"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode 31 of 51(!!!!) recap(season four, episode five)

 

 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 19.6%

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. Beginning with the fourth season she became goofier than ever which has been annoying.

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. Five years ago before coming chief Kondo had killed a Yakuza thug which is one reason he's so feared.

  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 .... Episode 27 .... Episode 28

Episode 29 .... Episode 30

 

 That 19.6% rating for this show was the second highest to date, many episodes in the final two seasons got over 20%. No big guest stars for this episode but for the first time in at least twenty shows the investigators Takayama and Oshita went well out of the Yokohama area to solve a case. The location was the island of Oshima which is off the coast of Nagasaki and learned about something I never knew existed. Which was a huge tourist attraction on the island named Holland Village, the original location closed in 2001 but another opened up nearer to Nagasaki. As it's name says the village is all about Holland, they have mini windmills, canals, tulips and everything associated with the Dutch and hopefully also serve Tuborg! That was a cool thing to learn and do know one thing.... am sure Holland doesn't have investigators such as Takayama and Oshita(!).... does any country?! Let's get to the recap and for the second episode in a row the Ginsei Yakuza gang who Takayama despises is featured and will he ever bring them down? A few shows ago Kaoru began to become so much more goofy, she has this annoying laugh which makes you want to mute her(!) and she was even worse in the next episode.

 We hadn't been seeing too much of the young detective Machida the last few shows, we did see more of him in the beginning and that's the young man above. But it wasn't a good thing seeing more of Machida as an incident he was involved with became the major storyline in this episode, will get to what took place soon enough. This episode began off with Takayama and Oshita on a stakeout, they had been looking for one man an entire week and their nerves were frazzled. As the top screenshot shows the pair did nab their man, gave him a minor beating and transported him down to the Minato precinct. On their way there Takayama observed Machida hanging outside of a game shop, what was up with him? Takayama didn't know for a while but we viewers did as we watched Machida enter the shop and purchase a BB gun that looked exactly like a revolver, is he a gamer? No he's not and Machida fled the shop quickly after his purchase, seemed like he was extremely edgy and had a good reason to be. It's been a good morning at he Minato station as two perps have already been nabbed, the chief Kondo is quite pleased for a change but that happiness won't be lasting much longer. A call came in about a crazed man at the Yamashitacho yacht harbor, this goon was firing his pistol at everyone!

 Takayama and Oshita are the best shooters so were assigned to the case, Kondo told them to bring Machida with them and you could see how petrified he was but why???? At the harbor this man was pumped up on drugs and had no idea what he was doing but managed to keep hidden from Takayama and Oshita. But he couldn't do the same with Machida and as it shows above the pair were aiming their guns at one another, who would blink first? For some reason(not to us) Machida didn't want to fire his gun, from some distance away Oshita screamed to fire and wondered what was wrong with the young detective? Machida did eventually fire and it was a perfect shot to the wrist knocking the perp's gun away! This was when Machida's secret was exposed for his Senpais were wondering why was there no blood? It's because Machida had shot the man with that BB gun, least it was powerful enough to knock the gun out of the man's hand. Machida confessed to his mates that two nights ago his gun had been stolen from him at a Disco and doesn't know what to do. Machida can't take the chance of telling the chief Kondo what happened as he would probably be fired, Oshita said not to worry as he and Takayama will get that gun back. They did but not until the end of the show! That night the trio paid a visit to the Disco and there was a young woman there named Maki who Machida was certain had stolen his revolver.  She didn't but her sometimes boyfriend Toshiyuiki Nishiyama did look awful suspicious, he had no gun on him at the time but became suspect #1 in the theft of Machida's revolver. 

 The Ginsei clan is a criminal group that has been mentioned many times in these recaps. They're #1 on Takayama's hit list, he has brought down some leaders but that hasn't caused enough damage and once again the group will be part of a story. In the top screenshot above is Nishiyama and it is true that he's the one who stole Machida's gun, didn't he realize it at the time that it was gone? Nishiyama had been doing some leg work for the Ginsei gang and wants to be a member so badly. Now that Nishiyama had a gun he can prove himself to the Yakuza clan by taking out someone from their rival gang who are named Koryu. Nishiyama targeted a high ranking executive named Hayami, he followed the thug and shot at him on the street but missed badly so ended up fleeing. Arriving on the scene were Takayama and Oshita with Machida in tow, they had an inkling on what gun was used. The worst nightmare for any officer is to have their gun used in a crime and it would be just a matter of time until Nishiyama hurt someone. Back at the Minato station the Forensics Unit determined the gun used was the one assigned to Machida so his one time secret is known to all. Of course the chief Kondo blew his gasket and has issued an APB on Nishiyama, Machida better pray that he's caught before the gun can be used again.

 That APB could also be for Nishiyama's protection as in the middle screenshot above the man in blue has told his troops to find Nishiyama and eliminate him!!!! Inoue is the man's name and he's an exec. with Ginsei, before Nishiyama causes any more trouble with their rival gang he wants him taken out! Inoue never had any intentions of letting Nishiyama join Ginsei which was unknown to the wanna-be gangster. That phone call was overheard by Takayama as you can see above but of course Inoue pleaded ignorance. Back at the Minato station Maki was interviewed again by the investigators, she was innocent and just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when Machida's gun was swiped. She had no clue where her sometime boyfriend was hiding but was told that the Ginsei gang would have probably murdered Nishiyama after he had killed the Koryu executive. The two gangs have been at odds for six months which Takayama says above, will the two rival gangs have an all out war and if so when and where? The Koryu exec. Hayami has been tailed and it was discovered he would be taking a trip to the island of Oshima which is off the coast of Nagaaki. The chief hated to do it but is sending his two best men Takayama and Oshita there to see what was planned, rumor had it Hayami may be dealing in smuggled weapons. So off went the pair to Oshima, the bottom screenshot is of Holland Village which is on the island and talked about it in the intro.

 Takayama truly hates all Yakuza clans so it was kind of ironic he was sent to protect Hayami from Nishiyama! The Holland Village did look like such an interesting place but it wasn't used in the story. For instance would have been exciting to see a shootout scene in a windmill or taking a boat down a canal but there will be a major boat scene coming up. On the island are the two investigators Takayama and Oshita, also the Koryu exec. Hayami and his aide with the fifth being Nishiyama who still thinks by killing Hayami the Ginsei clan will take him on as a member. There's now a sixth person who is also from Yokohama, it's the Juvenile Unit investigator Kaoru. She told Oshita she was on vacation and was supposed to enjoy it with an old schoolmate who failed to show up. **** Have to add in again that the last four shows, the next one too, Kaoru has become annoying to the Nth degree! She is dragging the stories down and has been acting like such a foolish clown with a piercing laugh, it's come to the point where I hate seeing her on the screen. Nishiyama was spotted early on by Oshita who tried to grab the wanna-be gangster without his partner Takayama. That failed horribly as Nishiyama had grabbed a woman as a hostage but agreed to Oshita's request that he trade places with her. The pair jumped into the woman's car with Oshita driving, Takayama spotted the car speeding away but was helpless to do anything. He called back to the Minato station to inform them and once again the chief Kondo was so infuriated with his two top investigators.

 Oshita had been handcuffed and brought to an empty building where Nishiyama told him of his plans to join Ginsei. Nishiyama's goal all along was to finally 'Be a Man!' but would never be as the cuffed Oshita was able to grab the gun away from him! But Nishiyama was able to flee the building and still had a gun on him which was Oshita's! The one he had taken from Nishiyama was Machida's, like his mate Oshita is praying Nishiyama won't use his gun in a killing.. Meanwhile Takayama had been tailing the Koryu gangster Hayami, he's found out the man came to Oshima to purchase guns. The meeting was to take place on a boat in the strait between Oshima and Nagasaki, you can see below some of what took place. Takayama showed his badge to a boat owner who drove the investigator after Hayami, have seen Takayama handle a boat before and he is an Ace. At the meeting Hayami bought five guns off this trader and it was just the tip of the iceberg as many more were ordered, This unnamed trader left Hayamai's boat and jumped into his own with Takayama trailing, the man he got to drive him was a pro! Soon this trader was nabbed and now Takayama's sights were back on Hayami who witnessed the action and tore off towards land. He made it there before Takayama could, hopped into his own car with his aide and would he be able to escape with the guns?

 Final part and arriving to help Takayama was his partner Oshita. He saw Hayami jump into that car and did fire at it but he was able to escape.... briefly. Oshita was aided by Kaoru but as I've said she's more of a hindrance than a helpful ally. Also arriving on the scene was Nishiyama and we're already down to less than five minutes to go. So the three investigators and Nishiyama began to fire at Hayami's car, he wasn't hit but the car crashed with his driver being badly hurt and then shot. Hayami tried to flee the scene and watching that from a rooftop was Nishiyama. He took aim at the thug with Oshita screaming 'Don't Fire!' as it was his gun Nishiyama was using! But he did fire and Hayami went down as he was hit in the leg but it wasn't a fatal blow. Nishiyama began to jump up and down with glee but wondered why as Hayami wasn't killed, soon Oshita had the cuffs on him.

 Of course Oshita was stunned that he didn't get there in time and that his own gun was used to shoot someone. When Nishiyama fired the revolver had a feeling it wasn't him who hit Hayami as he was so far away and was inexperienced, someone else I figured nailed the thug. Was right thinking that it was Takayama and to say Oshita was extremely relieved that it was his partner that hit the 'winning shot' would be an understatement! So this case came to it's close with the good guys keeping their record unblemished as far as nailing gangsters go. Back in Yokohama Machida too was overjoyed with the outcome as his gun was never used to hurt anyone and he'll get to keep his job! So that wraps up this recap up, what else is unblemished is how every episode has been solid though will admit some have been way better than others. The next post is for episode #32, just three more to go in this fourth season.