"Informa" drama: Episode nine 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: There was some updating as went along and the top two characters easily had 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(did for the last two episodes), 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. He grew up at Ishigami's orphanage which wasn't known until the ninth 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! Bit of a wimpy man but one that Keijiro has come to depend on.

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 were 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. He grew up in Ishigami's orphanage and has been his faithful killer(!) for so many years.

Toru Hakozaki.... Older reporter for the Weekly Times. Beaten badly at the end of the sixth episode and we haven't see him since.

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.... but is he also a traitor?

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. Was killed at the end of the eighth episode by Keijiro.

Kazuya Takahashi as Katsuji Maruyama.... Detective with the Metro Police and their organized crime division, he has a long history with Keijiro. In the eighth episode Maruyama was taken off the Saeki case by his corrupt superiors.

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. 

Renji Ishibashi as Kento Ishigami.... Former politician who is the person that hired Saeki and his gang to take out certain lowlifes, not just for this series as Saeki has been working for Ishigami for well over five years. Ishigami's aim over the years has been to eliminate the 'bad seeds' of Japan and at one time ran an orphanage. 

 All of the above info was edited for these last two episodes.

  

Previous recaps

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

 Episode five .... Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

 

 Sorry for being a bit late with these final two recaps but had really wanted to finish off those eight posts for the "Taxi Driver" series. Would highly recommend reading at least the post for the eighth episode to see where this drama stands. I had to that for had forgotten quite a bit and even as I begin writing this up was still confused about a few things which became clearer when it was written up. Haven't viewed the final show yet as to keep the suspense sky high, not as much action in this show but it was intense and sets itself up for a thrilling conclusion! EDIT: It's now a day later and did check out those previous recaps so am not as confused.... least I don't think so!

 Briefly, here's where we stand before getting into what took place in this ninth episode. The last show ended with a long and intense fight scene, one where Keijiro aka The Informa pummeled Saeki's unbeatable fighter Kim to death and didn't think there was anyway that Kim could ever lose. But Saeki and his hired gang did mange to kill the Yakuza boss Takizawa who was the third man on Ishigami's 'hit list'. Ishigami had ordered the killings for that trio had done some underhanded things to get a shoddy development project  built. The young Weekly Times reporter Kanji is back by Keijiro's side and at the end of the previous show Keijiro and his troops are lying low to come up with a plan to battle Saeki, even by the end of this show Keijiro knew so little about his employer Ishigami. Of course there's more that took place which is why it's a good idea to read that recap again.

 Also what took place when the last show ended is that Kanji called up the Weekly Times tabloid where he works as a reporter and asked his co-worker Arimura to check on a file that the detective Maruyama had dropped off. We didn't see Maruyama at all, he was taken off the Saeki case in the last show by his corrupt superiors but bet we'll see him again in the finale. In the top screenshot is his ex-partner Mizukoshi who actually is a mole at the police station working for Saeki. It was because of Mizukoshi that the Yakuza leader Takizawa was captured and killed, in that screenshot he's at the Weekly Times office and is demanding to see Maruyama's file which has so much info on Saeki and his past. But appearing out of the dark was the Weekly Times editor Asuka(Megumi) who filmed this creep and told him to leave which Mizukoshi did. There were some very interesting things in this file and Maruyama really did his homework.. As you can see in the above screenshot he's dug up some dirt on Saeki and his partner's ruthless pasts, there was no way Mizukoshi could let that file see the light of day.

 Also in that file was some info about the Informa Keijiro Kihara and it appeared he grew up in an orphanage run by a foundation set up by Ishigami. In the fourth screenshot above Keijiro was telling a bit of that tale to Kanji, one boy he met at the orphanage has become his own informant and without that info there was no way Keijiro himself would have become such an elite Informa. There will be much more on this story at the end and quite a bit of it was rather surprising. Keijiro wouldn't reveal this man's name, Kanji was driving Keijiro to a location to meet this man and after returned to the Weekly Times office. His editor Asuka has been going through Maruyama's very informative film, she had never realized how brutal Saeki and his gang were over the years. So brutal that she's ordered Kanji to drop the story and stay away from Keijiro which Kanji had already done once in the fifth and sixth shows. Like Keijiro Kanji wants to see Saeki and his mates taken down, he also wants revenge for the beating of his fellow reporter Hakozaki who we never heard about in this episode.

 Those reports by Maruyama really enlightened us viewers on so many unknown things, it did the same for Asuka and Kanji. At Ishigami's orphanage Saeki was trained to be a ruthless killer from an early age, he's about forty by now and that's him in the bottom screenshot above. Saeki owes everything to Ishigami who is in the third screenshot above and it appears his life is rapidly winding down. So after reading those files only a fool would go up against Saeki though Keijiro may prove to be his match, it's understandable why the editor Asuka would want Kanji off the story. Popping in on that meeting was the female reporter Arimura who said she solved Kanji's problem. This is when we learned that he had attached a GPS device to the car driven by Saeki's main partner Okabayashi at the end of the last episode. Kanji is a bit inept with tech things so had no clue how to activate the GPS on his laptop, that problem is now solved and soon Kanji was on his way to Saeki's secret lair. During this time Keijiro had been meeting with that person who has been supplying him with so much info about Saeki and his activities, is this man a traitor? His name is Kawamata and we've only seen him for a few moments up until now.

 He's Ishigami's personal secretary and seems that the older man is playing games to pit Saeki and Keijiro against each other, we find out why very soon. Kawamata had laid a trap for Keijiro in this meeting for a thug was in the backseat about to kill Keijiro. Not an easy task as Keijiro quickly eliminated this man and I also think killed Kawamata, the reason they knew each other so well is because they grew up in Ishigami's orphanage together. Back to Kanji who has made his way to Saeki's secret lair via the GPS signal though by now Saeki and his partner Okabayashi have discovered it. Outside this very ritzy house Kanji was soon captured by Okabayashi and dragged inside to a bathroom, where he was tied up. At the time this seemed very odd to me for up until now Saeki and his mates would kill anyone immediately, why wasn't that the fate of Kanji? That's what Saeki wanted to know too as soon after he confronted his trusty partner at the house, to Saeki is Okabayashi now anything but a trusted partner? Saeki asked how could he have not known about the GPS attached to their vehicle, could Okabayashi have attached it himself or was he now a traitor working with Kanji and Keijiro?

 While that conversation was taking place Kanji had managed to untie the ropes and was witnessing this scene. Bet Okabayashi didn't tie them that tightly in hopes Kanji would see(?) what was about to take place. For a while now Saeki has had his suspicions about his one time trusted partner Okabayashi. There's been so many incidents that have taken place lately that had never happened before such as their best fighter Kim being killed and all of these incidents seemed to involve Okabayashi. Saeki may be a ruthless killer but also a very intelligent man, he knows that his partner has betrayed him and their leader Ishigami so there's only one solution to that.... Okabayashi must die! Which happened as Saeki thrust a dagger into his stomach and before long Okabayashi's life ended, watching was Kanji and that was the last we saw of him in this show. When Keijiro killed his one time informant Kawamata he got the phone number of his leader Ishigami, even by the end of this show Keijiro it seemed didn't recall ever meeting him at his orphanage. Kiejiro called this very old man and the pair didn't have a long chat, unknown to Keijiro this would be the last time talking with him.

 After that call entering Ishigami's mansion was Saeki, the pair had a short yet very revealing conversation. Ishigami told Saeki he had just got off the phone with Keijiro, does he remember him from the orphanage? This was the first we heard of this as Saeki also grew up in the orphanage which was called the Ishigami House. Back when they were about ten in age Keijiro was bullied badly though that stopped when Saeki put such a beating on these bullies, The pair never became friends and had forgotten each other over the years, Saeki never left Ishigami as the older man trained him to be the elite killer he is today. Saeki was stunned at the story and became so irate when Ishigami told him that he's finally met his match as he expects Keijiro to come out on top when the two finally face off! **** So that's what the story had come down to, before Ishigami died he wanted to see this pair of unbeatable fighters battle against each other. Ishigami blurted out a few other things and by this time it was too much for Saeki. He had been holding a pistol and as the credits were rolling you can see what Saeki did above, shoot the older man to death! Another intense ending and I have no clue what to expect in the final show but would think our 'anti-hero' Keijiro will defeat Saeki in some sort of battle. Now on to view that final show and the recap for that is the next post.