"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode 38 of 51(!!!!) recap(season five, episode three)

 

 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 19.0%

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 ran from the nineteenth until the 26th episode. Season four has been completed which is episodes 27 through 35. So now were down to the last two seasons which each have eight episodes.

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 .... Episode 31 .... Episode 32 .... Episode 33 .... Episode 34

Episode 35 .... Episode 36 .... Episode 37

 There's been quite a few known guest stars in this series, many were young at the time and became big stars later on. My top guest star will be the above man and he could be my favorite action actor from the past thirty years, he's Riki Takeuchi. Bet I've seen him in over 25 films, no actor appeared in as many V-Cinema movies as he did from 1990 to about 2005, my guess is at least fifty! V-Cinema means films that were ones which mainly went straight to video, in those days VHS. Riki was one unique character and such a rough/tough guy in his films, exactly a month ago he hit the age of sixty so of course doesn't do many action ones these days, he was 23 in age for this episode. He played the character of Shun Hasegawa who was an ex-pro boxer that was wanted for murder, the two 'heroes' Takayama and Oshita bailed him out which you can read all about in this recap. **** Almost forgot to mention there is a minor story line and it's of a long time feud Takayama has had with the notorious Yokohama Yakuza gangster clan Ginsei. They hadn't been seen since the 32nd episode but did make a return for this show, no matter how many leaders and goons Takayama has brought down the gang just can't be totally defeated.

 Those two 'heroes' Takayama and Oshita were looking quite dapper in this show, in the beginning they were headed to a friend's wedding. Which they never arrived at and am wondering why did they stop at the Minato precinct first? For when they did the station chief Kondo announced that the area was under a Red Alert, there was a murder committed the previous night with the main suspect being Shun Hasegawa(Riki). As the young investigator Machida noted above he was an ex-boxer and wondered what ever happened to him, as the series has been going on Machida rarely has gone out with Takayama and Oshita on cases. A big reason is the chief Kondo feels the pair are such a bad influence on Machida. So forget that wedding as the Prefect Police needed some help from the Minato station, Takayama and Oshita were chosen to their disappointment. That older man making a comment above was the Prefect leader Harakuma, he rolled his eyes when he saw who Kondo had sent! But the pair naturally did solve the crime at the end and he wasn't used to their unorthodox ways. Shortly after the investigators arrived at a roadblock set up by the police a group of twenty motorcycles were stopped, so many were wearing helmets so was Shun hiding among them?

 No and a mini melee did break out between the riders and the police. During that scuffle Shun popped out of some bushes and stole a motorcycle so of course you avid readers will know what happens next! Which is that Takayama also stole one of the bikes, for at least the tenth time in this series he gave chase and he is an Ace driver, even in real life. For the first time his partner Oshita went with Takayama and held on for dear life, the pair lost Shun on the crowded Yokohama streets but couldn't return empty handed. They checked out a few abandoned factories and at one did find Shun who soon got the upper hand. He ambushed Oshita and grabbed his gun, when Takayama arrived to help his mate he was forced to lay down his revolver. Oshita had cuffs put on him and Shun gave an order to Takayama, find a young woman named Anzu or his partner will be history! Shun was claiming he had been set up to look like the murderer of a man named Hideo Ninomiya, Shun said the previous night he had spent with a call girl whose name was Anzu, It's now 1:00 pm. and Takayama has two hours to find her or else!

 However if Takayama is successful Shun will turn himself in at the Minato station as Anzu can prove his innocence. Takayama has that ability to tell if someone is lying or telling the truth, he believed Shun so will hunt for this Anzu woman though his partner Oshita is less sure of Shun's innocence. Secretly Takayama called the Minato station, he doesn't want his chief Kondo to know what's taken place. He had Machida scour their records for any woman named Anzu, the Juvenile Unit investigator Kaoru overheard that conversation and will secretly help out Takayama with his hunt. Which for once she did well as Anzu was found and is the girl in blue above. **** There were a lot of references to Fruits in this episode, for instance Anzu in Japanese means Apricot, the reason she was so hard to find at first is most people had known her name to be Sumomo which means Plum. Anzu did admit she was with a man the previous night who was an ex-boxer but didn't know his name, they stayed at the Apple Hotel! 

 Anzu has agreed to help out and will go to the Minato station but there was a huge snag. Which is that outside of her apartment building was a gang of thugs, we learned later they were from Takayama's major enemy the Ginsei clan. He was able to beat them off and during the melee Kaoru was able to whisk Anzu to the station. She did tell the detectives that she did spend the previous night with an ex-boxer but he never revealed his name. So Anzu's testimony won't get Shun off the hook, the only way is to bring him to the Minato station where he can be identified by her. Takayama was told that via a secret call from Kaoru, now it was back to the warehouse to pick up his partner Oshita and Shun. Takayama was ten minutes late and Shun had Oshita on the floor with a gun jammed to his face but don't think he would have fired, neither did Takayama. Oshita wasn't so sure of that as he's still not entirely convinced that Shun is innocent of murdering Ninomiya. While Takayama had been away Oshita asked why Shun had quit boxing as he had such a promising future. To that Shun said a man named Takamura had forced him to quit when he learned Shun was in love with his daughter Kyoko. Takamura was a politician and he along with Kyoko will be very important to the story though we never see them.

 The warehouse where the trio is holed up at is 5 km/3.1 miles from the Minato station, not a far journey but the Ginsei clan is on the hunt for their enemy Takayama plus Shun, why would that be? As you can see above after a while Shun had told the investigators the politician Takamura had ties with the Ginsei clan and could they have been responsible for Ninomiya's murder? No they weren't but none knew that at the time, the main objective was to get Shun back to the station safe and sound. Which wasn't an easy task, first they tried traveling by taxi but the Ginsei clan was on their tail and the driver threw them out! To Takayama walking was the best option as they could hide in alleys and behind buildings though it would take much longer. But on their trek the trio encountered that motorcycle gang mentioned much earlier, they recalled who Takayama and Oshita were. There was a scuffle and it appeared the investigators along with the ex-boxer Shun would come out on top.

 That wasn't to be as one of the gang was able to grab Takayama's revolver, soon Oshita's was taken too. But the young riders had no intentions of shooting any one, they removed the bullets and threw them into the bay as this took place at a pier. They then gave the guns back and if Takayama hadn't been wearing a wedding tuxedo he would have had some extra ammo. The riders then handcuffed the trio together and you can see that above, even tied they were able to subdue the gang and proceeded on their journey to the Minato station. It was a bit humorous to the people they passed, what were three men doing walking the streets handcuffed together? Back at the Minato precinct the Prefect leader Harakuma had set up camp at the chief Kondo's desk. Like his staff Kondo took refuge in the interrogating  room and worked from there. They too think that the politician Takamura is involved somehow in the murder, as the investigator Yoshi says above it's time to put some pressure on this man which is what he and his partner Tanaka soon did.

 With seemingly the entire Ginsei clan looking for Takayama, Oshita and Shun it was just a matter of time until they were found. Which happened near another pier and it did help the trio that there were many hiding places. Though still tied together they were able to subdue one member and take his gun, Takayama was able to shoot the handcuffs off everyone but that left him with only three bullets. Shun was told to dash back to the Minato station and with Anzu still there she should be able to clear his name. Meanwhile Takayama and Oshita spilt up at the pier in the attempt to thwart the attack of the Ginsei gang. Not an easy task as Oshita's gun had zero bullets and Takayama's only three but with them he was able to take out a trio of gangsters. But that was it for his supply and the Ginsei troops quickly surrounded Takayama, will they finally bring down their arch rival? NO for appearing out of nowhere was Oshita, he had his gun pointed at the head of a thug and said to drop their weapons which the Ginsei goons did, of course they had no idea Oshita was out of ammo. Takayama quickly scooped up everyone's guns, once again this Yakuza group was beaten by Takayama but will he ever be able to bring the whole gang down?

 Back at the station Anzu was able to ID Shun and said he had spent the previous night with her. The Prefect leader Harakuma didn't quite believe her but when Anzu said he had a scar on his bottom, which Shun did, he was cleared of any crimes, Takayama and Oshita didn't press any charges for what he had done to them. So what of the murder of Ninomiya, would that go unsolved? NO for Yoshi and Tanaka had gone to the politician Takamura's house for answers and the case there was cleared up very quickly. Because Takamura had hated Shun so much for dating his daughter Kyoko he had arranged a marriage for her with Ninomiya. However the previous night he had attempted to have his way with her, in a fury Kyoko had smashed him over the head with a vase which somehow killed him. There was no way Takamura could let is daughter be arrested for murder and destroy his career so he set it up for Shun to be framed and had the Ginsei clan do his dirty work. So though those two characters were never seen they did play a key part in the story at the end. So that wraps up this recap and the next post is for episode 39. It was nice to see Riki in one of his earliest roles and know my next film to view will be one starring him, many more screenshot below of the action. EDIT: Chose my fave Riki film "Deadly Outlaw Rekka" from 2002, have probably seen it fifty times(!) yet can never get tired of it.