Hakozume – Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu – 03

A Part

「エース登場」 (Ēsu Tōjō)
“Enter the Ace”

B Part

「遺体は語る」 (Itai wa Kataru)
“The Corpse’s Tale”

This episode showed the darker side of being a police officer, but with the introduction of a new character, things seem to be off to a great start. Minamoto, Seiji (Suzuki, Ryouta) is introduced after Mai and Seiko follow a speeding car, who unbeknownst to Mai is also a regulation vehicle. Seiji explains the situation and Mai is tasked with giving him a speeding ticket. Mai and Seiji have a relationship going way back to the academy, but it seems Seiji was demoted into criminal affairs and now resides with the rest of the cast in the Police Box.

Even if this episode didn’t really touch upon workplace culture, it did give us something to think about, as after they were done giving out speeding tickets, Mai and Seiko were called in because a woman was making a tantrum in a supermarket store, she didn’t actually steal anything, just created a scene so that she could see Detective Minamoto, this woman certainly has the hots for this detective and will go to any lengths to be able to see him. We go into her backstory and it seems her husband has passed away, so she finds the most trivial of circumstances to make her life a little bit more interesting. Thankfully the Det. is on the case. He pays a visit to this woman’s daughter, who she herself has a son. And asks a boon of them both. The son is super nice to said woman and they come to pick her up.

Sometimes the most inconsequential of cases are the ones that require the most humanistic approach, which, at least in my perspective, is helping me ground these characters as something more than just cops, they are humans as well. And sometimes their job is to help other humans find their way back on the right path, even if they’re stubborn about it. Which comes full force in the second part of the episode.

Bringing this woman’s grandchild, placed her in an awkward spot, with herself and her daughter, she feels childish and embarrassed that her grandchild had to see her in such a pickle. Life really is all about the little things. Thankfully nothing really happened and this woman was let go without much but a stern warning. However the way Det. Minamoto handled the case that was deemed a waste of time by Mai and Seiko, left an unwavering impression on this woman’s life. It’s really all about getting involved for that extra mile.

Like I said before, sometimes the job must include making sure people stay on the right path and make sure they find a way to comfort a person, seeing past their front and into their vulnerabilities, and find a creative way to fix them, leaving a positive change in them. For example, the way this woman jumped excitedly when her grandchild asked her to have dinner with them that night just warmed my heart, all she needed was someone to pay attention to her and give her love. Even if she sought it out through the wrong means. I think Minamato saw through this and found a way to cure it. All just one conversation away outside the conbini with the grandson character.

Then during the B part of the episode, as it seems this is the trend Hakozume is going for, Seiko and Mai sit down for a meal but get called into action because a hooligan is looting about. Det. Minamoto and Seiko give him a push back as Yuuta, the hooligan, tried to pick a fight with them, but was quickly shut down. So, he is brought into the station and his mother just looks disgraced. She doesn’t say anything and just leaves with him. She’s exhausted, and probably thinks all of this stress Yuuta is going through is because of some complications at home. The cops blame the child has gone astray because of a passive mother, but unbeknownst to them, his family life is more complicated than what they are able to see on the surface.

Later that night they get called to Yuuta’s house as both Seiko and Mai are assisting the CAD with a dead body. Arriving first at the scene they start prepping everything and give their condolences to the dead body and the family. Their main job during this investigation is making sure the body didn’t die of foul play. Upon getting there, Yuuta’s mother explains that grandpa had been bedridden for almost two years now. So they get to work, as their job is to document the case and clean up the body as much as possible. However it’s been a couple of hours, so the body has already expelled all remaining bodily functions. So the corpse is somewhere between Pallor or Algor mortis, however, this is just a guess as I am not a forensics expert.

Seiko keeps her cool and inspects the back of the body, with no signs of bruising or anything like that. Later she congratulates the mother for the excellent care she gave her late father, which makes Yuuta realize that he’s been screwing up in a way, as he was unable to notice how much wear and tear her mother’s hands had been going through. She’s giving it her best and going that extra mile, while he has been dilly-dallying skipping school and whatnot.  Thankfully it was just a regular case and they offered their condolences at their family altar. The next day as Seiko and Mai greet some children on their way to school, they come across Yuuta and he bows to them, but shyly walks away as Seiko and Mai can’t contain their excitement and disbelief.

Running out of words here, but this episode showed a different side to being a cop, sometimes they have to deal with boring cases, and sometimes they get involved in personal family affairs, changing their lives, impressing and acknowledging their hard work. Leaving them with a positive change just by doing their job.

Full-length images: 36.