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.
But still will give this series a high recommendation and these older shows are heads and tails so much better than present day dramas, least the ones from Japan. This was the first of the Red Maze franchise, there were a few other seasons and TV specials though the stories and casts were different. Except for the final one that aired in 1980 which did star the main characters of Masato and Akiko, GEO9875 has also subbed that two part special and will be getting to it soon, will thank him again for doing this project.. Perhaps in about ten days as it is only two episodes, do need a week off from dramas. For regular shows think up next may be "Dinner Mate" which was a Korean series from 2020. It appears to be such an different kind of show that has no suspense or action yet the story is so unique, every now and again need to view those kinds of shows. Whew, this intro was long and let's get to what took place in this final episode, There was no cliffhanger that ended off the previous show though Yukiko's housekeeper Kume had dropped some huge bombshells onto the laps of Masato and Yukiko, as it turns out not all were true but that was unknown to Kume for over 25 years.
But things took a strange twist here, when Kume heard from Hidehiko that Misaki was in jail awaiting trial she wanted to meet him. Masato did set up a meeting through his best friend Yanagida who is the prosecutor for Misaki's case, he was stunned to hear Kume was his mother. Misaki was also stunned at the news when they met up but didn't believe a word of the story, after a minute he told the others to get this hysterical woman away from him! But Misaki did tell Masato and Yanagida after Kume left that for years his father used to sell photos of Misaki to a lady who ended up being Kume. All along Kume thought Misaki was her child and the devious father was using her as an ATM! Masato did back up this story as he saw the photos Kume had of Misaki from when he was a child up until he was a young adult. That tale sent Yanagida into action and the following day set up another meeting for Kume to attend, also there were Masato and Yukiko. This time the bombshell was dropped upon Kume as Yanagida told her Misaki is not her son(!), he has his original birth certificate and some other evidence showing that Kayo was his true mother. Kume was in a daze after hearing that, if that's the truth what happened to her child???? That Yanagida didn't have an answer to but felt Yukiko's mother may have given the baby to an orphanage or some care facility Yukiko hated to hear that news and now she feels so disgraced. Yanagida did tell Masato later he would do a search for Kume's child but by the end of the show his search had gone nowhere.
Later on Masato met up with his best pal Yanagida, the statue of limitations for Egami expires in ten days and he really wants to nail this murderer. That's not what Masato wants to see happen, he's gotten to know about Egami over the past few weeks and realized he's a decent man who got caught up in a robbery gone bad. The pair had a discussion about the penalties criminals receive, of course Yanagida needs to uphold the laws but Masato has begun to feel that prison may not be the answer. That talk went on for a while and think it's happened in the past with these two men but they still remain best friends. After Yanagida departed Masato did have a chat with his daughter Akiko about the punishments criminals receive and Masato wasn't too convincing saying there should be some leniency. At one time Akiko felt all criminals should atone severely for their crimes but after getting to know her father Egami much better she's more confused than ever about the subject. Yanagida had also told Masato that because Egami hasn't committed any other crimes in fifteen years a judge may give him a break and would probably only give Egami a five year sentence. As far as Egami goes that's him right below, he's about to do something which wasn't unexpected but still didn't think he would do it.
Masato noticed Egami and hustled him away for a private chat, on the other side of the Shibuya Station tracks was Akiko and she was powerless to do anything. In a remote alleyway Masato did plead once again for Egami to turn himself in, even if he didn't Masato wouldn't contact the police. In a surprise Egami went along with what Masato suggested, he didn't want to see Akiko nor Yukiko keep suffering so asked Masato to escort him to the Setagaya PD! Along the way Masato called Yanagida to clue him in with what was going on, Masato also asked his buddy to call Akiko and Yukiko up so they could be present. It was a low key affair which is above, a detective from Kyoto had remained in Tokyo in case Egami was ever nabbed and did place him under arrest. Egami has been on the lam for almost fifteen years, that amount of years equals 780 weeks and Egami had remained free for 779(!), why couldn't he have held out for one more week? Even though Egami was escorted away by the police it wasn't a sad scene and think he wanted to prove something to Akiko by turning himself in, he'll have plenty of time in prison to ponder his decision. After that affair was settled Yanagida told Masato the trial for Misaki will be starting on May 18th, a little over two months from now and we never saw Masato once evaluate the killer of his wife Taeko.
You can see the pair above some weeks later and after a rough beginning the two do get along so well now. Masato had moved into an apartment which is so jammed with books, the final scene of the drama took place there. There has been so much tragedy in this series and not a lot of happy times but it did end on a bright note. Akiko had been let into Masato's apartment by his landlord, when he arrived home from work one evening there was Akiko there to surprise him! The pair had a happy mini reunion and Akiko asked him if she could always keep calling him Father which did bring such a huge smile to Masato's face, this longish drama ended on that note. For the most part that was a satisfying conclusion though wish we knew more details about why Misaki killed Taeko plus I had hoped Egami wouldn't turn himself in. So my final grade and other thoughts were in that intro, as mentioned there was a mini/semi sequel to this drama that aired five years later and may recap that next. Plus once again will highly recommend this drama, visit the site of GEO9875 to grab this show.
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