Kishi Kaisei
Kishi Kaisei is the second episode of the first season of Tokyo Vice. It was released on April 7th, along with the first episode, The Test and the third, Read the Air.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
As crime boss Tozawa dangerously toes the line between territories, the rival Chihara-Kai scramble to collect dues. Samantha protects another hostess, while Jake witnesses a confrontation that changes everything.
Plot Summary[edit | edit source]
In downtown Tokyo, Jake finds himself on the run from an angry, knife-wielding man who chases him through the streets, accusing him of being a pervert. Jake is able to seek sanctuary when he comes across a Police officer in the street, who stops the man with the knife to ask what is going on. The Police officer looks visibly confused when the man tells him that Jake was asking about his wife’s underwear.
Not long after, Jake eats dinner with a friend and tells them that he is struggling to write a story, or find any lede’s for the story he has been given. On the flip side, X has gotten a story published, but feels disheartened given it was only a traffic story. Jake tells him that a story is a story, but has to leave the dinner in an attempt to find information for his publication.
Jake talks with Emi, asking for an extension, but she is reluctant to give it and tells him he must have the story done by 3pm. He tells her that there is nobody willing to talk to him or that has any information, but she tells him to take a step back and think about who he hasn’t spoken to. This gives him and idea, and he decides to talk to Miyamoto for information. Miyamoto tells him that there is no panty thief, rather the wind blew the underwear away and the public ran with the idea of a thief.
With this, Jake heads back to the newspaper and begins typing his story up. Unfortunately, this is declined several times by Eimi and Jake is forced to rewrite it each time whilst simultaneously juggling his duties around the office.
Meanwhile, Samantha approaches a real-estate agent about a flat she is interested in habiting, but finds that the man is reluctant to show her around. She tries to press him, but he eventually remarks that the owner would be reluctant to rent to “someone like her”, essentially rejecting her because she is a woman. After leaving the estate agents, she talks with Polina on the phone and the two arrange to meet later to help Polina find a present for one of her clients.
At the Police Station, Funaki and Hiroto question a thug in relation to the man who was murdered with the samurai sword. The man says that the jogger ran into him at the wrong time and therefore there was little premeditation in his death. Funaki is keen to believe this and close the case, but Hiroto wants to dig a little deeper and questions Funaki on how he can believe such an excuse. Hiroto believes that the man giving himself up is the Towaza’s way of killing the story and investigation before it finds anything.
The Chikara-kai meet to discuss the recent attacks on stores and businesses under their protection by the Towaza. Whilst some of them are eager to hit back to avoid looking weak and becoming further targets, they are told that this would make them look suspicious and therefore direct the Police’s attention to them. For now, they are ordered to increase protection fees and close the gaps between ranks to be ready if war with the Towaza occurs.
Jake’s struggles to get his story straight eventually pay off and his story about the lack of an underwear thief is approved by Emi to run in the morning paper. She warns him to stop using so many adjectives, however, a comment which he takes on board gladly at the thought of having his story published. He decides that he will continue to investigate the death of the man who set himself on fire and sets off for further investigation.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the Police investigation, Hiroto sets off to question the dead man's wife. She admits that they were in debt and missed payments to the Yakuza, but remarks that this is not what got her husband killed. She admits that her husband was building a case against the Yakuza involving lawyers due to the unfair terms of their loan; she believes this is what got him killed and agrees to show Hiroto the information he had compiled against the Yakuza shortly before his death. During their conversation, however, they are interrupted when Jake arrives at the woman's house hoping to ask her questions. He is turned away at the door, however, and she cites that she has been told by the Police not to talk to the press.
Sato, meanwhile, has been making rounds on all properties that the Chikara-kai protect, demanding more fees for their protection. At the arcade, he is noticed as a “real-yakuza” by two young boys who ask him if he wants to play a shooting game for them. This ends in embarrassment for Sato when he is unable to successfully kill any of the enemies within the game but is instead killed three times himself.
Returning back to the newspaper, Jake hangs out with his friends, but is approached by the paper manager who hands him a story to read out. In the story, it announces that the Police have apprehended the underwear thief, and Jake is immediately rebuked for writing that the thief was a myth made up by the media. He is told to go to scrapbooking as he is done in this department.
At the Police station, Hiroto approaches his captain to ask about their case and whether or not they need to investigate further. The captain is confused at Hiroto’s theory that the Yakuza killed the man given dead people cannot pay their loans, but Hiroto tells him that there is more to the case than meets the eye.
Sato returns back to deliver the money but is thousands short. When he is questioned on this by Kume, he tells him that the club owner will pay next month. Kume is aware that Sato has been offered a night with one of the girls in exchange for a lower fee, however, and slaps Sato across the face. He warns him to never lie to him again.
Jake receives a package from his mother and gives her a call. His mother tells him that his sister’s treatment isn’t working and that he should return home; his father will get him a good job in a newspaper near them. Jake tells them that his sister, Jess, is fine and they shouldn’t worry about her. He can’t return home as he has just started and doesn’t want to lose out on the opportunity.
Later on, he talks with Miyamoto about the story he gave him. Miyamoto tells him that the story was free, therefore worth nothing, it was a trick. Jake begs Miyamoto to give him something worth a story or else he will lose his job. Jake presents Miyamoto with the match-stick box and asks him about it, but he is none the wiser on what the box stands for or how this relates to any kind of story worth publishing. Jake later leaves the restaurant in which he and Miyamoto were eating without paying the bill, sending a sarcastic message in return for the lack of a story he was given previously.
After leaving the restaurant, Jake arrives at the club and talks with Samantha. They are interrupted, however, when Sato arrives at the club and asks to speak with Samantha. As Samantha and Sato are talking, Jake interrupts and begins talking with Sato. The two begin bantering and seem to get along quite well, but Jake is forced to leave early to catch his train.
Jake misses the train and is forced to sleep at the newspaper, but is woken in the middle of the night to the radio announcing a crime scene at the club. Jake heads out to check it out to find Nakamura, one of the Tozawa, holding Kume at gunpoint. He almost shoots Kume, but is interrupted by Hiroto who manages to talk him into giving him the gun. Jake watches this from a distance and tries to take a photograph to aid his story, but is eventually discovered by Hiroto and the others who confiscate the camera reel but allow him to leave with the camera. Hiroto warns him not to write about what he has seen.
Cast and Characters[edit | edit source]
Main Cast[edit | edit source]
- Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein
- Ken Watanabe as Hiroto Katagiri
- Rachel Keller as Samantha
- Hideaki Ito as Jin Miyamoto
- Show Kasamatsu as Sato
- Ella Rumpf as Polina
- Rinko Kikuchi as Emi
Co-Starring[edit | edit source]
- Eugene Nomura as Kobayashi
- Noemi Nakai as Luna
- Nobushige Suematsu as Gen
- Eita Okuno as Yuta
- Koshi Uehara as Taro
- Tetsu Sakuma as Kozo
- Yoshihiko Hakamada as Kamiyama
- Yuki Sato as Azuma
- Masaki Miura as Funaki
- Hiroyuki Watanabe as Ohara
- Rosaria Mokkhavesa as Malee
- Kaori Ikeda as Akido
- Keita as Kei
- Hono Meyabe as Mrs. Aoki
- Ippei Osako as Nakamura
- Jazee Minor as Tatsuya
- Motomasa Okui as Hasegawa
Guest Starring[edit | edit source]
- Shun Sugata as Ishida
- Takaki Uda as Trendy
- Kosuke Tanaka as Tin Tin
- Masato Hagiwara as Duke
- Kosuke Toyohara as Baku
- Masayoshi Haneda as Kume
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The title of the episode Kishi Kaisei is an old Japanese saying that means: wake from death return to life. The significance of this to the episode is not mentioned, but the meaning is mentioned in discussion between Adelstein and Miyamoso.