"Informa" drama: Episode nine recap

 

 Air Dates: January 19th until March 24th on Kansai TV, Thursday nights at 12:25 am

 Subs were done by Magicstar at NYAA, episodes are ~24 minutes in length. This drama is based upon a novel by Garyu Okita that came out on December 5, 2022 so not a long wait until it became a show, it will also be a manga.

Main Cast: There was some updating as went along and the top two characters easily had the most screen time. Its nice to see Megumi whose role is a medium sized one yet important. She was a fave actress of mine for a while and was also a popular gravure model back in the 2000's, she's now 41 in age but still looks terrific to me. Hopefully won't have to add any more names to this list(did for the last two episodes), it's only a 25 minute show but what a large cast.

Kenta Kiritani as Keijiro Kihara.... The 'Informa' in the series which is the Japanese word for informant. Which is what Keijiro is and he has his hands in so many shady activities involving celebs, politicians and criminals. There was a sordid affair five years ago that forced Keijiro to leave Tokyo but he's returned for good in the first episode. He grew up at Ishigami's orphanage which wasn't known until the ninth episode. 

Reo Sano as Kanji Mishima.... Young reporter for the Weekly Times newspaper, Kanji's wish was to have beefier stories and he may come to regret that wish! Bit of a wimpy man but one that Keijiro has come to depend on.

Megumi as Asuka Nagasawa.... Editor of the Weekly Times newspaper which is a tabloid mainly reporting on celeb scandals and such. But Asuka does have a background in hard news and it was her who told Kanji to work with Keijiro aka the Informa.

Yasushi Fuchikami as Kyosuke Kawamura.... We didn't meet him until the second episode. Keijiro's 'younger brother' but just in the Yakuza sense of being brothers. The two were very close and Kawamura is the leader of the Mugurama group. At the end of the sixth episode Kawamura was shot to death by Saeki. 

Go Morita as Saeki.... What a ruthless man who is a contract killer, supposedly from overseas but he is a Japanese man. Though very ruthless Saeki is also quite intelligent and careful which is why he's been a killer for so long. He grew up in Ishigami's orphanage and has been his faithful killer(!) for so many years.

Toru Hakozaki.... Older reporter for the Weekly Times. Beaten badly at the end of the sixth episode and we haven't see him since.

Kana Kita as Nana.... Works at a hostess club and has known Keijiro for many years. She has a five year daughter and is the father Kawamura? No, it was revealed in episode five who the real father was Nana's husband Ainosuke however he was shot to death five years ago just before the birth of his child.

Ryo Tajima as Okabayashi.... A member of Saeki's gang and appears to be the brains of the team though can be brutal when it's needed.... but is he also a traitor?

Wataru Ichinose as Kim.... Also a member of Saeki's gang who is their 'heavyweight'. Kim is a Korean but was born in Japan, Tokyo's Korean town. Was killed at the end of the eighth episode by Keijiro.

Kazuya Takahashi as Katsuji Maruyama.... Detective with the Metro Police and their organized crime division, he has a long history with Keijiro. In the eighth episode Maruyama was taken off the Saeki case by his corrupt superiors.

Mototaka Mishimura as Mizukoshi.... Maruyama's partner. Not much was seen of him until the seventh show but he appears to be a mole for the man employing Saeki. 

Renji Ishibashi as Kento Ishigami.... Former politician who is the person that hired Saeki and his gang to take out certain lowlifes, not just for this series as Saeki has been working for Ishigami for well over five years. Ishigami's aim over the years has been to eliminate the 'bad seeds' of Japan and at one time ran an orphanage. 

 All of the above info was edited for these last two episodes.

  

Previous recaps

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

 Episode five .... Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

 

 Sorry for being a bit late with these final two recaps but had really wanted to finish off those eight posts for the "Taxi Driver" series. Would highly recommend reading at least the post for the eighth episode to see where this drama stands. I had to that for had forgotten quite a bit and even as I begin writing this up was still confused about a few things which became clearer when it was written up. Haven't viewed the final show yet as to keep the suspense sky high, not as much action in this show but it was intense and sets itself up for a thrilling conclusion! EDIT: It's now a day later and did check out those previous recaps so am not as confused.... least I don't think so!

 Briefly, here's where we stand before getting into what took place in this ninth episode. The last show ended with a long and intense fight scene, one where Keijiro aka The Informa pummeled Saeki's unbeatable fighter Kim to death and didn't think there was anyway that Kim could ever lose. But Saeki and his hired gang did mange to kill the Yakuza boss Takizawa who was the third man on Ishigami's 'hit list'. Ishigami had ordered the killings for that trio had done some underhanded things to get a shoddy development project  built. The young Weekly Times reporter Kanji is back by Keijiro's side and at the end of the previous show Keijiro and his troops are lying low to come up with a plan to battle Saeki, even by the end of this show Keijiro knew so little about his employer Ishigami. Of course there's more that took place which is why it's a good idea to read that recap again.

 Also what took place when the last show ended is that Kanji called up the Weekly Times tabloid where he works as a reporter and asked his co-worker Arimura to check on a file that the detective Maruyama had dropped off. We didn't see Maruyama at all, he was taken off the Saeki case in the last show by his corrupt superiors but bet we'll see him again in the finale. In the top screenshot is his ex-partner Mizukoshi who actually is a mole at the police station working for Saeki. It was because of Mizukoshi that the Yakuza leader Takizawa was captured and killed, in that screenshot he's at the Weekly Times office and is demanding to see Maruyama's file which has so much info on Saeki and his past. But appearing out of the dark was the Weekly Times editor Asuka(Megumi) who filmed this creep and told him to leave which Mizukoshi did. There were some very interesting things in this file and Maruyama really did his homework.. As you can see in the above screenshot he's dug up some dirt on Saeki and his partner's ruthless pasts, there was no way Mizukoshi could let that file see the light of day.

 Also in that file was some info about the Informa Keijiro Kihara and it appeared he grew up in an orphanage run by a foundation set up by Ishigami. In the fourth screenshot above Keijiro was telling a bit of that tale to Kanji, one boy he met at the orphanage has become his own informant and without that info there was no way Keijiro himself would have become such an elite Informa. There will be much more on this story at the end and quite a bit of it was rather surprising. Keijiro wouldn't reveal this man's name, Kanji was driving Keijiro to a location to meet this man and after returned to the Weekly Times office. His editor Asuka has been going through Maruyama's very informative film, she had never realized how brutal Saeki and his gang were over the years. So brutal that she's ordered Kanji to drop the story and stay away from Keijiro which Kanji had already done once in the fifth and sixth shows. Like Keijiro Kanji wants to see Saeki and his mates taken down, he also wants revenge for the beating of his fellow reporter Hakozaki who we never heard about in this episode.

 Those reports by Maruyama really enlightened us viewers on so many unknown things, it did the same for Asuka and Kanji. At Ishigami's orphanage Saeki was trained to be a ruthless killer from an early age, he's about forty by now and that's him in the bottom screenshot above. Saeki owes everything to Ishigami who is in the third screenshot above and it appears his life is rapidly winding down. So after reading those files only a fool would go up against Saeki though Keijiro may prove to be his match, it's understandable why the editor Asuka would want Kanji off the story. Popping in on that meeting was the female reporter Arimura who said she solved Kanji's problem. This is when we learned that he had attached a GPS device to the car driven by Saeki's main partner Okabayashi at the end of the last episode. Kanji is a bit inept with tech things so had no clue how to activate the GPS on his laptop, that problem is now solved and soon Kanji was on his way to Saeki's secret lair. During this time Keijiro had been meeting with that person who has been supplying him with so much info about Saeki and his activities, is this man a traitor? His name is Kawamata and we've only seen him for a few moments up until now.

 He's Ishigami's personal secretary and seems that the older man is playing games to pit Saeki and Keijiro against each other, we find out why very soon. Kawamata had laid a trap for Keijiro in this meeting for a thug was in the backseat about to kill Keijiro. Not an easy task as Keijiro quickly eliminated this man and I also think killed Kawamata, the reason they knew each other so well is because they grew up in Ishigami's orphanage together. Back to Kanji who has made his way to Saeki's secret lair via the GPS signal though by now Saeki and his partner Okabayashi have discovered it. Outside this very ritzy house Kanji was soon captured by Okabayashi and dragged inside to a bathroom, where he was tied up. At the time this seemed very odd to me for up until now Saeki and his mates would kill anyone immediately, why wasn't that the fate of Kanji? That's what Saeki wanted to know too as soon after he confronted his trusty partner at the house, to Saeki is Okabayashi now anything but a trusted partner? Saeki asked how could he have not known about the GPS attached to their vehicle, could Okabayashi have attached it himself or was he now a traitor working with Kanji and Keijiro?

 While that conversation was taking place Kanji had managed to untie the ropes and was witnessing this scene. Bet Okabayashi didn't tie them that tightly in hopes Kanji would see(?) what was about to take place. For a while now Saeki has had his suspicions about his one time trusted partner Okabayashi. There's been so many incidents that have taken place lately that had never happened before such as their best fighter Kim being killed and all of these incidents seemed to involve Okabayashi. Saeki may be a ruthless killer but also a very intelligent man, he knows that his partner has betrayed him and their leader Ishigami so there's only one solution to that.... Okabayashi must die! Which happened as Saeki thrust a dagger into his stomach and before long Okabayashi's life ended, watching was Kanji and that was the last we saw of him in this show. When Keijiro killed his one time informant Kawamata he got the phone number of his leader Ishigami, even by the end of this show Keijiro it seemed didn't recall ever meeting him at his orphanage. Kiejiro called this very old man and the pair didn't have a long chat, unknown to Keijiro this would be the last time talking with him.

 After that call entering Ishigami's mansion was Saeki, the pair had a short yet very revealing conversation. Ishigami told Saeki he had just got off the phone with Keijiro, does he remember him from the orphanage? This was the first we heard of this as Saeki also grew up in the orphanage which was called the Ishigami House. Back when they were about ten in age Keijiro was bullied badly though that stopped when Saeki put such a beating on these bullies, The pair never became friends and had forgotten each other over the years, Saeki never left Ishigami as the older man trained him to be the elite killer he is today. Saeki was stunned at the story and became so irate when Ishigami told him that he's finally met his match as he expects Keijiro to come out on top when the two finally face off! **** So that's what the story had come down to, before Ishigami died he wanted to see this pair of unbeatable fighters battle against each other. Ishigami blurted out a few other things and by this time it was too much for Saeki. He had been holding a pistol and as the credits were rolling you can see what Saeki did above, shoot the older man to death! Another intense ending and I have no clue what to expect in the final show but would think our 'anti-hero' Keijiro will defeat Saeki in some sort of battle. Now on to view that final show and the recap for that is the next post.

"Informa" drama: Episode ten(final) recap

 

 Air Dates: January 19th until March 24th on Kansai TV, Thursday nights at 12:25 am

 Subs were done by Magicstar at NYAA, episodes are ~24 minutes in length. This drama is based upon a novel by Garyu Okita that came out on December 5, 2022 so not a long wait until it became a show, it will also be a manga.

Main Cast: Did do updating for this section as went along and the top two characters easily had the most screen time. Its nice to see Megumi whose role is a medium sized one yet important. She was a fave actress of mine for a while and was also a popular gravure model back in the 2000's, she's now 41 in age but still looks terrific to me. Hopefully won't have to add any more names to this list(did for the last two episodes), it's only a 25 minute show but what a large cast.

Kenta Kiritani as Keijiro Kihara.... The 'Informa' in the series which is the Japanese word for informant. Which is what Keijiro is and he has his hands in so many shady activities involving celebs, politicians and criminals. There was a sordid affair five years ago that forced Keijiro to leave Tokyo but he's returned for good in the first episode. He grew up at Ishigami's orphanage which wasn't known until the ninth episode. 

Reo Sano as Kanji Mishima.... Young reporter for the Weekly Times newspaper, Kanji's wish was to have beefier stories and he may come to regret that wish! Bit of a wimpy man but one that Keijiro has come to depend on.

Megumi as Asuka Nagasawa.... Editor of the Weekly Times newspaper which is a tabloid mainly reporting on celeb scandals and such. But Asuka does have a background in hard news and it was her who told Kanji to work with Keijiro aka the Informa.

Yasushi Fuchikami as Kyosuke Kawamura.... We didn't meet him until the second episode. Keijiro's 'younger brother' but just in the Yakuza sense of being brothers. The two were very close and Kawamura is the leader of the Mugurama group. At the end of the sixth episode Kawamura was shot to death by Saeki. 

Go Morita as Saeki.... What a ruthless man who is a contract killer, supposedly from overseas but he is a Japanese man. Though very ruthless Saeki is also quite intelligent and careful which is why he's been a killer for so long. He grew up in Ishigami's orphanage and has been his faithful killer(!) for so many years.

Toru Hakozaki.... Older reporter for the Weekly Times. Beaten badly at the end of the sixth episode and we haven't see him since.

Kana Kita as Nana.... Works at a hostess club and has known Keijiro for many years. She has a five year daughter and is the father Kawamura? No, it was revealed in episode five who the real father was Nana's husband Ainosuke however he was shot to death five years ago just before the birth of his child.

Ryo Tajima as Okabayashi.... A member of Saeki's gang and appears to be the brains of the team though can be brutal when it's needed.... but is he also a traitor? That is still up in the air and at the end of the ninth show was stabbed to death by Saeki.

Wataru Ichinose as Kim.... Also a member of Saeki's gang who is their 'heavyweight'. Kim is a Korean but was born in Japan, Tokyo's Korean town. Was killed at the end of the eighth episode by Keijiro.

Kazuya Takahashi as Katsuji Maruyama.... Detective with the Metro Police and their organized crime division, he has a long history with Keijiro. In the eighth episode Maruyama was taken off the Saeki case by his corrupt superiors but in the end did get his deserved justice!

Mototaka Mishimura as Mizukoshi.... Maruyama's partner. Not much was seen of him until the seventh show but he appears to be a mole for the man employing Saeki. 

Renji Ishibashi as Kento Ishigami.... Former politician who is the person that hired Saeki and his gang to take out certain lowlifes, not just for this series as Saeki has been working for Ishigami for well over five years. Ishigami's aim over the years has been to eliminate the 'bad seeds' of Japan and at one time ran an orphanage. At the end of the ninth show was shot to death by Saeki.

 All of the above info was edited for these last two episodes.

  

Previous recaps

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

 Episode five .... Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

 

 We've finally hit the conclusion of this series and at 31 minutes this was the longest episode, most were around 25 minutes in length. So ended up taking about fifteen more screenshots than usual so this recap may have four segments instead of three, we'll see how it works out. Will give my rating for the drama now and would give it a solid grade of an 8.7/10, can't think of any negatives about this show. Though will say the fourth through seventh episodes were the best as there was much more intensity and action but every show was quite good. If you like intense series with so, so many plot twists would recommend this one and someone out there did make a comment how good this series was. Sure you read the above recap for the ninth show, would also suggest skimming through the eighth episode as I needed to for there was a long gap between recaps.

 That last episode ended with two killings, both were done by the brutal yet kind of coolish man Saeki. He first killed his long time partner Okabayashi for Saeki thought he had betrayed him, there had been so many incidents lately which turned out badly for Saeki which had never taken place before. Okabayashi was the common denominator in all of them, Saeki didn't want to hear any excuses and just stabbed his one time trusty partner to death before he could plead his case. Looking back on that at first I thought that indeed Okabayashi may have been a traitor, he could have killed the reporter Kanji but didn't. My theory is the person who had been leaking info about Saeki's plans was Ishigami's personal secretary Kawamata, he had been the person supplying the Informa Keijiro with other info so wouldn't he be the most logical suspect? Kanji witnessed the murder and what I can't believe is that Saeki never eliminated him?! He knew Kanji was tied up in their hideout so why wouldn't he have killed the reporter and that was never brought up. Kanji soon left the hideout and as you can see above in most screenshots he hooked up with the Informa Keijiro.

 Kanji gave him all the gory details of what took place but Keijiro didn't bat an eyelash as he knows what kind of ruthless killer Saeki is. For almost nine episodes Keijiro didn't know who Saeki really was but he was a key figure in his past. Both had grown up at the Ishigami House which was an orphanage, many times Saeki had bailed out Keijiro when he was being bullied. But that was over 25 years ago so he had forgotten about about the boy plus of course Saeki looks so much different. Keijiro also makes a reference to Ishigami above, he had planned a devious 'Game' which has worked out but wouldn't be able to see the outcome for Saeki killed him at the conclusion of the ninth episode. Ishigami wanted to see the best two fighters that lived at his orphanage face off in a life and death match which will happen near the end. Kanji dropped Keijiro off at a remote location and it looked like the same place his old friend Ainosuke had been killed by Saeki five years prior. More on Keijiro later and the man in the bottom screenshot above is the detective Maruyama. He had been working on the Saeki case but had been demoted to the Lost and Found department for his corrupt partner and superiors were working under Saeki and Ishigami.

 Maruyama had done some outstanding research and made a very detailed report about the activities Saeki, Ishigami, their gangs had done plus even some info about Keijiro. Maruyama was getting a bit too close for comfort which is why he was demoted but he'll end up getting his revenge. When Kanji escaped from Saeki's hideout he grabbed Okabayashi's tablet and why didn't Saeki do something with that? Kanji gave it to his editor at the Weekly Times Asuka who is in the above two screenshots. She visited Maruyama at the Lost and Found department, what a demotion for such a top notch detective who is also a friend and ally of Keijiro. Asuka had gone through Okabayashi's files and knew Maruyama would want to view the info, he reluctantly agreed to and as it turns out it's a good thing he did. We didn't see them in the last show and only for about two minutes in this episode and not sure why. They're the gangs of Takizawa and Kawamura, they were the leaders of the two gangs and both had been killed by Saeki or his henchmen. 

 Both gangs got a bit of revenge in the eighth show as they defeated the Chinese Mafia clan working for Saeki. In this short scene both gangs got more revenge for their murdered leaders as they broke up a major drug deal the Chinese clan was having at a remote pier late at night. The scene was action packed but it really didn't have anything to do with the major story, perhaps to fill out a few minutes? That major story is of the impending showdown between Keijiro and Saeki, that took place while that other scene was. Keijiro had been dropped off somewhat close to the Ishigami House, the orphanage he grew up at. It's now late at night and Kiejiro is in the building which was quite dark, soon entering the building was Saeki and of course he grew up there too. Keijiro figured this would be Saeki's destination, what he thought was that after Saeki murdered Ishigami he would head to the orphanage to find information out about his real parents which turned out to be an accurate assumption!

 This scene at the orphanage ran from the fifteen to 21 minutes mark, it was the first and final showdown with the 'former friends' and was surprised to see this battle took place well before the end of the show. Why there would be old records still at the orphanage is beyond me, there were so many things which didn't make sense in this final show. Keijiro had managed to find the info on Saeki, seems his parents had abandoned him but why was never revealed. We learned a few episodes ago that Keijiro's mother had also abandoned him when he was very small at a train station. Then there was a bit of trash talking between the two and up until this moment Saeki hadn't realized Keijiro was the youngster he used to protect from being bullied. One thing led to another and the pair began their first and final face to face grudge match, during 80 % of it seemed Saeki had the upper hand and though smaller than Keijiro is one matchless fighter. But seeing as how Keijiro is the 'anti hero' of this drama of course it had to be him that came out on top.

 The battle moved outside and that's when Keijiro got the upper hand, he had Saeki pinned to the ground and was giving him one severe beating. But in one last move while Saeki was on the ground he pulled out a pistol, to shoot Keijiro(?) as he did have the chance to. Instead Saeki handed the weapon to Keijiro and said to fire(!), to me think that Saeki was just so tired of living the life of an elite yet lonely hitman. At this point it was up in the air whether Keijiro would pull the trigger, but think when he thought back on his two best mates being murdered by Saeki he felt there was only one option. That you can see above as Keijiro did end the life of Saeki who of course deserved the death penalty but was hoping there was other option. Though a ruthless killer Saeki was the character I thought was the coolest and it's a shame these two old, old friends couldn't have somehow teamed up. While everything was taking place back at the Weekly Times office Kanji was writing up his story about the Informa, it was quite a good one and as you can see above made the cover of the tabloid.

 Not quite the end of the story, seems a rival tabloid also ran a story about the Informa which ended up selling more issues than the Weekly Times did though they did most of the research. In the middle screenshot above is the veteran reporter Hakozaki who has returned to action after being in the hospital since the end of the sixth episode, that was from being beaten silly by Saeki's goons. There was more justice which I was glad to see. In the top three screenshots Keijiro's friend and ally Maruyama appeared at a restaurant where his corrupt ex-partner Mizukoshi was having lunch with another corrupt man from the police. Maruyama had gone through Okabayashi's tablet and found enough evidence to nail these two traitors who had been working for Saeki, there was so much info found that even more higher ups were brought to justice and good for Maruyama!

 In the final scene Kanji had gone to a cemetery with the hostess Nana who we hadn't seen in the last two shows. She was paying respects to her husband Ainosuke who had been murdered five years ago. Also to pay respects to his brother Kawamura who has recently been killed and both had been shot to death by Saeki. Had the impression Kanji was about to ask Nana out as it was so obvious he's developed a crush on her. But arriving on the scene was Keijiro and it was him who actually set up this up with two visiting the graves. Unseen by the others Keijiro took a very small case that was hidden at one grave and dragged Kanji away with him. In this case were some rolled up papers, Kanji read one which was about another adventure the Informa Keijiro was about to begin. Kanji was told now that he's read the info he has to follow Kiejiro around again and had no choice in the matter, Kanji certainly didn't as a few seconds later a Hummer smashed into Kanji's car spinning it around about twenty times! The thugs then left their vehicle to finish off the job but Kanji's car still ran and as the show ended he was driving right into the gang! So ends this recap and also ends this fine series, don't think it'll happen but that final scene did leave the door open for a possible second season. Wouldn't mind that happening as I did enjoy this drama and once again will recommend it for those who like action and intense shows.