Hikaru Horiguchi

As the sole survivor of a horrendous and rather mysterious accident, teenage Mitsuko's day is off to a bad start. An unstoppable force of nature, a doomed field trip, and a strange case of amnesia easily coexist in a bizarre parallel universe, where a desperate Mitsuko is always on the run from something inexplicable, intangible, and utterly deadly. However, amid piles of fresh corpses, mounds of scorching bullet shells, and rivulets of fragrant adolescent blood, Mitsuko must fight to stay alive, before her already messed-up day becomes even stranger. But one question still remains: who or what is the enemy?

Whether it's someone mixing burnables and recyclables or noise from a neighbor's domestic spat, there's always something occupying the residents of a housing project in the suburbs of Osaka. However Hinako (Naomi Fujiyama) and Seiji (Ittoku Kishibe) couldn't care less. Having moved in just six months ago after the closure of their herbal medicine shop, the old couple is reluctantly putting their life back together. But when Seiji disappears, the apartment rumor mill churns: divorce, murder, dismemberment? As the story spins out of control, and a mysterious man with a parasol puts in a tall order of natural remedies, the truth turns out to be even more fantastic than gossip. Ranging from incisive comedy of errors to absurdist adventure to moving late life romance, "The Projects" is one of the biggest surprises of the year.

Criminologist Himura Hideo gets so much pleasure out of being in crime scenes that he's even confessed to having wanted to kill someone. Constantly seeking out the ultimate crime, he is indeed a man with quite a few issues. Mystery writer Arisugawa Arisu, on the other hand, keeps a close eye on Himura's investigations and writes about them but at times completely misses the point. Not at all the type of guy you'd call dependable, Arisugawa nonetheless professes to be the protector of the clumsy Himura. Although these two men appear like they have no business being in crime scenes, they mitigate each other's shortcomings and use their compelling logic to unravel the elaborately woven tricks left behind by the criminals. It's almost as if Himura and Arisugawa use incredible magical powers to tease out unimaginable truths!