Death Cash (2016) Drama Information and Episode 1

Death Cash Episodes 1-3 (2016)

Knock me over with a feather! There is no way you could ever predict that I would not only do one recap but two at the same time? Nope, never! However, 3 episodes into this drama, I have to talk about it because nothing had prepared me for what I would see. So, call this my public service to all you Japanese drama watchers! Why? You have to be mentally prepared to watch this one! You have to know what to expect because I sure as HELL wasn’t

Stars
Jurina Matsui as Yuka Minami
Shigeyuki Totsugi as Takeshi Wakamoto
Kaya Kiyohara as Koyume Minami
Rina Kawaei as Erina Hayashi
Shono Hayama as Gen Haitani
Yurika Nakamura as Mari Ueno
Mai Nishida as Ikumi Tachibana
Jin Shirasu as Yudai Kawabe
Yuki Yamada as Satoshi Miura
Riho Yoshioka as Kazue Haginomo
Toshio Kakei as Taichiro Zaitsu

Synopsis
Yuka Minami (Jurina Matsui) is a university student. She has the ability to see other people’s deaths. One day, her friend suddenly dies. There are 10,000 yen bills littered around her friend’s dead body. There’s also black stains on the 10,000 yen bills. Since then, more people around Yuka die mysteriously. Yuka and Detective Takeshi Wakamoto (Shigeyuki Totsugi) chase the mysterious deaths together.
TRAILER

Let’s begin with episode 1. Talk about shock value! Within the first 5 minutes, those of us NOT used to horror dramas or if you are like me, duck at the sound of footsteps, you have to prepared for anything and everything in this drama happening!

Episode 1

Yuka Minami (Jurina Matsui) is an University freshman attending college as an Economics major. In the beginning of the episode, her sister, Koyume Minami (Kiyohara Hate) is retelling a popular ghost story, if you will, about “Shinusa”. Shinusa tells about people dying after receiving cursed money when they need it. It is told that when black stains on the portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi which can be found on ten thousand yen bills can be seen, it is then that Shinusa emerges and the people who have used this money die a cruel death. Unfortunately, Yuka did not know the fact that this is not just urban legends ….

The next day, Yuka attends a seminar with Professor Zaitsu (Toshio Kakei), Department of Economics. When senior, Satoshi Miura (Yuki Yamada) comes into the seminar and sits next to Yukao, she expresses her concerns for the fact that she hasn’t been able to contact one of their friends, Ikumi Tachibana (Mai Nishida), who should be attended this seminar and is worried because she doesn’t answer the phone. Satoshi doesn’t understand why she isn’t there because the school fees are expensive and he really doesn’t understand Ikumi sometimes. The scene continues with Satoshi talking to other students whether or not any had heard/seen Ikumi. We learn more about the friends later, believe me!

The scene freaked me out as Satoshi and Yuka are walking on campus. They are continuing their conversation about the missing Ikumi. It is at that moment that as the couple are walking under a tree that we see a maintenance man cutting limbs from a tree, drop his shears and those shears end up embedded into the skull of Satoshi! YIKES!!!

MERCY!! What we thought was real, turns out to be Yuka’s dream state. It seems that Yuka has the ability to predict a person’s death. We don’t know why she has this ability, we just know that she does at the moment. So, when she realizes it hasn’t happened yet, she pulls Satoshi to safety just as the shears hit the ground. But, nothing will remove from my psyche the image I saw just minutes ago!

The next scene is Satoshi participating in a hiring interview. Things are definitely not going too well as the interviewers are mocking Satoshi on his beliefs in business and the environment. The scene and the words that Satoshi says will definitely come back into play later as the man tells him that he needs to start his own company; he’d only need 10 no, 30 million yen and sends him out of the interview. The words that interviewer says don’t sit very well as he clenches his fist in anger.

Back at home, Yuka is talking to her sister Koyume about her “dream”. Koyume tells her she should tell Satoshi about it but Yuka refuses. She mentions about “What if he is drawn to me like usual?” I assume later we will see what this rather cryptic sentence means. Koyume thinks Yuka likes him and laughs while she denies it vehemently.

When Yuka turns on the television, it is a program where people are asked what would they do if they came into a lot of money. One of the people interviewed turns out to be the missing Ikumi who mentions she would have plastic surgery. This has Yuka running out of the door when she literally sees Ikumi’s death via the television screen. She asks Koyume if she saw it too but she saw nothing.

So, Yuka runs to Ikumi’s apartment, first knocking and then discovering that the door is open. She walks into the dark room, calling Ikumi’s name. What she discovers freaks even me out! From the door is the body of Ikumi hanging from a chain. The sight scares Yuka (and me), causing her to trip and falls backwards. It is that fall and the sudden breaking of the chain in which Ikumi’s body falls to the floor and when the camera pans up, you literally see what’s left of Ikumi’s face still hanging! Kid you not!
Besides Ikumi’s body, Yuka finds remnants of burnt ten thousand yen bills scatters all over the apartment floor which is where she remains screaming her head off and clutching one of those burnt bills!

At Ikumi’s funeral, Yuka cries in earnest while friends and family attend. Minutes later we see this figure walks in, pays respect to Ikumi then turns around and says that everyone in this room is a suspect! The man’s name is Takeshi Wakamoto (Shigeyuki Totsugi) and he is a detective with the local police. Det. Wakamoto starts questioning relatives and funeral guests. He is especially interested in Yuka who found the body that night. Of course, he mentions the money and the fact that it was quite a bit of it.

Satoshi has another bad interviewing day. He overhears others talking about his answers during the interview period and laughing. When he gets home and looks over all of the job interviews he has attended, he goes on a rampage and starts ranting about making his own company and needing money! Suddenly, an envelop full of money appears full of ten thousand yen notes.

Seconds later, he hears a creaking noise coming from his closet area. As he approaches and cautiously opens the door, what he finds is astounding. The walls, floor, ceiling is literally covered with envelops containing even more money. The next day when Yuka and the other students are discussing Satoshi failing yet another interview, he walks in with a big smile on his face and announcing he is going to start his own company to achieve his own goals. Yuka runs after him. He tells her he want to show others what he can do through the “power of idealism”. He turns back to Yuka and asks her if once he is successful would she go out with him. This is Yuka’s last image of Satoshi as he walks away. The scenes following are of Satoshi in the pursuit of his ideal business. He is spending money left and right. The more he spends, the more we see the blood running from the bills.

Yuka is still worried and as she is looking over a picture of herself with her classmates, a sudden gust of air blows through her room and when she tries to find the source, her cell phone rings. It is a message from Satoshi. As she is standing outside his building, we see her looking at her phone and off to her left we see a shadowy figure cast onto the building obviously behind her. She goes upstairs to the unfinished office floor, looking for Satoshi. He has called her to wish her a Happy Birthday it seems, a bit late. He reveals his new business sign, Knights Will, which is of a knight in shining armor holding a sword. Don’t ask me what the business is, I’m too busy looking at the sword because I know something is about to happen. Minutes after revealing the sign, a gust of wind blows through the room, knocking over tools and equipment. It cannot get more ominous than this, folks. As he continues to talk. And that sword we knew would fall, does and split Satoshi nearly in two!! Blood flies, body falls and the shadowy figure turns out to be Detective Wakamoto who grabs her and says “Are you the one?”


Thoughts
What the HELL am I watching? And why am I STILL watching it? As you can see, I screamed a lot watching just the first episode! Acting? Forget acting! The shock value of watching this slice-em/dice-em drama is enough to entertain just about anyone! Thank you, SKEvolution4eva for subbing this one! I had heard about this drama in passing and something compelled me…maybe it’s the ten thousand yen bills calling me. Remember the movie, The Ring? I tried to avoid that movie like the plague but my daughters kept cajoling me to watch it until I finally brought down and did. Biggest mistake of my life! This time I have no excuse! I think the ideal that this reminds me so much of the movie, Final Destination (with Devin Sawa), is one of the reasons I just kept watching! Past the blood spurts, bodies mangled and goodness, face ripped off!! Nightmare!! No, if you don’t like horror, skip! If the screams and the blood scenes make you squeamish, you better skip! And if your name starts with Nelly, stick to the recap!
UPDATE: She watched it ANYWAY!!