"Informa" drama: Episode seven recap

 

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

 Subs were done by Magicstar at NYAA, 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. At the end of the sixth episode Kawamura was shot to death by Saeki. 

Go Morita as Saeki.... What a ruthless man who is a contract killer, supposedly from overseas but he is a Japanese man. Though very ruthless Saeki is also quite intelligent and careful which is why he's been a killer for so long.

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? No, it was revealed in episode five who the real father was Nana's husband Ainosuke however he was shot to death five years ago just before the birth of his child.

Ryo Tajima as Okabayashi.... A member of Saeki's gang and appears to be the brains of the team though can be brutal when it's needed.

Wataru Ichinose as Kim.... Also a member of Saeki's gang who is their 'heavyweight'. Kim is a Korean but was born in Japan, Tokyo's Korean town.

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. Not much was seen of him until the seventh show but he appears to be a mole for the man employing Saeki. 

  

Previous recaps

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

 Episode five .... Episode six

 No Megumi photobook for a lead in but there will be for the final pair of recaps, need to combine two of her books and will explain why in that post. Two more episodes after today's pair and they should be done in two weeks. That last show had such an intense ending, will touch on what took place a bit in this recap but it may help to read the prior one and none of the recaps for this series have been too long as an episode is usually around 25 minutes in length. Writing this up before viewing the eighth show and let's get to this episode's action!

 Very briefly the previous episode ended on an intense note but also a downer. At a gangster restaurant called Club M the 'Informa' Keijiro made a hostage swap with the elite contract killer Saeki. Keijiro gave Saeki back his group's muscleman Kim while in return Keijiro's best mate and ex-Yakuza brother Kawamura was released. We knew the scene wouldn't end there as this killer Saeki had everything planned out so well. His group quickly got the upper hand after Keijiro tried a surprise attack and to us viewer's surprise the main character Kawamura was shot in the head by Saeki who then turned his gun on Keijiro. He was writhing on the ground in pain as he had been put out of commission by a taser but before Saeki pulled the trigger he received a call. No idea what was said but Saeki and his group left Club M with Keijiro still alive, if you ask me that's the biggest mistake Saeki will make in this series. Also injured at the club was the reporter for the Weekly Times tabloid Hakozaki, that's him in the second screenshot above.

 Blaming himself for Hakozaki's injury was the young reporter Kanji and if you're confused on what I'm talking about that's why reading the previous recaps will help. Kanji had been assigned to report on Keijiro's activities by his editor Asuka(Megumi), that's her above in a few screenshots. She too is blaming herself for what happened to her reporter and was thinking perhaps it was a mistake to have anyone get close to Keijiro? Meanwhile he's wanted by the police for the murder of his best friend Kawamura and as Kanji says above there's no way he would kill the man. But cameras at Club M only showed Keijiro leaving the place, Saeki and his gang either slipped out the back or rigged the cameras. Maruyama is a detective for the Tokyo Police Organized Crime Unit, he's known Keijiro for many years and doesn't believe he's the killer off Kawamura either. This whole story began way back in the first episode and it had to do with Saeki and his two associates killing two men who were key figures in a huge building development project, a third was targeted but saved by Keijiro. Maruyama has been working on this case and has narrowed down the possible man who hired Saeki down to a trio.

 What Maruyama, Asuka and Kanji have decided to do is to each dig up as much info as possible on the three men that Maruyama feels could be the main man behind all of these killings. He'll take the case of Matsuyama, Asuka will work on Harada while Kanji was assigned to find what ever he could on a man named Kento Ishigami. That final name is the key one for as us viewers know he is the person who has hired Saeki to kill the two men involved in this development project. Ishigami is an elderly man and no clue as of yet why he's ordered the three men to be killed by Saeki and his mates, they've worked with Ishigami for at least five years. This investigation has to be kept secret, especially on Maruyama's end as Keijiro had warned him Saeki has a mole working in his office, possibly more than one. And Keijiro was right and it's a person we've only seen briefly up until now. In the third screenshot above the man on the left is Takizawa, he was the third man that Saeki was ordered to kill but Keijiro knew in advance and was able to prevent the murder. Takizawa is the leader of a huge Yakuza clan and of course Saeki was still determined to eliminate this man.

 On the right in that screenshot is Maruyama's partner Mizukoshi who we hadn't seen much until now. He and a troop of officers had arrived at Takizawa's Yakuza HQ to bring him down to the station, as Mizukoshi told him it was just for Takizawa's 'protection'. Then is when we found out who the mole was, Mizukoshi is the man and he drove Takizawa to a secluded spot where Saeki's car was waiting. We didn't see what took place after but have to presume Saeki has finally taken care of business! Meanwhile there was a wake going on for Kawamura which was attended by his troops, Kawamura was no longer a gangster though he was the leader of a group that would do some illegal activities. The wake was interrupted by Takizawa's gang who wanted to know what they told the police for their leader had been hauled away and hadn't been heard of since. Takizawa's second in command is a man named Aida who is tough but was no match against Keijiro in an earlier battle. Kawamura's troops claimed they had no idea what Aida was talking about which was the truth. Saving the day was the detective Maruyama who arrived at the wake in the nick of time, he told Aida and everyone there the police had nothing to do with the raid at Takizawa's HQ and Maruyama didn't know about it until then.

 As mentioned earlier Maruyama was going to follow a man named Matsuyama who was a politician, he felt could be the leader of this plan to eliminate those involved in that development project. Later that evening Maruyama had the man's residence under surveillance and with him was his partner Mizukoshi, we viewers now know he's the head mole at the police department and now so doesn't Maruyama. He asked Mizukoshi about the raid at Takizawa's place, Mizukoshi then smiled and opened the door of the vehicle walking away. Arriving at that moment was Maruyama's superior from the the Tokyo police station who confronted Maruyama about what he was doing there and as Keijiro had thought the Tokyo police seems to be under the control of who ever ordered the killings. That we know now that it's Ishigami and what's happened with Maruyama is for now unknown.

 In the final scene Keijiro finally made his first appearance in this episode. It was to pay last respects at the funeral home for his best mate Kawamura and the woman who organized everything is in the top screenshot above. Her name is Nana and though close to Keijiro wonder if deep down she resents him? That's because the two men she's loved the most, Kawamura and her ex-husband Ainosuke, have both been murdered for being so close to Keijiro. Also at the wake was the reporter Kanji and think he'll be back to following Keijiro around starting with the next episode. Keijiro wants to avenge the death of his best friend Kawamura but how(?) as Saeki and his gang are the strongest group he's ever encountered. But in the final minute help did arrive as two unexpected foes will join together to help Keijiro. One group is Kawamura's gang and of course they want to avenge their leader's murder. The other is Takizawa's Yakuza clan and they too want to bring down Saeki who had abducted and probably killed their leader. So that ends this recap and there wasn't nearly as much action in this show as others but am expecting a frantic final three episodes, next post has the recap for the eighth episode.