Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 08
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 08

SPOILER Summary: Kachou is walking to work when he senses someone following him. What he doesn’t see is that this someone is a little 4-year old girl. When he finally turns around to demand to know who’s following him, he sees Natsumi. As such, the two of them walk to work. At work, Natsumi relays the story of how Kachou snapped at her and the girls speculate on whether he has a secret admirer or a stalker. However, they are all in for a great shock as they discover a little 4-year old girl there calling Kachou “Papa.” Kachou tries to insist he doesn’t know the little girl but with her constant insistence on him being her Papa, the officers in the office wonder. Natsumi snaps, demanding to know if the girl really is his daughter and the little girl starts crying.

The little girl is Souko-chan and she announces she has to pee. In the end, it is Miyuki, showing her motherly abilities, that gets to take Souko-chan to do her business. They take her up to the roof so she can see Mt. Fuji in the distance, something she really enjoys. However, the need to find the girl’s parents and so set out to do so. Since no one has reported her missing, Miyuki and Natsumi take her in Today along the route that Kachou took to walk to work. They announce over the P.A. that they have Souko-chan, but she starts screaming for her Papa which also goes out over the P.A. and upsets the neighbors. Despite the fact that Natsumi and Miyuki are cops, they are ready to riot until Aoi-chan and Yoriko arrive with Souko-chan’s grandmother.

At the grandmother’s house, Souko-chan sleeps while the grandmother reveals that Souko-chan’s mother left when she was still a baby and that her father had recently died (later to be revealed as an accident involving the truck he drove to transport goods). Because he would sometimes bring Souko-chan along with him on deliveries and because he had established a pattern to be with his daughter, little Souko-chan refuses to believe her father is dead. The grandmother shows them a picture of her son and indeed, he looks very much like Kachou. This gives Natsumi an idea and so back at the station, she tells Kachou they are going for a drive on the weekend but that he must wear the clothes that Souko-chan’s dad wore.

Natsumi is up early on the day of the drive to prepare a bento for the three of them and she and Kachou go to pick up Souko-chan. Their drive leads them close to Mount Fuji which makes Souko-chan happy. They have a picnic which also makes Souko-chan happy followed by a trip for some ice cream. Then they take a ride in a swan boat where Natsumi shows off her impressive leg strength by making the swan boat go faster than a speed boat. All of this makes Souko-chan very happy and on the ride back home that evening, she’s fast asleep. While this day made Kachou happy as well, he knows that eventually Souko-chan is going to have to accept that her father is never going to come home again.

As they ride, they notice a tanker truck is moving erratically and moving along side, they discover the driver appears to be unconscious at the wheel. Natsumi offers to do her normal thing but Kachou decides to board the truck instead while Natsumi takes the wheel. Souko-chan wakes up to see Kachou on the tank of the tanker moving up to the cab and thinks he is very cool. Kachou, after some close shaves, manages to get the door open and the tanker truck stopped safely. After summoning an ambulance, Souko-chan stops calling Kachou “Papa” and calls him by his title of “Kachou.” Natsumi is surprised by this but Souko-chan explains that she knows Kachou isn’t her dad and nows she’s glad because if he were her dad, she couldn’t marry him. She runs to Kachou, who picks her up and she tells him she loves him and he tells her the same. She then announces to him that she’s going to marry him.

Thoughts: Funny at first, but so very sad after that. Four-year old Souko-chan is so cute, but the story of her losing her parents and her glomping onto Kachou who looks like her dead Papa was very touching. Of course the “date” with him, Souko-chan, and Natsumi was very touching, but I kept wondering how this was going to be resolved. There was no way to resolve this in a realistic way so the way it was done is fine.

Another thing this episode reminded me of is, “Where the smeg is Shouji?” *sigh*

Still, it was a very sweet and touching episode that I rather enjoyed.