"Black Familia" drama: Episode five 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 26 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. Yuma is using the name of Park to get closer to Aoi, he's claiming to be a 27 year old English teacher living in Korea and the two chat via a camera.

 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? Also at the end of that episode Takase was arrested and we haven't heard from him since.

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 .... Episode three .... Episode four

 

 This marks the halfway point for this series, every show has been a winner though thought the first four episodes may have been a bit better. The last episode ended with the above taking place, Akio Saotome had trailed Kazuha after she left his family estate and overtook Kazuha to her surprise. Akio has developed so many suspicions abut her and all of them are explained in the last recap so you could just click on the link above to view it. Akio was mistaken with thinking that Kazuha, known as Shinkawa to his family, had gotten close to his father Taizo for his money! That was way off base and Akio did say if it's money Kazuha is after she could get plenty from him.... for being Akio's mistress! Kazuha couldn't believe her ears and dashed away but that scene will have a part two later on in this recap, of course much more happened in this episode and let's get to the events.

 One very long scene dominated the screen time in this episode but there were a few other happenings. At the end of the previous show Rintaro Saotome's former assistant Kamata had revealed to the reporter Serizawa that it was Riria who leaked a very damaging video to the media. That video was of a party held at the Saotome estate a year ago which showed Rintaro abusing some women, he soon resigned as a politician after that but in the next election reclaimed his seat. That first screenshot above was of the Shindo family listening to the recording Serizawa had taken of his interview with Kamata. That startled the family, Riria was the one who leaked the video and how could that have been possible? For instance how did she obtain it in the first place and if it is true would that why she had been pushed off her school's roof to her death in the first episode? The Shindos have worked hard at getting close to members of the Saotome family and have been successful. However to date they really haven't discovered any evidence linking them to Riria's death, they worked extra hard in this episode but still have a long way to go implicating anyone.

 One key thing that had not been mentioned upon until now was Riria's phone, did it just slip the Shindo family's mind? When Riria fell to her death from the school roof she didn't have her phone, odds are high then that the person who pushed her has been in possession of it since then. Seeing as how the main suspects are from the Saotome family the phone is probably hidden at their estate and more than anything else that may have some very important evidence leading to her killer. However how can they do a thorough search of the mansion, that could take hours but a lucky break did occur. The following evening the entire five from the Saotome family will be attending a musical festival, it's a yearly tradition for them. That's perfect timing and what Kazuha will do just prior to the family leaving is to fiddle around with the water making it appear it isn't working. She will then tell Reimi she has to call in some plumbers and that needs to be done for there are two cameras at the front entrance so this way people entering the mansion won't be under suspicion. So that's all set for the next evening and in the meantime Yuma as Park continued to get closer to Aoi but let it slip out about her attending the music festival which she had never mentioned, luckily Kazuha happened to be with Aoi and saved the day. That was the first almost major slipup during this mission and probably won't be the last.

 As the noted adage goes The best laid plans often go astray and it did right off the bat for the Shindos! Rintaro refused to attend the festival, he told his mother the Saotomes are not a close family and why start pretending they are one, his plan was to remain home that evening. That would destroy the mission even before it began but the quick thinking Sana came up with an idea. Instead of entering the estate with the other three she will go to a club and invite Rintaro who does have his eyes set on Sana and has acted like a gentleman to her, when Sana is with him she uses the name of Sarina. So soon Rintaro left the mansion via a taxi and as you can see above posing as plumbers were Kosuka and Yuma, with Kazuha they need to search the house from top to bottom and only have 2-3 hours. With no Sana there Reimi's room won't be searched and don't know why as to me she is extremely suspicious. You can see above that Sana was able to keep Rintaro entertained and can she hold her liquor(!), much better than he can. Rintaro began talking about himself as usual and said the thing he loved the most wasn't a person but his pet Iguana Hulk. Would Sana like to see him 'live' as he has a camera set up in his his bedroom and could access that via his phone. This is another case where the plan could go up in flames for at that moment the Shindo father Kosuke happened to be in Rintaro's room.

 In an odd incident Kosuke dropped some keys into the Iguana's tank and was trying to fish them out, he did and at that exact moment received a text from Sana, Kazuha and Yuma also received it. Sana warned them that a camera was set up in Rintaro's room but in her haste spelled camera as cameia and Kosuke was baffled on what she meant. So wasn't Kazuha but she finally deduced what Sana meant, she dashed into Rintaro's room with no time to spare and was able to hide Kosuke before the camera was switched on. Whew, it was more intense viewing it and the search of Rintaro's room came up empty as there was zero to link him to Riria. Kazuha had some better luck when she was searching Akio's den and he seems to be the most likely suspect as he was seen leaving Riria's school just after her death. Kazuha found a DVD from the Tokyo Venus auditions, Riria had been involved in that and had ended up with the highest score. The auditions were looking for new actresses and during the first watch it appeared to be just be an innocent recording of the auditions.

 But upon viewing the DVD again Kosuke noticed something a bit suspicious, it had to do with the woman running the auditions though Kosuke couldn't quite put his finger on what the problem was. Kosuke asked his wife if there was a way to make a copy of the video to study it better at home but there was no way it could be done she replied. However Kazuha said they could make a copy back at their home but to Kosuke taking the DVD was too dangerous though Kazuha did slip it into the pocket of her Maid uniform. Once again the mission almost went awry for a minute after that the front door opened and entering the mansion was Akio Saotome!!!! Kosuke had to hide quickly and the only place was under a sofa, it was all he could do to remain hidden. Akio had given his family a lame excuse on leaving the musical festival early saying he had work to do at home but the work was of trying to seduce Kazuha! Akio pushed himself upon her, he appears to be a strong man and don't know if Kazuha could have held him off though she did signal to Kosuke to not interfere.

Noticing from the balcony above what was taking place was Yuma who arrived on the scene and said the problem with the water was fixed. His arrival sent Akio into a frenzy and he stormed out of the room, that was another close call but with Akio at home the search had to come to a halt. Hadn't mentioned Yuma, his mission was to search Aoi's room and he did find some interesting things but nothing that would indicate Aoi was involved with Riria's death. Yuma had found a Shared Diary that Aoi had started that she shared with Riria and everything that Aoi had written was always positive, the two were very good friends. However this diary was just part one, the last entry was only two weeks before Riria's death and Yuma couldn't find the second part which may have some clues on what had been happening just before that death, Yuma did take photos of every page. If Aoi had been keeping such a diary perhaps Riria was too but if so the mother Kazuha hadn't been able to find it.

 Back at the Shindo home the family assembled and began to view that Tokyo Venus DVD a bit closely, besides the diary that had been the only bit of evidence they were able to grab during that aborted search. Riria had finished with the highest audition score as she did do some solid acting so that part seemed to be on the up and up. What caught Kosuke's ear were some things the woman leading the auditions had said when no candidates were around. Such as 'Set that up' and could this woman have meant setting up these girls to spend a night with the audition's sponsors???? The woman's name is Mika Kuginuki and we had never heard that name up until now, have a feeling she could be a target of the Shindo family in the next episode. What they also discussed was if there was a connection with the Saotome family and the Tokyo Venus audition company, they had questions such as were they pimping out those young woman if they wanted to land roles? The most important part of the search was a failure as Riria's phone wasn't found and could it have been destroyed?

 There's only two minutes remaining and there was one final scene which will probably be continued into the next episode. It was the following day and Kazuha had arrived at the Saotome house to do the cooking and whatever else. She was met at the front door by Aoi who said her grandfather Tazio has become gravely ill. His condition had been up and down for a while though had improved once Kazuha began to work for the Saotome household. You can see above that Tazio wasn't doing so well, he was surrounded by his family but asked all to leave as he wanted to talk with Kazuha(Shinkawa) privately. What a bombshell Tazio gave Kazuha in the final five seconds as Tazio said he knew her real name wasn't Shinkawa but Kazuha Shindo and needless to say she was stunned!!!! That wraps up this show and that was an interesting ending, if Tazio knows who Kazuha really is does the rest of the family? That I don't think is the case and the answer to that may be in the next episode which is the following post.