"Black Familia" drama: Episode six 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

 

 Will make this intro a brief one, did update the above a bit and may add in one new character who we met briefly in this episode for the next recap. The last show ended off with the above screenshot, the elder Saotome family member Taizo doesn't have long to live and it was never revealed what his illness was. He had asked to speak to Kazuha aka Shinkawa alone, Taizo told her he knew her real name wasn't Shinkawa but Kazuha Shindo! Of course that threw her for a loop and let's begin off this recap with the continuation of that scene.

 This was an okay opening scene but it could have been so much better. My huge beef with it was how did Taizo know that Shinkawa wasn't Kazuha's true name? Plus how did he know she had come to his house to avenge the death of her daughter Riria? It's all right at times to be left in the dark about certain things but those are important details and how come they weren't revealed to us viewers then or later on? Kazuha had asked Taizo who killed Riria and the old man replied he didn't know, to me he was telling the truth. Most of this conversation was of Taizo telling Kazuha not to be so consumed with avenging Riria's death, his family isn't worth destroying her life or the others in her family. That was the last we saw of Taizo who died two days later and some of what he said ended up being true. For instance a few scenes later the Shindo father Kosuke who is above told his family enough is enough, they should end this mission of finding Riria's killer now! Kazuha, Sana and Yuma didn't agree with Kosuke but then again all are getting a bit frustrated with their lack of progress, while they have found some clues about the Saotome family none of it really links them to Riria's death.

 Kosuke's task had been getting close to the Saotome mother Reimi which he had done and thought he would be hired as her FT makeup person in the last show. That didn't happen or at least its not official, Kosuke uses the name of Koo while with Reimi and that pair had zero scenes in the last show, that was the case for this episode too until the final twenty seconds. Before Kosuke made his comment about stopping he was listening to the progress his daughter Sana had been making and to me she's been the MVP to date with this revenge mission. In the last show there was a new character added though we only saw her for a few seconds, she's above in two screenshots. The woman's name is Mika Kuginuki and she's another slimy person that is associated with the Saotome family. Mika is the head of Venus Factory which is an agency that looks for new talents, mainly actresses and from what Sana has discovered the activities of these newbies go beyond acting! Mika once had an agency for Idols but had closed that after six months as there were suspicions she was involved in human trafficking, it appears that hasn't stopped. Her Venus Factory is the agency that holds those Tokyo Venus auditions for aspiring actresses and was the one that Riria had done so well at. So there's many questions surrounding Mika and did she play any role in Riria's death, Sana now feels this is the best lead the Shindo family has had and her next mission will be to infiltrate this agency, more on that coming up shortly.

 As you can see in the first screenshot above Taizo Saotome has passed away and what's to become of Kazuha who goes by the name of Shinkawa at the Saotome estate. Taizo had left Kazuha a nice severance package and Reimi was ready to send Kazuha packing as Taizo was the main reason she had been hired in the first place. However her daughter Aoi pleaded with Reimi to let Kazuha stay and the father Akio seconded that motion so Kazuha will be remaining. Just before Tazio died he had a brief conversation with his son Akio though we couldn't hear what was said, don't think Tazio revealed Kazuha's true identity. For the second time above Akio did tell Kazuha she can't keep fooling the family with her act and exactly what does he know about her? At first Akio thought Kazuha was trying to swindle money off his father which was way off base, so don't think Akio knows what her true intentions are for wanting to stay and as the saying goes it's best to keep your enemies close. It will be carried on into the next show but I think the most important event that will be happening is of Sana infiltrating the Venus Factory agency, that's not going to be an easy task for her.

 However Sana has gotten to know the Saotome son Rintaro much better and I'm surprised he hasn't hired Sana as his assistant. Rintaro is a slimy politician who fired his aide Kamata in the last show and that was because of some underhand doings from Sana but least Rintaro does trust her more than anyone these days. Sana brought him out to lunch and the conversation turned to the Tokyo Venus auditions, the Saotome family plays a key part in that and also the Venus Factory agency. Sana did ask too many probing questions at first about the auditions which made Rintaro a tad suspicious but Sana quickly recovered and said she hadn't had a massive scoop in a while. Though such a dirtball Rintaro is a smart man but tends to fall for the lies Sana says so easily, he soon told her about the very shady doings of Venus Factory. The auditions in a way are on the up and up as those who do well have gotten roles in dramas. However those 'winners' also have other obligations to the agency such as spending the night with their sponsors and to date no female has gone to the press with those sordid tales. But to Rintaro it's also the fault of the audition girls who will do anything for money and fame. That ignited a spark in Sana who agreed with Rintaro and Sana said the story she had planned was exposing these girls and teaching them a lesson though how could Sana get close to Mika? **** When Sana is with Rintaro she uses the name of Sarina Shintani.

 Rintaro said that Mika holds regular parties for the girls/women that do well at the auditions, there just happens to be one taking place in two days. These aren't celebrations for a newbie getting a role in a drama but are mainly drinking parties where the girls are expected to show the men a good time if you know what I mean. Sana is about 25 in age but Rintaro felt with a bit of a makeover she could pass for twenty, he thought why not bring Sana to that next party and have her meet Mika? Things couldn't have worked out better for Sana though this could be the most dangerous assignment to date. Sana told her mother Kazuha of her plan but not to tell her father nor Yuma of what she was going to do though Kosuke did overhear that conversation, he's more scared for Sana than she is of herself. Sana did add in that she feels she should be safe as Rintaro will also be there, though a slimy man he does have a good side plus likes Sana and think he would protect her at all costs. The Tokyo Venus party that took place a year ago was held at the Saotome estate and that's when the video of Rintaro abusing some women was filmed. According to him it was Sana's sister who had leaked that video to the media and he's the second person to say that. Which is another unsolved mystery, how did Riria get a copy of the video and why did she leak it?

 As mentioned Kazuha is still employed by the Saotome family as a cook and housemaid. Her work had been slipping a bit as Kazuha was getting a bit frustrated by the lack of success in finding clues about Riria's death and she was also very worried for her family. She did have an encounter with Akio while cleaning up Tazio's room, as he says above Akio will be waiting that night for Kazuha in his bedroom! The following screenshot shows what Kazuha thought of that proposal as she was wrapping a very long and sharp knife. Kazuha did come close to killing a woman in the third show and do wonder if she could ever go through with the act of killing someone? Haven't talked about Yuma yet and his task of getting to know the Saotome daughter Aoi has been a success. Yuma chats with her via a camera and claims to be a 27 year old English teacher in Seoul named Park though can speak Japanese fairly well. Aoi had told him about her grandfather passing away and Yuma has grown to like Aoi quite a bit. He could see how that death really shook her up and to Yuma there's no way Aoi could be involved with Riria's death. But in a possible huge mistake Yuma said it's time for the pair to meet up face to face, Yuma said how about doing that in a week? To that Aoi readily agreed and think Yuma realized the mistake he made, for now Yuma hasn't told anyone of his blunder.

 This recap zoomed right by as there's less than five minutes to go in the episode. It's the night of the Venus Factory celebration(drinking party). Rintaro was of course there and immediately went to Mika saying he had an aspiring actress he wanted her to meet. That was naturally Sana aka Sarina who as you can see now has a third name which is Wakana and that scene ended with her introducing herself, sure this will be continued in the next episode. While that was taking place there was also some potential hanky panky about to take place at the Saotome estate. Waiting in his bedroom was Akio and the woman he was hoping to arrive was Kazuha aka Shinkawa, in a mild surprise she did make an appearance and did she feel this could be her only opportunity to get some evidence from Akio? Who revealed to her that the last words his father Tazio spoke were to protect Kazuha though it would be better if she just left the household!

 You can see right above what took place and wonder if it would have gone much further? In the back of her slip Kauzha had that knife mentioned earlier and had her hand on it, would she have used it to hurt Akio or just to threaten him? Didn't take any screenshots of the final ten seconds as this scene should open up the next episode. In those last few seconds the bedroom door was thrown open, who should be standing there but Kazuha's husband Kosuke aka Koo along with Akio's wife Reimi!!!! So that was quite an unexpected ending and one that was fairly intense, am looking forward to how this scenario plays out. This ended up being the shortest recap to date which is okay by me, the next pair will be in the usual 3-4 days.