Date: From 9.00 p.m., 23 November 2013
Cast: Shiina Kippei, Zaizen Naomi, Tsukamoto Takashi, Yoshida Eisaku, Komoto Masahiro, Hasegawa Tomoharu, Maruyama Tomomi, Asami Reina, Ogi Shigemitsu, Washio Machiko, Takaoka Saki, Hirata Mitsuru, Ibu Masato, Kobayashi Nenji
Synopsis: Onda Kazushi (Shiina Kippei) works at the Osaka headquarters of a wire service. He is a local news journalist who issues gritty articles. On the one hand, he does not fit in with the organisation. His collaborators have turned on him over an assignment which exposes an illicit pool of university subsidies and he has been put before the disciplinary committee. His boss Hongo Shinichi (Ibu Masato) gives him a warning to produce results within three months too. At this moment, Sakuragi Kikuko (Zaizen Naomi) who has read Onda’s articles, visits. She is the new lawyer for Yamazaki Tetsuya (Hasegawa Tomoharu), the accused in the abduction and murder of a young girl that took place three years ago. Claiming that Yamazaki is innocent, Kikuko asserts that the false charge was laid against him by the Kyoto Prefectural Police in its hurry to arrest the criminal and hide its blunder. The case involved the kidnapping of the 10-year-old daughter of Haruzono Hideki (Maruyama Tomomi), the president of a restaurant chain. A ransom of 60 million yen was lost and two months later, she was found dead. Yamazaki, a car dealer who had access to the Haruzono residence, was arrested and charged. He has already received the death sentence in the second trial. A roving reporter for the Kyoto branch office at that time, Onda was also assigned to cover the news. After that, he spent a lot of time gathering information to explore Yamazaki’s dark heart and wrote an article, but honestly could not fathom the motive. Kikuko says Yamazaki was forced by the police to confess and entreats Onda to cooperate with her to prove Yamazaki’s innocence. If what Kikuko says is true, it will be a huge scoop. So Onda starts to review the case with Sasaki Taichi (Tsukamoto Takashi), a junior at the Kyoto branch office. He uncovers suspicious information regarding Takanashi Sumie (Yamashita Yorie), the proprietress of a small restaurant who had given a statement about seeing Yamazaki at the location of the ransom dropoff. Right after the case, Sumie’s son was the only one who was not charged even though he and his friends were arrested for being in possession of cannabis. In response to Onda’s direct assault, Sumie reluctantly reveals that she did not see Yamazaki’s face clearly. Onda also talks to the victim’s mother, Haruzono Kanako (Asami Reina). She shows him her daughter’s room which has been left as it is for three years. Onda notices her daughter’s hair on a stuffed toy. In fact, it was the discovery of her daughter’s hair from Yamazaki’s car that proved decisive in his arrest. Kanako confides that one week before the case, that stuffed toy was left behind at Yamazaki’s workplace, which was a dealership for foreign cars, and he delivered it to them. Both Kanako and Yamazaki told detective Murakami Kiyotaka (Kobayashi Nenji) of the First Investigative Division about the matter, but their statements are not in the investigation records. Maybe the girl’s hair was not the one from a week before the case. Murakami, a detective whom Onda has been on friendly terms with since 10 years ago, is currently in hospital after falling ill. He confesses that he had fabricated the evidence that was decisive in the arrest.After that, Onda and Kikuko become aware of an “invisible thread” which links Yamazaki and Kurihara Minoru (Komoto Masahiro) who is on death row for the serial murders of young girls … …
Official Website: www.tv-asahi.co.jp/enzaishikei
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Tagged: Ibu Masato, Shiina Kippei, Zaizen Naomi
