"Fukushuu no Miboujin" drama: Episode one of eight recap

 

 Air Dates: July 8th until August 26, 2022 on TV-Tokyo, Fridays at 2:35 am

 Also aired on Paravi in March, title translates over to Widow of Revenge

Subs were done by Blitz Fansubs

Main Cast: Wrote most of this up after the first two episodes and know there will be a lot of updating with these bios as many will be going... to the hospital or their graves!!!! Most of the action will be taking place at the Planning and Development section of COD Techno Services, almost all of the main cast worked there.

Wakana Suzuki as Mitsu Susuki.... Her real name is Mitsuki but shortened it to disguise her identity. She was the wife of Yugo who worked at COD but he committed suicide a year ago. Mitsu knows there's much more to his death than calling it a suicide, was Yugo so stressed out he killed himself or was he 'helped'? Mitsu is now working as a temp contractor at COD to find out exactly how her husband died, she's out for revenge! Though a very attractive woman you don't want to get on her bad side as we quickly learned.

Yasushi Fuchikami as Yugo Suzuki.... Yugo's brother who is a detective. Like Mitsu he feels there's more to his brother's death than has been revealed, he's working undercover with her to find out the truth.

Yuta Hiraoka as Yugo Suzuki.... Of course we'll only see him in flashbacks for he died a year ago, at COD he was a team leader and had been an engineer. Seems Yugo was harassed endlessly by his manager Hashimoto and was that a main reason for his suicide? His death happened by jumping off the roof of the COD building.

Renn Kiriyama as Makoto Saito.... Very diligent worker at COD who looked up to Yugo but didn't know him well. He really respects the new contractor Mitsu who quickly became the ace of COD, wonder if we'll see him team up with her to discover the truth?

Haruna Uechi as Yuka Sekine.... Employee at COD and has been so stressed out she's ben going to the hospital for treatment.

Kenshin Endo as Yoshihito Sakai... Male worker at COD.

Satoru Matsuo as Masaya Hashimoto.... We may only have seen him in the first episode. He was the arrogant manager of the Planning and Development department whom all despised and he ruthlessly would humiliate his employees. Hashimoto may have been a key reason for Yugo killing himself but Mitsu got her revenge in the first show!

 Whew, large cast and may need to add a few more in. It's August 27th and this series just ended yesterday, was waiting for it to finish before beginning as I already have three other dramas I'm recapping. One is about to end and another is very close to also finishing. So needed another series and the story/plot to this show really intrigued me plus the cast is solid. This is a drama without any huge faves of mine and need to begin watching more like that. Wakana could have been a fave of mine had I noticed her more closely a decade ago, more on that in the next recap. Writing this opening up before viewing the second show, it wasn't confusing but thought it'd be wiser to watch the second episode before doing this recap to learn a bit more about the characters(didn't wait!). Blitz Fansubs once again did this series and it's the third drama I've recapped this year from them as they do a solid job. An episode is just a little over 23 minutes in length so these recaps shouldn't be too long, much prefer these shorter episodes.

 That's Wakana in the top screenshot and she looks mighty darn fine, that's from present time which is Spring 2022. There's some screenshots further down which are from the prior Spring when an unthinkable tragedy hit the life of Mitsuki. That's our heroine's(?) real name but it gets changed to Mitsu, will explain why. There was a three minute scene which ended this first episode but thought it'd be easier to talk about it first. Mitsuki seemed to be happily married to a man named Yugo, both are about 35 in age. Mitsuki is a housewife but the couple had no children, she does have a degree in computer programming though and don't know why she wasn't working. Yugo worked as a team leader for an IT company named COD Techno Services, he had a degree in engineering. One fateful day Mitsuki received a call at home from the police, could she come down to the station for her husband Yugo jumped to his death from the roof of the COD building!

 Needless to say Mitsuki was stunned to no end, Yugo appeared to be perfectly happy so why would he end his life? The police had no answers and weren't going to investigate this open and shut case. To Mitsuki there's more than meets the eye and she's vowed to discover the truth behind her husband's death. Perhaps it was a suicide but if so Yugo had to be driven to do such an act, someone at his company? Don't think there were any witnesses so could he have possibly been pushed from the roof? Mitsuki isn't the only person to feel that there's more questions than answers to his death, feeling the same way was a detective named Youshi who is(was) Yugo's brother. The police gave back Yugo's phone and on it Mitsuki had discovered that Yugo had recorded some conversations with his manager Hashimoto. She played them for Youshi who agreed there's something very fishy with his brother's death, now they want revenge and though Youshi is a detective Mitsuki will be doing 80% of the snooping. Above the fourth and sixth screenshot show that manager named Hashimoto and what an arrogant, lowlife of a man he is and why would Mitsuki be with him? 

 Made that opening a bit longer than I wanted but needed to explain a lot of things and first recaps are usually the longest. **** Was using the name of Mitsuki but for now on will be using the her name of Mitsu. In the above top screenshot is Yugo's brother Youshi who we saw a few times impersonating as a delivery man stocking a vending machine full with bottled tea. At the time didn't know who he was but had a feeling there something odd about that tea and that ended up being the case. In the second to last screenshot is Hashimoto and he drinks so much of that tea, he has this chronic cough and is it from stress, pills or something else? For her undercover investigation Mitsu has gotten a contractor's shop at COD Techno Service, she's changed her looks so much to disguise herself along with her name but don't think she had ever met anyone there. Mitsu really knows computer programming as she's quickly become the Ace of the Planning and Development team where her husband Yugo worked. In the second screenshot is a member of the unit who is Saito and he appears to be quite a competent man, he's the only one who stands up to the bully manager Hashimoto.

 Mitsu seems to trust Saito and though he has no idea of her intentions wonder if he may help her avenge Yugo's death? And revenge is why Mitsu is working there, she wants all of the answers to her husband's death and has vowed to take down anyone involved. That Hashimoto is quite a goon and how can his employees stand to work with him? He constantly is berating someone in front of the others at the office and it's not a pleasant place to work. First on Mitsu's 'Hit List' is the manager Hashimoto and as you can see above has gotten quite close to him. Don't think Mitsu has slept with him and was stringing him along, with the way he looks Hashimoto should consider himself a lucky man! In that bottom screenshot Mitsu was putting a white pill into his mouth, it was the second time we saw her do that. As mentioned Hashimoto has a chronic cough and those pills seemed to make that disappear but those weren't pills prescribed by a doctor!!!!

 That bottom screenshot was how Mitsu looked a year ago and what a change. At the time she was being notified of her husband's death but discussed all of that in the beginning. Back to present time which is March 2022 and after taking that white pill Hashimoto had a seizure and crumbled to the ground. Arriving a few seconds after that was Yugo's detective brother Youshi, with Mitsu he relished watching Hashimoto suffer! What the drugs were are unknown at this point but one kind of drug was in those white pills and another were in those bottles of tea. But according to Mitsu the drugs aren't life threatening but instead will leave Hashimoto in a comatose state for life!!!!

 

 Sounds hard to believe but one of those drugs will leave Hashimoto unable to ever speak again! The other will give him eerie hallucinations for the rest of his life so to doctors he'll be what's known as a basket case. With those major problems Hashimoto will never be able to pin anything on Mitsu or her partner Youshi, by the end of the show we hadn't learned what became of the arrogant man and it's impossible to feel sorry for him. So Hashimoto was the easy target for Mitsu to find at the COD office, he may have played a role if Yugo did commit suicide but sure her husband wouldn't have jumped off a roof just for being harassed. That wrapped up this episode and one down for Mitsu but to her there's still many others at the office who could have played a role in Yugo's death. That will be the main story and plot for this series, did write this up before viewing the next episode. The post below this has the recap for that second show and while the first few minutes were a bit sluggish this turned out to be one fine opening show, heard it gets much more suspenseful.

"Fukushuu no Miboujin" drama: Episode two of eight recap

 

 Air Dates: July 8th until August 26, 2022 on TV-Tokyo, Fridays at 2:35 am

 Also aired on Paravi in March, title translates over to Widow of Revenge

Subs were done by Blitz Fansubs

Main Cast: Wrote most of this up after the first two episodes and know there will be a lot of updating with these bios as many will be going... to the hospital or their graves!!!! Most of the action will be taking place at the Planning and Development section of COD Techno Services, almost all of the main cast worked there.

Wakana Suzuki as Mitsu Susuki.... Her real name is Mitsuki but shortened it to disguise her identity. She was the wife of Yugo who worked at COD but he committed suicide a year ago. Mitsu knows there's much more to his death than calling it a suicide, was Yugo so stressed out he killed himself or was he 'helped'? Mitsu is now working as a temp contractor at COD to find out exactly how her husband died, she's out for revenge! Though a very attractive woman you don't want to get on her bad side as we quickly learned.

Yasushi Fuchikami as Yugo Suzuki.... Yugo's brother who is a detective. Like Mitsu he feels there's more to his brother's death than has been revealed, he's working undercover with her to find out the truth.

Yuta Hiraoka as Yugo Suzuki.... Of course we'll only see him in flashbacks for he died a year ago, at COD he was a team leader and had been an engineer. Seems Yugo was harassed endlessly by his manager Hashimoto and was that a main reason for his suicide? His death happened by jumping off the roof of the COD building.

Renn Kiriyama as Makoto Saito.... Very diligent worker at COD who looked up to Yugo but didn't know him well. He really respects the new contractor Mitsu who quickly became the ace of COD, wonder if we'll see him team up with her to discover the truth?

Haruna Uechi as Yuka Sekine.... Employee at COD and has been so stressed out she's ben going to the hospital for treatment.

Kenshin Endo as Yoshihito Sakai... Male worker at COD, was really abused by Hashimoto.

Yuki Morinaga as Kazuya Kotake.... Inept employee who spends most of his time playing online games instead of working. The only reason Kotake has a job is because his father owns a large shipping company who COD has an account with. His game playing has affected the office performance as he uses up so much bandwidth.

Sakurako Konishi as Tomomi Itahashi.... Another inept employee who pushes her work off onto others, her main passion is her cat Mocha.

Satoru Matsuo as Masaya Hashimoto.... We may only have seen him in the first episode. He was the arrogant manager of the Planning and Development department whom all despised and he ruthlessly would humiliate his employees. Hashimoto may have been a key reason for Yugo killing himself but Mitsu got her revenge in the first show!

 Added in two more characters and sure the list will expand even more but think most will only be in one or two episodes. If you're a drama fan it's hard not to know who Wakana is and she's on the older side as she turned 38 in February but to me she looks A-OK! Back in 2007 and 2009 she released a pair of gravure photobooks, have seen them and she does look mighty fine. Won't post those books but wouldn't mind doing some for Wakana but don't know if she does much else besides acting. If she models for some sites or has appeared at events or in magazines may do a post, she seems like a classy lady to me. If you read her bio you'll be amazed as Wakana has probably appeared in more dramas than anyone the past decade. But most have been support roles or guest appearances, that work has paid off as this is Wakana's first ever starring role.

 Sure you read that first recap so you know the main heroine(?) Mitsu is seeking revenge for her husband Yugo's suicide. Thought killing those involved was going to happen but that hasn't been the case with the first three 'victims', Mitsu's goals right now are to make their lives as miserable as possible. In the case of Hashimoto from the first show that was successful as he's in the hospital and will never be able to speak again! Those top two screenshots were a flashback from a year ago and it was right after Yugo's suicide, he had jumped from the roof of the COD company where he worked. In that first recap the police had returned Yugo's phone to Mitsu and there were taped conversations on it with his co-workers. I had thought he taped those conversations but it was actually Mitsu who put the phone into his bag. That was because Yugo had confessed he was struggling badly at work and Mitsu wanted to find out the truth on why.

 With her is Yugo's brother Youshi who is a detective and has vowed to work with Mitsu to get to the bottom of Yugo's death, if it was a true suicide what led him to do such a thing? You won't see all that many screenshots with Youshi but he is an important character, he does all of the 'dirty work' for Mitsu and being a detective means he knows every trick in the book! After listening to some of the conversations Mitsu realized how badly Yugo was used at the office, so many workers dumped their work off on him and he never refused, though an excellent worker he wasn't much of a team leader. Could all of that extra work and being used badly led to his suicide? In this episode Mitsu had targeted two inept employees who had been using Yugo and will discuss them separately. First off is the woman you see above who is Itabashi and what a useless worker she is though there's someone worse in her unit! From listening to the tape Mitsu could see how much work Itabashi shuffled off to her husband Yugo and while it didn't deserve the death penalty this woman needs to suffer. Her ways haven't changed in the year since Yugo's death as she still shuffles her work off on everyone and that's really drawn the ire of Saito in the fourth screenshot. In the fifth screenshot that's Itabashi on the right, she was at a mixer instead of preparing a project at work!

 Hashimoto had been the manager of the Planning and Development unit, with him out of the way it appears Saito has taken over that position though it's not official yet. Arriving back at her apartment after the mixer Itabashi had noticed a couple of trash bags with their contents piled in front of her door, it unnerved her but for now it was nothing major. That is until the following night where the love of her life Mocha was nowhere to be found, that love is her precious cat! How could the cat have escaped from the apartment while she was at work, that upset Itabashi so badly she called in sick and spent the day searching for Mocha to no avail. This time when she returned to her apartment in front of he door Itabashi found a package and who could it be from? To her horror when Itabashi opened it there was her cat's collar, below that was a bag which you can see in the second screenshot. The bag contained the insides of a cat(!) and naturally Itabashi thought they were of her precious Mocha. They weren't as Mitsu now has the cat but after that scene we didn't see Itabashi again in the episode, no loss if she doesn't return to the COD office.

 So as mentioned we may not see Mitsu's partner Youshi that often but he was the person who dumped the trash and left the package. On to the second person on Mitsu's 'Hit List' for this episode and that was a young male employee named Kotake, as bad of a worker as Itabashi was Kotake is in a league of his own1 And a league is what he does all day long at the office as Kotake is in a gaming league and that's drawn the ire of many of the other office workers. Especially because the game is a very high tech one which uses up so much bandwidth and the other employees can't do their work because of that. The only reason Kotake has a job at COD is because his father owns a large shipping company and has worked often with COD, why didn't his father hire his son on?! It's hard to explain how intelligent Mitsu is as she can seemingly do everything on a computer. She was able to hack into Kotake's computer interrupting his game, she came over to fix it for him and did she do anything to that computer? Playing those games do cost a lot of $$ and we often saw Kotake buying more time, weapons or whatever but it wasn't his money he was using, that's the above bottom screenshot.

 That screenshot was the bill showing how much money Kotake had spent playing games, he had been charging it to the COD company! Mitsu had sent that bill to all of the other employees and to say they were furious would be an understatement. When Kotake realized what they were looking at he panicked badly and stormed out of the office, hopefully not to return most probably thought. In the building's lobby he met a man who said his name was Yugo but actually the man above is Youshi. He asked if Kotake was the gamer he had heard about, if so would he want to play a game one on one? Kotake was a bit leery but accepted the challenge, he soon found himself in a large room that only had a desk and computer. Kotake laughed when he saw Youshi's set up but he had the last laugh when he told Kotake the computer had no internet and within a matter of seconds left the room locking in Kotake. There was no escape plus the room was blocked off from receiving/sending phone calls, what was the point of this 'punishment'? That for now is unknown along with the fate of Kotake and sure this predicament will have it's answer in the next episode.

 There will be another victim coming up in the third show who is the man in the second to last screenshot. His name is Wakatsuki and is a president at COD, really don't know much of anything about him at this point. Youshi had entered his house to install a listening device, he was pretending to be a repairman and had been let in by the man's wife Erina. She's pregnant but that doesn't seem to matter all that much to Wakatsuki who ignores her and what a loveless marriage it appears to be. Don't want to guess about them too much and their story will be in the next recap. Saito as mentioned is now the acting manager of Mitsu's department and he seems like a nice guy to date. But Mitsu, along with Youshi, began to wonder about this man and did he really not know Mitsu's husband Yugo too well as he claimed? Saito too was curious about Mitsu and was wondering how could she know about the office and workers so well after being at COD only such a short time, what he said above was the final thing that took place in this second episode. So that ends this recap and I'm really starting to enjoy this series, have a feeling every show will be slightly better than the previous one. Plenty of screenshots below to help you follow the story a bit better and will be back with the next pair of recaps in a few days as I'm going to zip through this series.