"Dead Stock" drama: Episode one recap

 Air Dates: July 21st to September 30th on TV Tokyo, Saturdays at 12:52 am

Main Cast:

Akari Hayami as Saori Nikkaido

Nijiro Murakami as Riku Tsuneta

Tetsusho Tanaka as Satoru Sayama

 Hard to beat these late night Japanese dramas and especially the shows that air on the weekend. While to me the prime time series have gone way downhill the last few years the late night shows seem to get better. Have watched two episodes so far and it looks like I made a wise decision with this drama as both shows have been quite good and will admit I've jumped out of my seat twice.
 The cast list is correct as there's just three characters though there are a few guest stars for each show. Some of this horror drama is actually true such as where it's filmed. TV Tokyo moved their main offices in 2016 and this drama is filmed where their offices used to be which was in Toranomon, they're now in Roppogni. Don't know if the office building looks that abandoned but it does give a creepy atmosphere. Also the site locations are real as the cast traveled to spots where real cursed stories may have happened.

 This drama does follow the actual event of TV Tokyo moving their offices, this show is set in the basement of their old main office. Two new temp employees have been hired as assistant directors, the male is Riku Tsuneta while the woman is Saori Nikaido and he seems to be about twenty in age while she's possibly two years older. Their supervisor is an old TV Tokyo veteran who is Sayama who is in his mid to late forties.
 Sayama has been assigned the task of going through all of the office's video tapes that are stored in the basement to determine which ones should be kept and which should be tossed. There are literally thousands of them and none are labeled properly, it would take years for one person to view each one. So the pair of newcomers have been assigned the task of helping Sayama go through each tape and looks like every episode will be of them viewing a tape that has to do with a curse or tragedy.
 A heads up on all of these screenshots. That is the way they look and it's not because the quality of the shows is bad. The team is viewing old tapes from twenty or more years ago that weren't maintained well so of course they look very rough. That's a plus as looking at these old videos in
so-so shape adds to the eeriness of the show plus so many scenes are in very dark locations.

 Just presuming the video tapes are twenty or so years old as none of them have dates on them. You can tell by the style of clothes or their hairdos that the tapes are very ancient. First tape for Riku and Saori to view was from an old mystery show that had a popular host named Shiho. On the show they were watching she and her crew had gone to an old abandoned highway tunnel in the hills. The rumor was that many years ago a man had tried to commit a double suicide in the tunnel with his wife.
 That failed as his wife woke up in time as the husband was pouring gasoline on her. Seemed she survived but her ghost is still haunting the tunnel, Shiho tells us that plus about a curse that arose after the attempted suicide. When you're in the tunnel honking your car horn three times will summon the curse and lead to your premature death. With the cameras rolling she entered the tunnel to see if it was true, Shiho sat in her car while the cameraman was outside of it filming her. There was another camera outside of the tunnel and it captured the audio of her honking the horn three times.
 Shortly after that we hear some screams and the cameraman that was in the tunnel came rushing out and fled into the woods. That was the last we saw of Shiho and may have been her final time hosting that TV mystery show. Sayama knows about her history after that incident and it wasn't a pleasant one. Shiho quickly became deranged after what happened in the tunnel and it wasn't too long after that she committed suicide. This top screenshot is what deranged her mind, it happened at the 11:13 mark of the episode and have to admit it made me jump.

 No one had ever known what had happened in the tunnel and that's because the video of what happened to Shiho was never viewed. Saori thought of that second video and wondered if anyone else had also thought to view it or whether they decided it's better not to as it may be cursed? The trio rummaged through the thousands of videos and they somehow stumbled across the second video. It had been filmed by the cameraman who had been in the tunnel but fled when the eeriness started.
 Wasn't a long segment on the video but we witnessed what happened to Shiho and it wasn't pleasant, she wasn't attacked but the incident left her quite disturbed. Saori is very ambitious and thinks if she does a superb job as a temp she may get hired full time to work at TV Tokyo. Saori has some grand plans after viewing the videos, what if she was able to return to the tunnel and get footage of whatever the ghost or curse is? Her boss Sayama thinks it's an okay idea but also warned her what happened to Shiho could also happen to her.
 Saori dragged along Riku who was a bit skeptical about her plans and headed off to the abandoned tunnel. The two drove in to it and stopped at the halfway point. The legend is if you stop there and honk your car horn three times then the cursed ghost will appear. That's exactly what they did but after a few minutes nothing was happening, was the rumor just that?

 On their way to the tunnel Riku and Saori had stopped at the residence of the cameraman who had filmed the scene in the tunnel. He's quite mad these days and can't talk about the incident, the pair got nothing out of him and kind of surprised that man hadn't been committed to an institution. Back to where we left off and honking the horn hasn't brought out a ghost. That's what they're thinking, as you can see above something is sitting in the back seat and when the two of them turned around to look at it was also a frightful moment.
 That ghost disappeared from their vehicle rather quickly but bet it's still hovering around the tunnel, we never did find out what the ghost or curse actually was. The pair were too scared to stick around to find those answers and can't blame them, they're lucky to have escaped with their lives. It's back to the station and unfortunately for Saori she wasn't able to get the ghost on film though she thought she had. From what I understand it's not possible to film a ghost, just like the legend of a vampire not seeing their reflection in a mirror.
 That won't stop Saori as her plan is to eventually prove an urban legend is true, one that will land her a TV show of her own. In the final moments of the show Riku had somehow seen Shiho's old cameraman in a stairwell, how he got to the station was a mystery. That man kept blabbering on and on talking about curses and whatever as he wasn't in a sane state. Riku ran back to get his co-workers but when they returned the man was gone. Shortly after Sayama had received a call telling him that the cameraman had died of a heart attack a few hours ago. That leaves us with one possibility on who or what Riku saw, that had to be the ghost of the cameraman. Kind of an abrupt ending which was okay but wish that scene had been explained better along with what's happened to the tunnel ghost.

 It's not a long recap compared to others but considering it's just a 23+ minute show it did end up being longer than I expected. Future ones should be shorter as the first post for a drama always takes longer as there's so much to introduce you to. Nothing wrong with long recaps as I'm getting used to them but think you and me deserve shorter ones for a change.
 Lot of events could have been explained better but all in all I really enjoyed this first show. Naturally it's not as creepy or gory as a cinema horror film but there were many frightening moments in this show. Second episode also had it's share of terror and you can read that recap next.

"Dead Stock" drama: Episode two recap

 Air Dates: July 21st to September 30th on TV Tokyo, Saturdays at 12:52 am

Main Cast:

Akari Hayami as Saori Nikkaido

Nijiro Murakami as Riku Tsuneta

Tetsusho Tanaka as Satoru Sayama

 The cast list is correct as there's just three characters though there are a few guest stars for each show. Some of this horror drama is actually true such as where it's filmed. TV Tokyo moved their main offices in 2016 and this drama is filmed where their offices used to be which was in Toranomon, they're now in Roppogni. Don't know if the office building looks that abandoned but it does give a creepy atmosphere. Also the site locations are real as the cast traveled to spots where real cursed stories may have happened.

 New episode and new horror mystery that our trio found on an old video tape. While I'm not sure what the terror was for the last episode it was still an eerie watch, perhaps it was both a curse and ghost. No problems with this show as the terror is definitely a doll but not a normal one as it's alive(!).... or once was. As you can see above there must have a glut of these horror reality shows decades ago as these video tapes appear to be filmed in the 80's and 90's.
 That priest above was responsible for getting rid of cursed dolls, that's a theme which has been a popular one in movies. First the priests have to exorcise the souls out of the dolls as they will contain many of their owner's traits, if they're not removed evil spirits could be released. After that a brief ceremony will be held where the dolls are burned, for the above show the host was there to film the ritual. But before the doll cleansing can begin it was noticed that one was missing!
 Wasn't missing for long as on camera the doll was caught many feet away and it's alive. The video stopped there as the cameraman probably rushed away in a panic, shortly after everyone at the ceremony had gotten sick and apparently died. All of the dolls were eventually destroyed save one and that was the doll that came back to life(?).

 It was bit of an odd story which I wish was explained so much more but at 23 minutes a show there's only so much time. Seems as though the doll was alive and somehow was active for a period of time after the show where it came to life as it appeared on variety shows and in magazines. Don't know why more details of that weren't revealed as that truly could have been one quirky story. But because the doll hadn't been exorcised it started to show evil traits and had to be locked up by a priest at a temple, he's the person who took over once the other priest died after that earlier incident.
 Riku and Saori visited the priest at his temple, she still has grand ideas to find a true ghost which may lead her to having her own TV show. The priest gave them a history of the doll which wasn't always cursed. It had been owned by a younger girl who now is sadly dead, the curse started after her death. The girl and her family had taken a hiking vacation thirty years ago and during it she got into a vicious argument with her mother who thought the girl liked her father more.
 No names for the family members were given, to teach the girl a lesson the mother drove off leaving the girl alone in the forest. After waiting a bit the mother returned to bring her daughter back home but she was nowhere to be found. The authorities were called in and a massive search failed to find the girl. That is found right away as her body was eventually discovered a month later and she was dead near a stream.

 Saori is insistent that she be able to take a picture of the doll but was turned down over and over by the priest. The doll is currently in a box that is nailed shut, they don't want to take a chance of the doll coming back to life. Saori wouldn't take no for an answer and was finally allowed to take a picture though she squeezed a few extra ones in. That's the doll above and doesn't look like a cute one you want your younger daughter to have.
 But what the pair had really wanted to do was to film the doll but there was zero chance of the priest allowing that to happen. It was never explained so perhaps they wanted us viewers to figure out one of the mysteries and may have have done that. There's one other way to for the doll to come back to life and will get to that in a moment. But wonder if being on camera also breathes live into the doll which is why the priest doesn't want a camera rolling around it. The doll did come alive in the older show plus it stayed alive when it appeared on shows, odds are I'm 100% in error again.
 The other way for the doll to come back to life is showing it pity. Riku and Saori thought that was an odd way for the doll to live again but the priest insisted it's true, when the box was open he said not to look at the doll if there's any chance of them showing it pity. After their return to the office the priest had called to inform them that the doll has disappeared, which one of them showed any pity? The pair said they didn't show any pity viewing the doll but that was a lie by one of them, it ended up being Saori who has kind of an iron heart.

 That was a scary scene too when the pair split revealing the doll on the table behind them, they also jumped. But the doll was gone as quickly as it had appeared as the pair looked away for a brief second, when they looked back at the table the doll had vanished. Will give a bit more of the doll's history, it had been given to the priest thirty years ago for an exorcism and to do a memorial. The doll wouldn't have been cursed if it wasn't for some actions of the mother whose daughter had died.
 When the missing girl was found a month later the mother wouldn't claim or verify that the girl was her daughter, perhaps she was thinking she'd get in trouble for leaving her in the forest. Because of the mother's actions the doll couldn't be properly exorcised as it has the spirit of the girl in it and needed to see her mother one more time, be easier to explain with names.
 Riku and Saori go hunting around the office for the doll, the setting in the TV Tokyo's old office basement is a nice location as it's so dark and eerie. Saori happened to notice a figure running down a corridor, she rushed after it without telling Riku. Now the doll is alive or should I say it's reverted to the human form of the dead girl and is crying for her mommy. For some reason she thinks Saori is her mother and Saori for now plays along with her.

 That was a creepy moment too as the doll had turned into the little girl, when she ran towards Saori and jumped into her arms she reverted back to being a doll. All the doll kept repeating was mom but perhaps she communicated with Saori telepathically as the pair soon headed to the office roof. Upon reaching it Saori brought the doll to the roof's edge, not positive what Saori was thinking but probably whether or not to throw the doll over the ledge. The doll had an inkling of what Saori was planning but also had a plan of her own which was to tumble off the roof with Saori!
 That was about to happen but in the nick of time Riku had reached the roof and with just a few seconds to spare was able to drag Saori and the doll away from the ledge. Not quite the end as the doll is still cursed, thinking it saw it's mother meant that a memorial could be held to destroy the doll. That event took place the following day and it was a spine tinkling ceremony. The priest gave his exorcism speech and then the box the doll was in was burned.
 It took a long time for the doll coffin to burn completely, during that stretch we kept hearing the doll whimper and cry out for it's mother which sent goose pimples up everyone's arms. But the doll was finally destroyed and that brought us to the conclusion of this second episode.

 So far have enjoyed this drama and seems like twelve episodes may not be enough, this is the kind of show which could run every week for years and perhaps there will be a second season. The DVD for it is coming out in three weeks, be nice if they made an announcement for more episodes at the release event. Have the next four episodes subbed but won't give you an exact date for the next pair of recaps but it should be within the week.