Friday, May 10, 2024

"Akai Meiro" drama, episode 25 of 26 recap

 


 Air Dates: October 4, 1974 until March 28, 1975... Friday nights at 9:00 pm on TBS/Daiei
There's 26 episodes that are 46 minutes in length, this series is also known as Red Maze
 Once again the subs were done by GEO9875, fifth series I've recapped by them. This is the first of a long running RED series, there were a few more dramas and some TV specials.
The average rating for the drama was 18.9% with a high of 22.7%.

Main Cast: Thanks again to GEO9875 for doing the subs for this series, another classic that has been revived. This could prove to be a challenge for me and may write up 6-8 recaps before publishing any. The recent series I finished "Abunai Deka" had 51 episodes but all were stand alone stories. This drama is one long 26 episode story so don't want to have long gaps between the recaps, every now and again do need a break so that's where the challenge will be. Am writing most of this up after viewing two shows, know there will be much editing to the character's bios and a few new ones may have to be added in. But I am looking forward to this series and it has started off strongly, except for a pair of Sentai shows this is the oldest drama I've viewed. 

 This drama has such a strong cast, so many were stars at the time or became one. Ken Utsui is the older man above, he sadly died ten years ago but what a terrific actor he was. Playing his wife who died early on was Akiko Koyama, she'll be turning ninety this year and have seen her in so many older films, she was so classy and attractive. Momoe Yamaguchi needs no intro as she may be the most popular Idol in the history of Japan, recommend reading up on her. Yusaku Matsuda died at the age of forty in 1989, he was a star actor but could be known more for being the father of two current popular actors Ryuhei and Shota Matsuda. Some others in the main cast are also known, will talk about a few of them in future posts. Below on the left is Takeo who was killed at the end of the first episode, on the right is her old friend Yukiho and could that conversation be the key behind everything that will take place?


 Ken Utsui as Masato Yuki.... A psychiatrist who has just returned to Japan after spending three years in NYC as a college lecturer/professor about the minds of criminals. In Tokyo Masato works at Towa Medical University Hospital, he's the leader of a new section called Laboratory of Criminal Psychology and Medicine. Masato's wife was Takeo who was murdered early on, he's the father of the next character Akiko. He seems to be a calm and collected individual but does Masato have a secret past, such as did he have an affair with Yukiko? That never happened but in the fifth episode we did learn that Masato isn't the true father of Akiko, who is? The answer to that is in the final character bio.


 Momoe Yamaguchi as Akiko Yuki.... Masato's fifteen year old daughter who is a freshman in high school. She's also the daughter of the following woman and a major question is if Akiko is truly Taeko's daughter, will be doing much editing for this character. Which hadn't happened through ten shows but since then Akiko's role had grown and she could be the key figure to all of these incidents and mysteries.


 Akiko Koyama as Taeko Yuki.... Though she was murdered at the end of the first episode still have her in this section as Taeko is so important to the story. We will be seeing her in flashbacks as the main story is finding out who was her killer? While Masato was in America a huge question is was Taeko having an affair, she acted so secretly upon his return. Another puzzle for now is if Taeko is the birth mother of Akiko? No and that was revealed in the fourth episode but Taeko had raised her since birth.


Yusaki Matsuda as Jun Tsuzuki....  Jun is 26 in age and is currently unemployed, he had been a construction worker. He's the younger brother of the below woman, something unknown(for now) happened in Jun's past which has made him so dour and unsociable. At the end of the second episode he was arrested for the murder of Taeko but personally think he's innocent. In March 1971 his then girlfriend Fujiko had been raped and murdered by a middle aged man. Masato had done the evaluation on this man who he deemed unfit to stand trial which would be Jun's motive if he is the actual killer of Taeko. Jun was arrested again in the sixth episode for Taeko's murder but near the end of episode eight was released. The key bit of evidence had been his work helmet but according to the Forensics Unit it had been tampered with and who is trying to frame Jun? That ended up being Misaki who was charged in episode twenty with her killing. Around the 16th show Jun began to have problems with his arms and fingers, Kyoko deduced it was Meningioma which is similar to a brain tumor. Jun's condition ended up getting much worse, in the 20th show he became blind and shortly after died in Kyoko's arms.


Aiko Nagayama as Yukiko Sakurai.... Jun's older sister who is married but it seems to be a loveless marriage. Yukiko also has a few mysteries surrounding her, one is did she have an affair with Masato before he went to America three years ago? She had grown up with Taeko but the pair did drift apart, because of the affair? Or perhaps something else such as I'm thinking that Yukiko is the birth mother of Akiko!!!! The two women hold a very dark secret and have for fifteen years, that happens to be the age of Akiko! **** In episode five it was revealed Yukiko is the true mother of Akiko, the father's name is Egami who killed someone fifteen years ago and is still on the lam.


Ryoko Nakano as Kyoko Sonoda.... New clinical psychologist in Masato's criminal unit. Kyoko seems to be such a nosy woman but also very competent at her work, she is very attractive and wonder if she has set her eyes upon her leader Masato? Yes she does which many have noticed though not Masato, Kyoko had attended a university in Germany. Beginning with the 14th show began to wonder if Kyoko may be involved with all of these sordid incidents, if so that would make for such an interesting storyline. But it wasn't to be, think the writers made many characters suspicious to throw us viewers off. 


 Makoto Sato as Yusaku Yanagida.... Prosecutor who is also Masato's lawyer, advisor and his best friend. The pair have known each other for decades and Yanagida seems to be a real decent man who is also trying to solve the mystery of Taeko's murder, that's him on the left below. He too once had the hots for Taeko but lost out to Masato though it never affected their friendship.


Masaya Takahashi as Professor Oyama.... He's Masato's superior at the university and don't know much about him to to date but he doesn't seem to like Masato and may not be trustworthy. That's Oyama on the right below, he cares more about the college's image than his own staff. In the fifth show some anger had arisen with the university staff because of Masato doing the evaluation of Jun, in a surprise Oyama has his back and will stand up for him. No longer as in episode ten Oyama will now be the leader of Masato's criminal lab and will take all of the credit! **** In episode 19 Oyama gave Masato back the leadership of the criminal lab again. But more importantly Oyama tried to run over Masato at the end of the show, it wasn't the first time he had tried that and Oyama soon drove his car into a bay at Izu ending his life.


 Here's a few others of the cast who we see now and again though don't have huge roles.

Goro Oshi as Goro Murai.... Owner of the Village Snack shop seen often and Jun's best friend. Goro was also good friends with Misaki who visited his snack bar often. 

Norihiko Yamamoto as Toshihiko Misaki.... A photographer and a character whose role wasn't that large or important until the 15th episode. However Jun had his suspicions about Misaki such as was he involved in the harassment of Masato's family and could he have possibly murdered Taeko? It appears the answer to that is yes, Misaki was arrested in the 20th show for her murder and did confess but it also appears he may have been working under someone or possibly could have had an accomplice. 




Goro Tarumi as Hidehiko Sakurai.... Yukiko's husband and owns a combo clothing factory and store. They had been in Yukiko's family for decades but had fallen upon hard times, Hidehiko has worked hard to make it profitable again.

Isao Tamagawa as Sakazaki.... Lead detective for Taeko's murder case.

Toshiaki Nishizawa as Masaru Egami.... We first learned of him at the end of the fifth episode. Over fifteen years ago he had been dating Yukiko in Kyoto and had gotten her pregnant. In March 1959 Egami had robbed and murdered a woman, since then he's been on the lam but is the.... true father of Akiko!!!! Many who knew of Egami thought he was dead but has now resurfaced in Tokyo, why as the statue of limitations ends in less than four months and could be have been involved in Taeko's murder? By the end of the eleventh show is doesn't appear so but it also seems as though an unknown man is trying to protect Egami from the police and Masato.




Previous recaps.... May be difficult to read many of them but if you've been following the story there would be no need. However much does happen in each show so don't have the time to explain everything that has taken place up until this point, some of the above is very informative but reading a few of these would definitely help.
 






 

 The gruesome part is that we may not see Kyoko in the final episode! Would think it'll happen but then again maybe not, you'll find out why in this recap. This pair of posts today wraps things up for this terrific drama, once again will give a big round off applause to GRO9875 who subbed this series and also another spinoff of this show which I will talk about in the next post. Also have to thank everyone who have been reading these recaps, of course posts such as these aren't ultra exciting but think they're easy enough to read and hopefully it made a few want to check out this drama. By now most mysteries have been cleared up, haven't been doing much editing to the above character section but if you've been reading these sure you don't need to check that info too often.

 But though mysteries and other enigmas have been explained more keep popping up. Many did in this show and you wouldn't have thought that would happen as there's only one more episode to go. But they do also answer some questions we've had and I was right with one semi prediction. Which is of the suspicions I've had for Yukiko's long time housekeeper Kume, we rarely saw her in the first 21 episodes but her role has suddenly expanded. For a long time thought she may have been Yukiko's mother and the pair had kept that a secret from everyone. That wasn't the case but Kume is the mother of an important character, she dropped some huge bombshells with her stories upon the laps of Yukiko and Masato towards the end!!!! You'll be reading about her confessions but for three episodes had been thinking Kume was the person who had been leaving threatening notes and such, as it turns out was right with those thoughts and let's get to the action as there's so much to explain. Haven't viewed the final show yet as not to spoil anything. 










 There was an intense cliffhanger to end off the previous episode and this show began off from that point which is the top screenshot. Yukiko had been at home with Akiko who is now living there, the pair were in the kitchen when Yukiko looked outside, gasped and fell to the floor. Akiko was dazed and not sure of what to do so immediately called her father Masato who rushed over. That top screenshot shows a straw figure someone had stuck on a tree outside the kitchen window, the nail was through the heart and the note said.... Yukiko! Does that mean she's next on a 'hit list' and as she asked Masato who could have done such a thing? No one, save for me(!), is yet suspecting the housekeeper Kume but that will soon change, luckily and not sure how Akiko never saw that figure which reminded me of a Voodoo Doll. Masato at one time thought the person under arrest for his wife Taeko's murder Misaki had an accomplice but gave up on that idea. But because of that warning to Yukiko Masato is beginning to wonder if that original thought may have been correct, did Misaki have any close friends or a lover? Masato did visit Misaki in jail and why haven't we been seeing more of him, will be ever go on trial? Misaki denied having a lover and was laughing so annoyingly at Masato, we never did see his best friend the prosecutor Yanagida in this episode.

 But Masato felt finding finding Misaki's partner could be the best and perhaps only option, twice he met with the owner of the Snack Village eatery Goro who is above and said Misaki was a loner with no girlfriends. Goro had said Misaki's parents were both dead who were his only relatives, Masato thought a check on his past may uncover some clues as someone has to sending those notes to Akiko and Yukiko. Masato visited the slum area where Misaki grew up, his abusive father died in prison and a neighbor said the mother Kayo died a decade ago. That was the first time Masato had heard the name, the woman also added in that Kayo had originally come from Kyoto.... hmmmm, so didn't Yukiko and is there a connection? We didn't see much of Kyoko in this episode, she did meet up with Yukiko who just wanted someone to sound off to and did reveal she's having thoughts about returning to Kyoto. Masato did tell Kyoko of that cursed figure and note at Yukiko's house and had such a strong feeling a woman was behind these threats but once again he had no solid evidence. One reason Akiko went to live with Yukiko is because Masato was going to begin a new research project about the blood relations of people even if they could be considered strangers, Akiko wanted no part of being a guinea pig!










 Now that Akiko knows all about her past everyone seems to be getting along so much better. At one time Akiko dreaded being around her real mother Yukiko but her attitude towards her has changed quite a bit, Yukiko does care so much about Akiko and did hate having to give her away at birth. Masato is also getting along very well with Yukiko, he now trusts her and has saved her on at least two occasions. Before heading home after school Akiko often stops at Masato's to make sure he has enough food and does some cleaning, in this show even Yukiko joined her daughter in doing chores. When Masato returned home he secretly asked Yukiko if she ever knew a woman by the name of Kayo, she could have possibly worked at her family's Tsuzuki Tailoring company but that name drew a blank to Yukiko. Who soon left to return home with Akiko, but outside Masato's house waiting with a bag of groceries was Kyoko and Masato knew something was up. Kyoko prepared him such a delicious meal but didn't make dinner for herself, over wine she told Masato what a pleasure she's had working for him the last six months. As Masato asked above was Kyoko thinking of returning to Germany to see her old boyfriend Saijo who we saw in the previous two shows.

 To that Kyoko didn't give much of a response and perhaps none was needed, Masato had a strong and sad feeling this would be his final time seeing Kyoko. And it was, there is a screenshot above of Kyoko boarding a plane and that was when there were only a few minutes to go in the episode and will we see her in the finale? Also above you can see how saddened Masato was, six months ago he was surrounded by a loving family and many friends, now his wife, daughter, ex-boss, Jun and Kyoko are all gone and of course he would feel so down. But that didn't stop Masato's investigation into Misaki's past, if there's anyone who should know who Kayo was it would be Yukiko's housekeeper Kume. She reluctantly met up with Masato and claimed not to know who Kayo was. Fifteen years ago Yukiko's family business had 500 employees, she rarely ever met any of them and her main job was watching over Yukiko and the family household. But Masato could tell Kume was holding back on him, he pressed her a bit harder but Kume was able to flee away. There was almost another meeting between Akiko and her real father Egami which Yukiko had set up. The pair were to meet at Shibuya Station but the two detectives watching Yukiko's house followed Akiko there. When Egami(below) saw them he slipped away and never did meet with Akiko, that mini scene was his only one of the show.










 It had been a superb episode up until now but the intensity level really increased in the final 20+ minutes. Masato is now sure the answers to who has been doing these threatening acts will be found in Kyoto. Once again Masato took the day off from his job at Towa University and headed there via the bullet train and did Masato discover some key info? Quite a bit and the old man in the second and third screenshots was named Matsuki. He's now retired but had been the foreman at the Tsuzuki Tailoring factory, he knew the background of Yukiko's family though didn't know them personally. Kayo was a name Matsuki was aware of, she was the aide/housekeeper to Yukiko's mother. Rumor was Kayo had a child but was separated from it when the war ended, she ended up meeting a man named Misaki and moved to Tokyo from Kyoto with him to find her child. Naturally that last name set off alarms in Masato's head as of course it is a man named Misaki sitting in jail waiting to be tried in court for the murder of his wife Taeko. After Kayo left Kyoto nothing was ever heard from her and Matsuki had asked Masato if she ever found her child?! He also added in that Yukiko's current housekeeper Kume had also been her caretaker back then which was during the 1940's and 50's so Masato did learn a lot of info but much of it didn't seem to be complete.

 Meanwhile back in Tokyo yet another disturbing note had been left at Yukiko's house, why didn't we see her husband Hidehiko in this episode with all that had been taking place? That note is in the fourth screenshot above and was attached to Akiko's bedroom window who tore it down. Of course that upset her and Yukiko, Kume swore up and down no one had entered the house, if so how could that note been put on a second floor window? Yukiko still has no suspicions of her long time housekeeper but Masato now does and for the second time met up with Kume when he returned from Kyoto. Masato had felt the child Kayo was searching for wasn't quite the truth and could this child actually have been Kume's? That she denied but admitted she did have a child but had given it up during the war when her husband was killed. That was just partially true and Kume fled the scene to head back to Yukiko's, in about an hour later Masato ended up there. Just in the nick of time as Kume was quitting her position, she had packed her bags and Yukiko was trying to hold her back, those screenshots are above. Masato also helped to hold Kume back, when he did one of her bags fell to the ground and above you can see the photos that fell out. They were of Misaki, most were very old photos though a few had been from about ten years ago and why would Kume have such things? That will be explained after the screenshots below and what a story Kume had to tell which stunned Masato and Yukiko!










 This was a long scene and also the last one for this episode, all of the above screenshots are from it. Kume swore she had no idea what this man named Misaki was up to these days, the newest photo in that batch had been from ten years ago and not sure where she had got that from. Kume said she hadn't read any newspapers nor had watched the TV news for many months so it would be true she has no idea what had been going on with Misaki. Then Kume related the story of living with Yukiko's family which started early in the war and Yukiko at the time was only 2-3 in age. Kume's husband was a pilot who had been killed in action, with housing hard to come by Kume moved into the Tsuzuki house and became the nanny to Yukiko. After two years the unthinkable took place, Yukiko's dastardly father raped Kume and because of that she ended up giving birth to a boy. That's the present day Misaki though his name at the time wasn't that. Yukiko's mother never knew what had taken place, she accused Kume of being some sort of tart and after the baby was born sent it away to Tokyo. Where Misaki ended up living with Kayo and her new husband, that's why Yukiko's mother had sent Kayo away and by now the year was 1945 and hope that story was easy to understand.

 So Kume has been with Yukiko for over thirty years, she felt a bond with her as Yukiko had to give her own child up who of course is Akiko. But when Akiko came back into Yukiko's life she felt betrayed and that's when Kume began to leave those threatening notes but it was never revealed if she had also left notes at Masato's house. Kume was truly sorry and felt so ashamed, she had written another threatening note which is above and had left it in Akiko's room, Kume told the pair about it before Akiko could see it. So for now Kume will be remaining with Yukiko and Masato told Kume to wait a bit before he could reveal what her son Misaki is going through, right around then is when Yukiko thought.... Misaki is my half brother! So that ended this episode and what took place was totally unexpected, now am not sure at all what may take place in the final episode. Which is the next post and haven't viewed it yet, there are still no many mini mysteries to be cleared up so that should hopefully be one intense show to end off this series.... plus I hope we haven't seen the last of Kyoko.
















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