Part 28: EX Update 7 - TV Drama Episodes 6~10

Let's get right back into the madness!

EPISODE 6 - PLUNDER



The episode opens with Kyouji smoking some cigs on the roof before moving to Rei at Marie's place. Rei tells Marie what happened in the last episode and asks what's really going on. Marie reveals that Kyouji is really... A DEVIL SUMMONER!



We switch back to Kyouji, who's talking to himself in front of his father's grave. Marie walks into the cemetery and tells Kyouji about how he's a Devil Summoner (interspersed with super dramatic shots of the cemetery). Kyouji responds with silence.



We get another scene of a "ceremony" with Kumiko. The black-coated man from earlier (the leader, it seems) stands next to her, and she begs him to stop, but she is important to their plans.



Back at the agency, Kyouji is staring at his GUMP while Rei tries to make casual talk. Kyouji gets a vision of a burning piece of paper before heading into his room to grab something to eat and drink (at least drink the milk out of a cup, man).



In an abandoned building, a man clothed in a black cape is walking around. Four guys clothed in black suits and white gloves approach him and attempt to karate chop him, but he disappears, leaving only his cape behind. The men all get in battle position, when suddenly one of the men goes flying into the wall. The other men don't know where the presence is coming from, so they place a pair of white gloves on their fallen comrade and leave.



They return to the chamber where Kumiko is, and one of them seals the door behind him. It seems something's trying to get in.



We switch to Marie, who's wandering around outside for some reason when she spots a body. She rushes over and finds a bloodied man who she knows. He tells her to run away, and that demons are appearing and she needs to find a Devil Summoner.



There's a quick scene back at the chamber where the men in black attempt to keep the invader out by chanting incantations. The clattering at the door stops, and a few of the men walk towards it. They open the door, and another man in black walks in. The leader glances at Kumiko, but she doesn't react.



Back at the agency, Marie tells Kyouji that th ey need to awaken his latent Devil Summoner powers in order to find whoever seems to be summoning these demons. They need to find somebody who can synchronize with Kyouji, and it seems that Rei could use her power to do so.



Rei places a camera on the table and begins to concentrate.



At the chamber, the leader tells Kumiko that they must leave, but she doesn't want to. They all hear a strange noise in the room - the barriers are being broken. One of the men is thrown to the ground and dies.



At the agency, a picture finally appears on the camera - and it's of Kumiko. Neither Rei nor Kyouji can believe it. More pictures begin to appear on the camera, showing Kumiko with the leader.



Things are really going down at Kumiko's, where another man goes flying. This time, some kind of symbol appears above his head and he seems to be possessed. The men are doing some crazy kung-fu with the air, but they keep falling. Kumiko is getting upset that everybody keeps dying because of her. Even the leader gets bloody and battered.



At the agency, a hologram(?) of Kumiko appears. She begs Kyouji, "Save me... Devil Summoner." The possessed man carries Kumiko out of the room. Kyouji and company arrive too late, the only thing left in the room being dead men.



They notice a message written in blood reading "Hatano," which Rei surmises is Kumiko's last name. "Like I thought, Kumiko is the key," Kyouji says before he picks up the item that Kumiko had left at the dock back in episode 3.

End episode 6!

Key points:
- Ninja chop go!
- Great fighting choreography

EPISODE 7 - SUMMON



Kyouji and Marie are back at the agency discussing the events of the past few days. All of the murders have been the work of demons, so it's up to Kyouji the Devil Summoner to stop them.



Kyouji stops by his father's grave for a second before he and Rei head out to Kumiko's house. Inside the house, a man is going through a chest and pulls out some kind of important ancient-looking thingamabob.



Kyouji and Rei enter the house and call out, but nobody replies so they head further in. They walk into a room when suddenly the man from earlier thrusts a spear right in front of Rei's face. Kyouji quickly immobilizes him and pins him on the ground. He asks where Kumiko is, but the man doesn't know.



The man calls Kumiko the lady of the house, and it turns out that he's her servant and the Hatano family is some kind of fancy noble bloodline. Kyouji lets the man go and squats next to him like some Japanese punk.



Rei and Kyouji continue to question the man, but he isn't of much help. The man goes into another room and grabs some kind of stone tablet with ancient writing on it. The man gets his bag and leaves the house, leaving Rei with the tablet.



Kyouji chases after the servant, who is absolutely done talking with him and pushes him away before running off. Kyouji gives chase.



Rei brings the tablet back to show Marie. She asks if Marie can read it, so Marie takes a magnifying glass to it.



Meanwhile, Kyouji has lost sight of the servant. In another cameo, former editor-in-chief for Famitsu magazine, Hirokazu Hamamura, asks Kyouji which way it is to the bus station. Kyouji apologizes before running off, and Hanamura gripes about how cold people from Tokyo are.



Kyouji makes it to the beach, but doesn't see as the servant from earlier runs down the stairs and behind a wall. He stops to catch his breath - bad idea, as the demonic video filter returns. It creeps closer, and then he turns around.



In the city, a woman is waiting on the corner. The servant approaches her, and they start walking off. Kyouji somehow manages to to get to them, and he starts questioning the servant again. The servant looks up, and we see that he's become demonized. Kyouji says "No way...you..." before silently watching as the servant grabs the woman's hand and begins dragging her off.

Back at Marie's, it seems Marie has deciphered the tablet. It talks of how through the seven deadly sins, Princess Inaruna will be resurrected. Like the game, Kumiko is the key to resurrecting the princess. The murders so far have been a way of fulfilling the requirements of the deadly sins.



As Marie talks, we see the servant take the woman back to the house and begin to beat her, while elsewhere Kumiko is being used in another ceremony. There's a small flashback to what we can assume to be Kyouji's father facing off against a man in a black robe. Rei asks Marie who wants Inaruna to be resurrected, which Marie replies to with "It can't be...That man..."



Kyouji has found his way back to the Hatano household and finds the man, who reveals his demonic form - Xiuhtecuhtli. Kyouji has finally figured out how to use the GUMP, and summons Vishnu, which Rei can sense. Kyouji seals the demon, and the man goes up in the worst CGI fire I've ever seen in a professional television show. Rei walks into the room and sees the woman burnt to ash before waking up an unconscious Kyouji.

End episode 7!

Key points:
- Kyouji shows off his moves
- This is some seriously bad fire CGI

EPISODE 8 - DESTINY



We begin with Rei lamenting the fact that she can't find Kumiko with her powers. Kyouji comes to the office, and he and Rei discuss the case and question why the men in black need Kumiko for their plans.



Kyouji stops, and says that something similar to this happened to his father 17 years ago. In order to investigate, he and Rei go to his father's grave in an attempt to meet whoever keeps placing fresh flowers at the headstone.



While he and Rei are arguing, Kyouji spots a woman approaching the gravestone. Rei begins to walk toward her, but Kyouji holds her back. The woman replaces the flowers and bows her head in prayer.



Rei and Kyouji follow her back to her workplace. Kyouji asks why she's been visiting his father's grave, and she answers that she's been asked to do so by her grandfather. Kyouji continues to question her, but she avoids the questions and continues to work.



When Kyouji says that he'll stay until she talks, she grabs onto a nearby knife and Kyouji quickly jumps and hides behind Rei, using her as a shield. They fumble around, attempting to both push the other in front. The woman talks, and says that her grandfather told her that Kyouji's father was a detective and a Devil Summoner. Later, Rei and Marie discuss the situation.



That night, we see the woman, named Sayoko, through a demonic filter. She goes to her grandfather's house and tells him that she saw Kyouji.



We see Kumiko at a ceremony. The men undo the bandages on her body, revealing stars carved into her skin. They continue to chant.



The next day, Sayoko comes to the detective agency and tells Kyouji that her grandfather wishes to see him. Kyouji and Rei go with her to the house, located in a shrine.



The grandfather immediately recognizes Kyouji, though he hasn't seen him since Kyouji was just a child. He tells Kyouji about his father, Kyosuke. Outside, something is creeping up to the house.



A group of men in black bust the door open and attempt to grab Kyouji. Kyouji takes the fight outside and beats the tar out of all of them. Unfortunately, the grandpa got stabbed in the stomach and is bleeding out. He takes the man inside.

Inside, he tells Kyouji of the enemies that Kyosuke faced - summoners known as Dark Summoners. He takes a deep, torturous breath, and dies. Sayoko comes to his side, and a scream comes from outside - Rei.



Kyouji rushes outside and finds Rei on the ground, bloody and unconscious. He turns around and finds Kumiko ascending the staircase. "Why are you here?" Kyouji asks. "You couldn't have..."

End episode 8!

Key points:
- Rei and Kyouji bumble around

EPISODE 9 - LABYRINTH



We start in the detective agency, with Rei feeling a lot better than last time and wearing a hat that makes her look more like game-Kumiko than drama-Kumiko does. Speaking of, Kumiko is there as well, and says that she doesn't remember anything. Kyouji is still suspicious of her, but Rei says that she must still be in shock. After grumbling for a bit, Kyouji leaves.



Rei goes to the bathroom to examine where she was bleeding from and gets an image of a room, while Kyouji goes back to his father's grave. Rei comes to the grave as well and tells Kyouji about the image, though she doesn't know where it's supposed to be. Kyouji bitches and acts like a whiny baby.



We get a foreboding shot of Kumiko entering the room of what looks like an abandoned building. Kumiko goes back to the agency, where they get a phone call from Sayoko. They meet up at Marie's, and Sayoko shows them a map that belonged to her grandfather. Kyouji, Rei, and Sayoko decide to go to the location marked on the map, and leave Kumiko in the care of Marie.



As the trio heads to the building marked by the map, there's a shot of Marie's room with items strewn about on the floor. We can hear Kumiko opening up drawers at Marie's desk.



We return to Kyouji and friends looking through the building. He and Rei continue to bicker ("Who are you calling an idiot, you hippo," Rei spits) and Sayoko laughs at them. They walk through the building when Kyouji gets a strange feeling from one of the doors and opens it.



Surprise! There's an ocean behind the door.

Marie comes back to her place, but Kumiko is nowhere to be found. In the building, Kyouji opens the door again and we see deserts, a mountain, and plains. Rei and Sayoko step up to get a closer look when a bird flies at them and Kyouji slams the door shut. They all start running, but hit a dead end. Kyouji opens another door and this time they find a forest. Kyouji decides screw it and goes into the forest.



It's the right idea, though, and they make it back into the building. A man in a black hood laughs from somewhere.



In the detective agency, we find Kumiko rummaging through and turning the entire place upside down. Marie walks in, but can sense that something evil is going on. Kumiko glares at the item that she had dropped back at the docks. Kumiko begins to step towards Marie menacingly, and starts chanting something.

In the building, Kyouji opens another door and some ghoulish woman rushes towards him with a cry. He quickly shuts the door and starts yelling - "Who's doing this? Where are you?!" An evil laugh starts up behind him - Sayoko's been possessed by a demon.



At the agency, Kumiko shoots some sort of beam at Marie and knocks her out before leaving.



Kyouji and Rei attempt to run away from demonized Sayoko, but they hit a dead end. Light shoots out from Sayoko's eyes and suddenly some giant demon-human comes out from the ground, even taller than the building. Kyouji finally springs into action and seals the demon. Unfortunately, sealing the demon causes Sayoko to die.

Kyouji and Rei return to the agency to find Marie, who seems to be nearing death herself.

End episode 9!

Key points:
- The door of wonders
- A giant demon appears

EPISODE 10 - INTENTION



Marie is in the hospital, and is alive. Both Rei and Kyouji blame themselves for what happened. Kyouji assures Rei that there's nothing to worry about before leaving the hospital.



We get more shots of Kumiko in some crazy ceremony. At the hospital, Rei befriends a little girl before she sees Marie's doctor to discuss Marie's condition.



We see that Kyouji has returned to the detective agency, which is still a complete mess. He gets a call from Rei updating him on the situation before he pulls out the map from Sayoko's grandfather. He notices that the marked spots have some sort of pattern to them.



After the call, Rei goes to Marie's room to check on her, only to find that Marie's no longer there. In another room, the doctor from earlier is all suited up and looking ready to start an operation.



Kyouji meets up with a police officer named Takasugi near the docks. He shows him the map, and Takasugi points out that the marked spots form a star.



I guess the game's star map plot was so great that they had to include it in the drama.



Back at the hospital, some demonic funny business is afoot. Marie is lying unconscious in an operating room, where the doctor from earlier is slashing and stabbing his fellow doctors. Rei hears screaming and busts into the room, only to be cornered and choked by the doctor.



Marie suddenly opens her eyes and begins chanting. The doctor lets Rei go and begins backing up. The doctor faints, the demonic presence seemingly gone. Rei helps Marie onto her feet, and the two escape from the hospital to find that some kind of massacre has occurred.



They run back into the hospital. The doctor, who they thought they had defeated, is wheeling around the girl Rei had befriended earlier. Before Rei can get to him, he cracks the girl's neck and kills her. Rei yells that she absolutely won't forgive him and the doctor simply asks "Why?" She runs forward and attempts to slap him, but he throws her to the ground.



"You have no power," the doctor states before his arm extends forward like some kind of supervillian and he stabs Marie through the stomach with his hand (!!). Rei grabs Marie's prayer beads and repeats the chant that Marie used earlier. All of the lights in the room explode, and it seems that the demon has now been vanquished for good.



Rei rushes to Marie, but it's too late for her. At that time, Rei gets an image of Kyouji and Takasugi at the docks surrounded by men in black. The vision comes true, and Kyouji recognizes one of them as the man who killed his father.

End episode 10!

Key points:
- Doctors should save lives, not take them
- Extendo arm!

BEST OF EPISODES 6~10