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In 1903, a young Scotswoman goes to join her diplomat fiancé in Manchuria. She marries him, and finds herself in a war zone. Disenchanted with her husband, she falls in love with a married Japanese nobleman, Count Kentaro Kurihama, and bears him a son. She carves out a life for herself in Japanese society, despite the hardships and ostracism she faces as both a Westerner and a woman....
Miki Ichinose is a 14-year-old schoolgirl who is very outgoing and cheerful. She lives with her parents and younger brother. She is in a romantic relationship with Satoshi Kirino who is 15 years old. They keep their relationship a secret from their parents because Miki is young and Satoshi is expected to excel in school and get into a university so he can take over the family business by his overbearing mother. One night, after a date, they sneak into a treehouse and consummate their relationshi...
Gift is a drama that aired on Fuji TV. It first aired in Japan from April 16, 1997 to June 25, 1997 every Wednesday. It features music by Bryan Ferry and Howard Jones. It raised several issues in Japanese society, due to its casual use of a butterfly knife and its resulting violence....
The Great Horror Family is a 2004 Japanese horror comedy television series directed by Kenji Murakami, Takashi Shimizu, Keisuke Toyoshima and Yūdai Yamaguchi, which aired on TV Tokyo affiliated stations....
Shūichirō Kiriyama works at the Limitation Task Force, the place where the cases which have reached the statute of limitations are destroyed. Getting bored of his job, he decides to find a hobby, because it seems important to him to have a hobby. So he decides to puzzle out the unsolved cases on his free time, helped by his coworker Mikazuki, who seems to have a crush on him....
The Oikawa children are still coming to terms with the death of their mother and the addition of a stepmother. The head of the family takes out his frustration on the children, inflicting mental and physical wounds, while the children’s lives outside the home reflect their abuse as they get into everything from street violence to teenage companion services. A sharp lawyer and new stepmother to the children attempts to forge a stable family, but as she does so the mystery behind her predecessor’s...
He didn’t even like children, yet without warning, the handsome, single newscaster finds himself playing the role of father to three impertinent daughters. His entire image of the roles of the sexes gets turned upside down as he makes the transition from a swinger into a caring parent....
Happily married to Koichi, 30-year-old Kaoru's world is shaken when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Amidst this turmoil, they discover that Kaoru is pregnant. Deciding to keep the baby, they name their little girl Himawari. But Kaoru's condition worsens, and she begins to wonder what is left that she can do...for her husband and her daughter. Before she is no longer able, she begins to write a long letter to her daughter. Her heartfelt letter forms the backbone and narration of this t...
Ginza is a night town filled with ambition and burning desire… How does a plain bank clerk embezzle an enormous amount of money and jump into the underground world? What is her ultimate goal? Her greatest weapon is a black leather-bound notebook....
A story of young women living in the same local community. Yaeko (Suzuki Kyoka) moves to a condo named "Mezon Africa," and notices her neighbors are all a bit strange. Matsuyuki Yasuko acts selfish neighbor girl Yuka, and Tomosaka Rie acts anarchist college-student Midori. Meanwhile, Yaeko knows her neighbor Mizuho (Muroi Shigeru) killed her husband 14 years ago....
An earthquake directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area is said to occur with a 70% probability within 30 years. Staged in a news center of a TV station where a huge amount of damage information and images are gathered....
Four young people have been arrested for crimes they did not commit. When one of them learns that his daughter is in a critical condition because of an incurable heart ailment, he decides to break out of the jail. He is joined by three other prisoners who also decide to break out of jail. Although their motives and backgrounds are different, all of them are innocent and there are reasons why they cannot wait till their release. They have to get out of jail as soon as they can. So they band toget...
Hikari Kojima is selected to be a photographer for a gravure magazine. On the morning of the day of the competition, the rain aggravates her PMS symptoms and her body does not listen to her at all! Similarly, Aoi Serizawa, who was supposed to show off her first swimsuit photo at the beginning of the magazine as a step towards her dream of becoming an actress, suddenly gets her period and panics....
Arisa is fascinated by humans. So much so that she leaves the magic world. But the broom she uses is faulty and she winds up in Japan. There she meets Joji Matsui who works at an advertising agency. Joji has been assigned by his boss Ichio Suzuki the difficult task of winning over Shiori Nomo who is in charge of corporate communications at a client. However a little word from Arisa helps Joji win over Shiori and his agency gets the opportunity to pitch. Arisa and Joji fall in love and marry. Ari...
Saburo Sugimura works for the PR department of a company which his father-in-law Yoshichika Imada runs. One day, Yoshichika Imada tasks Saburo Sugimura with work regarding a man named Nobuo Kajita. A complicated story unfolds from the request....
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Back in his high school years, Kazama Masamune had a girlfriend four years his senior, who one day left to go study abroad. Now, six years later, Kazama hears that his girlfriend has passed away, and that she had secretly given birth to their daughter, who is now five years old. Kazama then decides to raise his daughter on his own....
The story features a team of four sleuthing sisters....
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A legendary television series and cultural asset, Mr. Kinpachi in Class 3B is famous for putting many social issues on the front burner of the public conscious over its long run, as filtered through the emotionally volatile lives of third year middle school students. The heartfelt relations between a devoted schoolteacher, Kinpachi Sakamoto, and his unique students have won the show high praise for several decades. Whether due to the pressures of exams, family relations, teachers and friends, gr...
Sawai Honami is an illustrator who is addicted to the charm of public baths. While drawing illustrations, she meets women from different walks of life at a public bath....
Daimon Michiko is a 37-year-old freelance surgeon who is part of a questionable “doctor placement service” that has her wander from hospital to hospital. The harsh environment at the hospitals led many doctors to retire from their positions, forcing hospitals to make use of said program to fill the empty spots at least temporary. However, Michiko doesn’t look like a doctor at all with her flashy clothes and eccentric attitude. In the first episode she raises objections to a certain operation whi...
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Detective Ukyo Sugishita confronts crime on the basis of his own convictions. He has a partner that works for him in the Special Task Unit. For the first 7 seasons, Ukyo’s first partner is Kaoru Kameyama. He is a good-natured, hot-tempered, straightforward and somewhat scattered detective. Beginning in Season 8, Takeru Kanbe replaces Kameyama. Contrary to his predecessor, Takeru is a lanky, cool, conceited and confident detective. From Season 11 to Season 13, Ukyo’s partner is a young detective ...
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The story features two people who experience their first love late in life. Maruya Kosuke is a 29-year-old employee in the sales department of his family's brewery. Thanks to his good looks he was always popular, receiving many love confessions from women since his youth. However, he experiences a rude awakening the moment he realizes his cuteness has an expiry date. Sanada Izumi is a researcher at the brewery. Past experiences have led her to believe she is inferior to others....
Ultra Q has returned, and continues investigations of monstrous appearances and strange ecological phenomenons....
Shinno Akari is a detective with a special ability. She is able to see the eight human emotions in color. Due to a case, she teams up with Detective Kazehaya Ryo. They work together to reveal the truth behind heinous crimes....
The 74th NHK Asadora Drama is Junjo Kirari, which means something along the lines of "pure-hearted Kirari." The story is set in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture in the era around the Second World War. When the story opens in 1928, the heroine, Sakurako, is a very active seven-year-old girl. Indeed, even in the first episode she exhibits her confidence and enthusiasm. But above all else, Sakurako is interested in becoming a jazz pianist, and music features extensively in the plot....
Assistant Inspector Fukuie does not look like an assistant inspector but once she starts an investigation, she takes no notice of anyone as she searches for the key to find out the truth. She does not care for the hierarchical relationship of the organisation or career advancement. If she has doubts, she will not listen to her superior and will persist in investigating to the end. Fukuie’s boss Inspector Ishimatsu is completely different from her. He places importance on the organisation and dis...
Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine....
Based on the novel "Mohouhan" by Miyuki Miyabe. Journalist Maebata Shigeko, young Tsukada Shinichi and elderly Arima Yoshio all suffer from and become involved in a serial kidnap and murder case. Shinichi first discovers a cut arm and handbag from the murder case. Elderly Yoshio's granddaughter is a murder victim....
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Children go on errands all by themselves for the very first time as a camera crew follows along in this beloved, long-running reality show from Japan....
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"Ryoko!!" is a four-episode competitive series created by Toshihide, a leading director in the modern Japanese film industry, starring actress Shigeru Muroi. Ryoko, who has absolute values within herself and is always nihilistic, yet compassionate and tearful, is played by Shigeru Muroi, who can now be said to be a charismatic actress of today. Tsuyoshi Toshige is the original story and director of the first episode, and Junji Sakamoto is the director of the second episode. The first unique fi...
Chiyomi Horikiri (Ai Iinuma) is a warm hearted high school student. She is a member of her school's basketball team. She stays bright even in a bit complicated family composition. Her boyfriend is Hiroyuki Minami (Yusei Yagi). One day, Hiroyuki Minami suddenly shrinks in size to only 15 cm. in height. He can easily fit in the palm of someone's hand. He appears in front of his girlfriend Chiyomi Horikiri....
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7 ladies working as secretary for the dignitaries, who are the top of bank, Metropolitan Government and National Police Agency, are trying to help the weak in the society by moving the dignitaries stealthily. They have a lot of confidential information and network, so they work in the shadow to help people who are suffering from unfair treatment. Concept of this drama: Leaderless time, Swelling unemployment, there is no promising future, so we have to move our leaders as much as we can do....
A young man who showed little promise while a high school student becomes a master detective, just like his grandfather....
To deal with the increasing violent crime rate in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, a special investigation team is formed at the Shinjuku Police Station. Detective Shunsuke Yamashita and Detective Keiichi Tashiro begin work at the special investigation team. Detective Shunsuke Yamashita doesn't care about details and says what he thinks. Meanwhile, Detective Keiichi Tashiro is diligent and enthusiastic with his investigative work. The two men frequently argue, but also cooperate to solve the cases....
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The film is set in Edo period. As an orphan child Mio starts working at a restaurant in Osaka where she learns how to cook. When she turns 18, she moves to Edo (today's Tokyo) where she opens her own restaurant....
Set in a barren, futuristic Tokyo of highways and wastelands, a rowdy group of punk bands and their fans gather to protest slow, boring, Japanese living....
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'....
Shangri-La follows the lives of a group of homeless people in Japan who run into a man who nearly commits suicide and decide to help him out of his financial troubles. Using their various ingenious resources they embark on a complex scheme to blackmail a crooked businessman, whose bankruptcy claim has put people out of work. It’s a fun romp as these seemingly homeless people manage to outsmart the very people who cast them from society....
1990 Original Video...
An adult love story written and directed by Yasushi Akimoto of "Goodbye Mama" and shot on location in New York. Haruko and Natsuko are sisters who get along like friends. One day, her younger sister Natsuko visited her older sister Haruko in New York. However, the real purpose of Natsuko's trip to the United States was to meet her affair partner Mami Okawa, who left her without saying anything and was transferred to New York. Natsuko immediately visits Okawa and introduces her to her older siste...
A young man wakes up one morning to find that his head has transformed into a large cabbage. He quickly becomes a source of bemusement, desire and hostility to all those around him....
Hiroshi Kobayashi is on the run from police who would arrest him for the murder of his girlfriend Naomi. At the same time, he wants revenge on the yakuza member Kimura who got her stuck in drugs. The entire film consists of a long hunting-scene....
The protagonist is a woman (Hiroko Yakushimaru) who is a sales manager at the Japanese branch of a famous French shoe brand. The protagonist is obsessed with a Hong Kong singer called Eakin Cheng and frequently goes to Hong Kong. However, she herself has an ambition to change the company's marketing policy (and if she can't change it, she will launch a new brand herself), so she goes to Hong Kong to plan this and that. However, this comes to light, and as it goes against the wishes of the head o...
A boy and girl struggle to understand their place in 1980s Japan, retiring to copulate and probe each other for answers....
Young women disappear one after another in drizzling rain. They all hear the “cursed song” of the Cage Song before they vanish into thin air. Kitaro and his friends investigate these mysterious cases when they meet Kaede Hiramoto, a high school girl who finds herself involved in this mystery. With the help from the librarian of Yokai Library, they find out that the curse was caused by an evil Yokai that was released from 1,000 years of sealing. To save Kaede, they are to gather the 5 ancient mus...
A man suicides causing ruin for his family, reasons are unknown, but his son will decide to take revenge after a succesion of events....
The seven secretaries who consist of the "Shadow Army" enjoy peaceful days. They receive a new request from Koichi Ogata, who runs a ramen restaurant in Nagano prefecture. He is furious at land development that is carried out by Alps Raicho Group. The Alps Raicho Group and their Alps Raicho Resort are run by the Tsukumo family. That family exerts tremendous influence around the region. The Tsukumo family seem like a well mannered family, but, in reality, they are a vicious family who will do any...
Anthology film. "What's Wrong with Eating?" Numayama Kazuki is always complaining about his wife's, Atsugi Shizuka, body shape. Because of that Shizuka tries her best to restrict her diet and please Kazuki. "It's So Far Away!" Karuma Sae is an office lady who works in the city center but lives with her family in a house far away from her work. Because she is always rushing to catch the last train, she can never enjoy a decent date with her boyfriend, Oishi Mamoru. Her father is also always i...
A man ran into a woman on a street. She was not attractive, but was a perfect girl for him. After missing the chance to talk to her, he contemplates on how he should have approached her....
This enticing period melodrama depicts a long-suffering woman's relationship with her brilliant but self-destructive writer husband in postwar Tokyo. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1947 novel by Osamu Dazai, the story centers less on the womanizing, heavy-drinking, suicidal hero than on the wife who loves him. Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival...
It is the Spring of 1814. The restaurant “Tsuru-ka” is gaining much popularity after its chef, Mio, won the prestigious cooking competition. One day, the owner of “Tsuru-ka”, Taneichi, employed young Fuki to be the attendant for customers’ shoes. Mio could fully empathize with young Fuki, who was an orphan and yet was courageous enough to survive on her own. Around the same time, the famous novelist Seiemon started coming to “Tsuru-ka”. Even though Seiemon criticized Mio’s cooking each time, he ...
One day a young Brazilian man living in Japan crashes his car into the side of the house of a happy family. They take him in after realizing he had been beaten. As they get to know each other they find the bonds of family transcend blood and lineage....
The story of a young man who has felt since childhood utterly alien from others around him. Since that time he has learned to put on a face to hide his alienation. He feels incapable of belonging to the human society, especially so by society's refusal to take him seriously. He then follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, & suicide ......
A martial arts master/detective investigates a series of murders and helps a deaf bathhouse attendant, Hisako....
Mugiko, an 18-year-old attempts to escape her unhappiness with village life by going to Tokyo to live and work in the geisha house run by her aunt. The daughter of a once great geisha, Mugiko is entitled by blood to train in the geishas ancient art of classical Japanese song and dance....
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A young woman who escaped from prison is eventually captured and brought back. The evil warden decides to make her a pet project and tries to break her down with torture, gang rape and by turning her friends against her....
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Hitomi, a former orphan who is trying to leave behind her delinquent ways, one day agrees to tutor a wealthy young boy who has just become an orphan himself…...
When pregnant lunchbox factory worker Yayoi has finally taken all the abuse she can handle, she strangles her brutish husband and disposes of the body parts, piece by piece. She's soon joined by three down on their luck housewives who murder their own husbands and find various ways to hide the evidence....
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"Genji Monogatari" focuses on the love and hate relationships surrounding Genji Hakaru. Lady Fujitsubo is Genji's first love. Ryokuzono Miyasutokoro is obsessed with Genji and eventually becomes a spirit. Yu Kao, who is from the lower class, give comfort to Genji's emotional wounds. Writer Murasaki Shikibu is jealous of Genji and is eventually ordered by Seime Abe to write a work ......
Furuchi and Hama are two unsuccessful repair agents and electronic engineers. One day Furichi finds a so-called Kotatsu heater. Soon after this Furichi dies in a traffic accident. But with the help of a stun gun succeed Hama Furichi bring back to life, but also Kotatsu heater comes alive then....
This new version of Nagasaki's Yami utsu shinzô (1982) is neither a remake nor a sequel. It is both those things, and at the same time it is also a documentary, a portrait of the consequences of passing time, and an occasionally very funny reflection on what the hell the point is of all this filmmaking business anyway. Shigeru Muroi and Takashi Naito, back then young hopefuls willing to take chances, now among the most established and recognisable actors in Japan, return to play the roles they a...
Traditional Japanese pop singer Reiko (Muroi) decides to enter a well-known TV program for amateur singers along with a confused teenager (Ôtomo) and a 40-year-old father of four (Bito)....
A student travels back to Kobe for the summer. Once there, he meets his friend Rat, hangs on the usual place, listening to the Beach Boys and meets a mysterious twin girl....
One night, as pub owner Sotaro is caring for his sick wife, Shizuko, she asks him to promise that if she dies, he will never remarry. Thinking she is just being dramatic, he promises and tells her to go to sleep. When he wakes the next morning, however, Shizuko is dead. Sotaro keeps his promise, until one day he meets Satoko. The two quickly fall in love, and agree to get married. Their first night together, however, is interrupted by Shizuko, who is angry over her husband's broken promise. Sota...
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Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof....
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Yuma Nakahara is the CEO of an IT company and he is a workaholic. He is focused only on expanding his company. He receives a phone call from his former co-worker and friend Kouhei, but Kouhei doesn't say anything. Yuma gets the sense that something is wrong and heads to Kouhei's hometown of Shinminato, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. In Shinminato, Yuma meets other people and becomes involved in the Shinminato Hikiyama Festival. His outlook on life begins to change....
In a small town, high school students in their final year try to balance their studies while also playing together in a rock band....
All the protagonists move about in a Tokyo Bar that has an entire wall taken up with a black-and-white reproduction of a photo of Monument Valley. The action starts as Billy the Kid, in full living color, walks out of the photo and gets a job as a waiter. Along with him on the working staff are a samurai straight out of the history books, a G.I. from World War II, and several other anachronistic characters. The plot (as such) revolves around keeping away the brutal mobsters and thugs who dominat...
When Su-san invites his late friend's daughter to come along on a fishing trip, she falls in love with Hama-chan's fishing protégé....
When a research crew in deep space discovers the desolate ship "Green Planet" that warps into their area, they encounter Buzz, the commander and sole surivor of the ship. Being too incapacitated to make them aware of the situation of his ship, the research team will soon discover that they have found something far, far worse......
Based on the comic by Mamora Goda....
Sachiko lost her parents at an early age and lived together with her only sister Nobuko who worked for a newspaper. Out of the blue, she is told that Nobuko is killed in an accident, but she simply cannot believe it because her sister had told her she was going to an entirely different place. She begins her investigations on her sister’s mysterious death with the help of Nobuko’s colleague and journalist Ryoichi. And when another colleague, Tomoe commits suicide, Sachiko has a gut feeling that a...
Two young men are hungry, so they decide to rob a bakery. Adaptation of a short story by Haruki Murakami....
The newly divorsed singer Kumi is not too enthusiastic about life as a single mother. She drops her son to her ex-husband, leaving her band and embarks on a crazy tour of Tokyo's shadowy side....
Nobuko Sawaguchi is a surly, unattractive housekeeper in her mid-thirties. However, in actuality, she is a beautiful woman, but she hides this fact using her makeup because of a traumatic past experience. One day Nobuko is sent to housekeep for the Uehara family, known for its tremendous wealth. In the Uehara family, there is a massive quarrel over each member’s future succession and inheritance. In the middle of this hectic situation, Nobuko is asked by the daughter called Akemi to protect her...
Four female flight attendants embark on some salacious misadventures: A few go to a company singles party to cavort with some pilots, while the lovely Misako embarks on an adventure all her own after meeting a street fortune teller......
When 22-year-old Ikuko gets fired from her editing internship right before her college graduation instead of getting hired, she turns to her schoolteacher father for advice. Instead, he tells her, "I've decided to become a singer! Sort your own life out!" Confused, Ikuko gets on a boat to the town of Takarazuka, home of the musical industry, to see her classmate Mari. Mari introduces her to an accountant named Yoshie, and together the three of them move into a house they call "The Women's House:...
This is Yamakawa's first feature film in 16mm. A group of university students who grew up in an era of rapid economic growth yearn for "another side" of life as they face romantic conflicts and the suicide of a fellow student....
A successful office lady, who has made herself sexually available to a doctor, has her routine disrupted when her former boyfriend's son appears in her life. She is not connected to the boy, but his father has been in an accident....
Kono Takeshi has given up work as an electrician to run a gift-shop business with his partner/mistress Rieko, who's a couple of years older than him. When the company faces bankruptcy Kono wants to quit, but Rieko strings him along with the promise of a large cash investment, the proceeds of a real-estate deal. Her actual plan to raise the money is to kidnap a young woman and demand a ransom for her release. The trouble is, it never occurs to her to keep the victim alive before trying to extort ...
In four chapters, the film anatomises the chaotic life of a radio agony uncle.who is having simultaneous affairs with a sado-masochistic call-girl and the wife of an aggrieved tour-bus driver...
Welcome aboard the fantasy train in the stars! "Fantasy Railroad in the Stars" is a fantastic journey of a boy, Giovanni, in a dreamscape created into a colourful full-dome CG animation picture with inspiring background music. Based on the famous Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru story written by Kenji Miyazawa in the early 20th century, Kagaya, a digital fine artist, has breathed new life into the unique imaginary world using creativity and precise astronomical knowledge. The starry sky is depicted as t...
Film director Shunichi Nagasaki reflects on a near-fatal motorcycle accident that occurred while shooting his commercial feature debut The Lonely Hearts Club Band in September....
Japanese adaptation of Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced....
In August, 1918, Matsuura Ito lives in a coastal village of Toyama with her husband and three children. During the summer, there wasn't much fish to catch, so her husband has been far away from home to catch fish. To support herself and her children, Ito carries goods from ships like the other women in the village. Meanwhile, the residents encounter rising prices for rice. The women are unable to feed their family due to the high prices of rice. The women ask a nearby rice store to sell rice at ...
Kumi lives a hippie-like life in Tokyo's outskirts. One night while drunk she stumbles into an abandoned industrial site, except in addition to deserted factories, it is full of forests and greenery. She decides to move there, even further away from the civilization she had already left....
Twenty-year-old Kaori, an aspiring accessory designer, spends her days troubled by her mother's violence and excessive meddling. Meanwhile, forty-year-old secretary Kaori, whose daughter is a shut-in, can't stop shoplifting and having casual sex....
Naoko Tanaka is a 26-year-old office lady (OL). Her job is typical, but her workplace has fierce fights among different cliques. Other OLs are absorbed in the daily clique fighting. One day, due to an OL at the company, Naoko Tanaka's company is targeted by OL from all over Japan....
Kazuo Kudo returns to his hometown of Hakodate with his wife because of his autonomic ataxia. Kazuo, who is not able to work and has to attend the psychiatry regularly, continues to run in the city of Hakodate for mental treatment on sunny days and rainy days. When Kazuo comes to communicate with the young people he meets on the street, something begins to change......
When the head of the touring magician's group "Magical Fantasy" is murdered on a train while on his way to Hokkaido, young Kindaichi, who also just happens to be on board, is fast on the case to find the culprit. But just as quickly as the case unfolds, the body disappears only to be rediscovered again, along with other new bodies....
A widowed restaurateur is faced with scandal after discovering her late husband had a child out of wedlock. Hearing that two criminals had attempted to take over the restaurant from her late husband, she hires her late husband's best friend, a private detective, to investigate....