"Abunai Deka" drama: Episode 48 of 51(!!!!) recap(season six, 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 21.7%

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 .... Episode 42 .... Episode 43 .... Episode 44

Episode 45 .... Episode 46 .... Episode 47

 

 Sure hope she's not talking about me!!!! Above is an actress named Yoko Okawa who played Hiroko in this episode, not a large role but it was very key to the story. Yoko was quite attractive and was just shy of being 23 in age at the time. She appeared in many dramas and a few films during the 80's but like so many other actresses who made guest appearances in this series disappeared in the 1990's and odds are high because she and the others got married and settled down. She also made a brief appearance in episode 34 but don't recall her. Just three more episodes to go after this and there was a second season of 25 episodes that began in late 1988, will talk more about that and the movies  in one of the last two posts. For the second time in this series the main criminal was a bomber but with a different twist as three bombs were hidden around Yokohama and could the two hero investigators Takayama and Oshita find and deactivate them before they exploded????

 In the first minute or so of this episode the man in the top screenshot Shirakawa had been arrested for robbery. At the scene the 'heroes' Takayama and Oshita acted much more coolish and outrageous than ever which ignited the fury of a young man watching the incident amongst a crowd. A few hours later the young man turned up at the Minato precinct asking to talk with Takayama and Oshita, when they met him the man said he had planted a bomb!!!! You'll be seeing plenty of screenshots for this 22 year old man who says above his name is Norio Maki, will call him by his first name as Maki is a common female first name and could be confusing. Of course the investigators thought this man was pulling their legs but he did prove to them that he wasn't bluffing. Norio said the bomb was planted in a car at Hinode Pier, a squad car was sent there and just after arriving the car Norio was referring to was blown to smithereens! So this calm and collective man Norio wasn't joking around but of course the biggest question of all was why would be come to the Minato station and kind of turn himself in?

 This was all a 'game' to Norio and he also revealed that two more bombs had been planted in Yokohama, they're set to explode at 3:00 and 6:00 pm, the time when he told the station of the bombs was 1:00 pm. Unlike that first bomb Norio won't reveal the exact locations, he'll give the investigators hints and can they find the bombs in time? However many hints were just lies and the first one was to head to the Isezakicho section of Yokohama, the bomb is planted in a lunchbox! But how many lunchboxes could there be in even a small section of the city plus was it a box at a food or department store, at a restaurant or one a person was carrying???? Of course Takayama and Oshita are out on the impossible hunt along with the other five Minato station investigators though Takayama first went to check out Norio's apartment. That first screenshot below is a photo Takayama taped together as it had been torn into many pieces and thrown into a trash can, who is this woman and does she have anything to do with the the bombs?

 Will skip slightly ahead here, there was something we viewers could deduce but was unknown to the investigators. Which was why Norio was playing this 'game', as Oshita says in the third screenshot above neither him nor Takayama had ever seen him until a few hours ago. Which was also true of Norio never seeing Takayama and Oshita until earlier that day. He had seen their antics when they busted that robber and Norio for some odd reason really wanted to shame the pair and had somehow managed to plant three time bombs in a very short amount of time around Yokohama, bit more on that coming up. Norio was a very smart young man who was in his fourth year at the International University of Science but he was a bit of a nerd and not that good looking. Takayama visited the university where a fellow student said he had seen Norio crying a few days ago in front of the Momotachi Gallery, to this student it appeared Norio had been dumped or rejected by a woman wo worked there. She was the woman who was talked about in the intro and her name in this show was Hiroko Matsushita, quickly Takayama rushed to the gallery.

 There Hiroko explained what had happened, for weeks Norio had been coming on to her asking her out for dates but Hiroko wanted nothing to do with this creep and rejected him every time. Takayama thought it may be wise to bring Hiroko to the Minato station to see Norio which was a flop. He wanted nothing to do with Hiroko or at least that's the impression he gave everyone, Norio said to send her back home but we will be seeing Hiroko once again towards the end. Meanwhile the hunt for the lunchbox containing a bomb wasn't going well and that's because of he games Norio was playing. The bomb wasn't at that first location and then he had sent Oshita and five others to Chinatown which was another dead end. The Minato chief Kondo even bowed to Norio pleading to reveal where the bomb was located, the time was rapidly approaching 3:00 pm. Finally Norio gave the correct area which was the Motomachi neighborhood which is where Hiroko's gallery was but that too is a large area and where to begin? A huge stroke of luck was needed and that's how the bomb was eventually discovered, of course the finder was Oshita.

 It was just by pure luck that Oshita had found the lunchbox with the bomb, it was at a small store and had been buried behind another lunchbox. But just finding it doesn't end the situation, in less than five minutes the bomb will explode and Oshita had no clue on which wires to cut that will deactivate it. Least this time Norio didn't play any games, Oshita can cut all of the wires save for the Blue one and that will do the trick which did work. Considering a bomb was about to go off it really wasn't all that tense of a scene but there's still one more to be found. The time is now shortly after 3:00 pm, the third bomb Norio planted will be exploding at 6:00 pm and once again he sent the Minato investigators on a wild goose chase to Yamashita Park. That must be a large place as it's been a key location in so many episodes, at least half to date. Back at the Minato station Norio had one more request, his first was to have access to the police radio so he could talk with Oshita which had been granted and how he had been getting these 'hints' so quickly. Now he wants Takayama and Oshita to return to the station, Norio will only talk to them about the third bomb's location and the final scene with Norio will take place on the roof of the Minato precinct.

 Which is where they learned what us viewers knew and had been described in the previous section, about how Norio hated the arrogant and wisecracking ways of Takayama and Oshita. But Norio had only seen them once briefly for that robbery bust, a lot did happen but it's still the same day! Personally can't understand why the actions of our two 'heroes' bothered Norio as much as it did, perhaps because he could never be as cool as they were and snag a woman such as Hiroko? Not sure of the time when this rooftop scene took place, it had to be between 3:30 and 4:00 pm so bomb #2 will be going off in about two hours. Only one clue on where the location of the bomb was revealed by Norio, it was in a car that was in Yokohama! At the time the population was 3.5 million so what kind of clue was that? It would be the only one given by Norio and think he had a strong inkling Takayama and Oshita would find the bomb in time. It was also the last hint as Norio ambled over to the rooftop's edge and was prepared to jump! The investigators thought he was bluffing but only for a few seconds, Takayama noticed a tear in one of Norio's eyes and knew he was serious about killing himself. Takayama dashed over but not nearly in time, in the bottom two screenshots above you can see what took place.

 Never mind that tragic death, now with Norio gone how can Takayama and Oshita ever expect to find ONE CAR in a city as large as Yokohama with no clues? Well, the most obvious car connection would probably have to deal with Hiroko, what other options did the investigators have? Zero so the pair rushed to the Momomachi Gallery to find Hiroko but she had left at 3:00 pm. Hiroko is also a PT piano teacher and had been instructing a pair of young students. The lessons ended at 4:30 pm, Hiroko was driving the youngsters home and unknown to her in the engine was Norio's third bomb. This was a good story but my one minor beef was how the investigators lucked out so well twice. First it was with Oshita finding that lunchbox five minutes before the bomb would explode. The second time was this final scene as driving around the huge city of Yokohama the two heroes spotted Hiroko's red Corona and there was less than ten minutes to go until the bomb blew the car to seventh heaven!

 Oshita did some nifty driving as he went the wrong way on an expressway but was able to get in front of Hiroko's car and flag her down. The investigators quickly dragged her and the one other student still with her as far away as possible, now to disarm this bomb. One other thought I had was why didn't Takayama now or Oshita earlier throw the bomb in a canal or river where it would do so little damage, there's plenty of those in Yokohama. To make a long story shortish with one second to spare the duo were able to cut the correct wires and disable the bomb which meant no one had died and as mentioned think Norio knew the investigators would save the day. In this episode's final minute you can see above what Takayama and Oshita were saying about Norio, they had paid their final respects to him. Norio in a way did outwit the Minato station and deep down knew the investigators would save the woman he loved, Hiroko. If so why did he plant the bomb in her car in the first place? Decent show of course but thought the previous ten or so were a bit better, not too much action in this show and Luck did play a key part in finding the bombs. Below are a few more screenshots of the action and the next post has the recap for episode 49.