The Death Office is not a city hall but exists on the border between this world and the next. It is a place where all kinds of people come, whether they have died by suicide, murder, illness, accident, old age, or stillbirth, and it is a place where they can complete the procedures for their death after death. The employees who work at the Death Office all have one thing in common, and that common thing is that they were all people who died by execution. The pasts of these employees are also a major plot twist in the story, and why did each of them become employees of the Death Office? We would like to introduce those stories.
All employees of the Death Office were people who died by execution!
The employees of the Death Office are people who have been executed and died, and have come to the Death Office. In Japan, if the death penalty is applied, you basically won't be executed unless you kill someone. (Although there are laws that result in the death penalty even if you don't kill someone, they are rarely applied.) In other words, all the employees have a history of killing people. Why did they commit murder? And why they were executed and died is told in an episode like Valkyrie Profile. And the deaths of these employees are a major foreshadowing of "Death Office".
Shiyakusyo General Guide: Episodes of Shimura/Masamichi Ichimura
The protagonist of this work, Shimura, also known as Masamichi Ichimura, also worked at the government office during his lifetime. One day, he ends up escorting an old woman who came to the office to her home. The old woman lives with her relative, Sachiko, and that's where Ichimura meets her. Sachiko is a very mysterious woman who does things at her own pace, draws pictures day and night, and doesn't seem to care about what people say to her. Perhaps because of her personality, Sachiko has been divorced once, and has been abandoned by her family and taken refuge with her great-aunt. Sachiko thought that only her great-aunt was kind to her, but in fact, even her great-aunt thought that she was a disgrace to the family.
Ichimura's Episode 2
She was a little strange, but Ichimura was attracted to her and married her after her great-aunt's death. The couple had a daughter named Miyuki, who was good at reading, writing, and arithmetic, but was an unusual girl with an extremely picky diet, and would eat paints and dirt instead of normal meals. Nowadays, she would be diagnosed with a developmental disorder or savant syndrome, but at that time in Japan, the term developmental disorder had not yet taken root, and the doctor diagnosed her with a lack of parental love and that if left untreated, she would die.
Ichimura's Episode ③
Drowning in fear of her child's death, Sachiko goes to a religious group called the "Protection Society" to hear their story, but Sachiko never comes back after going to the Protection Society, and Ichimura goes to the Protection Society but is caught off guard. When Ichimura returns from the Protection Society, Miyuki is bleeding to death. The police arrested Ichimura as the murderer of Miyuki. The autopsy revealed dirt and paint in her stomach, raising suspicions of abuse.
Ichimura's Episode 4
Ichimura was arrested and subjected to torture-like interrogations by the police at the time. Forced to confess through the seemingly endless and brutal interrogations, Ichimura, exhausted both physically and mentally, finally confessed to the crime. Ichimura was sentenced to death. In other words, it was a death sentence due to a false accusation. Because he was sentenced to death on a false charge, Ichimura had the option of not becoming a staff member and instead passing away, but he refused and became a staff member to find out the truth behind his daughter's death and the whereabouts of his wife.
Death Office Homicide Division - Ishima/Ishima Tokuji's Episode
Ishima is a tough-looking man with a shaved head. However, he is full of humanity and lived with his niece Michi while working as a carpenter. Michi's parents have already passed away, and he cherished Michi as if she were family. One day, two brothers were digging up potatoes in Ishima's field. Ishima stopped them and Michi handed them a radish that she had received. The two brothers left with it.
Ishima's Episode 2
Later, when Ishima returned home, he could not find Michi. When Ishima searched the area, he found the two brothers trying to rape Michi. Ishima became enraged and killed one of the brothers with the hoe he had. He chased after the other brother and killed him. Ishima buried the brothers in the mountains. Later, a year after Michi's marriage, her body was found and she confessed, but did not disclose the fact that Michi had been raped. As a result, she was sentenced to death due to the brutality of the crime, and Ishima's death sentence was carried out. Michi was traumatized by the rape, but she lived a happy life.
Death Office: Accidental Death Department - Hayashi/Hayashi Haruya's Episodes
As a boy, Hayashi grew attached to his grandfather, who was an actor, and he grew up training in swordsmanship as part of his plays. However, there was friction with his father. Hayashi himself did not know why his father was treating him so coldly, but on the day of his grandfather's funeral, it was revealed that his real father was his grandfather and that he was born from an affair.
Hayashi's Episode 2
However, with the support of his sister, he was able to recover. When Hayashi was in junior high school, he was expelled from school after punching a female student who was bullying his childhood friend Maria and throwing her out of a second-floor window. With the support of his sister, who had been on his side since the incident with his father, Hayashi decided on his own path and became a kendo instructor, while Maria graduated and became a care worker. Hayashi proposes to Maria and they get married.
Hayashi's Episode ③
Hayashi became a kendo instructor and while teaching his children kendo, he also became a good husband who loved his wife and children. However, for some reason, Hayashi's child did not like him, and Maria, who became his wife, also tried to keep her child away from Hayashi. After that, a man appeared before the couple and asked them to "break up." The child that Hayashi thought was his was actually the child of his lover. Maria was troubled and distressed after learning that Hayashi was her grandfather's son. Because Hayashi was his grandfather's child, his father treated him coldly, and his wife became troubled and started an affair. Upon learning this, something inside Hayashi broke. Hayashi became enraged and killed his lover and wife with a wooden sword, and also killed his daughter. Having taken a total of three lives, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
Death Office - Man-Made Disaster Death Division - Iwashimizu/Naoki Iwashimizu's Episode
Iwashimizu's father decided everything his son did. Not only homework and bedtime, but even what clothes he wore was decided by his father. Iwashimizu, who had been doing this since he was born, took it for granted and did not even question it. Iwashimizu went to a private high school as his father told him to, but failed at university. He blindly believed his father's words that he should not go to any school other than Tokyo University and retake the exam. He failed the exam the following year as well.
Iwashimizu's Episode 2
Iwashimizu's father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was hospitalized. However, Iwashimizu still did not pass the entrance exam to Tokyo University. Iwashimizu's father told him to "live freely" before he died, but Iwashimizu had never made any decisions of his own will in his life, and he had become someone who couldn't do anything without someone's instructions and didn't know how to live.
Iwashimizu's Episode ③
After that, his mother remarried and moved to the countryside, and Iwashimizu, following his late father's teachings, stayed at home and continued studying to get into Tokyo University. However, a fire broke out in the neighboring house and the house burned down. Everything burned down, including his mother's contact information. Iwashimizu, who hated relying on others, became an internet cafe refugee. He was approached by a bad-tempered thug, who made a accusation and extorted him, but he paid the money on the spot and became the thug's money. Iwashimizu, who was naive, did not know how to live on his own or how to suspect someone.
Iwashimizu's Episode ④
How should he live from now on, and how long should he keep paying before he is forgiven? No one will tell him, and he cannot rely on anyone. Iwashimizu is mentally cornered and sets fire to the internet cafe. Even though he killed more than a dozen people, Iwashimizu said he just wanted to get rid of the internet cafe and consistently stated that he had no intention of killing anyone. Iwashimizu doesn't even realize that if he sets fire to the internet cafe, many people will die, and he works at the Death Office without even realizing that he has killed people.
【Death Office】Summary of spoilers about the pasts of employees
We have introduced the pasts of the Death Office employees who were executed. There were various reasons for being executed, some of which were hopelessly sad, and some of which were hopelessly disgusting. However, the pasts of all the employees have not yet been revealed, and some will be revealed in the future. Above all, the past of the main character, Shimura, has not been resolved, so it will be interesting to see how that will turn out!
