"Shoujo Commando Izumi" drama: Episode eight of fifteen recap

 

 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 December 24, 1987: 5.8% which was a huge decrease from the previous show and probably because it was Christmas Eve .... Subs were done by Big Nova Subs who also have done a few other older series. 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!!!!

 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! 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.

 

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!

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

Episode five .... Episode six

 

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 is from the opening scene for every episode which lasts for a minute and quality wise it's one of the better videos and you do see Izumi in top fighting form! 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.

   

 

 

 

 It'll probably be close to impossible to find a copy of Izumi's first photobook "Kiss of Fire" which came out in March 1988 and that was a month after this series ended. The book is 37 years old so it does make sense that it's so rare, it's sold out at most sites and would hate to think what a used copy would cost! But did obtain a copy of Izumi's first album that came out in November 1987 and it does contain some songs that were used in this show. Izumi must have some fans for back in 1987 it was vinyl that was the main source of music and not all older albums do have a CD version.

 This episode had the second lowest rating of the series, probably because it aired on Christmas Eve. X-Mas was the semi-theme to this episode but of course had Izumi battling it out though with a slight twist as her opponent was her age and the showdown was a fencing duel! That's Izumi right above dressed in that attire and how attractive Izumi Igarashi was back in what seems like the Stone Ages these days! Not much more to add into this intro section, haven't done too much editing to the bios of the main characters and that's usually the case when we're into the second half of a series. However at first this eighth episode wouldn't have been in the second half as originally there were supposed to be twenty episodes but it was shortened to fifteen. It was because of the ratings being low but to me they seemed decent enough plus this has been an enjoyable show which appears to have become more popular after it finished airing. That screenshot right above has some text and when you see that at the top it means a song had been playing, many of the insert songs were from the album mentioned in the first intro paragraph and Izumi's second album came out a month after this show ended.

 That man right above is Hidekazu Nagae who played the role of a personal assistant named Tsuji in this episode. I have seen this man in too many things to count and he is quite tall for a Japanese man as his height is 192 cm or over 75 inches. Nagae still acts and is 66 in age, he never has a starring role in dramas or films but with his large body has had no problems getting roles.

 As mentioned it's the Christmas season, Izumi is eighteen in age and has been an orphan since the age of ten when her parents passed away and there was nothing sinister about it. So the holidays don't mean family time for Izumi who has been all alone since her parent's deaths though of course three of those eight years she had been held hostage by the evil R Agency organization. When the episode opened Izumi was just strolling around Ginza looking at the shop windows, Ginza is right near Harumi where most of this drama is set. All of a sudden jumping out of the crowd was a man who swiped the purse from the woman in the top screenshot, Izumi was nearby and came to the rescue but had only been noticed by one person. That scene was less than ten seconds long so couldn't take any decent screenshots but Izumi had picked up some apples and somehow threw them at the man's head with each toss being a direct hit! This thug was quickly nabbed and the purse returned, all wondered what had happened? The only person who saw what truly took place was the seventeen year old girl in the second screenshot above whose name was Tomoko Kisaragi, she had been driving around Ginza with her personal assistant Tsuji who was mentioned right above. Tomoko will be the key guest star in this episode and once again the dreaded R Agency didn't have much to do with the story but we did see more of their top exec Ishizu and will get to him later on.

 The following day we saw Izumi wearing a Santa outfit and handing out flyers for some local stores, she needs money to support herself but least her rent is paid up for a year. While passing by a phone booth Izumi noticed a sign there and couldn't believe her eyes, that's it in the third screenshot. The poster said 'For your everyday chores to the nation's greatest scandals I can solve anything', it had Izumi's name and a phone number on it!!!! An incensed Izumi headed back to the Burger in Saki pool hall/diner where Keiko and friends hang out at and demanded some answers! Saori was the one who posted the flyers and since then the phones had been ringing off the hook for Izumi's help. The offers were from doing many things such as finding lost pets, trailing a cheating husband and more, usually the quoted fees from Keiko were over 10,000 yen! Izumi said there was no way she would do such tasks but then again Keiko knew how badly she needed money. Keiko even said with the fees from these 'cases' the group could have their own Christmas bash which did soften Izumi up a bit but she still refused to do any jobs and stormed out! Tomoko's personal assistant Tsuji did do some investigating and found out who the hero girl in Ginza was that saved the woman's purse. Of course we know it was Izumi and Tsuji was instructed to somehow get her to come to Tomoko's mansion, her father is very wealthy. Tsuji had seen those flyers that Saori had posted and called the phone number to set up a meeting. We know that Izumi wanted nothing to do with this scheme which was legit, in her place went Keiko but wore sunglasses so Tsuji thought he was talking to the real Izumi.

 Tsuji made an offer Keiko couldn't refuse, 100,000 yen if Izumi would come to a party at Tomoko's mansion, 50K up front and 50K when she appeared. Back in 1987 that was quite a bit of dough and there was no way Keiko could turn down that much cash so she would show up at the mansion impersonating Izumi and would dress as Santa in the hopes that she would fool everyone. As mentioned before doesn't the ex-Nogi member Mizuki Yamashita look so much like Keiko in this series? Keiko arrived at Tomko's mansion which of course her wealthy father owns, with her was Saori who will wait at the gates but did turn out to be Keiko's savior. What a large place this was and Keiko had no clue what was about to take place, with seemingly no one around she headed for the basement. Just before reaching the final step awaiting there was a figure in a fencing outfit, unknown to Keiko it was Tomoko and until now the pair had never met. So with Keiko wearing the Santa costume Tomoko naturally thought it was Izumi and challenged her rival(?) to a duel which Keiko tried to avoid. She did a good job at that for a while as Keiko was able to dodge the lunges of Tomoko but it was just a matter of time until Tomoko had a direct hit. So with no options Keiko did pick up a sword(epee) and begin to duel against Tomoko but it was no contest and Keiko was defeated even before the duel ended. For Tomoko stopped it early as she realized her opponent was not Izumi and did that incense her to no end!!!!

 You can see above that there was a crowd high up above and it seemed to be a Christmas costume party, those watching the duel were the elite of the elite! Tomoko was finally able to pry the truth out of Keiko about why she was impersonating as Izumi and it was to get the 100,000 yen fee, an irate Tomoko then began to attack Keiko again. But coming to her rescue was Saori, she somehow was able to spray the place with dry ice and in the commotion slipped Keiko out safely. The pair headed back to Harumi but Tomoko knows no quit as she still wants to have a duel against Izumi so she called out her special troops. Those are the bikers below who Tomoko has dubbed Rainbow Riders, their mission is to capture Keiko and bring her back to the mansion as that would finally force Izumi to reveal herself. While this was going on Izumi was at the Saki in Burger joint and still don't know what the name means. Ken had an errand to run so the place was empty except for the man playing pool, that's him above and in a few screenshots below. Izumi and none of her friends knew who this man was and I didn't until the sixth episode. The man who is quite skilled at pool is Rinichirou Ishizu and is second in command at the evil R Agency organization who had kidnapped Izumi three years ago and had been training her to be their Ultimate Weapon. There's been many failures to recapture Izumi as she did become one unbeatable warrior who does have the potential of becoming even more powerful. Because of being unable to recapture Izumi Ishizu will now be handling the mission by himself and for now doesn't have a plan to bring her back to the R Agency compound.

 Last segment, what took place in the final eight minutes is right above and the first six screenshots below. Actually the first one below is of Izumi and I can't get over how fabulous she looked, these pictures don't do her justice! At Ken's pool hall/diner of course Ishizu made no mention of who he was and he wants to spend a lot of time just observing how Izumi is handling herself these days. For at the R Agency labs tests and experiments called Biofeedback are done to the kidnapped potential high school fighters. To date Izumi is the only one to survive every test and Ishizu wants to find out what makes her different than anyone else. After not appearing in the last show we did see the Harumi PD detective Fujiwara in this show but not for long. He did have a brief chat with Ishizu and of course had no clue he was talking with such an evil mastermind! That trio of Rainbow Riders was able to capture Keiko and brought her back to Tomoko's massive mansion, Saori was able to elude them and dashed to tell Izumi about the danger Keiko was in. Plus of course Saori did tell her the whole story of Keiko dressing up as Santa to fool Tomoko and Izumi had never heard of this extremely rich young woman until now. As you can see above Izumi did arrive at the mansion of Tomoko's father for that duel and it could or should  have been more intense. Tomoko is very skilled at fencing and did check if uniforms had a name which they don't in America. Tomoko's Christmas wish was to battle against an elite fencing opponent so that present was delivered, what she hadn't anticipated was what a master Izumi was at the sport! 

 For it took Izumi less than a minute to defeat Tomoko who had never once lost, is there any kind of fight that Izumi couldn't win at? Even Tomoko's personal aide Tsuji got into a match to avenge his master's defeat, he too was easily put down by Izumi but neither was hurt badly. So back home went the pair of Izumi and Keiko who are becoming much closer and at least Keiko did get 50,000 yen for her efforts. By now it was night and Saki in Burger was closed so the pair thought there would be no Christmas party. Not so for when Izumi returned to her new apartment with Keiko there to surprise them was Saori, Ken and the rest of the crew so a happy time was had by all! Right at the end we did see Ishizu leave the pool hall and he muttered to himself Happy Christmas Izumi for it may be the last time she'll have one! So ends this recap and once again will say I am so glad this was the show I chose to make my return to Japanese dramas with. It's far from being a classic or must watch but the enjoyability level is sky high for me and to date would recommend it if you like Sukeban shows. The next post is for the ninth episode which I haven't viewed yet but did see the band who performs the theme sing will be in the show and their name is A-JARI.