"Black Familia" drama: Episode four 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 2023(?).

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. In the fourth episode Kosuke met the evil Reimi and is about to become her full time makeup artist, with her he uses the name of Koo.

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. In the third episode Sana began to work with Serizawa to get closer to Rintaro and she's been successful. While undercover she uses the name of Sarina Shinatani.

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. Akiko has always felt he married his wife Reimi at too young of an age but is trapped as she may take it all with a divorce!

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. She and her husband Akio do not love each other and sleep in separate bedrooms.

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 for the "Weekly Starryu" tabloid 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. Takase was married to a cruel woman named Namie and was going to add her onto this list. However she was killed at the end of the third episode and was it an accident?

Reo Nagatsuma as Kazuya Ishimine.... Young actor whose popularity is rising and his fan base consists of mostly women.... especially older ones! Ishimine himself may dig older women as he's having an affair with Reimi who has to be twenty years older. Ishimine is also the mysterious Mr. Salvage(second screenshot below) who has a controversial YT channel and Reimi is the one who created it, Ishimine may just be following her orders.

 Prior recaps: Of course will refer back to some things that took place in previous episodes but don't have time to go into a lot of detail so could help reading some of these. What I thought is a good idea and it goes for all dramas is to wait until the final show has been completed. Then from that post you could start from the first recap and read them all in a row which would be better than searching for them though it would be a lot of reading but in a way easier.

 Episode one .... Episode two

 You wouldn't know it but have been zipping through this series, in five days viewed and wrote up four recaps. Will do one more before publishing any and think the first was done on May 24th(?). Also did some editing to the above section and think that will have to be done for every post but unsure if any new characters will need to be added in. Plus did add in the links to the prior recaps which is just above, so much has been taking place in this series sso it may be wise to read them. That last recap may end up being the longest of the drama but in a way that's a good thing as it meant the episode was terrific and much happened. Quite a bit did take place in this show too and there was a minor cliffhanger as while the devious Reimi Saotome was on TV delivering a commentary it appeared her eyes began to bleed!!!! That wasn't what happened and will explain what it was, let's get to the events from the fourth episode.

 That third screenshot is how the last show ended with it appearing that Reimi's eyes were bleeding! That wasn't the case and it was actually her mascara but that too can look quite creepy. The Shindo family mother Kazuha had tampered with Reimi's mascara bottle while she was at the Saotome estate. Kazuha has perfected the art of acting like a woman from Fukuoka, especially the cooking from the region and had been hired by the elder Taizo Saotome. Also in on that hiring decision was Reimi and now Kazuha has gotten a bit of a promotion as she's also a housekeeper at the estate. While there Kazuha uses the name of Shinkawa but will keep using her regular name and she's kept her background a secret. Reimi's regular makeup artist had said she thought Kazuha had done something with the mascara bottle, that was true and more on that coming up. You can see above that Kazuha did admit that to her family and by doing that deed may have opened the door for her husband to get closer to Reimi. All of the Shindos have a mission as to get close to someone from the Saotome family and try to find evidence that they were mixed up with the murder of their daughter Riria which happened in the first episode.

 At first it was just Kazuha trying to get close to Reimi, that's worked so her next goal is the husband Akio and that will be much tougher. In real life Kazuha's husband Kosuke is a hair stylist and makeup artist, he'll soon be getting closer to Reimi and will be using the name of Koo. On the top and bottom screenshots above is the Shindo elder daughter Sana, her mission was to dig up dirt on the vile Saotome son and she's been very successful. While with Rintaro Sana uses the name of Sarina Shintani but as not to make it confusing will continue to use Sana. She claimed to Rintaro that she's a reporter for the tabloid Shukan Seiryu and works with her mentor Serizawa who Rintaro despises. That's Serizawa in the second to last screenshot and the pair have teamed up to bring down Rintaro. Sana had done a unique interview/pictorial with Rintaro that was a smash hit as the magazine sold out and a second photo shoot is coming up. In the last two screenshots above Serizawa was asking Sana why she was reading a book about Baseball players. Rintaro's assistant Kamata is a huge fan of the Tokyo Hedgehogs team, Sana was trying to learn as much as she could about their players and what a scheme she came up with!

 There seemed to be many more shorter scenes in this episode and things did skip around quite a bit. In the above two screenshots Reimi did corner Kazuha(Shinkawa) about her mascara bottle being tampered with, Reimi naturally assumed she would deny ever touching the bottle. But that wasn't to be as Kazuha said she had opened that bottle and did try some on, if Reimi wants her to Kazuha will pay her back. Of course Reimi was open mouthed during this time and even more so when Kazuha pulled up her left shirt sleeve to reveal a rash. Kazuha said she had put some of the bottle's contents on her arm to check it out, so perhaps there was something wrong with the makeup said Kazuha and Reimi believed her fully, that mini scene will be very important later on. Watching secretly from the kitchen corner was Reimi's husband Akio and he saw the trick that Kazuha had done. Which was to spray some heavy duty cleaning spray onto her arm which caused the rash, Akio remained mum about the incident but revealed what he knew later on. The next day Akio also caught Kazuha having a private conversation with his daughter Aoi and they wouldn't say what it was about. However Akio listened to Aoi outside her bedroom door and heard her attempting to speak Korean, what's going on with her?

 Aoi was speaking to Kazuha's younger brother Yuma and it was the only major scene with him and Aoi. Yuma is using the name of Park in his quest to learn more about Aoi and her possible involvement with Riria's death. He's claiming to be an English teacher in Korea who speaks Japanese well, this was their first time meeting face to face though it was via a camera. Not much took place in this scene but now Akio has become suspicious about his daughter and also about Kazuha who introduced Aoi to this 'dating site'. Yuma did take a liking towards Aoi and thinks she's a nice young woman though won't let that interfere with his mission. Having her most screen time to date was Sana and her goal of getting to know the slimy Rintaro is going well but she still hasn't collected any dirt on his many shady activities. Sana scheduled a second photo shoot for Rintaro and it was at a farm picking crops with children. People are starting to trust the man again and it's all thanks to Sana who uses the name of Sarina while with Rintaro. In the last recap mentioned that Rintaro's assistant Kamata was a big Baseball fan, especially of the Tokyo Hedgehogs team. After that photo shoot Sana was able to have a chat with Kamata about the team which is why she had been reading that Baseball book earlier. She taped this conversation and though a short scene it will become extremely important.

 In the last show Sana had visited a hostess club where Rintaro was to tell him about the second magazine photo shoot and secretly taped a bit of the conversation between him and the hostesses, it was mainly the hostess words she wanted. For Sana was able to edit that recording with the one she made that day with Kamata talking about Baseball. When Sana completed this tape it was a work of art as it sounded as though Kamata was being interviewed by a woman about Rintaro. Sana was able to make the interview sound as though Kamata was saying some very secretive and damaging things about Rintaro such as that he used drugs and his father had pulled many strings to get him elected. Sana had set up a meeting with Rintaro and said an anonymous person had sent her magazine the recording, Rintaro blew his top when he listened to what Kamata had to say about him. Doesn't sound as interesting writing about it but Sana Aced this assignment, so much that Rintaro ran back to his office to deal with Kamata! Rintaro picked up a golf driver and thought he was going to use Kamata's head as a golf ball(!) but somehow held back. Kamata fled the office in a panic and later resigned, will have more about him near the end.

 As Sana's mother says above that was a main goal of getting close to Rintaro, somehow getting Kamata to resign and it worked. Kazuha did say fired above but think it was combination of being fired and resigning. What I'm now wondering if the plan has a second phase and that's of Rintaro hiring Sana as his main assistant, if so that wouldn't happen until the next show. Back to Reimi and that mascara incident where her makeup artist Megumi said that Kazuha had tampered with the bottle. Reimi confronted her and said that wasn't true, was this woman just lying to Reimi? Appearing on the scene was Kosuke using the name of Koo, he had warned his wife Kazuha about what Reimi was going to ask her and she was prepared to put that rash on her arm. Koo accused Megumi of using Reimi to sell more cosmetics for a company she secretly worked for and did have some proof. A stunned Megumi tried denying everything that Koo(Kosuke) had accused her of doing but the damage was done as Reimi fired Megumi on the spot! Which may have happened sooner or later as Reimi has been so impressed with the job Kosuke has been doing with her makeup and she looks years younger. It hasn't happened yet but wouldn't be surprised if Reimi hires Kosuke in the next show to be her FT makeup artist, that would be another successful mission.

 You can see above that Reimi did apologize to Kazuha for suspecting her of tampering with her mascara bottle. Reimi also added in she's decided to ask Koo to be her FT makeup artist but that hasn't happened yet, Kazuha was the one who recommended him to Reimi. Did say we would see Kamata again and after he resigned came back to Rintaro's office to clean out his desk. As he was leaving the office Kamata was met by the reporter Serizawa who knew exactly what had taken place. He brought Kamata to a restaurant and secretly listening in nearby was Sana. Kamata spilled his guts about all he knew about the slimy Rintaro and his family, if it wasn't for the shady dealings of his father Akio there was no way Rintaro would have been elected. Serizawa showed him a photo of the party held at the Saotome estate a year ago, at that party Rintaro had abused some women and it was taped. Kamata didn't know much about the party but did know one very key detail, the video showing what Rintaro had done was leaked to the media by.... Riria!!!!

 That was such a shock to Sana who overheard that and also very confusing. She relayed that info to her family and they too were stunned to learn that Riria was the person who had leaked the video to the media, they all wondered was Kamata telling the truth? The bottom two screenshots above are from the final minute of the show when the credits were rolling, Kazuha was heading home from the Saotome estate. She had been followed by Akio who was demanding some answers. He had seen Kazuha spray that cleaning solution onto her arm to create the rash, why???? Plus why did Kazuha hook his daughter Aoi up with that Korean dating site and also why did Akio's son Rintaro catch her about to snoop around in his den? That's how the show ended and knowing Kazuha she'll wiggle herself out of this jam but she could also use those incidents to finally get closer to Akio. That ends this recap and to date am enjoying this series immensely, as usual the next pair of recaps will be in three days.