"Mystery to Iunakare" drama, episode three recap

 

 Air Dates: January 10th until March 14, 2022 on Fuji-TV, Mondays at 9:00 pm

 Total of nine episodes, first show was seventy minutes in length but the others will be the usual 46 minutes. Blitz Fansubs is once again doing this drama, they're also doing another current series I'm viewing.

Ratings:

Episode one, 13.6% .... episode two, 12.7%.... Episode three, 13.2 %.... Episode four, 13.3%

Main Cast: The series takes place in Tokyo and most of the action revolves around cases being investigated by the fictional Otonari police station. However all of the stories and cases will end up involving the 21 year old college student Kunou and unlike other dramas will be using the character's last names as that's all they've been using. A huge plus for this series is that it doesn't star any of my fave actresses or Idols though Mai Shiraishi will be making a guest appearance. But I've seen all of the cast in many other dramas and they're all superb actors, so far superb describes this drama!

Masaki Suda as Totono Kunou.... In real life Masaki turns 29 in February but plays the 21 year old Kunou who is attending the prestigious Toei university. He's such a loner but doesn't act like a nerd or outcast at all, he makes sure others know he's never had a job, girlfriend, any other friends nor socializes in the least. But somehow Kunou has the intelligence of a Sherlock Holmes and let's others know how to solve their life problems. But not in an egotistical way as he is a down to earth guy though on occasion others have wanted to beat Kunou for telling them how to live properly. The name Totono is a play on words as it means neat and orderly which seems like another apt description for him.

Sairi Ito as Seiko Furomitsu.... The only female detective at the Otonari station and was looked down upon by her male counterparts. So much that Furomitsu had written a letter of resignation up in the first show but after meeting Kunou changed her mind about quitting. She is a dependable person whose confidence is growing with each show.

Matsuya Onoe as Yuto Ikemoto.... Detective at the station and in a way kind of a goofy man. In the first episode his wife had a child though his marriage wasn't going all that smoothly, that is until meeting Kunoe who gave him some solid advice though he himself has never been married nor had a girlfriend. Ikemoto was the only one for a while who treated Furomitsu as somewhat of an equal.

Michitaka Tsutsui as Mariaki Aoto....Inspector at the Otonari station and is kind of a hard man to figure out. Aoto is a bit quiet though there could be some good reasons for that, he was once a Deputy Inspector but got demoted for a case where he targeted the wrong suspect. That happened seven yeas ago but Kunou remembered the case and told Aoto where he may have gone wrong.

 Guest Stars: There's going to be many known actors making some guest appearances, quite a few for the second and third episodes.

 Eita Nagayama as Garo Inudo.... Garo is his real name, that was revealed in the third episode and had been using the alias of Kumada until then. The next two characters are his cousins, Anju is his younger dead sister. Garo was the master mind of the bus hijacking and the interrogation at his families estate. But he's a decent man who wanted to know the truth of his sister's death, he's so similar to Kunou who he grew to respect.

Yuki Kunota as Haya Inudo.... Used two aliases(!), at first was known as Sakimoto until the middle of the second show and then claimed to be Garo until the third episode. Looks like a bit of a thug but Haya was one intelligent man and also wanted to know the truth about Anju.

Ryohei Abe as Otoya Inudo.... Haya's younger brother who didn't use an alias, he looks like a thug for he just may be one! Otoya's motto seems to be 'Hit first, ask questions later'.

Mai Shiraishi as Anju Inudo.... Not a lot of screen time for Mai but her character was so important, she was the first of four victims of the serial killer.

Yoshiyuki Morishita as Makoto Tabakomori.... Driver of the hijacked bus, bit of a quiet and timid person but those are the ones you have to watch out for!!!!

Hiccorohee as Rira Tsuyuki.... Passenger on the bus who claimed to be a reporter but actually worked at a small office as an OL. Kyoko Saito fans may know her as the two are hosts of the 'Kyoccorohee' variety show.

Aimi Satsukawa as Megumi Kashiwa.... Another passenger on the hijacked bus, she's in a dead end marriage and may be getting divorced soon.

Akio Kaheda as Yukihito Narasaki.... Yet another passenger on the bus, a recently retired businessman who seems to be quite wealthy.

YukiMorinaga as Ippeo Awaji.... Last of the passengers and works at a convenience store, he's been fired from many jobs for stealing.

Previous recaps

Episode one

 Thanks if you've been reading these recaps, hard to make these kinds of posts exciting reads. But think of them as if you were reading a recap of a ballgame that describes all of the action and hopefully have done a well enough job that a few viewers will want to check this superb drama out. The above recap wasn't as long as I thought it would be, this one will be a tad shorter as the first five minutes were mainly of what took place in the last show but from some different angles. So no need to discuss much of what took place in the recap for the second episode as I'm sure you're read it. So where we stand is that the Otonari police department have found that the bus hostages are being held at the remote House of Inudo and that one of the group of nine could be the serial killer of four people! It's not a spoiler but the identities of two characters have been a lie and we'll soon learn on why that took place.

 As mentioned quite a bit of the first five minutes were of what took place in the second episode. But we also saw a bit more such as the above two screenshots when the Otonari police force were on their way to the House of Inudo. The woman is Furomitsu and she's come a long way in three shows, she almost quit being a detective in the first episode but is now a key member of her team. As a matter of fact this case would not have been solved without her going far and above the call of duty. So upon arriving at the house where the hostages are the police, led by inspector Aoto, were at a loss on what to do. No passengers had been hurt and no one seemed willing to leave, what to do was taken care of by Kunou who told the detectives that 'There's a serial killer in the room!'. Kunou explained to his new friends on the force why they had been abducted, it was to find the killer of Anju Inudo and that person was in this room. As mentioned before many times and it will be in the future Kunou doesn't miss one thing no matter how subtle it may be, it was because of him the true names of two were finally revealed.

 The police were more concerned with just finding the bus and it's hostages, they had no plan on what to do when that happened. So leave it to Kunou for the solution and he suggested this interrogation by Garo should continue as it just may find the serial killer and save the detectives a lot of work, they readily agreed to that. First things first though for Kunou who said the real Garo needs to step forward, the man claiming to be Garo isn't who he says he is! Kunou figured that out by observing many things, the key one was the portrait of Anju. It was signed by Garo but who ever signed it was left handed, this man saying he was Garo was a right hander. No sense in keeping the farce going so this man confessed he was Haya Inudo, brother of the other hijacker and the cousin to Garo. After that announcement you can see above who the real Garo was, it was the passenger named Kumada who has really gotten along well with Kunou. Garo just wanted to sit back and mingle in with the group, he figured it would be the best way to find out who the killer of Anju was and while it didn't work it was a sound plan.

 Don't think much has been said about Anju's killing and that's mainly because most of the details weren't revealed until now. Anju came from a wealthy family so she seldom took the bus but she did one day three months ago. No word had been heard from her since that day until her body was dug up two weeks ago, she was the first of four victims the serial killer has murdered. The reason this group of people were 'abducted' as they were the final ones on the bus to see Anju alive, one of them definitely had to be her killer! All confessed they did see Anju who had been slumped down in her seat, she had a chronic illness and unknown to all had a seizure on the bus. Three just ignored the woman and departed the bus, but one person who did something was Awaji in the first screenshot. He's a compulsive thief and with Anju passed out stole her wallet, seems all of the passengers were innocent of murder.

 They were but that left one person who Kunou felt was the killer all along, perhaps the real Garo did too. That was the bus driver Tabakomori who knew more details about the case than had been released to the public. With Kunou's shrewd way of making people open up about their lives he eventually made the driver tell the others the true story of that fateful day. With Anju slumped down in her seat Tabakomori thought the bus was empty and was heading back to the station. But he had to break hard at one intersection, that forced Anju out of her seat to the terror of Tabakomori. All he had to do was to report the incident as it wasn't his mistake but he couldn't take the chance. He drove near some woods and deposited the body for the time being. Later on that night as you can see above he brought Anju deeper into the woods and buried her, to his horror she had still been alive! But he clubbed her hard with his shovel and had such a rush from doing that. So that led Tabakomori to kill three more passengers and bury them alive, if it wasn't for Kunou who knows how many more victims there would have been? His key piece of clue was when Tabakomori had been talking about his childhood and the dead goldfish he hid from his parents, hiding things seemed to have become a fetish for the driver.

 Of course Tabakomori was led away in cuffs and so weren't the two Inudo brothers though Garo for now is safe. But none of the passengers are going to press charges as they may have done the same thing if they were in their shoes so eventually the charges were dropped.... but new ones will be coming up. After that overnight session at the House of Inudo Garo had a long talk with Kunou and the two of them really respect each other. Garo was telling him about his sister Anju who he loved but he also couldn't stand her as she was one spoiled brat. Anju did have a chronic disease which and what kind wasn't revealed, she should have been taking medication but hadn't been. That's why she passed out on the bus and did she have some sort of death wish that was fulfilled? So as the two departed Kunou told Garo one thing he wanted, that was to see this man once again as the two are so much alike.

 Though it's a very serious show there is one humorous bit to it. That's when Kunou prepares a meal of Curry, every time he's about to savor his fave dish he's interrupted. That's what happened a few weeks after the incident at the Inudo house, there was a knock at the door as Kunou was about to eat. It was a deliveryman who had a package for Kunou, it said to keep it frozen and of all people it was from Garo. But as you can see above the package would make anyone lose their appetite, it was a chopped off hand!!!! At first Kunou thought it was Garo's hand as it had the same wrist bracelet he wore but the police said it was actually the hand of the bus driver Tabakamori. A week before the police van transporting him to prison was hijacked, the driver was abducted and by the looks of things it appears the Inudo family has gotten their revenge.

 Now the three Inudo men are being hunted by the police for the killing of Tabakomori, they've fled Japan on a small yacht but have no destination. Garo received an e-mail telling him of an odd post office on the small island of Awashima that's off the coast of Niigata, there's a postcard there for him. It's odd as most of the letters there were written to those that have died(!), of course they can never be delivered and it's more of a case of writing a loved one a final message. But on rare occasions you can also send a letter to someone if you know you will die, that's what Anju did as she sent a postcard to her brother Garo. The message was short and to Garo it appeared Anju wanted to commit suicide but couldn't go through with it so she was hoping someone would do the deed for her. That's why she rode the bus that day and the 'death wish' was done by the bus driver!

 But on that postcard Anju did mentioned the mysterious name of Jute, to Garo did this unknown man have something to do with his sister's death? To him the answer is yes and who can he turn to in a moment like this? Of course the answer is right above for in the final seconds of this episode Garo returned to Tokyo to meet up with the startled Kunou which brings this recap to an end. This was supposed to be a two episode story which it was but the question is will it be continuing on for the rest of the series? That I don't know yet but will when the next two episodes are viewed, will be back next week for the next pair of recaps though would like to have them sooner and will try to do that.