"Black Familia" drama: Episode one of ten recap

 

 Air Dates: October 5th until December 7, 2023 on NTV/YTV, Thursdays at midnight

Ten episodes that are 42 minutes in length, subs done by eveychooey at DA

**** There are two mini 'special episodes' that total about 23 minutes. The subber eveychooey said they should be viewed after the eighth and final shows so will somehow add those into the recaps or perhaps have two posts for those episodes.

Main Cast: With my #1 woman of all time Risa(above) having a major role in this series there was no way I was not going to recap this but think it's a show I may have ended viewing as the plot seems so intriguing. Just wrapped up the "Akai Meiro" drama and the storyline is so similar to that as a major character was killed in the first episode of the series and after that the main story is seeking out the answers to the killing. Am writing much of this up after viewing the first two episodes and will be editing the info as we go along and I'm really looking forward to this drama. As usual will have a pair of recaps for today and like that previous series will be writing many posts up before publishing them as not to have along gap between recaps. 

**** This drama begins off in the present day, am presuming 2023. But at the end of the first show it's quickly a year later though there will be many flashbacks to 2022(?).

Yuka Itaya as Kazuha Shindo and Shinkawa.... Wife of Kosuke along with being the mother of Sana and Riria. Kuzuha had been a housewife until the death/murder of Riria, while the whole family wants to find out the truth of what happened none as much as Kazuha does. She's the mastermind behind the plan hatched a year later and she got a job as a cook in the Saotome household, there she uses the name of Shinkawa who claimed to come from Fukuoka. Kazuha is looking for any kind of evidence she can find at their glamorous estate but by the end of the second show suspicion has fallen upon her.

Takashi Yamanaka as Kosuke Shindo.... Husband of the above woman and the father of the two daughters below. Kosuke works at an exclusive salon where many models, actresses and celebs go so that's how he makes a decent salary. A very mild mannered man though think when the chips are down he's someone you can depend on.

Risa Watanabe as Sana Shindo.... Obviously talking about herself below!!!! Sana is an aspiring journalist about 25 in age though don't think she had a regular job when this series began. Sana is very adept when it comes to investigating and she gives much credit to her Master Serizawa who is at the bottom of the list. Sana opened a web page after the death of Riria to gather information and helped her mother Kazuha immensely with learning to become someone from Fukuoka. Later on Sana will begin to work with Serizawa on this case and think even infiltrates the Saotome house like her mother did.

Win Morisaki as Yuma Igarashi.... Kazuha's younger brother who moved in for a month when he lost his job.... three years ago! Yuma hasn't been a freeloader as the family does like the man and he does help out around the house. He did find a job in the first episode working at a Gaming company but had to decline the position because of Riria's death, that's Yuma in the middle below. Yuma is very good at creating gadgets, he's made some recorders for Kazuha to plant at the Saotome estate.

 Yuna Hoshino as Riria Shindo.... Eighteen year old high school student and the youngest of the Shindo family. Just before the first show Riria had won an award at the Tokyo Venus Auditions and was scheduled to have a small role in a drama the following week. Which never happened as she was killed halfway through the first episode, it took place at school as Riria had fallen from the roof. The police have ruled it a suicide and quickly closed the case, after that so many untrue rumors about Riria began to pop up. That infuriated the Shindo family, especially the mother Kazuha who is leading her family on a quest to find out the truth about her death, we will see Riria often in flashbacks.

 Above are the five members of the Shindo family, the rest of the main characters.

Yusuke Hirayama as Akio Saotome.... President of the Saotome Holdings company and it was him who put pressure on the police to close Riria's death case quickly and call it a suicide. He's still a mystery after two shows though we can tell there's something very suspicious about him, that's Akio below on the left with his slimy son Rintaro.

Mariko Tsutsui as Reimi Saotome..... Akio's wife who works as a TV commentator. She's an excellent dancer and loves to entertain her high class friends at the family estate, Reimi was the one who hired Kazuha aka Shinkawa as a cook, she too is quite mysterious so far.

Akihisa Shiono as Rintaro Saotome.... The slimy son of the above two characters. Rintaro was a member of the Liberal Party and held a seat in the House of Representatives but was forced to resign in the first episode because of a possible scandal involving the harassment of women. However a year later Rintaro was re-elected and he is not a likable young man who loves to drink and do drugs to the disgust of his father Akio.

 Nanami Taki as Aoi Saotome.... High school senior who was best friends with Riria. Aoi was so upset at her death however it appears she knows things about it which no one else does, did her father quash the case to protect her? Aoi is on the left below, two of Riria's other fiends are on the right. Though best friends with Riria surprised Aoi didn't know that her mother was Kazuha, when she began to work at the Saotome estate Aoi didn't recognize her.

Takehiko Ono as Taizo Saotome.... Akio's father and founder of Saotome Holdings. He's originally from Fukuoka which is why Kazuha learned so much about the city and area. Tazio was the main reason Kazuha was hired, that's him on the right below and don't think his role will be large.

Yusuke Shoji as Ayumu Serizawa.... Magazine reporter who wrote a very damaging article about Riria after her death. But actually it was just his name attached to the article as Serizawa believes Riria was killed and told that to her mother Kazuha. He too will be working to discover the truth behind the killing and believes the Saotome family is involved. Serizawa helped train Sana to be a reporter but for now don't know the background between the two.

 Shinsuke Kato as Takuro Takase.... Riria's ex-homeroom teacher and resigned a few weeks after her death. In a shocker Takase appeared on a web show and said he once had a sexual encounter with Riria, after that he paid her to keep her mouth quiet. However Takase also added in he believed she had other 'Sugar Daddys' and was he paid to say those horrible lies???? Not with cash for Takase reappeared a year later teaching English at a Saitama cram school, his wife Namie knows Remi Saotome so did she get Takase this new gig which was discovered by Sana. If needed will add in the wife Namie to this section if her role becomes important. 

 Whew, as usual the above is the toughest part of a recapping a drama series. Glad I just have to write it up once but know there will be much editing to the section and may even add in another character or two who we haven't met yet. As mentioned Risa 😍 was the biggest part of me wanting to view this show but I really enjoy these kinds of suspense/revenge stories so would have eventually watched it. Don't think it will become a new tradition for me but am writing up at least five, perhaps six, recaps before publishing them so there's no gap between posts. An episode is 42 minutes in length and have no clue how long these recaps will be but quite a bit does take place. The series begins off in present times but at the end of this first show it's now a year later though we do see flashbacks about how this 'revenge plan' got off the ground and of course to see the now dead/murdered(?) Riria. After two shows no dates have been mentioned but it is pleasant outdoors so am thinking it has to be early May or September.

 A lot did take place in this first episode and wasn't sure where to begin, guess at the beginning would be wise! That first screenshot shows the Shindo family having breakfast on the morning of this fateful day. The elder daughter Sana was talking about the news and how a newish politician Rintaro Saotome had already been caught in a scandal for harassing woman. We didn't see much of Rintaro in the first two shows but his character and family will be very important to the story, after that announcement he ended up resigning. Joining everyone at the table was the youngest Shindo family member Riria, she's eighteen in age and is a senior at high school. Riria did very well at a recent Tokyo Venus audition which looks for newbies who want to become actresses and singers. Riria will be having a small role in a drama that films the following week, that evening the family will be having a party at a restaurant to celebrate, what a disaster that was!!!! On the left in the fourth screenshot above is the Shindo family mother Kazuha, she was talking with her younger brother Yuma who lives at the house. 

 Yuma living there was only supposed to be for a month and that was three years ago! However Win had been unable to find a job though he wasn't quite a freeloader as he was well liked by all and always helped out his older sister. Yuma had some good news which is that he's found a position as a designer for a small gaming company, but with what is about to take place don't think he ever worked there. It's quickly the evening which means it's time for Riria's party to celebrate her role in a drama. She would be meeting her family at the restaurant as Riria had to stay late at school, what Sana and the father Kosuke do during the day is explained in the character section. The family waited at least an hour but Riria was a no show nor was answering her phone, they took her cake and began to head back home. Outside the restaurant the mother Kazuha received a call from Riria which only lasted for a few seconds, all she said was 'Mom'. It appeared Riria was calling from school so the family dashed there, the doors were open and they rushed into Riria's homeroom. Which was empty but a noise was heard, all four looked at the window and that's the first screenshot below. It may be difficult to tell but in the upper right hand corner was.... the falling body of Riria!!!!

 Hard to say if it was a dream or not but the mother could have sworn Riria had mouthed something to her during that fall. The quartet rushed to the classroom window and were of course beyond stunned to see Riria's body lying on the pavement. They rushed down but to no avail, Riria had blood gushing out of her head and was dead before her family arrived. While all four were grieving the father Kosuke looked up at a third floor window as the lights attracted his attention. For a brief moment he saw a figure which he thought was a man and as it turns out Kosuke was correct but we didn't learn who it was until the end of the second episode. Needless to say the entire Shindo family was devastated, how could something this tragic happen to such a wonderful young woman? That devastation was about to get much worse, first off the police quickly wrapped up their investigation saying it was suicide and Riria had jumped from the school's roof. The family knew that was far from the truth and as we'll learn the police were instructed to squash the case. Sana is one smart 25 year old woman, she opened a site dedicated to Riria to gather info from her friends, especially with what had happened at school the day Riria was killed.

 It's a cruel world and things did get worse, first that site drew so many lowlifes who began to spread rumors about Riria that she was a prostitute, did drugs, etc. and of course none were true. The newspapers and magazines picked up on that and even began to run their own stories which were all fabricated. He'll be a very key figure in the next recap and that person is Riria's homeroom teacher Takuro Takase. We first met him when Kosuke and Yuma were outside Riria's school asking the students for help with finding out what really happened to Riria. Takase had appeared on the scene and told the pair to leave. Which really incensed Kosuke who said he shouldn't be a teacher if that's how he feels about a dead student of his, Takase calmly said he won't be a teacher much longer as he's quitting very soon! That made Kosuke very leery of the man, he relayed the info to his family and now Takase is the first on their list of suspicious people. And he's #1 with a bullet as the following week he appeared on a slimy web show called Mr Salvage, that's him above in the bottom screenshot. He talked about what a lowlife person the now dead Riria was(!) and as his special guest had her teacher Takase!!!! Below are his screenshots from the show and what he said dazed the entire Shindo family, Takase had the nerve to say that he once had a sexual encounter with Riria and had to pay her off to keep it a secret!

 It has to be so difficult for your average family to listen to such garbage and it's easy to see why the Shindos wanted to get revenge and uncover the truth. Takase had also added in that he felt Riria had many other lovers besides him and was someone paying Takase to blurt out such lies? Which kept getting worse as a magazine soon published such a sordid tale about Riria and why won't anyone let the family have any peace? That article was the straw that broke the camel's back for Kazuha who couldn't take anymore and marched right into the magazine's office and demanded to see the writer! Who is the man in three screenshots above and his name is Ayumi Serizawa. Unknown to his workers Serizawa wrote Kazuha a secret note and asked her to meet with him at a coffee shop across the street in five minutes. As it turned out Serizawa is a very decent man and did write an article about Riria. However that wasn't published and the very cruel one that Kazuha read just had his name to it and he didn't write one word. 

 Serizawa showed Kazuha the article he was working on and he had proved to be an honest journalist. In the next show it does come out that Kazuha's daughter Sana had been trained by Serizawa and they may begin working together. Serizawa had interviewed some neighbors that lived near the school and learned that a car had zoomed from the school grounds just after Riria's death. Because his editor wouldn't let Serizawa continue his investigation he'll keep working on it in private and also has some other possible leads. Though as he admitted to Kazuha above the police somehow have destroyed much of the evidence and were they instructed to do so? The answer to that is YES according to Serizawa and he brought up a name which was unknown to Kazuha, it was a wealthy family named Saotome. He feels they told the police to cover up Riria's death and call it a suicide, he has some leads on that and of course the question for now is WHY? In that bottom screenshot above Kazuha had been cleaning out Riria's bedroom looking for any kinds of clues, she stumbled across a mystery photo and who were the people in it besides Riria?

 There's only a little over five minutes to go in the show, nice to know in the future can make the paragraphs a tad shorter(not!). More on that photo coming up but besides that Kazuha had also found a speech Riria was going to give her family that evening at her celebration party. Some of the screenshots above are flashbacks of when she was alive and also how the speech may have sounded if Riria had a chance to give it. That photo happened to be of one where Riria had attended a party at the Saotome estate, how would she know such people and now Kazuha knows why Serizawa has many suspicions about the family. In the bottom two screenshots above it's one year later(!), the disgraced Saotome son Rintaro has somehow been elected back to the House of Representatives even after resigning a year earlier. Watching the broadcast were the Shindo family and Yuma, you can see how they're dressed and the team was ready for their revenge mission to begin!!!! So that ended this fine first show and the second was even better, it's not confusing at all though so much is getting thrown at us viewers, the next post has the recap for episode two.