"Abunai Deka: Another Dangerous Detective" movie from 1988 review, part one

 

 Release Date: July 2, 1988 Director: Haruo Ichikuraa

Length: 94 minutes Subs were done by Mashhamid 

**** The below character info was carried over from the drama recaps as the main five characters were the same, did make some edits though very few.

Main Cast:  What a popular long running series this has been in Japan, perhaps it has more of a following than of any other drama/movie franchise! There have been at least three seasons of this drama, a few TV specials plus eight regular movies, the last one just came out a month ago! The main five characters below each have two screenshots, the top is from the drama and the other is one from this movie. No editing was done for the characters but did add in the guest stars for this movie.

 Hiroshi Tachi as Toshiki Takayama.... You'll see him referred to as Taka often in the screenshots. He's about a 35 year old man who is an investigator of serious crimes and the gangsters go out of their way to avoid him! Takayama has a bit of a 'cool persona' about him and is an ace with guns, he's the partner of Oshita but seems they didn't start working closely together until the first episode. While both are aces with guns their methods also get them in hot water with their superiors but the pair usually come out on top at the end as far as solving cases go. Below is Takayama hopping on a motorcycle, he is an ace rider.

Kyohei Shibata as Yuji Oshita.... About the same age as Takayama but looks younger. During the first episode Oshita blurted out he's got a bit of a shady past and it surprised many he became a sergeant. He knows how to pick a lock and some other methods criminals use, sure we'll find out more as time goes on. Like his new partner Takayama he is quite adept using all guns, unlike his partner Oshita isn't much of a 'people person' as Takayama is the one who often interviews witnesses, criminals or others. 

Atsuko Asana as Kaoru Mayama.... Member of the Juvenile Division which shares the same office as the Investigative Unit which Takayama and Oshita are a part of. Karou has gone out to crime scenes with the detectives but they never let her get in on the real action. However she is a tough woman who used to be a regular officer and knows how to use a gun well. Beginning with the fourth season she became goofier than ever which has been annoying and luckily didn't have a lot of screen time in either movie.

Toru Nakamura as Toru Machida.... Not a rookie but hasn't been an inspector for all that long. Machida is the best fighter in the unit and also the women swoon over him but he does have a girlfriend which he said in the first show.... that may have been a lie. Think it was for since then Toru has had such a hard time finding girls to date him though he a good looking guy. He does get taken advantage of too often by Takayama and Oshita.

                               

Shizuo Chujo as Takuzo Kondo.... Chief of the Investigation Unit, a smart man but seems to be more concerned on what he'll be having for lunch! But at one time Kondo was feared by the Yokohama gangsters and has been on the force for thirty years. Five years ago before coming chief Kondo had killed a Yakuza thug which is one reason he's so feared. In episode 45 Kudo did shave off his mustache, in the movies he was much more stern towards Takayama and Oshita.

  In the third season the roles of Yoshi and Tanaka have become much larger, will add them in for season four. In the two screenshots below Yoshi is on the left, Tanaka is right next to him.

 

 Main guest stars, there were really just three as Ogata was killed off very early. Also making a reappearance was the Juvenile Unit leader Yuko. In the drama she disappeared after the eleventh episode but did have a minor role in the first two movies. 

Yoshiko Miyazaki as Hiromi Hagiwara..... Reporter for J Planning and had been doing a feature about young businessmen. That's the excuse for a story Hiromi used to get close to Nagamine as she knew he was mixed up in very many shady activities and wanted to be the first with the major scoop. Hiromi did hook up with Takayama and Oshita, they will give her info about Nagamine and Hiromi will do the same. However that didn't help her as she was another guest star that was killed by the villain and she was quite an attractive woman.

Masato Ibu as Yukio Nagamine..... Youngish businessman and a very successful one who owns Nagamine Enterprises. However besides his legal activities Nakamine is mixed up in many shady ones such as gambling, drug dealing and prostitution. Those were unknown to the public save for Hiromi and also learning about the evil ways of Nagamine were Takayama and Oshita, with them on your tail the villain's days are often numbered and that was the case for Nagamine!!!! That's him below flanked by two bodyguards.

Ryuji Katagiri as Ryuji Sakuma.... The leader of Nagamine's gang who would take care of his enemies plus do other activities such as drug dealing and kidnapping. Sakuma is another very powerful foe for Takayama and Oshita though think Hyodo in the first film was a bit more dangerous. The lawyer for Nagamine was named Yano who is in the second screenshot, not a lot of screen time for him so didn't do a section for him and he was murdered by Sakuma.

Hiroaki Iiyama as Mitsuru Ogata.... Also a character with not a lot of screen time as he was killed by Sakuma at the twenty minute mark. But he was a key character as Takayama and Oshita had been on his trail for drug dealing and he's the person who led them to Nagamine.

 

Previous recaps: There's 51 episodes but they were divided into six seasons, there was no break between them. Season one was episode one to nine, second season was ten through eighteen and this third ran from the nineteenth until the 26th episode. Season four has been completed which is episodes 27 through 35, the last two seasons each had eight episodes. Know there's too many to recaps to read but have the list just in case you do and it's also for me as it's easy to go back and check any post. **** Also added in the links to the first movie that was reviewed a week before this one, both were equally good.

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

Episode nineteen .... Episode twenty .... Episode twenty-one .... Episode twenty-two

Episode 23 .... Episode 24 .... Episode 25 .... Episode 26 .... Episode 27 .... Episode 28

Episode 29 .... Episode 30 .... Episode 31 .... Episode 32 .... Episode 33 .... Episode 34

Episode 35 .... Episode 36 .... Episode 37 .... Episode 38 .... Episode 39

Episode 40 .... Episode 41 .... Episode 42 .... Episode 43 .... Episode 44

Episode 45 .... Episode 46 .... Episode 47 .... Episode 48 .... Episode 49

Episode 50 .... Episode 51- final .... First movie part one .... First movie part two

 Couldn't find a regular trailer for this movie but this video was from the Blue Ray and it looks to be the original trailer.

 

 Don't know why but it takes me so much longer to get into the proper mind set to do movie reviews which is why there haven't been more. It's true that it takes a pair of posts to describe what took place in a movie but then that's it and it ends up taking much less work than a drama series but my goal is to have a few more film reviews before starting on another drama. Not much more I can say about this long running series and last month the eighth film was released, 36 years after this one!!!! So if you've seen the drama or have been reading the recaps you know what to expect and not much changed in the two films as why mess with success? This may be the last of the "Abunai Deka" recaps, films three to six haven't been subbed though for some reason the seventh one has but would skip that if I can't view the preceding films.

 While not the exact same as the first movie both were very good and had much more action than the TV drama which was probably because the budget was bigger. The main story to this film was a tad better than the first movie but think in the end may give both films the same grade. Of course the screen time was dominated by the two heroes Takayama and Oshita, I like both characters so no complaints from me. The young investigator Machida seemed to have more screen time, with less compared to the first film was Kaoru and that's okay as she is so annoying and their chief Kondo we also saw less of. That's enough of an intro, this first recap will go to about he 45-50 minute mark, the next post will have the second half of the review.

 We won't see him for too long but in that top screenshot is a man named Mitsuri Ogata who is a low level drug dealer. He was on a Yokohama pier expecting to make a sale to someone, that wasn't to be as waiting in the wings were the movie's two heroes Takayama and Oshita! In the end the pair of investigators always nab their man but often some thug gets away at least once, Ogata did here. He fled to a nearby disco and there did seem to be many of those in Yokohama in the late eighties. The place was jammed and Ogata was impossible to find, Takayama and Oshita knew the best way to clear a crowd was to say they were from the police and it worked! The crowd parted and when they did their prey Ogata was a sitting duck and quickly was arrested. But just before leaving coming down the stairs from the VIP section was the man in the fourth screenshot who was Yukio Nagamine. He was the person throwing the bash and don't know if he owned the disco. As Takayama thought above Ogata worked for Nagamine, though the investigators know a little bit about the man it's the first time they've seen him in person and he will be the main focus of the story.

 Another main focus will be the attractive woman above who is Hiromi Hagiwara, in real life her name is Yoshiko Miyazaki and will talk about her in the next post. Hiromi was a reporter for J Planning, by accident Oshita met her at the club and fell for her instantly! They only talked briefly but Oshita did learn that Hiromi is dong a bogus story on Nagamine and he's wrapped up in drug dealing, prostitution, gambling, etc., more with her coming up. Those crimes are what Takayama and Oshita told their Minato precinct chief Kondo the following day but he told the pair to back off from the Ogata case. That morning Nagamine's lawyer Yano had bailed Ogata out, that did surprise the investigators and was Nagamine making sure the thug wouldn't reveal any dirty secrets? In the bottom two screenshots above is the chief Kondo, he too hated to let Ogata go free. But he told Takayama and Oshita that the order to do so was by the prefect(Kanagawa) police, it won't be the only time they get involved in this main case and are they under the control of Nagamine?

 Didn't mention it but in that opening scene Ogata had been chased down the pier after that aborted drug deal to Takayama and Oshita. Ogata was on foot which did help as the pier was like a maze and driving wouldn't have helped. However Oshita did try to follow Ogata with the duo's vehicle and he always drives during chase scenes. Oshita is the better driver and was just thinking that because Takayama is an ace shooter it's better if he's the one shooting at fleeing criminals than Oshita? Well, during that chase the investigators long time car was damaged and will be in the repair shop for a while. In that top screenshot they were picking up a new car and while that was going on they were informed Ogata had called, he sounded petrified and wanted someone to contact him immediately. Which is what Takayama did soon after hopping into the new vehicle, Ogata was frantic as he felt Nagamine was targeting him and Ogata will tell the investigators everything he knows about his boss if they keep him safe. But that call was cut short, Takayama had a strong feeling Ogata was targeted sooner than he expected and told Oshita to rush there as there was no time to lose! No time was correct as during that call Nagamine's 'hit man' had entered Ogata's apartment and coolly shot him to death. We didn't get a good look at the shooter then but it was a man named Ryuji Sakuma, more on him later.

 So Takayama and Oshita arrived just a little bit too late as Ogata was already dead so of course no more info could be obtained from him nor was there any more evidence at his place. But it didn't take a genius to know that Nagamine was behind this killing, the two 'heroes' knew this and so didn't their chief at the Minato station Kondo. But as you can see above Kondo ordered Takayama and Oshita off the case, once again the Kanagawa prefect police will be taking charge. Cocaine had been found in Ogata's system, him being dead meant the case transferred to the prefect police and I did wonder did Sakuma give him the drug after Ogata was shot? Don't think Nagamine has the prefect police under his thumb but they don't seem to be as competent as Takayama and Oshita so of course he's doing anything to keep the pair off his cases. The two did meet up for the first time with the reporter Hiromi and she told them the story she's writing about Nagamine is just a lot of bull! Hiromi knows he's mixed up in so many illegal activities and wants to be the first to break the news as it will be one major scoop. So a mini deal was made, any info Hiromi finds out about Nagamine she'll reveal to Takayama and Oshita, they'll do the same for her. The pair had some free time for Kondo won't be including them on the newest case which was of a bus load of kindergarten students being kidnapped(!), their colleagues Yoshi and Machida will be leading the team.

 The kidnappers want 300,000 yen for each child, there being forty the ransom added up to be 12 million yen! Which the school was going to pay as it was an elite kindergarten that charged tuition, the time is now 1:00 pm and the drop off will be in an hour with Machida and Yoshida delivering the ransom. Back at the Minato station Oshita overheard Kondo talking about the case, one of the children was of a politician. It appeared he was trying to pass a new bill named the National Classified Law and don't know what that was about, did check and there is no such current law. Perhaps the kidnappers also wanted to scare this politician who was named Sawaguchi and though the proposed law was mentioned twice we viewers were left in the dark about it. Back to the kidnapping, Machida and Yoshida were driving to the drop-off location when they had to stop as a disabled vehicle was blocking their route. When Machida got out to check on what was going on a man popped out of the other car and pointed a gun right at him! This man was Sakuma and I got to wondering was he doing this kidnapping for himself to make some extra $$ or was he doing it for Nagamine because of that possible Sawaguchi bill? Sakuma marched Machida back to his car, told him and Yoshida to handcuff themselves to the steering wheel. Sakuma then took their keys and the suitcase of 12 million yen, he quickly fled and what a perfect plan.

 Sakuma is a very tough thug as he is an ace hitman but he's also very intelligent when it comes to crimes, he's as formidable as Hyodo was in the first movie. Back at the Minato station Kondo was of course beyond irate about what had taken place but at least later on the children were safely released. When Oshita heard what had taken place he grabbed Takayama and said it's time for them to be the heroes and grab the fleeing culprits! They did manage to catch up to Sakuma's car, he had a partner driving it and noticed he was being tailed by the investigators. Both cars began firing at each other and it's so difficult to hit a moving object, especially ones going over 50 MPH. Sakuma knew that and when going under some heavy duty fishing nets he fired at them, the nets dropped upon Takayama and Oshita's new police car! You can see above what happened, without being able to see Oshita drove off a ramp and now it's two cars that he's disabled in this film! Of course Sakuma was able to flee safely, who was this man that came so close to killing them? They met up with Hiromi again and she had a photo of Sakuma which she showed to Takayama and Oshita. Whenever Nagamine needs something dastardly done Sakuma is his man and Hiromi did have a tip that Sakuma often hides out at an abandoned warehouse, that's where the pair went immediately. Before meeting with Hiromi the duo did go back to that disco hoping to find Nagamine there which didn't work out but he was notified and bet he ordered Sakuma to make the investigators his next target.

 Final segment for this post and while writing this up have realized this was much better than the first movie. Did say that Sakuma was very intelligent when it comes to crimes, Takayama and Oshita entered his secret hideout and their arrival was anything but a secret to Sakuma! Who let the investigators see him and when that happened dashed away. Of course the pair were in hot pursuit but before they knew what happened tumbled into a pit ten feet below the floor!!!! As Takayama says in the first screenshot him and Oshita fell for such a classic and easy trap, what does Sakuma want? He could have easily killed the pair but held back and am not sure why, Sakuma could have killed them later on also but held back then too. Sakuma had an offer for Takayama and Oshita, if they drop all the cases involving Nagamine and promise not to go near the man ever again he will pay them each.... a million dollars(not yen)!!!! With that Sakuma took his leave and was the man serious(?), a million back then would be worth 2.65 million today!

 Takayama and Oshita eventually escaped from that pit and drove away in their third car of this movie. A phone call came in from Sakuma and Takayama talked with him, the two million dollar bribe will be in a car trunk located at Yokohama Bay. When the pair arrived Sakuma had told the truth, the cash was in the trunk and would the two 'heroes' really have taken this bribe money from a criminal? For now won't give an answer of YES or NO but am leaning towards the first word. While the pair were drooling at the cash arriving on the scene were the Kanagawa prefect police, this was all a set up by Sakuma to get the pair arrested for accepting a huge bribe! As Nagamine had thought the prefect police are a bit inept as somehow Takayama and Oshita were able to escape though they were surrounded by twenty officers. They had grabbed the cash, dashed back to their car and with the ace Oshita behind the wheel were able to escape safely. Plus the pair weren't identified as the next day what had taken place was the talk of the Minato station and the names of Takayama and Oshita were never mentioned though Machida had an inkling the duo were involved. That brings us to the end part one of this movie review, it's been a fun watch up until this point and the next post is for part two.