"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode 28 of 51(!!!!) recap(season four, episode two)

 

 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 16.6%

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.

  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.

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

Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight .... Episode nine .... Episode ten

Episode eleven .... Episode twelve .... Episode thirteen .... Episode fourteen

Episode fifteen .... Episode sixteen .... Episode seventeen .... Episode eighteen

Episode nineteen .... Episode twenty .... Episode twenty-one .... Episode twenty-two

Episode 23 .... Episode 24 .... Episode 25 .... Episode 26

 

 In the above post gave a few reasons why I decided to continue with recapping this drama over a more recent one. The biggest reason which wasn't mentioned is how darn good this series has been through 28 episodes! If a show isn't too good there's no way any of us would watch so many episodes but have found out the longer I've been watching this the more enjoyable it's become. There was a film series too which was quite popular, need to check out if that was ever subbed. Kept forgetting to add in something for about five shows and just remembered as I began to write this up. Which is the style of clothing Oshita has been wearing for at least the last five episodes. To me he's looking more like a gangster or a Yakuza thug and don't know if anyone else also noticed that. Then again maybe that's just me thinking that and on with the second show for season four.

 Up until now just about every case has taken place over the course of a few days though it's all crammed into one episode. Today's case takes place on one day, about a ten hour stretch from 9:00 am until a little after 7:00 pm. The chief for the Minato Investigative Unit is Kondo who is in the first screenshot above. It's 9:00 am and he's about to head out the door to attend an all day seminar at the Police Academy, he'll also be giving a speech. Oshita had asked who will take his place while he was away in the hopes he could be the one day chief! That's the last thing Kondo would ever want to see happen, just before he departed he appointed Takayama as the one day Minato chief, he yawned at that assignment. But Takayama won't be yawning for too long and while away from the station most of the day Kondo will be the key figure at the end of the show. Shortly after he left the station an urgent call came in, some dynamite had been stolen from the Yokohama Explosives factory. Being the chief for a day meant Takayama didn't have to go on any assignments, he chose Oshita and Machida to check out what the theft was all about. At first it didn't seem to be anything major, three sticks of dynamite were stolen from the factory and how much damage could they cause?

 Sure plenty of damage could be done if the thief knew how to use the dynamite efficiently, the factory was well guarded so could it have been an inside job? After some investigating the answer to that was NO and the only other possible suspect was a man named Noburo Ushijima, he's above in two screenshots. Ushijima was a driver for Chuko Transportation, they handled the deliveries for Yokohama Explosives. The previous day Ushijima had been at the factory and he was so well known so the guards usually never checked on him coming and going. Chuko Transportation also handles deliveries for many other local companies that produce/trade furniture, stereos, televisions, etc. and that is very key to the story. Today Ushijima had called in sick and because of the dynamite theft it made him suspect #1, perhaps the only suspect. Visiting his apartment were Oshita and Yoshi who is often called Papa because he's the only one in the unit married with children. There was no Ushijima to be found but what was found was extremely important. Which were boxes and boxes of electronics such as VCR's, stereos and the like, it was easy to deduce that Ushijima had been skimming from his deliveries and and what a cache he had of things in his tiny apartment. The two investigators were able to determine that Ushijima had gone to the horse track that day, the pair traveled there but couldn't spot the suspect and even paging him didn't work. Arriving too at the track was Takayama as he knew Oshita's mind would be on betting and he was correct with that assumption!

 That bottom comment above made Oshita look like Mr. Cool to many of the Minato station force though later on he couldn't back those words up! Perhaps not too much so in that above screenshot but did mention how the last five or more episodes he's been dressing more like a Yakuza thug would. Back to the racetrack and of course Ushijima wouldn't answer a page to report to the police, he attempted to flee by mingling in with the departing crowd. Which almost worked but there's little that escapes our two heroes Takayama and Oshita who eventually nabbed Ushijima outside the track grounds. Ushijima was mum about the three sticks of dynamite and proved to be an adept fighter and escape artist, He quickly grabbed an older woman and told the investigators her would hurt her badly if they didn't back off. When Takayama and Oshita wouldn't Ushijima threw the woman at them and fled the scene, Takayama went one way while Oshita was right behind the culprit. The chase ended at an abandoned factory, there's been at least one in just about every episode. There Ushijima caught Oshita from behind and put his head into wires that resembled a noose. Oshita appeared to be a goner but saving the day was Takayama who arrived in the nick of time to save his partner, soon Ushijima was trapped like a rat in the warehouse and had to surrender.

 Back at the Minato station Ushijima wouldn't say much even though the evidence against him was sky high such as all that stolen electronics at his apartment. Ushijima also wouldn't reveal much about the three sticks of dynamite which were worth 100,000 yen each. Ushijima claimed he sold them to a middle aged man he had never met before on the street, how many of those men live in Yokohama? A little checking about Ushijima's lifestyle discovered that he was an avid gambler and had been in such a bad streak at the race track. He was selling all of the electronics to cover his debts and there's no doubt that's why Ushijima stole the dynamite. So the WHY of this case had been discovered, now it's time to find the dynamite but where to start as the investigators have no clues to go on as Ushijima still won't utter a word. The hunt didn't even begin and the police had their perp though in a way they wish they didn't!!!! Walking into the Minato station was a female traffic officer named Wakana, walking very close to her was an unknown man. The pair walked into the Investigation Unit where the Takayama and crew were discussing the case. To their shock this man threw Wakana to the ground, pulled out a shotgun and began to fire! That's in the bottom screenshots above and as you can see this man is demanding to see their chief Kondo but of course he wasn't there as he as at a seminar at the Police Academy, the time at this point was 3:00 pm and he wasn't expected back for two more hours.

 During this day Takayama, as acting chief, realized his boss Kondo's job wasn't as easy or cushy as he presumed. A lot of split minute decisions always have to be made, order needs to be kept at the station along with so many other responsibilities. Takayama wouldn't call Kondo to let him know about the dynamite and hostage scene at the station, he had wanted to make all of the decisions and they weren't easy as Takayama now has much more respect for his boss Kondo. But Takayama was a good choice as a fill in, he grabbed one of the slugs the thug shot and had forensics analyze it. What they found out was that the shotgun and ammo had been stolen six days before from a house, fifty rounds of ammo were taken so the goon can hold out for a while. Also on a shotgun shell were fingerprints and forensics was able to identify the shooter a a man named Tsuneo Iwaki. He certainly was a very bad dude who one month before had been let out of prison after serving a six year sentence. That was from a robbery that had taken place in northern Yokohama, back then guess who was the main investigator at the area's police station? 

 If you said Kondo you would be correct and now things are slowly falling onto place. That robbery six years ago was a total bust for Iwaki, Kondo was the leader on the raid to nab Iwaki which was successful but in the process his partner Uematsu had been shot and killed. Kondo was the man who pulled the trigger so now we know why Iwaki wants revenge on the Minato chief, one for killing his partner and two for sending him to prison for six years. No one at the Minato station had known of what Kondo had done six years ago, he doesn't look as tough as Takayama and Oshita but now the force discovered why Yokohama thugs have been so terrified of Kondo. There was a third reason Iwaki wants revenge on Kondo and it was because of his ex-girlfriend. While he was in prison the girlfriend Ryoko had met a new man who was a good person and was going to move in with him. Ryoko had gone to Kondo for some advice and he did help her out as much as possible for while they were together Iwaki had beaten Ryoko and forced her into prostitution!!!! Now that she could turn her life around Kondo helped Ryoko as much as possible, she visited Iwaki in prison and said the two were no longer a couple! Her one huge mistake at the time was letting Iwaki know that Kondo had helped her out immensely. As you can see in the bottom screenshot above the time is 5:00 pm, Iwaki said if Kondo doesn't appear within two hours the station will be blown sky high!

 Final segment and for a while the investigators were wondering where was the dynamite? The three sticks were taped around the waist of the traffic officer Wakana, Iwaki couldn't be rushed by the force as he always held a lighter so the dynamite could be lit quickly. During this time Ushijima had been released after getting a bit of a beating during his questioning, he joined Iwaki. Also while all of this was taking place the Minato force were in two backrooms that had windows and could observe every move of Iwaki. By now the time is after 5:00 pm, the seminar Kondo was attending had ended and sent to pick him up at the Police Academy was the investigator Yoshi aka Papa. Kondo was surprised to see him and Yoshi kept finding ways not to bring his chief back to the station, for instance he suggested they stop at a bar first! Takayama and his crew didn't want Kondo coming back until they could subdue Iwaki but Kondo is a smart man and knew something was amiss, he demanded to be brought back to the station! Which he was and Kondo was filled in on everything, of course he knew why Iwaki wanted revenge on him. At first Oshita tried to trade places with the officer Wakana but that was to no avail. So at this point it appeared to Kondo the only way to end this situation was for him to face off against Iwaki, he donned a bulletproof vest and went out to meet this thug. 

 There never was a final duel between the two, Kondo was unarmed so wouldn't have had a chance against Iwaki's shotgun. In the fourth screenshot above you can see a rifle being aimed at Iwaki through a back office window. Aiming was Takayama and once there was room to shoot past Kondo that's what Takayama did as he winged Iwaki in the arm. But as he was falling to the ground Iwaki lit the sticks of dynamite that were around Wakana's waist, would the station be blown to Kingdom Come? No for in the nick of time Oshita dashed over and was able to snuff out the wicks though he did have a difficult time. There was a final skirmish with Ushijima who attempted to flee during the commotion but he was nabbed and once again the thugs of Yokohama have been brought down thanks to the efforts of the Minato station! Though Oshita had that cool comment in the beginning about being frightened by bullets he himself had worn a bulletproof vest. Not one but two(!) and as the episode ended he was the butt of many snide remarks from Machida and the rest of the force. Thanks for reading this recap and once again it was a fine show. Have been zipping through this series but don't think the next pair of recaps will be done for about a week.