious that Keijiro would show up at his HQ. Why plus hopefully many other posing questions will be answered soon and that brief scene ended this episode. Bit of  slow moving show to date but also one that's very suspenseful and interesting. Wanted to do these pair of recaps a few days ago but didn't have time for them but that's also a plus for it means the next pair will be done a week from now.