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 15.6%
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: 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 him referred to as 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.... that may have been a lie.
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: There's 51 episodes but they were divided into six seasons, there was no break between them. Season one was episode one to nine, second season was ten through eighteen and this third will run from the nineteenth until the 27th episode.
Not much of an intro is needed, have already viewed the next episode which is the following post. After that there's five more shows to go in this season and will then take a break to recap another series. Then will get on to season four, take another mini break, so on and so on until all 51 episodes are complete. A minor storyline has been the obsession Takayama has had with the Ginsei criminal organization, that's him above. For the second episode in a row that group was the focus of a case and they must be a large clan as the sects keep coming and coming! Don't know why Takayama is so intent on bringing Ginsei down, true they're the Yakuza but it also seems like a personal vendetta and don't know why at this point but there still are 29 episodes to go. In the character section above did take out Yuko as she hadn't appeared in the last eight shows and we may never see her again. Perhaps will soon add in the two detectives Yoshi and Tanaka who have been around since the first episode though both were minor characters but starting with this third season their roles have become much larger. In the first screenshot below Tanaka is on the left, Yoshi is right behind him.
Responding quickly to the call was Takayama's partner Oshita who had been nearby helping the Juvenile investigator Kaoru with a minor case of her own. Oshita soon found the fleeing car and he is one skilled driver but so wasn't the occupant of the other car as he couldn't overtake them and it was quite a car chase scene through the backstreets of Yokohama. Eventually the chase ended with the other driver jumping out to escape, Oshita went one way and Kaoru the other to capture the person. Before either could find this still mysterious woman she was nabbed by some thug and this unknown driver who tried to run down Kurahashi is the young woman in the pink jacket above. Her name is Maria and this goon tried to throw her in his van but arriving on the scene was Kaoru though she was useless as this thug took her down easily. But also arriving soon was Oshita who broke up the scuffle to save Kaoru though in the process this woman Maria grabbed Kaoru and held a pistol to her head! This scene is right above and Maria dragged Kaoru to her police car and said to drive away or else! We learned during this show that her full name is Maria Belle who is a student from the Philippines and can't speak Japanese all that well. But she could speak some broken English and so couldn't Kaoru which is how they communicated.
If so Maria may have some connections to the Ginsei criminal group and that's what Takayama was telling his older boss Kondo above in a few screenshots. Kondo is a good man to work under and can put up with the odd ways Takayama and Oshita work on cases as they're usually successful. But Kondo knows his best man Takayama is getting too obsessed with Kurahashi and the Ginsei group, he's placed Takayama under 'house arrest' and was ordered not to leave the Minato station! But as fate would have it at the station at during that time was Kurahashi who was talking over his summon against Takayama with the main chief of the station. There's nothing worse than a gloating Yakuza to Takayama as Kurahashi began to tell him about his talk with the main chief and how Takayama would end up paying for his stalking! To say Takayama was infuriated would be an understatement and quickly grabbed this goon by his lapels saying did he know that his protege' Matsunaga had been shot and it could be because of Kurahashi? He is a smart man as Kurahashi does have a college degree and had brought along a photographer who snapped away while Takayama was roughing up Kurahashi who has more ammo for his case. The Minato station detectives did do some checking on Maria who entered Japan legally but her Visa expired three months ago, what has she been doing since?
One person was Kurahashi, waiting outside in a car for him had been Maria and you can see her above pointing her pistol at him! But Takayama talked her out of shooting the creep and Maria soon sped away, so that was the second time Takayama had saved his life and he's naturally curious on why she wants to kill Kurahashi who wouldn't say a word. The following morning a body was found in a river just off the Yokohama harbor, by his fingerprints the Minato precinct was able to identify the man as Jiro Someno. He was known as an excellent trumpet player by some of the detectives but had been kicked out of his band for using drugs, his trumpet had been found by his floating body. Though computers weren't a key part of anyone's lives back in 1986 the detectives at the Minato station are quite adept at finding information rather quickly, they discovered that Someno had been married to Maria and it was a farce marriage setup by the Ginsei group. When the group has a Japanese man marry a foreign woman they can stay in Japan legally, that way they could keep them to do slave labor, prostitution and whatever else with no worries. Don't know what Someno's connection to the Ginsei group was, perhaps he bought drugs from them but they arranged his marriage to Maria.
Final segment and aren't these so much easier to read than those ultra long Korean recaps(?), much easier to write up too! In the top screenshot above the bartender who was shot in the beginning, Matsuyama, was telling Takayama and Oshita about the marriage. Though it was a fake one at first Maria and Someno did truly fall in love and wanted to escape from Yokohama. When Kurahashi heard of that he took his protege' Matsunaga with him and the pair iced Someno, now we know why Maria's goal is revenge against Kurahashi. The hunt is now on for Maria, Takayama and Oshita felt they knew the spot he would be at. But Kaoru had her own idea about Maria's location and was on the money with her assumption. It was at a abandoned jazz club where Someno used to play, Maria was there when Kaoru arrived but unfortunately showing up a few minutes later was Kurahashi and his gang to silence Maria once and for all! She and Kaoru hid behind some metal containers and a shootout began but it wouldn't be long before Maria ran out of ammo and is there any way out????
Of course there was as saving the day as usual was Takayama and Oshita, not positive on how they knew what was going on but perhaps they had tailed Kurahashi. The two heroes took out all of the Ginsei thugs and the only one left standing was the boss Kurahashi, Maria slowly approached him with her pistol aimed right at his head! There was only one bullet left in the gun and Maria said to play Russian Roulette as she spun the cylinder and put it right in Kurahashi's mouth with everyone screaming 'Don't Shoot Him!'. However Kurahashi pulled a fast one and was able to grab the gun from Maria, would he have fired at her? Who knows as Takayama quickly shot Kurahashi in the leg, he'll live but for the second episode in a row Takayama was able to bring down another of his arch enemy Ginsei bosses down. The episode ended on that note and another solid show as there hasn't been a bad one yet, the next post has the recap for episode #22.
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