Higashino Keigo Mysteries: episode 7 synopsis and review

 Bit of a better episode this time and not just because it starred Erika though of course that helped a bit, little bit more suspense this time but just like the last few episodes a bit light on the mystery but still ended up being a good story, actually might have been better if it was longer such as a TV movie.

 Erika's character's name was Yukiko Nakamachi who was a sweet and hard working 26 year old working at a small firm, not much was known about her at first but we learn that description of her is way off base. All was quiet at the firm until one morning one of the employees was found dead outside the office, he had fallen from the third floor and landed on his head, of course the questions were did he jump, was he pushed or was it just an accident? The police were following up on a few leads and thought that Yukiko's brother had did it but turned out to be a dead end but shortly after that yet another employee of the firm was killed, this time someone had pushed him in front of a train but Yukiko's brother was once again cleared but soon all eyes soon focused on her, was she really such a sweet and innocent young lady?

 Through much investigating the two detectives on the case soon became to dig up a bit about Yukiko's past, though quite a bit sad did it give her any motives to kill her co-workers? Seems that Yukiko was once married and was pregnant but soon after that happened her husband had passed away and to make it a nightmare for her shortly after that she lost her baby, no one noticed it at the time but revenge was soon on her mind as she set out to kill some of the employees at her office. Why you ask, well it appears as though Yukiko got it into her mind that the reason she lost her baby was because of the second hand smoke she was around all day, most of her co-workers smoked and smoked very heavily around her, she was determined to get revenge for the loss of her child, the two that were killed were the heaviest smokers and now she continued on her revenge spree. Yukiko came oh so close to killing another 'smoker' but he was saved at the last minute by the police, after that she tried to kill one of the detectives by spiking his tea but he escaped from that by only pretending to drink it. Thus the story ends there and a bit creepy too as Yukiko seemed to have a split personality as she thought a doll was her real child and ended up speaking as the child in a deep male's voice, with her mind like that she was shipped off to a hospital where the show ends as she's still clutching the doll and still speaking in the male's voice, ended there but would have really liked to have seen it extended a bit as the last 10 minutes really was intense and a bit eerie.

 Started off a bit slow but as mentioned the last 10 or so minutes were really good, lot more suspenseful than the last few shows, really would have made for a good 90 minute movie but couldn't go far enough into detail in just 44 minutes, still it was an episode that was quite good and comes highly recommended. Also starring in this were Santamaria Yosuke and Yuta Hiraoka but this was Erika's show all the way, she can really do such a wide range of characters such as this one, we all thought in the beginning what a sweet, quiet woman she was but by the end she certainly wasn't as she ended up being one deranged psychopath. And of course as with all the episodes from the show check out the next post for many screenshots and of course you know that they all feature Erika.

Erika Toda: Higashino Keigo Mysteries episode 7 screenshots

Screenshots of Erika from her appearance on the Higashino Keigo Mysteries show and as usual she keeps setting a new standard in womanhood with each passing day. Liked her performance here, reminded me a lot of the character she played in the 2008 TV movie Miracle World, both were slightly disturbed to say the least, there really is no role she can't play and ace!

Higashino Keigo Mysteries episode 6 synopsis and review

 Took a while but finally this episode got subbed, none of the others after this have been yet. Waited a long time for it and was hoping to be rewarded, was but not entirely, an okay episode that was much more of a drama than a mystery but still one that is worth a watch, really most things with Masami are as she looked terrific in this.

 Title for this episode was Charade Ga Itpai, Masami's character's name was Yayoi Aoyama who was a very skilled calligraphy teacher. One night she was practicing her writing in a corridor of her apartment building, finishing it she passed by the apartment of her ex-boyfriend named Kitazawa, noticing something amiss she entered his place only to find him murdered! The police were quickly on the scene and though Aoyama was a suspect at first, mainly because the victim wrote the letter A in his blood, possibly meaning her she was quickly cleared though the police continued to follow her. At Kitazawa's funeral she met a man named Bito who said he was an old friend of his and also a detective on the case. The two hit it off and Aoyama ended up helping him on the case which they discovered revolved around the will of a wealthy man who was dying but who Kitazawa was not a relative of, what connection did he have with the wealthy old man?

 Soon after Aoyama found out that Bito was not a detective nor was that his real name, it was Akiyama, it ended up he was a lawyer for the weathy man who was looking for his will and that's where Kitazawa came into the act for somehow he got a hold of it and hid it. Somehow Aoyama put some of the clues together, sort of a charade as the title suggested and found the will but was attacked on the spot by one of the wealthy man's children who thought he was being cut out of the will but in the nick of time Akiyama came to save the day. With the will and the passing of the old man they had a reading of the will where the pair had set things up prior to find out who killed Kitazawa and why, plus was the will a fake or not. Not much of an ending, won't give out the details on who did the crimes but hoping this will give you enough incentive to check this episode out.

 The other main character in this episode was Masanobu Ando, also liked the things he's been in and he did another fine job here too though his character was a bit too subdued. Masami has really improved on her acting these last few years, she did another fine job here in a rather serious role yet one that also at times was a bit light hearted and perhaps goofy, those roles seem to fit her best.
 Still think the first episode with Rena was the best of this drama, that one was bit longer which helped, perhaps if the other episode were longer too it would improve them, they could get into the story a bit more and not rush through it which seems to happen on occasion. Still give this a good recommendation, not so much of a mystery, lacked a bit of suspense and we didn't get to know the culprits well enough but overall it was a decent watch, any Masami fan needs to see this. And speaking of Masami she looked really, really good in this, check out the next post with many screenshots of her from the show and you'll agree.

Masami Nagasawa: Higashino Keigo Mysteries episode 6 screenshots #1

 Had one post earlier of Masami from her appearance on this drama but they were unsubbed shots, here's a few with them and as you can see Masami just looks too good to be true at times, still has the best legs of anyone!