Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 09
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 09

SPOILER Summary: Yoriko is at home on the phone with her mother, who’s worried about her still being single. Yoriko tries to assure her mother there are no problems, but after she hangs up and looks at the packet with a potential guy, she expresses her frustration at not being married with kids and wonders if she’ll stay at her job forever. At work the following day, Natsumi and Miyuki are assigned to work with the Major Case division on a case (for which Yoriko asks them to keep their eyes open for good guys) while Yoriko and Aoi-chan are assigned to give a class at a nearby elementary school about safety. The class get out of control with a boy wanting to know her personal information and saying Aoi-chan is the pretty one and Yoriko is the ugly one.

Yoriko is depressed as they drive back and when they pass a location where they see Natsumi and Miyuki working, it adds to her depression. That night, Yoriko walks home and passes a fortune telling shop. So she decides to go in and have her fortune told. The fortune teller seems to be pretty accurate and even tells Yoriko that the first session is free. As such, the session has left Yoriko pretty happy and the following day as she has lunch with Natsumi, Miyuki, and Aoi-chan on the roof, she recounts her adventure. They are happy for her but have to leave because of work-related items, which leaves Yoriko a little depressed again. That night she returns to the fortune teller, who informs Yoriko that her soul mate is close by.

At work the next day, Yoriko wonders whom that could be. She thinks about pairing up with Kachou, but then imagines a jealous Natsumi. She then think about pairing up with Nakajima-kun, but then imagines a jealous Miyuki. When Aoi-chan shows up, Yoriko remembers that “she” is really still a guy but that’s just too much. So later when Aoi-chan and Yoriko are on patrol, they are near the fortune teller’s shop and Yoriko decides to pay a quick visit to set up an appointment. However, she soon discovers that the shop owner was running a scam to drain people of all their funds, meaning Yoriko was also one of her victims.

When Aoi-chan and Yoriko return to the station to man the front desk, Miyuki and Natsumi also return having successfully worked their case. They go off to inform Kachou and Yoriko requests Aoi-chan not tell them of how she’d been scammed. When Miyuki and Natsumi invite Yoriko to a party celebrating their success, she turns them down and walks home. As she does, she finds the punk from the elementary school being berated by some Yakuza. Initially Yoriko does nothing but when the kid calls to her for help, she digs deep and summons the courage to stand up to the Yakuza, citing a list of charges she can hit them up with if they don’t leave. They don’t call her bluff and vacate the area.

Back safely at home, she decides that being a cop is what she wants to do because she likes helping people. As such, her quest to find a man can wait. At work, she tells the others this as well. When the boy returns with his friend to thank her, they also bring their teacher, who also thanks her. Yoriko immediately finds him to be just her type and thoughts of eschewing men and love flushed.

Thoughts: Yoriko has never been a favorite character of mine in any of the series. For the most part, she’s annoying. Still, it was nice for her to have an episode (and I did enjoy the episode) and to see how Miyuki and Natsumi’s being the star looks from her eyes. Ultimately I don’t think I learned any more about her than I did from all of the previous series to include this one. That sort of thing is shaping up to be the weakness of this latest YUA series. Things are going through the motions, but for the most part, it is a retread of what already has been, only not quite as good.

Yay for ORIKASA Ai being the guest voice of the fortune teller.