Aibou TV Season 1 Episode 11 - Detective Ukyo Is Shot - Tokumeigakari's Truth from 15 Years Ago(右京撃たれる〜特命係15年目の真実)

Subtitle: Detective Ukyo Is Shot - Tokumeigakari's Truth from 15 Years Ago(右京撃たれる〜特命係15年目の真実)

 Superintendent Uchimura calls the Tokumeigakari pair into his office and tells the pair that the Tokumeigakari department will be disbanded by the end of the week. Inspector Ukyō will receive orders to go back to the National Police Agency(警察庁) while Sergeant Kaoru will be sent to the Driver's License Test Site(運転免許試験場). If they refuse they will be fired.

Inspector Ukyō realizes that Superintendent Onoda must have finally broken up the Tokumeigakari pair to force the inspector into helping him investigate the big case the Superintendent mentioned in episode eight. To confirm this and confront Superintendent Onoda, Inspector Ukyō heads over to the superintendent's office.

Superintendent Onoda was, in fact, responsible disbanding the Tokumeigakari division, and he welcomes Inspector Ukyō with a tiny party popper. He even offers to kneel on the ground if it will convince Inspector Ukyō to help him.

A little annoyed by phone calls coming in to his office, Superintendent Onoda asks Inspector Ukyō to change places to continue the discussion. Superintendent Onoda picks up the phone and imitates the answering machine before cutting a call. They walk outside and continue the discussion in a nearby park.

The superintendent's big case is related to the case from fifteen years that lead to the formation of the Tokumeigakari. Superintendent Onoda forced Inspector Ukyō to help him back then as well. Three people involved in that case from fifteen years ago had died under mysterious circumstances within the past year.

Unbeknownst to them, a sniper is aiming his rifle at the superintendent's head from the top of a nearby building as Superintendent Onoda continues to explain his case to Inspector Ukyō. Just as the sniper is about to pull the trigger, a gust of wind blows the pictures of the victims from the superintendent's hand, and he instinctively dives to catch them. As a result, Inspector Ukyō is shot instead. The inspector asks Superintendent Onoda to go after the fleeing sniper, falling unconscious moments later.

When the Sōichi arrives a short time later to investigate the sniper's position, they can't find any clues about him. He even took the cartridge with him.

Sergeant Kaoru is writing his resignation letter when he hears from Miwako that Inspector Ukyō had been shot. She tells him that the inspector had been rushed to Tokyo Tenshin Hospital(東京逓信病院), and he rushes there to find out the inspector's condition. Once there, Sergeant Kaoru meets Superintendent Onoda, who tells him that Inspector Ukyō just entered emergency surgery.

While the Sōichi questions Superintendent Onoda about the shooting incident, Sergeant Kaoru stays behind next to the operating room. When the doctors come out, they tell him that fortunately, the bullet cleanly passed through Inspector Ukyō's body, and the inspector will probably pull through.

Later on, someone named Suzuki(鈴木) visits Inspector Ukyō's hospital room and leaves flowers after asking Ms. Tamaki if the inspector will be all right.

Back at their apartment that night, Miwako tells Sergeant Kaoru what she found out about the case from fifteen years ago. Superintendent Onoda and Inspector Ukyō worked together back then in a specially created unit called Emergency Response Special Mission Team(緊急対策 特命係り Kinkyūtaisaku Tokumeigakari)

Next morning, Sergeant Kaoru visits Superintendent Onoda in his office. Two security guards in the room check and make sure that the sergeant doesn't have weapons before they converse. The sergeant wants to find out why the Tokumeigakari division was disbanded, and after a short pause, Superintendent Onoda tells him that he is responsible. The superintendent disbanded the Tokumeigakari division because he wanted Inspector Ukyō's help. Hearing this, Sergeant Kaoru loses cool for a moment, causing the two guards waiting outside to rush in, but Superintendent Onoda tells the bodyguards that everything is fine.

The superintendent then asks Sergeant Kaoru what his next assignment is. Finding out that the sergeant has been assigned to office work, the superintendent offers to make calls so that the sergeant gets reassigned to a better job. Sergeant Kaoru immediately stops the superintendent, telling the superintendent that he can't accept deals like that, prompting the superintendent to comment that maybe that's why Sergeant Kaoru is working so well with Inspector Ukyō.

Superintendent Onoda then continues to explain what happened fifteen years ago. The special force of elite SAT members and Inspector Ukyō were chosen to end a hostage crisis at the residence of an important Japanese ambassador. A group of men with guns had broken into the home during a home party, taking the ambassador, his staff, and his family hostage, demanding one billion yen in exchange for their release. The special team was assembled because the hostage takers told the police that if they make the incident public, they will execute the hostages. Superintendent Onoda was in charge of the operation, and Inspector Ukyō was in charge of coming up with a plan to end the situation while the SAT members stood by just in case they had to enter the residence in force.

Inspector Ukyō had been successfully negotiating with the men, reducing the number of hostages from eleven to six. Superintendent Onoda, however, cut the inspector's plans short, ordering a frontal assault within a few hours. The Secretary of State of the United States was going to visit Japan the next day, and he wanted to end the hostage situation before the Secretary arrived. Inspector Ukyō adamantly refused, saying it was impossible to peacefully resolve the situation within the allotted time, also declining to come up with a plan that involved a raid on the residence. As a result, Superintendent Onoda removed Inspector Ukyō from his duties and ordered the SAT members to storm the residence.

The raid ended the hostage crisis but at a huge cost - the death of all four hostage takers, three SAT members, and one hostage (the ambassador's clerk).

As a result of so many deaths, the police was heavily criticized by the public. The higher-ups in the department decided to blame Inspector Ukyō and moved him to the isolated corner of the Life and Safety Department(生活安全部) naming it the Tokumeigakari division. This is why the inspector and the Tokumeigakari division was originally nicknamed the graveyard of human resources(人材の墓場), because the three SAT members died under his command. Upset at the situation, the inspector threw down the sign originally used for the Emergency Response Special Mission Team(緊急対策 特命係り Kinkyūtaisaku Tokumeigakari) which split in half, leaving the Special Mission Team, Tokumeigakari intact, resulting in the formation of the current Tokumeigakari.

Today, only four members from the original Emergency Response Special Mission Team(緊急対策 特命係り Kinkyūtaisaku Tokumeigakari) are alive including the superintendent and the inspector.

Who was the sniper and why did he try to kill Superintendent Onoda? Is this case related to the big case the superintendent is investigating?

Other character(s) appearing/mentioned in the story

Kogorō Ishimine(石嶺 小五郎) - One of the members of the elite squad who were assembled for the special mission 15 years ago.

Aibou TV Season 1 Episode 10 - The Last Light(最後の灯り)

Subtitle: The Last Light(最後の灯り)

 Sergeant Kaoru wakes up next to the road, badly bruised. He realizes that he's close to the sea, and after taking a few steps, he spots Inspector Ukyō sitting in the sands on the beach. Once they reunite, they try to retrace the steps which lead them there.

Two days ago, Miwako interviewed Director Eiji Nakaseko(仲瀬古 永次) about his latest work, "Child Hunter," a movie many people criticized for being too violent. She asked the director if he felt any responsibility for crimes committed by children imitating violent scenes from the movie. The director adamantly refused to take responsibility and instead placed blame on the children who committed those crimes and their parents.

In the middle of this heated interview, Masaru Ino(猪野 大), the electrician aka "Denshoku," walked in mumbling that he forgot something in the room. Reiko Suma(須磨 玲子) the scripter was about to serve coffee to Miwako and the director just then, but Masaru took the coffee from her and insisted that he serve the coffee instead. However, Masaru clumsily spilled some hot coffee onto the director and after hastily cleaning the mess, he left the room. Shortly afterwards, the room's lights went out, which prompted Reiko to look for and flip the switch to the circuit breaker . When the lights came back, the women were shocked to find the director unresponsive. They immediately contact the police. According to the coroner, the director suffocated to death during the few seconds the power went out.

The Sōichi originally suspected Reiko the scripter. She was in the room when the director died, and her child was injured when another child tried to imitate the events from "Child Hunter." However, when the Sōichi learned that Director Nakaseko wasn't poisoned, they decided that his death was a natural death.

Inspector Ukyō, however, recalled a similar case from Kyoto and had Superintendent Kakuta contact his elder brother who works in the Kyoto police department to ask him to send documents related to that case. From that autopsy report, the Tokumeigakari pair found out that the victim died from electric shock when a hair dryer fell into the bathtub. The victim's death was initially ruled death by asphyxiation.

Although the Sōichi closed the official investigation, the Tokumeigakari pair decided to investigate the possibility that the director died from electrical shock. Going back to the scene of the director's death and looking at the pictures taken right after his death, Inspector Ukyō noticed it odd that only the director's chair had carpet under it even though people entered that room with their shoes on. (In Japan, people usually remove their shoes when they enter a house.) That carpet was now gone from the room.

They found out that the carpet was actually an electric carpet that Reiko gave to the director as a gift. He placed it under his chair, a seat reserved for the director only. While tracking down the carpet, they saw Reiko storm out of a room in anger when she found out that Producer Shin Satake(佐竹 信) had thrown away the carpet.

The Tokumeigakari pair tried to track down what happened to the carpet. They first checked the movie studio's over-sized garbage collection area where Producer Satake had thrown it away. Not finding it there, they asked one of the cleaning crew at the studio 1) if it was possible for an outsider to come in and take something from the collection area (the answer was no) and 2) when the garbage was collected each week. After they found out that the garbage was collected that morning, they visited the garbage collection center hoping to find that carpet.

Looking around, they eventually found what appeared to be the director's carpet in one of the collection center's trucks. However, they are both knocked out by a stun-gun shortly afterwards. The Tokumeigakari pair must have spent the night near the beach unconscious after the culprit left them there.

After they finished retracing the steps that lead them there, they try to contact the police but find that their cellphones have been taken. Sergeant Kaoru starts to walk but Inspector Ukyō doesn't move - he's been injured and has a difficult time walking. Sergeant Kaoru then offers to carry Inspector Ukyō on his back. At first the inspector refuses, but eventually agrees to be carried.

Once they make their way back to their office, Inspector Ukyō asks CSI Yonezawa what modifications someone needs to make to that carpet to kill a person with it. Back at his apartment, Sergeant Kaoru then realizes that Miwako has another important piece of evidence - her recording of the interview with the director.

What happened to the carpet and who was responsible for the murder?

Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Eiji Nakaseko(仲瀬古 永次) - The director of the recently released controversial movie "Child Hunter." He may have been murdered.

Masaru Ino(猪野 大) - The electrician who worked on fifteen of the director's movies over thirty plus years, aka "Denshoku(電飾)."

Reiko Suma(須磨 玲子) - The scripter(someone who keeps track of recordings) for Director Eiji's movies.

Shin Satake(佐竹 信) - Producer of Director Eiji's movies.

Aibou TV Season 1 Episode 9 - Missing Persons(人間消失)

Subtitle: Missing Persons(人間消失)

 Tsyoshi Morishima(森島 つよし), Inspector Ukyō's kōhai and fellow chess club member at the University of Tokyo, asks the inspector if he could drop by Tatsumi Development(タツミ開発) to look at a threatening note the company had received. Whoever sent the note wrote that Tatsumi Development has no future. A picture of Tacchan, the company mascot, was drawn on the paper,

When Morishima is called away by Kitamura, the executive director of the accounting department, the Tokumeigakari pair is asked to stay in the funds division meeting room, a smaller isolated room in the funds division room. A short time later, Inspector Ukyō realizes that something is wrong - the phones are ringing off the hook, but no one seems to be answering any of the calls. When the Tokumeigakari pair walk out of the meeting room, they are greeted by an empty office. Just then, Morishima comes back and is also taken aback by the situation. They then realize that all the money from the safe in the room, two hundred million yen, is missing.

Searching for the funds division staff, they are surprised to find that all fifteen employees from the room had gone outside to stand around and inside the company fountain, blissfully staring into the sky.

None of the funds division employees can explain what happened except that for some reason, they all suddenly felt like going outside and stand next to the fountain. To find a more concrete evidence, the Tokumeigakari pair and the two detectives from the third division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department look at the footage from the security cameras. The security camera inside the room captured Tacchan, the company mascot, walk in to the empty room and take the money from the safe. Later, Tacchan waved to the security camera near the building entrance as he or she left the building with the stolen cash.

Sergeant Kaoru wonders if the employees were subject to some kind of mass hypnosis. In order for so many people to be all hypnotized at once, they must have been conditioned beforehand. To find the source of this conditioning, Inspector Ukyō looks through the list of activities the fifteen employees did over the past month and finds something in common: an English conversation class. Investigating further, they find out that only one teacher taught all fifteen employees: Lisa Kirino(桐野 リサ).

Could she have committed this crime, and if so, why?

Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Tsyoshi Morishima(森島 つよし) - Inspector Ukyō's kōhai and a fellow chess club memberat Tōdai (University of Tokyo). He is the only person who beat Inspector Ukyō at chess during his university years. He asks Inspector Ukyō to visit Tatsumi Development(タツミ開発), where he is the general manager, to discuss a threatening letter the company had received.

Lisa Kirino(桐野 リサ) - An English conversation teacher who taught several employees from Tatsumi Development(タツミ開発) and also Sergeant Itami. She has a doctorate from Harvard in suggestive psychology. Her father passed away recently and she is planning to return to the States with his father's body in a few days. Sergeant Itami seems to be infatuated with her.

Junichirō Kitamura(北村 潤一郎) - Executive director of the accounting department for Tatsumi Development.

Sasaki(佐々木) - Fund division manager at Tatsumi Development.

Umezawa(梅沢) - Detective from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's third division in charge of robberies.

Nagaoka(長岡) - Inspector Nagaoka from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's third division in charge of robberies.

Rudi Kirino(桐野 ルディ) - Lisa's father who recently passed away. He worked recruited by Tatsumi Development fifteen years ago.

Aibou TV Season 1 Episode 8 - A Confession of the Mask(仮面の告白)

Subtitle: A Confession of the Mask(仮面の告白)

 During the trial for Shigeru Kuroiwa(黒岩 繁), a suspect for the serial monster mask robbery case, Kaori Mutō(武藤 かおり), the lawyer for the defendant, discovers that Sergeant Kaoru had illegally obtained a key piece of evidence for the prosecution, a Frankenstein's mask matching the description given by the robbery victims. She then continues her questioning to discover that Sergeant Kaoru forced Shigeru to a nearby police box involuntarily and illegally. Because the fourth monster mask robbery had just taken place, Shigeru was then  transported to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, even though the police didn't have definitive evidence that Shigeru committed that robbery.

As a result, Shigeru is found innocent and freed from jail. Sergeant Kaoru and Sergeant Itami are still convinced that Shigeru is the culprit, and they secretly stake out Shigeru's apartment.

Inspector Ukyō also starts his own investigation, and after going back to one of the earlier crime scenes, he visits and questions one of the victims again. Ms. Mutō also shows up at the victim's residence, apparently hoping to find definitive evidence that Shigeru is innocent. There they hear that the robbery victim may have injured the masked attacker when she kicked him as hard as possible.

Meanwhile, the two sergeants staking out Shigeru follow him to a restaurant where, to their surprise, Miwako shows up to interview him. At one point during the interview, she asks Shigeru if he is the culprit. This sets him off and he throws a cup of water in her face. Shocked, Sergeant Kaoru rushes up to them from his hiding place, but in the process, let's Shigeru know that he's being watched.

Even so, the two sergeants continue their stakeout, following Shigeru's back to his apartment. Some time later, a fifth robbery is committed by a man wearing a Frankenstein's mask. Soon afterwards, the two sergeants rush up to Shigeru's apartment and confirm that he in his room.

Is Shigeru guilty or innocent?

Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Yoshiyuki Miyagi(宮城 義之) - prosecutor for the case

Kōken Onoda(小野田 公顕) - The superintendent supervisor visits Inspector Ukyō in the Tokumeigakari office to let the inspector know that he is investigating a big case and that he's hoping that the inspector would help him solve that case. The Tokumeigakari pair investigates that case at the end of the season.

Aibou TV Season 1 Episode 7 - Murderous Cocktail(殺しのカクテル)

Subtitle: Murderous Cocktail(殺しのカクテル)

 We see Rintarō Miyoshi(三好 倫太郎), bartender for the cocktail bar Remembrance, murder its owner Tadashi Kurasawa(倉沢 正) after serving him a drink at the beginning of the episode.

On the same night, Sergeant Kaoru and Miwako fight because Miwako was late to a dinner date with him. Afterwards, Sergeant Kaoru spent the entire meal recalling all the times Miwako was late for the past three years. Upset, Miwako leaves the apartment,

Hearing a knock at the door a few minutes later, Sergeant Kaoru opens the door thinking that Miwako had come back. However, it is Miwako's aunt Akiko Mancel(アキコ マンセル) who's standing at the door. Next morning, she tells him that she'll be staying in the apartment for about three more days. He has to make her breakfast, and as a result, misses the police department's investigative meeting for Tadashi's murder.

Inspector Ukyō does attend the meeting, and he hears that Tadashi owned ten stores in town, nine of which were losing money. The only location making money was Remembrance, and there were plans to sell some of the cocktails served there as canned drinks. This plan is on hold, however, due to Kurasawa's death. From all this, Sergeant Itami removes Rintarō from the list of suspects, stating that the bartender doesn't have a reason to kill Kurasawa.

Inspector Ukyō still visits Bar Remembrance, and he immediately suspects Rintarō. The inspector manages to get his hands on Kurasawa's autopsy reports by giving CSI Yonezawa a ticket to the Suehirotei(末廣亭) starring the rakugo artists Shiraku Tachibanatei(橘亭 子楽) and Shōhei Katsuraya(桂家 小平). According to the autopsy, Kurasawa had a drink containing umeboshi and mint shortly before he was murdered.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Kaoru and Miwako help Aunt Akiko look for the bar where she met her English husband Albert. Albert had passed away last year, and her mind is filled with memories of the drink they had together at that bar every time she thinjs about him. Sergeant Kaoru and Miwako are at a loss what to do as the only restaurant/bar that fits Akiko's description isn't the location Akiko was looking for.

Inspector Ukyō joins Sergeant Kaoru and Miwako's search for the bar. He realizes that the bar Akiko is looking for must be the Bar Remembrance.

Can Inspector Ukyō catch the bartender?

Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Akiko Mancel(アキコ マンセル) - Miwako's aunt who married an Englishman thirty years ago, She visits Japan an year after her husband Albert had passed away. She was looking for a restaurant/bar where she first met Albert. There, they shared a special cocktail made by the bartender there that she just cannot forget. She is hoping that she can visit that bar and drink that memorable cocktail again.

Albert Mancel(アルﾊﾞｰﾄ マンセル) - Akiko's English husband who passed away last year. They met thirty years ago at Bar Remembrance.

Tadashi Kurasawa(倉沢 正) - The fifty year old manager in charge of the Kurasawa Chain(倉沢 ﾁｪｲﾝ), which owns ten restaurants in the city. He is murdered by Rintarō at the start of the episode.

Aibou TV Season 1 Episode 6 - A dead scammer and an art museum's lady director's fingerprint(死んだ詐欺師と女美術館長の指紋)

Subtitle: A dead scammer and an art museum's lady director's fingerprint(死んだ詐欺師と女美術館長の指紋)

 During his off hours, Inspector Ukyō visits the Akiyama Ryokufū Memorial Museum of Art(秋山緑風記念美術館) hoping to see Ryokufū Akiyama(秋山 緑風)'s painting The Boy of the Shining Wind(光る風の少年). The painting had left an impression on him when he saw it displayed at a small gallery in London. He meets the director of the museum, Aya Kikumoto(菊本 アヤ), who tells the inspector that the painting had been sold and is no longer available for viewing at the museum.

Meanwhile, Masao Tsuchida(土田 雅夫), one of Sergeant Kaoru's informants, drops by to return money to Kaoru and even treats the sergeant to dinner at the gay bar Beard and Rose and... (髭と薔薇と…). (A yakiniku restaurant used to be at the same location, but the owner changed it to the gay bar.) Inside the bar, Tsuchida tells the sergeant that he is going to find a steady job so that he can get his son back from his divorced wife. Unfortunately, someone stabs a drunk Tsuchida in the heart in a park late at night a few days later. His wallet is missing, but he was holding a picture of his son and had Sergeant Kaoru's name card in his possession.

A short time later, the members of the second division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's determine that Tsuchida was involved in a scheme to steal money  One hundred fifty million yen had been transferred from MM Financial to a fictitious account at Nakanoue Branch(中乃上支店) of Meiwa Bank(明和銀行). The security video footage from the bank captured Tsuchida leaving the bank after withdrawing that money, although money was neither found on him nor from his residence.

Sergeant Kaoru can't believe that Tsuchida would do such a thing. Tsuchida didn't have a criminal record, and Inspector Ukyō is also doubtful that Tsuchida could have come up with this scheme by himself.

Looking through Tsuchida's meager belongings in the crime lab, Inspector Ukyō finds a ticket stub for the Akiyama Ryokufū Memorial Museum of Art(秋山緑風記念美術館) inside a pocket from Tsuchida's pants.

Why did Tsuchida take part in the plot to steal that money? How is the Akiyama Ryokufū Memorial Museum of Art(秋山緑風記念美術館) the painting The Boy of the Shining Wind(光る風の少年) involved in this case?

Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Hiroko(ヒロコ) - He was the eyewitness in the third episode of the season. This time, we find out that he closed his yakiniku restaurant(焼き肉屋) and opened a gay bar Beard and Rose and... (髭と薔薇と…) at the same location.

Masao Tsuchida(土田 雅夫) - He is a former employee of a trading company and Sergeant Kaoru's somewhat unreliable informant(情報屋). He first met Sergeant Kaoru during a hostage incident. A young man who failed an entrance examination snapped and took a young boy hostage. Tsuchida distracted the suspect allowing the police, including the sergeant, to arrest the young man and safely rescue the boy.
Tsuchida dropped by the Tokumeigakari office to return some money he had borrowed from Kaoru and also along with some rice crackers(おせんべい) in a Nankyu Department Store(南急百貨店 ) shopping bag. He turns up dead a few days later.

Kenta Tsuchida(健太 土田) - Masao's son

Ryokufū Akiyama(秋山 緑風) - Famous artist who painted The Boy of the Shining Wind(光る風の少年). He is called the maverick of the art world(画壇の異端児).

Aya Kikumoto(菊本 アヤ) - Director of the Akiyama Ryokufū Memorial Museum of Art(秋山緑風記念美術館), and Ryokufū Akiyama's daughter.

Kunimatsu(国松) - A curator at the  Akiyama Ryokufū Memorial Museum of Art(秋山緑風記念美術館) who remembered that Tsuchida used to come to the museum often, sitting all day at a particular chair in the museum.

Kakizaki(柿崎) - Loan manager at MM Financial who transferred the money to the Nakanoue Branch(中乃上支店) of Meiwa Bank(明和銀行) after receiving a call to do so from the senior director of one of the company's big customers, even though the customer always used the account at Tomika branch(富岡支店) in the past. According to him, the man on the phone sounded just like director. He was using Ryokufū's drawing Reverberation(響き) as his cellphone's wallpaper.