"Akai Meiro" drama, episode nineteen 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 is still unknown but Jun had zero to do with Taeko's killing.

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.

 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!

 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 snack bar seen often and Jun's best friend. Goro is also good friends with Misaki who visits his snack bar often and we do see him briefly in each episode. Misaki is a photographer and though not knowing Masato seems to dislike him immensely.

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.

 

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

 

 Up until now there had only been one major character who died, that was Taeko in the first episode. However think Jun will be biting the bullet in the next show and you'll understand why when you read this recap. So Jun's death will be the third one, at the end of this episode there was someone who took their own life and it was a surprise but because of his actions towards Masato and Akiko it's easy to understand why it happened. Plus in the suicide note this person did reveal who the real killer of Taeko was and it has been a character who many have become much more suspicious of in the last 3-4 shows. So a lot did take place in this episode but not too much for the first ten minutes, let's get to all of this show's events.

 When the last episode ended Jun was grappling with his (ex)friend Misaki on a bridge over some train tracks, it appeared Jun was going to push him in front of a train. Watching from the next bridge were Masato and Kyoko, they dashed there and would they be in time to save a life? No need as Jun had another one of his attacks, that allowed Misaki to flee though Masato caught up to him in a park. We viewers have known that Misaki has some sort of grudge against Masato but never knew why until now o least to an extent. Misaki told Masato a short story of how many years ago his father had been arrested for a string of robberies. Masato was the person who evaluated Misaki's father and found him competent to stand trial where he was sentenced to a long prison term. However Misaki did add in that he despised his father who would abuse him and his mother, when the father died in prison Misaki was so glad it happened. So not sure why he still has a grudge against Masato who over the last three shows has become like Jun and is so suspicious of Misaki, could he have killed his wife Taeko? Misaki did have an alibi but the prosecutor Yanagida has ordered his troops to check out everyone's alibi again, Misaki's role hasn't been all that large up until now but think that will be changing.

 While that was taking place back at the bridge Kyoko was trying to help out Jun and his attacks have really increased the past three shows. In the last episode Kyoko deduced that Jun's condition could be Meningioma which is similar to a brain tumor and a person has a difficult time controlling their limbs such as their arms and fingers. After hearing what Kyoko said Masato also believes Jun has this condition but what can they do about it? Jun is so stubborn and refuses to enter a hospital for testing, Kyoko is quite frustrated with Jun as they have become friends and why doesn't he cherish his life? After the attacks die down Jun can act normal which is what happened again, he left the scene and went to visit Masato's daughter Akiko and Jun is her uncle. Jun does feel so protective of Akiko and he's been visiting her often after she returns home from school as he still feels she's in danger and to Jun the #1 person behind these threats has been Misaki. In that last show Akiko had run away from home as she feels she's been bringing danger into everyone's lives. Jun said to get those thoughts out of her head and just think positively about the terrific home life she has. Jun did give such an uplifting pep talk so why doesn't he listen to others when they tell him to get help?

 When Masato returned to Japan from America in the first show he began a new project at his old place of employment, the Towa University Hospital. Him and Kyoko would evaluate suspects and victims for the police and this new lab was working out well. But when Masato evaluated Jun there was an uproar with the college staff and the program was put on ice for a few weeks. Five shows ago it began up again but now Masato has to report to his superior Oyama who I talk about often but isn't a major character but will be very important at the end. Oyama has been taking the credit for the work Masato and Kyoko have been doing but handed back the reins to Masato in this show. The college dean has been very impressed with Masato's work and wants him to give a major speech at an upcoming International Criminal Seminar in Kyoko. Being the main speaker at this forum is quite an honor but Masato is kind of torn on what to do. He was telling his trusty assistant Kyoko how his views about criminals has changed these past four months since his wife Taeko was killed plus all of these incidents involving him and Akiko. Masato said he hasn't been evaluating suspects as fairly as he once did and guess that's understandable, that was the last we heard of this forum in the show. Masato's home life isn't going as well as it once was either, his daughter Akiko has noticed the change in her father and became upset when Masato asked does she want to see her real birth mother Yukiko more often?

 That's something Akiko does not want to do, I give her credit for feeling that Taeko has been the only mother she's ever had but more about this coming up. Jun is still in bad shape and above had called Kyoko from a Jazz Club. He just rambled on for a few minutes and we viewers could see how difficult it was for Jun to hold a phone, when Kyoko arrived there Jun was long gone. The following day Masato met up with his best friend Yanagida who is also the prosecutor for the Setagaya district. Along with Jun both Masato and Yanagida feel that Misaki has been involved in these recent incidents which have included Masato almost getting run down by a car and many threatening letters. But there's no concrete proof yet against Misaki even though Yanagida has been working hard on Taeko's murder case, Misaki had an alibi for the time of her killing. Both men were wondering is Misaki the accomplice of someone else, perhaps even two other men and the reason Misaki had been attacked is that they're betraying him before he confesses? One other thing that Yanagida added in was that he felt it would be safer for Akiko to go live with her birth mother Yukiko and her husband Hidehiko. Masato does know it makes sense but can't bring himself to giving up Akiko for even a short amount of time, what would happen if he could never get her back????

 We're at the halfway point of this show which had been a fine watch up until now but things really picked up and there were a few unexpected happenings. Such as what's in the top two screenshots above, when Akiko had returned home from school she went upstairs, just as she was about to enter her room a man burst through the hall window! It was none other than Akiko's real birth father Egami though she still doesn't know that. The pair had met about five episodes ago and Egami was impressed with Akiko's talents as a painter as she had been at a park painting the landscape. Egami said it was just by pure chance that he entered her house which was the truth, he was just looking for a place to hide as he was being chased. That too was true and during this time we viewers saw Misaki outside the house, it was him following Egami and was it to eliminate him? Egami does know many secrets about Misaki and it's still unknown if he was the person to kill Taeko, the house was locked so Misaki left but more on him soon. Egami didn't have much to say as he can't reveal much to Akiko, he won't even tell her his real name and once Misaki departed shortly after so didn't Egami. Akiko does like this mysterious man and never did mention this brief encounter to her father Masato. 

 During that time Kyoko had once again met up with Jun, they both have a semi-private location to hide at which was a temple near Towa University. Jun's Meningioma is getting much worse, he can barely light his butts and Kyoko had to do that for him. She is still so frustrated with Jun, why doesn't he treasure his life and check himself into the hospital for treatment? Plus Jun has been an important cog in this hunt for answers to Taeko's murder, without him this mystery may never be cleared up. However there was an extremely vital scene which took place shortly after that and it involved Masato who had been walking home. A car was following Masato, he knew something was not right and he was correct as the car tried to run him over. Not once but many times but Masato was able to elude the vehicle which didn't appear would stop until Masato was run over! But another car came upon the scene so this culprit had to speed away but not until after Masato noticed the driver. Who of all people was his superior at Towa University Oyama and what a shock that was to Masato, did Oyama also try to run him over three episodes ago and also Akiko in the tenth episode? The next morning Masato dashed to his friend's Yanagida's office and told him everything that took place, to Masato could Oyama have some sort of dual personality disorder and an APB has been put out for him. We viewers have known for a while Oyama hasn't cared that much for Masato though they've worked together for so long but Oyama trying to kill Masato was definitely something we never thought would happen.

 Once again Yanagida highly recommended to Masato that Akiko go and live with her birth mother Yukiko as it would be so dangerous her being home alone after what Oyama attempted to do plus Misaki could be quite a threat too. So finally Masato agreed to the idea and when he told Akiko that night she was devastated with the news, to her Masato and Taeko are her only real parents. The next day Masato did escort Akiko to Yukiko's house via a taxi but got out early to catch a train. While he was walking away who should come dashing over the bridge to Masato but Akiko, there was no way she would ever leave her father and whatever happens in the future she wants to face those things with him. Yukiko's husband Hidehiko was once again so furious with Masato after Akiko never showed up but think Yukiko could understand perfectly why it didn't happen. There's less than five minutes to go in the show and another unexpected event occurred, you can see above that the prosecutor Yanagida has just heard about some tragic news.

 Which was of Oyama driving his car into the bay at Izu, meeting soon at the coroner's office was Masato, Kyoko and Yanagida. Oyama had left a suicide note where he, like Masato, also felt he had developed a dual personality disorder and Masato was his main target after that. **** By dual personality it meant one side of Oyama was perfectly sane. The other side was that he was insanely jealous of Masato's accomplishments and would do anything to destroy his life! Oyama did confess to trying to run over Masato twice and also his daughter Akiko but said he had no part in most of the other incidents. In this note Oyama did drop a massive bombshell and how did he know about it? He wrote that the killer of Taeko was.... Misaki(!) and will this note be enough to arrest this very suspicious man? Don't know yet as I haven't viewed the next episode but that is the following post and what an ending to this show, finally the murder of Taeko will once again be the main focus of this drama. Also I think in the next episode is the last time we'll be seeing Jun, all of the details will be in that recap.