"Black Familia" drama: Episode seven 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(?). In the sixth episode we did learn the date was early November 2023 so this series may have begun about two months prior.

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. In the beginning of the sixth episode Taizo died but shortly before that he had net with Kazuha and said he knew her real name wasn't Shinkawa! Taizo didn't reveal how he came upon that info and also added in he didn't know who had killed Riria.

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

Episode five .... Episode six

 

 Haven't viewed the eighth episode yet and not sure how that's going to work out. There's a ten minute 'special show' that aired right after it and heard it does need to be viewed. Hopefully not too much takes place as I would like to have that special show in the recap for episode eight and not have them in two posts, just have to wait and see what happens. A lot of happenings did take place in this episode and there's only three more shows to go after this for the Shindo family to find out the exact details of Riria's death. The four in the family.... Kazuha, Kosuke, Sana and Yuma have all worked so hard yet for all of their efforts there's very little concrete evidence against the Saotome family. They feel at least one person is responsible for the death of Riria, there's four candidates who could have done the deed but to me the most likely suspect is the man on the right above. Who is Akio Saotome and he's the president of the Saotome Holdings company. Kazuha also feels the way I do thinking he's the prime suspect, the previous show ended with that above screenshot and let's begin from what took place right after.

 In the back of Kazuha's slip was a very sharp and large knife, she was about to pull it out to use it on Akio. But how I wondered and those were the same thoughts her husband Kosuke had later on. Was Kazuha going to use the knife to just threaten Akio or would she have really stabbed him???? For entering Akio's bedroom as Kazuha was about to pull the knife out was none other than his wife Reimi(!), the pair are estranged as she sleeps in her own bedroom. With Reimi was her new FT makeup artist Koo who of course is Kazuha's husband Kosuke in disguise, he never said one word. Reimi wasn't upset at her husband and she knew he must be having many affairs though was a tad irate at Akio having a tryst in his room. He quickly turned the table and said what about Reimi(?), he knows of her affair with the young actor Ishimine and she's no person to talk about cheating! At that Reimi told Kazuha to leave, she did with her husband Kosuke(Koo) and the pair never uttered a word on their way back home. After they left Reimi did bring up the subject of divorcing but all along I had thought Akio wouldn't do that as he would lose too much of his family's wealth, perhaps not?

 At home Kazuha was naturally quite peeved but at who? Kazuha felt that was the best chance she would ever have at gaining information about Riria from Akio, now that the close encounter was a bomb what's next(?) and Kazuha was quite discouraged. At that question Kosuke revealed that it was HE who had told Reimi about her meeting up with Akio in his room! The previous night Kosuke had seen on her phone some messages from Akio and knew what was up to an extent. Kosuke had felt the family is going too far with this Revenge and there was no way he could allow Kazuha to actually sleep with Akio! But as mentioned that probably wouldn't have taken place, Kosuke had told Reimi her husband was meeting up with Kazuha at 9:00 pm that evening and at the Saotome estate Kazuha is known as Shinkawa. That confession from Kosuke did stun Kazuha though how could she blame her husband for looking out for her, it is true that this Revenge plan is changing the Shindo family and not in a good way. Kazuha tore up to her bedroom and a confused Kosuke headed to a nearby park were he reminisced about the old times. Secretly overhearing that conversation had been Kazuha's younger brother Yuma, he soon appeared at the park to console Kosuke.

 Though that talk between Kosuke and Yuma didn't solve anything think both were relieved to get some things off their chest. Kosuke does want to solve the mystery of Riria's death but at the expense of seeing his family destroyed and put in such danger? However what's the alternative to bringing down the Saotome family and both realized there wasn't one. Yuma was worried about his older sister Kazuha and did agree with Kosuke that she needs to back off a bit. Yuma's main mission was to get close to the Saotome daughter Aoi which has been successful, Yuma told Kosuke don't worry about the Saotome family as he'll take care of things and Kosuke had no clue what Yuma meant. Yuma has been posing as a 27 year old Korean man named Park who is teaching English in Seoul. He was able to meet up with Aoi on a dating site, the two have become close as Yuma is teaching her Korean. Aoi had wanted to meet Yuma(Park) so badly and in a mistake told Aoi he'll be traveling to Japan on November 6th which by now the next day! More on that encounter later but above you can see Sana saying how oddly Yuma acted, by then it was the next day and he had just left the house to meet Aoi and he hadn't told anyone in the Shindo family of his plans.

 No plans have been worked out truly well for the Shindo family though Sana seems to be the most successful. Her mission had been to get close to the Saotome son Rintaro, that has worked out well and in a way the pair have become friends. I'm still a bit surprised Rintaro hasn't asked Sana to be his new political aide after his last one was canned, Rintaro is in the House of Representatives. When with Rintaro Sana uses the name of Sarina Shintani, she'll soon be using a third name. According to Rintaro and his ex-assistant Kamata it was Sana's deceased sister Riria who leaked a video to the media showing Rintaro abusing some women at a party a year ago. No one knows how Riria was able to obtain the video and why she would leak it, the party had been held by the Venus Factory agency which auditions aspiring actresses. Riria had been a part of that agency and infiltrating them could be the break the Shindo family has been looking for. Rintaro was able to get Sana invited to an agency party which is a cover for the young women getting hooked up with the male sponsors. At the party Sana was able to meet the Venus Factory president Mika Kuginiku who is above, what a slimy woman she appears to be. The pair set up a private audition the following evening for Sana at her office, while with Mika and her associates Sana will be using the name of  Wakana Iguchi.

 Much more coming up in the next two paragraphs on how Sana's plan worked out but there were three other minor scenes. First off, which are the top two screenshots, Reimi Saotome had contacted Kazuha and asked if she would continue to work as a cook/housekeeper at their estate?! That did stun Kazuha who visited with Reimi and said she would like to remain, of course Kazuha was stunned because Reimi had found her in bed with her husband Akio! But Reimi knew she was forced to do that and she may have been thinking having Kazuha(Shinkawa)  around  would make him feel so uncomfortable! As far as Akio goes he had his personal secretary at the Saotome Holdings company Inata do some investigating on his daughter Aoi's laptop. We've rarely seen Inata but she was able to hack into the laptop and discovered Aoi had been having many chats with a Korean man named Park(Yuma). That did answer a question of Akio's who often heard Aoi speaking Korean in her room, Inata said she could investigate more but Akio said to put that on hold for now. However in secret Inata was able to hack back into Aoi's laptop and was able to access Yuma's laptop, we viewers have no clue what happened after that. It's the night when Yuma as Park is finally going to meet Aoi and he's been having second thoughts about that, thanks to Inata Akio is aware of that meeting.

 Back at the Shindo house Kosuke had knocked on Yuma's bedroom door, when there was no answer he entered and was shocked at what he saw. Kosuke called his wife Kazuha into the room along with his daughter Sana and the trio saw that Yuma had put his wig and Korean teaching materials into the waste basket, why was a mystery to them. But not too much to us viewers as we could see how much Yuma began to like Aoi, she is a nice young woman who was Riria's best friend. To Yuma there was no way Aoi could have been involved in her death and wanted to stop this charade, he hated himself for what he had been doing. At this meeting Yuma was going to confess about being the fake Park but when he saw Aoi Yuma couldn't go through with it and just left the area. Needless to say Aoi was in tears about Yuma(Park) not showing and it got even worse. It's also the day when Sana will be attending an audition at the Venus Factory office, she had told the president Mika she would do anything to be an actress! Prior to that meeting Sana had a chat with Rintaro, he's under the impression Sana(Sarina) is going undercover to expose what the young actresses would do just to become famous, that would be her next magazine article. During this short scene Sana began to change her opinions about Rintaro and so didn't we viewers slightly.

 Rintaro said he's been misunderstood in the past, while no Saint he's not the Devil many think he is. Rintaro did want to go with Sana to the Venus Factory office as he felt Sana may not be safe, especially with his devious father who is a judge! Rintaro also added in that the video that the public saw of him abusing women at a party wasn't the full story. He had tried breaking up a fight between two women and had doused one with champagne to calm her down, Rintaro may have been wrong doing that but wished everyone could have seen the entire video though maybe there wasn't a longer version. Those words from Rintaro did change the way Sana felt about him and perhaps I've been wrong too thinking he was such a lowlife. After viewing the next show we were both wrong! Sana did make it to the audition where there were three judges, you can see Akio Saotome in a few screenshots above talking with Sana who was using the name of Wakana. Once again Sana did say she would do anything to become a popular actress and wonder if Akio is curious to see just how far Sana would go?! When Sana left she was escorted out by Mika who said a decision on her audition will be coming soon, have an inkling Sana's first role would be in Akio's bedroom!!!! By accident Sana had left her bag in the audition room that also had a hidden camera in an outside pocket, she came back ten minutes later to grab it and what was on the tape will be revealed in the next recap.

 We're down to two minutes to go in the episode, the following day Kazuha had started up again working for the Saotome family. Aoi refused to come out of her room, her parents and Kazuha had no clue what Aoi was going through. Kazuha did bring her a meal and heard some smashing of objects in Aoi's room, upon entering Kazuha saw that Aoi had flipped out and destroyed most of her room! A tearful Aoi told Kazuha that Park(Yuma) had been a no-show the previous night and she couldn't take the rejection, Kazuha had no clue her brother was supposed to meet up with Aoi. While there Kazuha did notice the second volume of Aoi's exchange diary that was mentioned two shows ago but was unable to grab it. Later that day at home Kazuha told Kosuke and Sana what had taken place, was that why Yuma had thrown his wig and Korean books away? He hadn't been home for well over a day and in the final five seconds we saw a possible tragedy which is the above bottom screenshot. That shows Yuma lying at the bottom of a very steep stairwell, did he throw himself down because he couldn't handle the guilt of deceiving Aoi? That does seem logical but sure Yuma is still alive, what exactly took place should be in the recap for episode eight which is the next post. **** After writing this up did recall that when Inata hacked into Aoi's laptop she discovered that she was going to meet up with Park. That info was told to Akio so wonder if perhaps he didn't follow Aoi and then later on pushed Yuma(Park) down those stairs????