Aibou TV Season 4 Episode 20 - 7 Suspects(7人の容疑者)

Subtitle: 7 Suspects(7人の容疑者)

 Someone calls the movie studio where popular TV series "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)" is being filmed and makes a bomb threat, preventing the staff from filming that day. Although the day passes without any explosions, a week later, some props are stolen from the studio warehouse. Wanting to look around the scene of the bomb threat, the Tokumeigakari pair stop by the studio under the guise of investigating the theft. Studio security guard Shigeru Handa(半田 茂) leads the Tokumeigakari pair to the warehouse where they're shocked to discover a bloodied gold putter next to the body of Noboru Hayashi(林 登), the studio's production manager(製作部長). He was murdered the previous night, and there were seven other people in the studio at the time. While the police are investigating Mr. Hayashi's murder, the studio receives another bomb threat. The culprit threatens to set a bomb off at Stage Number 10 three days later. Are the bomb threats and the production manager's murder related?

Locations

Kyō Ei Tōkyō satsueijo(共映東京撮影所) - Kyoei Tokyo movie studio. The drama "Near the End of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)" is being filmed at this studio.

sōshoku sōko(装飾倉庫) - Decoration warehouse. The movie production manager(製作部長) Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s body was found here.

Trivia

tomobiki(友引) - One of the six days in the rokuyō(六曜) calendar, a calendar used in Japan to determine which days are lucky and unlucky. Tomobiki days are considered lucky in general except at noon. Bad things happen to friends on this day, and it is believed that if a funeral is held on this day, the deceased will "pull" their friends to the grave along with him or her. As a result, many Japanese people avoid holding funerals on this day.

Characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Yuriko Sone(曽根 ゆり子) - Producer for the drama "Near the End of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)". She is one of the suspects in Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s murder. Yuriko was dedicated about her work and did her best to make sure the series was successfully filmed and aired. She somehow found the same watch used in the original film that the director wanted to use in a scene from the last episode even though the watch makers had stopped making them years ago. She argued about the production budget and schedule on a daily basis with the production manager, making her one of the suspects in Hayashi's murder. She convinced the studio to reverse the decision to not air the series' last episode stemming from fears that the series was tainted because former assistant director of the series Daisuke Tsuzuki(都築 大輔) was arrested. She also changed Sōichi Kaburaki(蕪木 惣一)'s filming schedule to make sure that he was available for filming.

Shigeru Handa(半田 茂) - Long time security guard for the Kyoei Tokyo movie studio. He noticed that somethings were stolen from the decoration warehouse during his morning patrol - everything seemed find the previous night during the 9 PM patrol, but he noticed that the warehouse padlock was broken when he walked by around 6 AM. He mentions that a thief had stolen a head from one of the props before, which was still missing. This time, the thief had stolen two suits worn by the heroes of the show Dekirunjā(デキルンジャー), the brown and the gray suits. His grandchild is a the fan of that show.  Noboru Hayashi(林 登) decided to let him go at the end of the month and hence was considered one of the suspects in the production manager's murder.

Saki Minami(南 早紀) - Staff member in charge of prop decorations for the drama "Near the End of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)." She was in the decoration warehouse looking for a wristwatch case when the security guard Shigeru Handa(半田 茂) came in to show the Tokumeigakari pair items stolen from the warehouse. She later tells Inspector Ukyō that she didn't notice the production manager's body in there. She was at the studio the night the production manager was murdered, although the police could not find any reason she would want to kill him.

She gave the wristwatch used in the last episode to the director, but says that she got it from Yuriko.

Takashi Ishihara(石原 隆志) - Chief assistant director for the drama "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)" who is responsible for scheduling. Noboru Hayashi(林 登) had recently destroyed his chance to become a director, and as a result, the police consider him to be a suspect for Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s murder. On the night Hayashi was murdered, the production manager received a second bomb threat which he recorded just as Ishihara was delivering the next day's schedule. Hayashi wanted to call the police immediately, but Ishihara wanted Hayashi to hold off on calling the police because he realized that Daisuke was making the bomb threats, and he didn't want to get a former coworker in trouble. Later that night, someone deleted that recording of the second bomb threat, and Ishihara denies being that someone.

He didn't realize that the wristwatch used in the last episode was the production manager's watch, but he does remember Mr. Hayashi wearing that same watch the night the production manager was murdered.  He says that Sōichi Kaburaki(蕪木 惣一) changed the filming schedule, not him, saying that his previous work was taking longer than expected.

Noboru Hayashi(林 登) - Studio production manager(製作部長). Someone using a voice changer called a direct line to his office and warned that a bomb will go off the next day on the set where the drama "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)" was going to be filmed. No bombs were found and no bombs went off.

A week later, Tokumeigakari pair find his bludgeoned body while investigating a theft from the studio warehouse. He was hit on the head once with a golf club and died in his office between 11 PM and 1 AM the previous night.

He had the power to hire and fire people at the studio, and he fired Daisuke Tsuzuki(都築 大輔) at Ken Mikoshiba(御子柴 健)'s request last year, and he also decided to let Shigeru Handa(半田 茂 go at the end of the month.

He started the job when the movie version of "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)." was being filmed 30 years ago. He had kept the wristwatch Kōtarō Godai(五代 耕太郎) gave him back then.

Ken Mikoshiba(御子柴 健) - Director of the drama "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)." He argued about production budget and schedule daily with the production manager, and as a result, the police consider him to be a suspect in Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s murder. He was looking for the wristwatch use in the movie 30 years ago, which Saki Minami(南 早紀) brought him on the last day of the shoot.

Makoto Kōno(甲野 真) - He was in charge of production(製作担当 seisaku tantō). Mr. Kōno tells the police that Mr. Hayashi was interested in golf, and he was killed with his own golf club. He argued about production budget and schedule daily with the production manager and as a result, the police considered him a suspect in Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s murder. He tells the Tokumeigakari pair that he saw the Chief Assistant Director Takashi Ishihara(石原 隆志) arguing with the production manager around 11 PM the night he was killed, after they had received the bomb threat. He had kept quiet about all this second bomb threat because Ishihara had also kept quiet.

He wears glasses.

Daisuke Tsuzuki(都築 大輔) - Former assistant director who was dismissed from the drama "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)" while filming the series' second episode in August last year. He was fired because he frequently overslept, was late to work, and according to the director, useless.

Inspector Ukyō realized that whoever was making the bomb threats knew the direct phone number to the production manager's office and was specifically targeting the show "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)." Eventually, the National Research Institute of Police Science recovered the original voice from the third bomb threat which matched Daisuke's voice, proving that he was the one making the bomb threats. He tried to escape, but the Sōichi trio had been anticipating this and they successfully apprehend him.

During interrogation, Daisuke reveals that he called the production manager's office from a public phone around the time the production manager was killed.

Tadao Kimura(木村 忠男) - Security guard at the studio. He was there the night the production manager was killed, but the police could not find any motive for him to kill the production manager.

Sōichi Kaburaki(蕪木 惣一) - Actor who attends Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s funeral and gives his eulogy. The actor first met Noboru Hayashi(林 登) in the movie version of "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)" thirty years ago. In that movie, he played the part of a young policeman who was killed off early on while Noboru Hayashi(林 登) was just cutting his teeth in movie production. This time, he is playing the part of a retired police detective. Later, he tells the Tokumeigakari pair that he was able to attend Noboru Hayashi(林 登)'s funeral because his filming date was changed to the day after the funeral. He got a call around 1 AM from his manager who himself got a call about the change of schedule right after Noboru Hayashi(林 登) was killed.

Iwabuchi(岩淵) - Name of a character from the drama "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)."

Kōtarō Godai(五代 耕太郎) - Famous actor who was the lead thirty years ago in the movie version of "Near the end of the Statute of Limitation(時効間近 Jikō Madjika)." He was kind and generous, and he gave all the movie's staff and cast members a replica of the wristwatch used in that movie. Sōichi Kaburaki(蕪木 惣一) and Daisuke Tsuzuki(都築 大輔) both received a wristwatch from him as a result. In the original work, that wrist watch is supposed to show the passage of the time until the statute of limitations expires.