Air Dates: November 5, 1987 to February 18, 1988. There were a total of fifteen episodes which aired but it had been scheduled to have twenty but was cancelled due to poor ratings. It aired on Fuji-TV at 7:30 pm on Thursdays, originally it was planned on being the fourth "Sukeban Deka" series though the story/plot was very different from those shows.
Average rating: 7.12% Rating for this episode that aired on January 14, 1988: 9.3% and this was the highest rating for all fifteen episodes .... Subs were done by Big Nova Subs who also have done a few other older series such as "Strada 5" which I did recap. An episode lasts for 25 1/2 minutes but the last two minutes are for the credits, think it was longish so fans could hear more of the theme song sung by A-Jari who were a true rock group and somewhat popular.
After taking a needed break from Japanese dramas this show signals my return, thought I would start out with a simple show but upon further reflection much more will take place than I thought. After viewing so many hundreds of dramas from Japan and Korea over the last fifteen years I was so burnt out with them which is why the longish break was needed. Hope I can get back into the swing of things and have so many series to recap, had almost all of the dramas before the break began. Won't be in any kind of hurry to finish many such as this one which is over 37 years old so what's a few more weeks?!
As mentioned in the beginning there's a total of fifteen episodes so will have five batches each containing three recaps which means there's two more after this one. Will leave this intro section here but will be making some changes to it along with many edits for the below character section, after two shows we haven't met everyone yet. That average rating of 7.12% doesn't seem too bad to me and what did they expect from a 7:30 pm show? Izumi also happens to be the first name of the main character and think it's just a coincidence, Izumi Igarashi was a somewhat popular actress and this was her first main role. At the time she had just turned nineteen in age, she was busy up until 2001 which was the year she got married and then retired, over 23 years later she never made a return to acting.
That's Izumi on the left above, she was one tough chick(!) but also had a very soft side to her plus was quite attractive. On the right side is Keiko Yuasa, will give some bio info on all below and at first her main objective was to.... see Izumi killed!!!! That never happened and near the end of the second show a slight friendship began. Most of the action will take place at the Harumi Academy High School and the surrounding area, Harumi is a region of Tokyo. This series began in November 1987, in the show it's also that time frame and to be more exact it was November 5th which was the date Izumi returned to Harumi after three years.... where did she disappear to? There will be many students in each episode but only the top three listed below are key characters, many will be coming and going plus at 23 minutes a show you can only have so many main characters. Wrote most of this up after viewing the first two shows, know there will be a lot of editing to the info as we go along plus a few more characters may be added in.
**** Briefly here's the storyline in a few sentences, it will be explained better in the recaps. Three years ago(late 1984) the 'heroine' Izumi Gojo was a fifteen year old delinquent who got into many scraps but for the most part didn't commit any crimes. One evening she got into a fight with her rival Reiko and beat her badly but the girl was living when Izumi departed. Coming out of the shadows was a man who finished the job as he strangled Reiko to death, unknown to all watching the fight and then murder had been a fourteen year old girl named Saori Saegusa. She knew that Izumi hadn't killed Reiko and that the unknown man had done the cruel deed but shortly before Saori could go to the police another man stopped the young girl. This man was also unknown, like the killer this man was a henchman for the evil R Agency organization and threatened to kill Saori unless she told the police it was Izumi who had slain Reiko!
Which Saori did so soon the police were after the young Izumi and cornered her on a pier. She held her own against a dozen officers but of course the numbers were too overwhelming for Izumi who jumped into the bay, the main detective Fujiwara presumed Izumi had drowned and it was case closed. **** Now it's three years later and Izumi has made her return to the Harumi area of Tokyo, where had she been for three years? When she jumped into the bay divers from R Agency rescued Izumi and for three years she was held captive by them. During that time Izumi was being trained to be the Ultimate Weapon for this evil organization, she had the code name of Prototype #1. In the first episode Izumi escaped from their compound, now her goal in life is to bring down R Agency who also secretly develop superweapons and to also find out why Saori fingered her for Reiko's murder. So that's most everything in a nutshell, more details and info are in the below character bios and of course in the recaps.
Izumi Igarashi as Izumi Gojo.... The main 'heroine' who is eighteen in age, she had been missing for three years and was presumed to be deceased. There will be a couple of main focuses of this series, where and why did Izumi disappear for three years, why/how has she returned and also a main part of the story will be of Izumi seeking revenge for what had been done to her those three years! Did talk about that just above and Izumi does have the nickname of Ice Doll as she appears to be a cold person but really wasn't. Izumi grew up alone as her parents died when she was ten in age but never moved into an orphanage and had lived on her own. One positive about Izumi being held prisoner is that she became such a ruthless fighter at the R Agency 'prison/training facility', now she'll use those skills they taught her to bring them down! Seeing as how I wrote this up after viewing just two shows sure more will be added in. It's now two episodes later, not much has changed save for the fact that Izumi has enrolled at Harumi Academy but will she be staying there? In episode six Izumi moved into her first ever apartment, after helping the detective Fujiwara out in a duel against a thug the local residents donated enough moolah to pay for a year's rent!!!! Biofeedback is the name of the program/experiments she had been doing at the R Agency, Izumi is the only one who completed all of the tests and training who lived to talk about it!
Yumi Tsuchida as Keiko Yuasa.... President of Harumi Academy's student council, she too is a tough young woman though not in Izumi's class. For two shows Keiko couldn't strand the sight of Izumi and wanted to see her dead(!) but once the truth came out about Izumi being framed for Reiko's murder Keiko did begin to warm up to her, this will be another character where much more info will be added in. Yumi in real life is like the below character who had a very short show biz career as she retired at the age of twenty or two years after this show ended. In this series Keiko does have many cohorts who she bosses around but none seem to mind, the only two with any kind of screen time are named Mako and Shoko. Did learn in episode four the student council is called SSG but don't know yet what those initials stand for but there's little doubt there could be something sinister about the group. SSG stands for Shadow Student Government, we learned that in the sixth episode. They're an offshoot of the student council who try to maintain the peace in Harumi though very secretly.
Masami Katsuragawa as Saori Saegusa.... As far as I can tell this is her only acting role and has no Ja.wiki page so who is she? Don't know but even though we didn't see Saori until halfway through the second episode she is an important character and was the reason the police were hot on Izumi's tail three years ago! That's because in November 1984 Saori had secretly witnessed the brutal fight between Izumi and her bitter rival Reiko so knew Izumi wasn't the killer. However the R Agency forced Saori to tell the police Izumi was the killer and in episode two Saori finally was able to tell the true story to all, including the police. Saori has recently transferred to Harumi Academy from Tsukiura high school which was an elite school and mainly it was to get closer to Izumi whom she has a crush on! In the fourth show Saori got a part time job at Ken's Burger in Saki poolhall/diner, think it's because Izumi often goes there!
Takeyuki Yue as Ken Kuwabara.... Runs the pool hall/diner Burger in Saki, Ken is just eighteen in age but doesn't appear to be a student. As of now don't know who owns the pool hall which happens to be the hangout for many Harumi Academy high school students, especially Keiko and her cohorts. To me Ken seems like a decent young man and someone you can rely on.
Takeo Chii as Eiji Fujiwara.... Detective at the Harumi precinct in Tokyo, he mainly works in the Juvenile Division. Fujiwara was supposed top have a female partner named Moe Muto but haven't seen her through four shows. We did in the sixth episode but don't think we'll be seeing much of Moe who is one cutie! Fujiwara does have a secret crush on her but don't think that will be going anywhere. He was the main detective for Reiko's murder and had tried arresting Izumi but to no avail as she jumped into the Harumi bay. So Fujiwara naturally thought Izumi was dead and was shocked by her return, he was doubly shocked when he found out that Izumi was innocent after hearing Saori's tale. So over time he does become Izumi's ally and Fujiwara wondered if R Agency has a mole at his precinct for the file on Izumi had gone missing....
Takeo is an actor I know so well and he's one of my faves from the 1970's and 80's. Did recap his "Strada 5" drama last year but sadly. it was just so-so however not to be missed are the two 'Stray Cat Rock' films, all five in that series need to be viewed!!!! He was in many other films and dramas worth seeing, sadly he died in 2012 at the age of seventy.
Hiroyuki Watanabe as Rinichiro Ishizu.... The most known of the cast, Hiroyuki was a very busy actor up until 2022 when he passed away and was just 66 in age. In this series he's the president of Ishizu Industries which appears to be a legit company, what isn't legit is the organization he's a top exec at. Which is a very underground team called R Agency which develops superweapons(!) and were responsible for Izumi's three year disappearance. They were the group who saved her from the police in November 1984 but did some cruel things to her such as trying to make Izumi into their.... Ultimate Weapon! Not much is known so far about Ishizu and R Agency but know they will be very important to the story so will edit this section plus may add in another character if needed. Did learn in the fourth episode R Agency has been recruiting teens from all over Japan and have been training them to also be ruthless but according to Ishizu none is as skilled as Izumi is and most shows will deal with trying to recapture her. **** In episode six learned that Ishizu is the mysterious person playing pool often at the Burger in Saki shop. He is quite talented and is hanging around there to keep tabs on Izumi.
Previous recaps
Do recommend reading a few of these and actually all as they are easy to breeze through plus it will help you follow the storylines so much better. In a way you could wait until I have finished recapping the entire series, go to the final post and start reading from the first link!
For each recap will also try to have a different video, there aren't too many but there could be enough for most posts. The one for today has the Izumi Igarashi tune "Escape" which we hear in every show though it's not the theme song. There was no regular PV for the song but the video does show quite a bit of Izumi and sure it's nice to see her in action instead of a still screenshot. As I've said a few times the character of Izumi reminds me so much of Nami Matsushima from the 'Female Scorpion' movie series who is so quite yet very lethal plus is so overly attractive!!!! The first screenshot below shows the air date and title of the episode, will have a new one for each recap.
What made this episode a bit better was the return of R Agency and they'll probably be the focus for the remaining shows. But to date we don't have a cut and try explanation what the main purpose of this evil group is, they have been kidnapping teens around Japan that exhibit superior fighting skills to train them but for what purpose, to take down the Japanese government? R Agency also develops weapons with many being brand new advanced ones, a stolen gun of theirs was the focus of this show. Another question is do they also sell these weapons to other organizations to raise money(?) and if this is such an elite yet evil organization why are their guards/soldiers such inept fighters? The girl standing above was this show's guest star Tomoko Nuse who played Mariko, like so many other guest characters it doesn't seem as though she did any other acting besides this appearance and why would that be with so many? Let's finally get to what took place in this episode, the next pair of posts are the recaps for the eleventh and twelfth shows.
For the next three days Isao didn't leave his bedroom, he lives with his older sister Mariko Kitazato above the family flower shop. Mariko runs the place and has since their parents died two years ago, she can't be more than 18 or 19 in age so sure she had to drop out of school to run the shop and take care of Isao. Mariko was worried about her little brother and had seen one of the flyers for Izumi's PI agency which is actually run by Keiko. Mariko asked for her help as Isao refuses to leave his room and tell her why, there's also been some suspicious looking thugs watching her flower shop. Keiko agreed to help her out but not Izumi who only wants to use her powers/skills for the more dangerous gangsters or those associated with R Agency. But Izumi did agree to walk with Keiko and Saori back to Mariko's shop, at the entrance were three goons who tried to abduct Mariko but with Izumi there she subdued them rather easily and they fled in fear. Somehow the R Agency top executive Ishizu learned about Isao stealing that new weapon and wants it back immediately, he also has ordered his troops to find a new location to store those new weapons and what new plan is in the works for Ishizu(?), more on him soon. In the bottom screenshot above is the Harumi Juvenile Department detective Fujiwara and we didn't see him in the last show. For the second time his assistant Moe made an appearance in this series and she wondered if Fujiwara had a crush on Izumi? Well, why not as I do(!)😍 but Fujiwara insisted he didn't and she was only on his mind as she was the only criminal he never caught though it was proved Izumi had been innocent. Actually Fujiwara may have a crush on Moe as shortly after that scene he visited Mariko's flower shop and got a very cheap bouquet for her.... don't know why but the second paragraph is always seems to be the longest.
The screenshot below the one of Ishizu shooting pool shows him ordering his troops to move the location of their weapons. Izumi never saw him during the three years she spent at the R Agency compound so Ishizu is able to spy on her with no worries about being detected. Izumi has agreed to help out Mariko and defend her along with her brother from the R Agency goons, Izumi and Saori will be undercover pretending to be workers at the flower shop and Saori did take that job very seriously.. Since their parents died two years ago Isao has become a weapons fanatic and has vowed to protect his older sister Mariko at all costs. Isao would often go down to the Harumi piers which were called Sunrise Docks to play survival games and they were once very popular. While at the piers Isao had noticed R Agency guards bringing those weapons to the warehouse which is how he knew about them and of course had stolen a valuable one. Mariko in the bottom screenshot above was telling Izumi that story and she's spending the nights with her in order to protect Mariko and Isao. It's hard to see but the two screenshots above the bottom one show Mariko's flower shop/house being attacked, two R Agency soldiers had thrown a gas canister into the place. Which didn't work as the gas evaporated quickly and with a little bit of help from Mariko Izumi was able to send the goons fleeing without what they came for, the weapon Isao had stolen..... but something more valuable may have been taken!
All of the lights were turned off in the warehouse which did make Izumi a sitting duck, she couldn't see the shooters but they could see her with that weapon. But for some odd reason the powerful and evil R Agency has some inept soldiers, instead of shooting at Izumi a pair rushed her to get into a hand to hand battle. Quickly realizing they were no match they backed away and raised their weapons, right then Izumi ducked down as the soldiers fired at the same time meaning.... they hit each other! It was no comedy scene but how can some soldiers be so useless? Soon Izumi was able to take out the other two R Agency soldiers, one by throwing a pallet at him and why weren't more soldiers attacking her? Like most of the previous ones the fighting scene at the end was too short yet was action packed and of course Izumi came out on top. As you can see below the R Agency exec. Ishizu is more than irate at how things have been working out as far as recapturing Izumi goes.... they haven't been working out! Isao did learn his lesson about guns and stealing, Izumi threw the stolen weapon into the bay while he threw away the fake rifle he used in those survival games. But in the second screenshot below Izumi has realized that the R Agency is becoming very desperate and the battles will be more fierce than ever which I hope is the case for the rest of the series. With less than a minute to go Ishizu entered Mariko's flower shop, Saori was still working there and he ordered a deluxe bouquet to be sent to a certain address. Saori delivered it and as it turned out it was the Burger in Saki pool hall/diner, the flowers were for Izumi and Saori wondered does their mysterious ace pool player have a crush on her? The answer is no and the next post is for the eleventh episode which I haven't viewed yet.
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