Shokatsu Damashii

A young woman is discovered strangled to death at the boat pier of a park in Tokyo’s Koto Ward. No personal belongings are found and her identity is not known. There are no signs of disturbed clothing and assault, and because the body was abandoned at a prominent spot, it shows that this was a premeditated crime by a criminal with the presence of mind. Joto Chuo Police Precinct’s detective Katsuragi Kunihiko (Tokito Saburo) who rushed to the scene, and the fact that the body is barefoot weighs on his mind. The next morning, the Thirteenth Section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police’s First Investigative Division come and first investigation meeting gets underway. Led by Yamaoka Muneo (Sano Shiro), the Thirteenth Section is an outstanding team, but they are also said to be treat precinct detectives like commodities with their arrogant manner. However, what surprises Katsuragi is the director who appeared for the meeting. The young commander who looks like he is still a student, is Katsuragi’s only son, Toshifumi (Tanaka Kei)! Katsuragi used to be the ace of the First Investigative Division, but two years ago, his wife suddenly passed away. He transferred to the precinct due to his sense of loss. Because he was occupied with work and left the household to his wife, he does not even know why Toshifumi aspired to be a career officer. Naturally, he did not hear a word about him being in charge of this case as a director too. Katsuragi feels that it will be “an extremely burdensome case” in this complicated situation which he is in. This bad presentiment immediately proves to be right. Complaints from the area’s residents pour in because of the intimidating way in which the Thirteenth Section made door-to-door inquiries. The detectives of Joto Chuo Police Precinct are also displeased with the overbearing attitude of the detectives of the Thirteenth section. After that, the investigation makes no progress at all. The only results they have is a report from forensics about “minute metallic particles collected from the scene”. However, there is nothing that they can link to the criminal. As time passes without the expected results, the situation develops in an unanticipated direction. Another young woman is found strangled to death on the deck of a cruiser moored at Koto Marina and the police finds no evidence of assault. Furthermore, the body is barefoot once again. Katsuragi does not think it is a casual coincidence that the two locations are by the waterside. He suspects the criminal of crossing the waterways, which are arguably the metropolis’ blind spots, by boat to transport the dead bodies from the crime scenes. Are the victims barefoot because of some message from the criminal!? The case gets plunged into more and more confusion.

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