"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode 43 of 51(!!!!) recap(season five, episode eight/final)

 

 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 16.2%

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 .... Episode 38 .... Episode 39

Episode 40 .... Episode 41

 Final show of this fifth season though there's still eight more episodes to go after today. Know I have many more dramas I'm yearning to view but will really miss this when it's completed. This 43rd episode aired in August 1987, computers were very new to the workplace and some references were made of that in this show. The Minato Investigative Unit doesn't appear to have it's own computer and all of the investigators save for one are clueless on how they work. But the station does have some as reports and searches for criminals are printed out. Brought that up for a main culprit in this episode was a computer hacker though we never met him as he was murdered early on! 

 Been noticing that the suits Oshita has been wearing in this season have become a bit flashy, so much at times he could almost pass himself off as a gangster! That's him on the right in the top screenshot, on the left is a veteran pickpocket thief named Yamano Tomekichi. Oshita was nabbing him for taking a wallet from a man's back pocket and soon the pair were heading via car to the Minato precinct. However a call came in about a shooting at the nearby Oyama building, Oshita headed there quickly and still had Tomekichi. Who was a bit off a wimpy man and would do/say anything to be on your good side, when Oshita entered the building he told Tomekichi to stay put and he had no worries that he wouldn't. Oshita ran into two creeps leaving an apartment, they fired at him but missed and the chase ended up on the building's roof. Which was covered with white sheets and made for some perfect hiding places for the pair of thugs who shot Oshita in the stomach, they then stood over him but never finished the job. We didn't see them too often but these two thugs were Taki who was the taller of the two and Sawamura, both are members of the Yakuza clan Ginsei.

 Tomekichi heard the gunshots from the roof and rushed there, though a veteran criminal seems he does care a bit about Oshita who had busted him before. He helped Oshita down to the car and Tomekichi did attempt to follow the gangsters though they got away. Tomekichi was a born thief and while the thugs were on the roof had grabbed a matchbox from their vehicle which will help the case immensely. Oshita did not want to go to the hospital nor the Minato station, he wants to nab these thugs without any help. But he is severely injured and Tomekichi brought him to a hidden warehouse in Honmoku to recover, much more on those two coming up. That Oyama apartment shooting took place at the residence of a 27 year old man named Susumu Shimada, he was shot in the mouth but before that seemingly gallons of water had been pumped into him, a gangster torture? Shimada was a computer programmer for an Electronics company and that's where the Computer angle will come into play. Nothing valuable seemed to have been taken and Shimada was a very quiet man, why was he targeted to be killed by the Ginsei clan? Takayama is now on the case as he was at the murder scene, that's him holding a photo above with Shimada in half of it, who was in the other half and why was it ripped in two? The thieves had taken it for it showed a woman named Yuka in the other half, you'll meet her soon.

 There was something that proved to be the most important part of this case at Shimada's apartment but don't think the two thugs Taki and Sawamura were aware of it's existence. It was a ledger that was packed with names and photos, Shimada being a lonely man why would he have such a list? Before this ledger was brought to the Minato station Machida and Kaoru had been interviewing a young woman who said a man had called her tying to extort money from her, if not this caller would reveal her drug habit but this woman wasn't a user. In that ledger Kaoru noticed the woman's picture, besides being a computer ace was Shimada also extorting money from women and if so why? Lot of questions and one answer coming up later on is that Shimada was also a Hacker, that was an unknown term back in 1987. Oshita was relying on Tomekichi to help him out which the pickpocket did, he grabbed them food and medicine for Oshita's gunshot wound but he does need to go to a hospital which didn't happen until the end. Tomekichi also secretly called the Minato station and talked to the young investigator Machida, the way Tomekichi spoke it almost sounded as if he had Oshita as a hostage! Which wasn't the case and Machida rushed to the hiding place without letting anyone else know. 

 That matchbox Tomekichi found in the gangster's car was from a Soapland club, aka a Brothel! Machida was sent there as it appeared the thugs were there the previous night which was true. He got info about one of them which was the larger man named Taki though at the time none knew it was this man's name. The woman he was with overheard him talking on the phone about a drug trade and by the sound of it seemed Taki and his partner Sawamura had turned traitors and had stolen some drugs from their Ginsei gang. That was only partially true and more on those drugs coming up. Those names from Shimada's ledger were being investigated, almost all seemed to be of young woman and perhaps because they could be fooled easier? Takayama struck pay dirt with his first name who was a woman named Yuka Takahashi and she let him in her apartment. However in a humorous scene she thought Takayama was from the plumbing company and had come to fix her shower which wouldn't turn off! Takayama did fix the problem though ended up getting soaked, he then revealed why he had paid Yuka a visit and that's her on the right in the above bottom screenshot. **** Won't be mentioning Tomekichi again but the pickpocket did play a key role in helping Oshita recover and solve this case.

 Yuka admitted to Takayama that she too had tried to be blackmailed by Shimada about a year ago but claimed she didn't know until now that was his name. While Takayama was there Yuka received a phone call, no one was at the other end and she said many of these calls had been coming recently which did make Takayama a bit curious. He didn't quite believe Yuka's story of not knowing who Shimada was but didn't press the matter, he soon left but waited outside of her apartment building to tail Yuka so more about her very shortly. The investigator in the top screenshot with the fan is Tanaka who has a semi big role, on the left is Yoshi and their chief Kondo is in the chair. Tanaka did know a bit about computers and was explaining to them how Hacking works because it appears Shimada had a very lucrative business doing that activity. What had been discovered was that Shimada had hacked into the networks of the Ginsei and Hamada gangster groups and was changing their data. For his own benefit as Shimada was able to set it up for some of their drug deals to go awry and he would instead get hold of the shipment! Eventually the Ginsei group did find out and had ordered their hitmen Taki and Sawamura rub out Shimada.

 Which of course they did but knowing Shimada had a few pounds of cocaine hidden away they want that but where was it stashed? Not in his apartment and the only one who may have a clue was his semi-girlfriend Yuka, they too were staking out her apartment. Yuka did end up leaving her building and went to the nearby bus terminal and stood in front of their lockers. There was no doubt to Takayama that Yuka had a key to one of them but instead of opening a locker she left the station. Soon after the thugs Taki and Sawamura nabbed Yuka from the street and tore away, Takayama watched this take place but had no car. But if you've read previous recaps you know that Takayama is one Ace cyclist and jumped on a nearby bike and tore after the car. In that car Yuka was threatened to turn over the locker key or else(!), she claimed that there was no such locker nor any hidden drugs and was soon thrown out of the moving car! To top it off Yuka was shot as she lay in the ground, Takayama had to abort his chase but will resume it a bit later. After that near fatal shooting Yuka did open up at the hospital to Takayama, it is true she knew Shimada and worked with him but not doing any dirty work. A year ago Shimada had tried to extort money from Yuka and that's how they got to know each other, she did have an honest job working as an OL. She told Takayama two things, one that Shimada had hidden the stolen Ginsei drugs at her apartment and that Shimada did have a bus locker as she handed him the key.

 That top screenshot above shows an irate chief Kondo, he's lost all hopes for his troops as they don't pay attention to him for Takayama, Oshita and Machida have all gone AWOL!!!! After that talk with Yuka Takayama headed to her apartment to find the drugs Shimada had hidden, he hadn't even told Yuka their exact hiding place. Which was in her bathroom but the goons Taki and Sawamura had shown up there first to locate the cocaine and found it. They quickly fled her residence but just at that time Machida had shown up as he got a tip from Kaoru that's where Takayama may be. The gangsters had their car and the only way for Machida to give chase was to jump on  a bicycle but of course after a while couldn't keep up. But soon zooming by was Takayama on that 'borrowed motorcycle', Machida said the goons may be heading to Takashima Wharf as they were going to flee Japan that night with the drugs via a ship. But the pair of Taki and Sawamura soon noticed Takayama was on their tail, instead of heading to the wharf they lured him to a factory to eliminate him! That was a fun scene as Takayama tore after the pair who were on foot riding that motorcycle through the factory, he even drove up to the fourth floor(!) where the chase ended. Takayama took out Taki but unknown to him standing nearby to shoot was Sawamura, how would be squirm out of this jam?

 Thanks to the semi recovered Oshita as he arrived in the nick of time to take out Sawamura and shot Taki again as Takayama wasn't aware he he wasn't badly hurt. Not sure how Oshita knew where his partner was, perhaps from Machida(?) as the three are still AWOL at the Minato station. At the scene was a bag the goons dropped, in it was the cocaine Shimada had stolen and soon the blackmail money was recovered at the bus station locker. Yuka wasn't charged with any crimes as she did help out Takayama immensely and in a way Shimada was just using her, in the hospital room next to Yuka's was Oshita who finally got the medical treatment he needed. Back at the Minato station Kondo was of course incensed with his troops but what could he say as yet again a difficult case was solved. However Kondo did warn Takayama once again to stay away from the Ginsei clan but that's hard for him to do, seems they're getting even more powerful. That wraps up this recap and also season five, wrote up two in one day so was scatterbrained at times but think it worked out well enough. The pace is picking up for this series so should have the next pair of posts in just a few days.