The Great Kidnapping 大誘拐 2018

The three main cast of Daiyukai 2018: Okada Masaki, Fuji Sumiko, and Watabe Atsuro

In which I learned that timing for release can be a major issue for a series…


Friday last week, I managed to squeeze the two hours for Okada Masaki’s 大誘拐 Daiyukai  or the Great Kidnapping before watching the final SGRS episode, so I thought I better release this article.

The main cast of Daiyukai 2018 are Fuji Sumiko-san as the rich lady Yanagawa Toshiko, Okada Masaki as Tonami Kenichi and Watabe Atsuro-san as Detective Ikari Daigoro. Watabe-san played with Masaki in the ST MPD Scientific Investigation Squad. He also paired up with Sato Takeru in the very funny Bitter Blood.

The story revolved around Kenichi who wanted to kidnap Yanagawa-san and thus he listed his two friends. On the D-day, the trio kidnapped Yanagawa while she was sightseeing in a mountain with her aid. I originally thought the movie would be a serious movie… but it was actually silly movie.

Well, at least we have this beautiful kidnapper here...

For instance, in covering their faces, Masaki wanted to wear the monkey mask, but the trio drew and Masaki got the buta (pig) instead. Yanagawa wasn’t a helpless victim either. She quickly turned things around and commanded the kidnappers instead of becoming the victim. She even took the kidnappers (who eventually took off the masks in front of her) to her friend’s place in the mountain… they introduce themselves as saru, midori no ōmu (the green parrot) and buta-kun (Masaki). But Buta-kun (Ken-chan) apparently had a secret in his childhood. He was somehow connected to Yanagawa when he was a child, but I’m not sure what the context was…

In the morning, Kenichi woke up to find his friend Saru’d been helping with the farming, and Yanagawa-san didn’t escape. The lady basically took over the kidnapping plan and expanded it as such. She even taught the kidnappers how to compose a kidnapping letter and set up the ransom, which the kidnappers thought too high. Then, Parrot-kun posted the letter in Tokyo, but then he also came by his flat and saw some policemen there (who didn’t notice him at all). Anyway, the police received the ransom letter and was told to go to a castle (Osaka? Tokyo?) and find a pink envelope. The thing is, being near Christmas, many people carried pink envelopes around (not sure what for). Anyway eventually the lady’s family made a press announcement which made Yanagawa-san very happy, but drove Kenichi nuts.

Hats off for Yanagawa-san for taking the leadership away from Kenichi!

Anyway, the police were actually smarter than they looked (haha), they eventually narrowed down the location where the lady recorded a video from. The police met Saru and his new friends while they were farming, but the police suspected nothing.

Palm/face.

Then somehow Yanagawa-san recognised who Ken-chan was. Years ago when Ken was still a small boy in Nagoya, they actually met. Again, not sure what the context was. Did Ken’s parents die and Ken blamed Yanagawa for that? Only those fluent in Japanese know.

Later, Yanagawa-san was talking about Ken-chan’s birthday with her friend while Masaki, I mean, Kenichi was taking a bath (we have loads of Masaki bath scenes these days!). How come they know so much about Ken-chan? After the bath, Kenichi massaged the old lady Yanagawa’s back as she wrote another letter (Yanagawa-san has a very good handwriting, said Ken-chan). They surely had become closer this time. So, they had cleared up whatever the past misunderstanding that happened with little Kenichi then?

The letter apparently contained an instruction to deliver the ransom to the “kidnappers”.

Anyway, the police came again to that house. Detective Ikari Daigoro sniffed that something was amissed.

The next morning, Ken et al were preparing another big plan with their suits. The police used a helicopter (owned by the Yanagawa company) to deliver the ransom as told by “the kidnappers”. One of the kidnappers then boarded the helicopter, while Ken and another kidnapper used a rafting boat to go along the river. And then they brought back the ransom to the mountain house.

Later, the old lady talked about the 1960s typhoon, flood and Kobe earthquake that killed so many people. I have no idea what that was about… but I suspect that Yanagawa-san talked about it because she felt that her family didn’t do a lot for charity? But then, why bother with going along with the kidnapping? Why not just channel her money for good causes?

Yanagawa-san told Ken that she realised Ken was a good person when – back when they first met in the kidnapping attempt – Kimi-chan (the lady’s companion) fell because Parrot was scaring her, and Ken barked at the Parrot for accidentally hurting Kimi.

Three days later, the Yanagawa copper finally arrived to deliver a letter, telling the police to find Yanagawa-san in Shikoku (I guess). The police found her there, sleeping.

Three months later, Kimi (the old lady Yanagawa's aid) said she had a boyfriend. Yanagawa congratulated her. Later, Yanagawa-san was visited by Detective Ikari Daigoro. For reasons I don’t know, the lady told Daigoro all her plans, including her pretending to be the kidnapper to enter the helicopter and then parachuted into the forest as her boys collected the ransom. I have no idea how she wasn’t arrested.

Tomani Kenichi then entered the house. Ken obviously was now working for the lady, possibly dating Kimi. Daigoro had a chat with Kenichi, but he didn’t arrest the young man.

I’m confused… I need a subtitle desperately…

The soundtrack sounds oldies though, 1980s, perhaps because this is the anniversary of the original movie? It was a nice OST...


My thoughts

In all honesty, sometimes I think marketing people don’t know how to get the best out of an event. This is what I thought when I was watching Daiyukai. The drama was released on the same day (Friday 14 Dec 2018) with the 10th and last episode of Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū, albeit on a different hour (two hours earlier than SGRS). Daiyukai was aired by Fuji TV, while SGRS was aired by NHK, so of course there was no obligation for Fuji TV to coordinate Daiyukai’s air time with NHK. However, SGRS has been receiving very good reviews (although remains capturing only 3-4% of audience in the Tohoku areas), chiefly due to Okada Masaki’s performance (although Yamazaki Ikusaburo et al also performed admirably). Thus, wasn’t it sensible that Fuji TV actually considered this and moved the air time away from SGRS’ 10 pm JP time air time?

Anyway, in addition to this issue, I find that Daiyukai was shot and released in a hurry, such that Masaki politely indicated his frustration with the tight filming schedule. It’s possible that the Daiyukai was meant to be aired on the anniversary of the original 1991 Daiyukai, but the filming was apparently not planned well (hence the rush filming). However, it seems people still like this one-shot movie, so it’s good then. I still think that it’s more of a filler movie rather than something that really adds to Masaki’s portfolio. I mean, we were in the middle of watching the great Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū for crying out loud, with Masaki as the great Yakumo at the helm. Thus, Daiyukai feels like a strange after-taste compared to SGRS. Good thing is that Daiyukai was aired just BEFORE SGRS ep 10 started, hence the former was not truly an after-taste for the latter.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy that Okada Masaki was offered to play in the remake of this (apparently) famous movie. Given the limited time etc., he did play a charming kidnapper. Yet, knowing Masaki, had they given him and the main cast enough time, I wonder if the movie would be more impressive than that.

Or… perhaps it is indeed meant to be an expensive filler.

Ah well. We have Hamlet and Bracken Moor next year; and those are worth waiting for!