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 20.3%
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.
Two episodes ago also dealt with the arrest rates for the Minato precinct, they were in a 'competition' with the Higashi station to solve a crime first and came out on top. In the beginning of this show the station's chief Kondo announced the latest arrest figures for the Kanagawa prefecture which was 77.8%. The Minato station had an arrest rate of 75.4% so they were below average and have no clue how those stats were figured out. The rate did go up in this show as the Minato investigators solved a five year old gold heist and for the first time in fourteen episodes most of the action took place outside of Yokohama. Sendai prefect and the city of Miyagi was the location, that's a little north of Tokyo and 33+ miles from Yokohama and there is a lot of farm land there. Let's get to the action and after this post there's only four episodes to go.
Ichinose claimed at the time that Nakano had turned traitor, he had bashed Ichinose over the head and fled with the gold. Which has never been recovered and Ichinose swore he had no clue where his partner had hidden it which was believed by the police or else why would Ichinose have turned himself in? Talking with Ichinose is the first step to solving the murder of Akemi and also to raise the arrest rate for the Minato station. Takayama and Yoshi aka Papa were sent to see Ichinose the next day when he was released from prison. Ichinose was fairly shook up when informed of Akemi's murder and the pair brought him to her apartment. Ichinose was a rather convincing speaker, he told the investigators about the double cross that Nakano had pulled and they believed his story also. What made it more believable was while at the apartment a call came for Ichinose, it was from a group of thugs who have taken his sister as a hostage and are demanding to know where the gold was hidden!
Takayama had an idea, could Yoshi somehow get a gold bar from the police and perhaps that could be used as a small bait? Ichinose was brought to a Miyagi hotel, there the investigators hooked up their phone to the one in Chiaki's apartment in order to tape the conversations and also not to let the gang know where Ichinose was being held. A call did come in and Ichinose was able to stretch out the talk long enough to trace the call. Which was from another Miyagi hotel but when Takayama and Machida arrived the perps along with their hostage Chiaki had fled the scene. To Takayama this was all planned out, the gang was testing the investigators to see how long it would take them to respond and also if their calls were being traced.
Meanwhile Oshita and two other investigators from Minato made the trip up to Miyagi and Oshita acted more clownish in this show than any other one. Ichinose had been waiting in a rented car for instructions on where to go, an unnamed man jumped into it and drove away with Ichinose as his prisoner. The destination was a drive-in and there waiting was Ogata, Ichinose showed him that one gold bar and said the rest were in the trunk. One of the unnamed henchmen was about to take the huge suitcases when out of nowhere popped the Minato investigators who quickly subdued most but Ogata was able to escape. None of these gang members were named, another was able to flee but was soon caught by Oshita even though this goon held a gun to a woman's head. You can see above that Oshita meant business, tell him where Ogata and Chiaki are at or else he would have no qualms about blowing this man away!
Hard to believe how many abandoned factories and warehouses there were in Japan during the late 1980's, one is where Chiaki was being held hostage by Ogata. That creep Oshita was threatening did reveal the location and off to this building were the six investigators. There was no intense shootout this time to nab any criminals, a few shots were fired but these creeps ended up surrendering meekly with Chiaki safe and sound. Ogata was found there and did admit he was going to sell the gold that Ichinose and Nakano had stolen, for 1700 yen a gram! That would have been a nice haul for Ogata and he told Takayama that it wasn't Nakano who had betrayed his partner but Ichinose was the man! For five years everyone believed Ichinose's tale of not knowing where the gold was hidden, now that the true facts were out it was time to put some pressure on Ichinose. Who stuck to his story and said that he was betrayed by his partner, Takayama didn't buy a word and came up with a very ingenious plan.
Later that day Ichinose was in a car with Takayama and Oshita when shots were fired at the vehicle. The three jumped out with Takayama fleeing with Ichinose while Oshita gave them cover. When Takayama stopped to tie his shoe Ichinose banged him over the head with a rock, stole his pistol and tore away. He soon was able to hijack a small truck and zoomed away for the gold, the destination was an abandoned concert hall. Where the gold was stashed and right after Ichinose grabbed it appearing on the scene were the investigators to arrest him. This entire scene had been a 'stage play' thought up by Takayama, the shooters at the car were their Minato mates, the driver of the small truck was Tanaka and Takayama's pistol had no bullets in it! Ichinose fell for the plan easily and once again will be facing a stint in prison, this one longer than five years! The chief Kondo was pleased as two cases were solved and finally their arrest rate will go up. So that ends this recap and it didn't seem to me that nearly as much took place in this show as previous ones as the paragraphs were a bit shorter but it was another fine episode. Been zipping through these final shows and hope to have the next pair in 2-3 days.
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