Saturday, December 2, 2023

"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode 27 of 51(!!!!) recap(season four, episode one)

 


 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 18.9%
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.


  In the third season the roles of Yoshi and Tanaka have become much larger, will add them in for season four. In the two screenshots below Yoshi is on the left, Tanaka is right next to him.



 

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 26th episode. Now we're up to season four, that will be episode's 27 through 35.






 

 Right above is this episode's main guest star Megumi Mori who usually went by her last name and in this show played the character of Sachi(ko) Kirishima. Mori had one interesting and busy career, she was eighteen when this episode aired. She was a singer with eight singles and three albums, appeared in many dramas up until 1996 and even had a photobook. These days she's a therapist but a very known one as she still has many fan and followers from her celebrity days.

 My plan had been to watch and recap the ten episode series "Werewolf Game: Lost Eden" from 2018. Have viewed the first three shows and even began to write one recap up. But to me it wasn't a drama that I really wanted to do ten posts for but will watch all of the episodes and who knows, just may recap it a few months from now. Another reason is there's 25 shows to go in this series plus there's two others that are currently airing that will be recapped very soon. That's a total of 43 episodes between the three dramas to recap and that's quite a few so that was a key reason for putting the other on ice for now. This fourth season is nine episodes, will do posts for those shows and dive into a current drama for the subbing for one may be complete by the end of this fourth season.









 There's always been a bit of humor in this drama though the action is quite serious, much more lightheartedness in this first episode of season four. The two main Minato station Investigation Unit heroes Takayama and Oshita were out to lunch with the Juvenile Unit investigator Kaoru, when she's in a scene it often is humorous. The pair owe her a bit of cash, 200,000 yen to be exact(!) and those two are somehow always broke! After their lunch the trio passed by a jewelry store, Kaoru said 'let's enter' and in the top screenshot she was looking at the very expensive emerald Cleopatra's Dream. It's had a long history and she said later on it's supposed to be cursed, perhaps so but the emerald in 1987 was worth 150 million yen!!!! At the shop Kaoru did have her eyes on a ring, that was worth 200,000 yen and told her mates buying that would settle their debt! But right at that moment the rider with a helmet on in the second screenshot entered the store, smashed the glass and tore off with Cleopatra's Dream! In hot pursuit was Takayama who snatched a motorcycle from a passerby and tore off after this thief, Takayama isn't much of a car driver but is an Ace on a bike.

 So while Takayama is an Ace so wasn't this other driver and the chase scene did last for a while, a few times Takayama did catch up and tried to kick the unknown driver off his bike but failed. The chase came to a halt when this driver hit a dead end on a bridge, Takayama began to gloat a bit but perhaps a tad too early. The driver pulled out the Cleopatra Dream emerald and threatened to throw it into the below canal, Takayama presumed he was just bluffing which wasn't the case. Rushing up on the level below the bridge was his partner Oshita who gave this man one minute to give himself up or else! Threats weren't going to work with this punk said the younger detective Machida who had arrived with Oshita. Machida is about ten years younger than his Senpais and said the pair didn't know how to communicate with the younger generation and as it turned out neither did Machida! Knowing the only was he could escape was by throwing the emerald into the canal this punk heaved it but luckily Machida caught it by his fingertips, the emerald is safe and the perp is now under arrest! Back at the station this twenty year old man wouldn't reveal anything but least they learned his name which was Yosuke Sugai, more on him later. In the bottom screenshot above the Investigation Unit chief at the Minato precinct Kondo was congratulating his men on a job well done, that doesn't happen often. Also what doesn't happen often is that the owner of the jewelry store, Sato, is going to write an awards letter for Takayama and Oshita, wonder why Machida's name wasn't brought up too?










 The bottom screenshot in the first batch had the chief Kondo explaining more about the emerald, the following day it was going to be transferred to a museum in Egypt. The store owner Sato had been so impressed with the way Takayama and Oshita had saved the day so he wanted them to escort him to Narita airport to deliver Cleopatra's Dream. Things didn't go as smoothly this time, Sato was in his own car driven by his associate while the two investigators were trailing in their own vehicle. Out of nowhere popped a truck, in the top screenshot, and blocked off Sato's car with the hooded driver demanding the emerald be handed over. Of course jumping out of their car within seconds were Takayama and Oshita, once the robber saw them he fled. But our two heroes were in pursuit and though he had a shotgun this man gave himself up, his name was Shin Takizawa. As was the case with Sugai Tarizawa wouldn't say a word but will soon be at the Minato station. Now that this perp had been nabbed Takayama and Oshita rushed back to Sato's car and couldn't believe how bad they had been fooled!!!! For while they were chasing Takizawa another man arrived at the scene, beat up Sato and took the 150 million yen emerald, what Takizawa had done was to just be a decoy to get the investigators away from Sato

 Back at the station Takayama and Oshita were no longer the favorites of Kondo who reamed them out badly. He did have a good point and it was never brought up why one didn't remain with Sato? But at the station Sugai and Takizawa began to slowly reveal why they had attempted to steal the emerald and who may have finally stolen it. Both are twenty in age and had been members of a small motorcycle group called Jackal which has disbanded. Both young men were madly in love with another member whose name was Sachi(ko) Kirishima, she's eighteen and a senior at the very prestigious Jogakkan High School in Yokahama. They were so smitten with Sachi that they would do anything to date her, actually both had marriage on their minds! She told them that whoever could steal the Cleopatra Dream emerald would win her love and she would marry him never thinking either lad would go through with it. But of course they did and now the huge question is who could have stolen that 150 million emerald? Takayama and Oshita did meet up with Sachi at her school and is she one conceited young woman! She was attractive but not overly so but those two men were willing to do anything for her love! Sachi was brought out to lunch where she admitted there was a third young man she would also marry(!) if he could steal the emerald, his name was Masaru Endo and had also been in the Jackal bike club. Oshita above asked where could they find this Endo man for obviously it has to be him who has this prized emerald, he works at a printing company and Sachi will accompany the investigators there.










 On the way to see Endo Oshita and Machida were stopped by a car full of young punks. Sachi had said they're her school's 'protectors' and they wondered why would she be hanging around with such 'old timers'!!!! Those punks should have kept their mouths shut as though it was a two on four duel Oshita and Machida taught these hooligans a lesson! So badly Sachi said why not have a duel over her(!) and to say she is ultra conceited is still quite an understatement. Shortly after that mini melee the investigators received an urgent call from the Minato precinct, the man they were going to see Endo has been found dead!!!! When they arrived at the scene the detectives there said it appeared Endo had shot himself and Oshita did not believe that at all. Neither did his regular partner Takayama as the pair expressed their feelings about the matter to their chief Kondo who also agreed with them. However now that Endo is dead it meant he wasn't the person who stole the Cleopatra Dream emerald, was there a fourth person who had wanted Sachi to be his wife and he did he steal the precious gem?

 Yes is the answer but for now no one has a clue on who this mysterious man could be. Later that evening Sachi returned home and though just a senior in high school has her own apartment. There was a small package at home that had been delivered a few hours earlier and we all knew what would be in it. Right above are two screenshots of the Cleopatra Dream emerald that was worth 150 million yen, that was in 1987 so how much would it be worth today?! Also in the package was a note saying that the emerald was for their marriage, so there was a fourth man who knew about Sachi's request about getting the emerald and it was a person we hadn't heard of yet. Before we meet him Sachi did call up Oshita with the news of the emerald being delivered to her, though conceited at least she did the right thing. What Oshita thought was that while he didn't feel as though Endo had killed himself perhaps he truly did and had sent Sachi the emerald as a parting gift which was way off the mark. Oshita soon left her apartment and while that was going on Takayama had paid the jewelry store owner Sato a visit, he was still in the hospital after getting beaten during the Cleopatra Dream heist. Sato couldn't speak but held up two fingers when asked how many robbers there were, that meant Endo wasn't alone during the heist and this unknown fourth person is the killer of Endo and was the person who sent Sachi the emerald.... sound confusing?










 Final segment and with about seven minutes to go we finally met the killer of Endo and.... the man who would marry Sachi?!?! This creep was named Ichiro Omuta, his father owned the printing company Takizawa had worked at. Omuta was the same age as Takizawa, Sugai and Endo who had been picking on him for years, it was so bad that Omuta had gone to high school in England for two years. Omuta always had a crush on Sachi who did treat him nicely and what better way to get back at his bullies than to marry the girl they all wanted! Omuta had known about Sachi's desire to have the Cleopatra Dream and felt sure she would follow up on that promise to marry whoever could steal it! But obviously Omuta's plans went way overboard as it was him that killed Endo who had helped him with the heist. It's true that Sachi had been nice to Omuta but wanted nothing to do with him, especially about his plans on her becoming his wife! Omuta also had sent Sachi a wedding gown later on that day which she tried on and did love the way it looked. It was just a matter of time until he appeared at Sachi's apartment which did happen that night, Omuta knocked out the building's security guard, stole his keys and entered Sachi's flat, most of that is above.

Meanwhile Takayama and Oshita had learned from the pair of Sugai and Takizawa the background of Omuta and how he may be the one that stole the emerald and killed Endo. Omuta was the only suspect now who was free or alive so the pair of investigators, along with Machida, rushed to Sachi's apartment hopefully before Omuta arrived. However they were just a tad too late and zooming by in the opposite direction was Omuta with Sachi in the passenger seat wearing her wedding gown. Sachi did not want to leave with Omuta but he had a knife which he would have used and she had no alternative, Omuta's plan was for them to return to England and have a formal wedding! That will never take place for the investigators soon caught up with Omuta's car and he was trapped like a rat! However Omuta had a death wish, if he can't have Sachi then no man can and drove full speed towards the end of a wharf where his and Sachi's lives would end together! When you have a sharpshooter such as Takayama against you then a culprit has no chance, he and Machida blew out the tires of Oumta's car whose dream of being with Sachi forever are now a thing of the past. That ended this latest case and the team of Takayama and Oshita have solved 100% of them up until now, wonder if there will ever be one case where the outcome goes against them? Have already viewed the next episode and the following post has that recap.


















 

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