Giemon of lnarizaka was executed again?
It doesn't matter how many times they kill him.
He'll just come back to life again.
Giemon isn't human!
He's a kowai!
Kowai! Kowai!
Ogin?!
You think you can go on living?
(Wanting you to just be near, to feel your breath upon my ear)
(Wishing you would call my name, 'Cause only you can light the flame)
Constantly searching, still can't find
Ever illusive peace of mind
Sometimes it's near, but slips away
And I'm faced with another day
Of wanting you... (to feel your breath upon my ear)
...to just be near ('Cause only you can light the flame)
Of wishing you... (to feel your breath upon my ear)
...would call my name, to feel your breath upon my ear
Of wanting you...wishing you... (to feel your breath upon my ear)
Call my name, 'cause only you can light the flame
Yeah, it's true. Even if you kill him, he comes back to life.
This will be the third time that Giemon of lnarizaka is beheaded.
The third time?
He'll probably come back to life this time, too.
That can't be.
The first time was 15 years ago.
The second was 5 years ago.
Everyone in the underworld knows about him.
He's a certified, genuine monster.
So, what's Ogin's connection to this "monster"?
Giemon of lnarizaka is Ogin's vengeance for her parents' death.
She may try to kill him herself...
but this guy's a tough opponent, Mr. Author.
Mr. Retiree?
I've been calling you for a while now.
Oh, Oriku. What's up?
Mr. Heihachi from the rental book store is here to see you.
Oh, Heihachi, huh? I guess he's back in Edo.
Yup! Three days ago.
I was held up for five days crossing the Oh-i River.
Thanks to that, I missed seeing the man of the hour lose his head.
Oh, come on! The biggest villain under the sun!
The head of Giemon of lnarizaka!
You must have seen it, Momosuke!
Y- Yeah. Mr. Tsutaya nagged me into it.
Told me I should see it if I wanted to collect horror stories.
But that head's still rotting out there.
What, didn't you know? It vanished three days ago!
It what?!
That's what you get for keeping yourself in this stuffy room all day!
Some people claim they saw it flying.
Some even say they saw fire shoot from its eyes!
Still... I just can't believe a human could come back to life.
Well, then, let's go look for ourselves.
This is the third day the head's been missing.
Rumor has it Giemon's come back to life...
and has been seen in lnarizaka.
God, I love Edo.
With all the people, you can just smell the life around here!
I'm a little ashamed.
While everyone spends their days living life to the fullest, I'm...
Listen, Mr. Author, how would you feel...
if the normal, everyday world you lived in till yesterday...
was destroyed in a night and turned into hell?
Ogin got to find that out...
when she was just an innocent little girl with her hair in braids.
OUMl-YA
I sympathize with how you've been robbed, ma'am...
but I have a business to run, too.
Please, give a little more time!
If I have to sell the business, how will we be able to live?
What's your name?
Chio.
Little Chio, huh?
Did you see the face of the man who murdered your father?
He had on a black hood.
He dragged my father into the storehouse.
And then the fire started?
The sake caught fire and then... then...
And in the confusion, you ran away?
Look into her eyes.
It was scary, wasn't it?
But you don't have to remember anymore.
See? The fear's vanished from inside your head, hasn't it?
Now you won't have to fear your dreams anymore.
Mr. Author, there are some real monsters living in this world.
No one's coming, huh?
I thought we'd see a few more curious people drawn to something like this.
They must be afraid of the monster.
He definitely won't come out in a conspicuous place like this.
Let's watch from the shadows over there. Come on!
Uh, wait! Heihachi!
Nothing's shown up at all.
Yeah.
Guess it's time to head home.
I guess so. Let's get going.
It... It's here!
What do you know? We had comrades!
- A will-o-the-wisp! - Help me!
It's getting closer!
Y- Yeah.
Curse you, specter! I will mete out your punishment!
That's Lord Kinzou Sasamori of Kitamachi...
the one who caught Giemon!
Ogin!
So it was you who sent that fake letter to Mr. Author...
when he was in Kyoto to lure him back.
It certainly worked out well in our last scheme, didn't it?
It certainly did.
Mataichi, surely you aren't thinking of severing your ties with him now?
Mr. Author isn't suited to live in the darkness.
The boundary between light and darkness is about to break down.
All people carry darkness within their hearts.
It's because they force it into them...
that supernatural things are spreading into this world.
In the first place...
In the first place?
Nothing in this world is truly "mysterious."
Am I not right?
What are you up to now?
Have you forgotten, Trickster?
To whom you owe your being in this world to?
It's not like I have any lingering affections.
In any case, we will continue to use him...
when he is useful to us, as we have until now.
Boss Giemon's come back to life again.
R- Really?!
The boss has given orders.
Yeah. He wants the samurai from Kitamachi...
who caught him, Kizou Sasamori, to be followed!
Giemon is a kowai! Anyone who can cross back over...
into this life out of pure greed is a monster called a kowai!
Giemon has been reborn?!
Impossible! He's dead! Somebody's trying to trick me!
How about it? Join us for a drink, Lord Sasamori?
Um... No, thanks.
Go on! Drink up!
S- Sure.
Sasamori!
What's with this investigation report? Rewrite it!
Y- Yes, sir.
I smell a beast.
What's that about a beast?
What's wrong? Master Sasamori!
According to Nagamimi...
the home where Ogin was born is somewhere around here.
FOOD
Yes, I heard about a robbery there 1 5 years ago.
The shop was completely ruined because of it.
Right, dear?
Oh, yeah. They found the criminal soon after and beheaded him.
Giemon's first execution, huh?
I'm pretty sure the lady who ran the place who was killed...
had a daughter born out of wedlock.
Ogin?
We'd just moved here, so we didn't know them well.
Mrs. Ofuji who worked next door till last year could tell you more...
but she went back home to Numabukuro.
There are some things in the past people don't want others to know.
Mataichi!
Giemon of lnarizaka.
Once, he was a mediator for a public housing official...
named Danzaemon Asakusa.
Public housing official?
Meaning he took care of the homeless here?
Yes. And as a manager...
it was easy to get their weaknesses and secrets.
He exploited them to make the homeless commit crimes for him.
Then Giemon's followers were forced to do it?
Yes. When he was alive, he had no regard for the law.
He stole left and right out of sheer greed.
That's why, even after death...
his attachment to petty things stays with him...
and he's reborn as a monster called a kowai.
Kowai?
One possessed by a kowai becomes a kowai himself.
And there's only one way to escape it.
Ah. So, a friend of yours has come down...
with a strange illness, Master Sasamori?
Yes. A friend of mine.
Indian tradition tells that one who thinks...
he is a beast will actually turn into that beast.
So it's a disease of the spirit, then?
Either that, or the work of a specter.
Impossible! Specters aren't real!
Oh, yes! Master Sasamori, if you don't mind...
I know someone who is well-versed in these matters.
What?
Mr. Retiree! A government official is here to see you!
You haven't done anything wrong, have you?!
At this rate, we'll be working for Giemon for the rest of our lives!
What'll we do?!
There is a way to kill a kowai so that it stays dead.
Am I clear, Master Momosuke? You are to tell nobody of this.
Of course, Lord Sasamori.
And you're sure this will really work?
I can't guarantee it. I just heard about this from someone.
Are we there yet?
I can just see it now.
This is it? Wait here!
IKOMA-YA
It itches... It itches...
There's only one way to escape the curse of a kowai.
You must bathe in the holy hot spring...
that flows from the shrine behind lnarizaka.
There it is!
It's been a long time.
What? Woman, who are you?!
Have you forgotten over these past 15 years...
the face of the woman you killed?
What?!
I'll never forget that mole on your forehead.
Impossible! You're that... No, it can't be!
How dare you kill me!
Damn you, monster!
Prepare yourself!
W- Wait. This water is...
Who's the monster here?
"Giemon of lnarizaka" isn't a person.
He's a construct.
Construct?
The real Giemon was Ogin's own father.
What?!
There was a man who used Giemon's name...
to use those homeless people for his own profit.
Giemon reported it to the authorities, but he ended up being arrested.
The man murdered Ogin's mother and framed her father for it.
He then poisoned her father to make him look like a monster...
preventing a proper investigation, and had him executed.
In the end, he was just a body-double for the real killer.
He stole the severed head and "Giemon" was brought back to life.
That's your "unkillable monster."
The homeless will be the most shocked.
They kept receiving orders from the supposedly dead Giemon.
What's scarier than that?
But how did he survive the second beheading?
As time passed, his fearsomeness faded.
Giemon had to reinforce the idea that he was unkillable.
It didn't matter if he pulled the same trick twice.
By the way, this time we took the initiative.
We stole the head before he could and began spreading rumors.
I see. You produced that will-o-the-wisp so that Ogin...
Kinzou Sasamori...
now the man who controls who gets into and out of public housing.
What better way to learn the weaknesses of the homeless?
Prepare to die!
- Monster! - Monster!
What on earth are they doing?!
To the next world, we commit Thee!
Be sure to burn him now, so he can never come back to life.
You're so lucky!
The regular world is hell and being a prostitute is hell.
Better to take the choice where you get pretty clothes to wear.
There, see how pretty you look?
Osome! Can you come here for a second?
Try doing it yourself now.
In the end, this world is only temporary. And yet...
Live as best you can.
Oh, yes! I remember it all very well!
Really, ma'am?!
Was it 5 years ago? No, it was 15 years ago!
Yes, it was a terribly hot summer's night.
Or was it spring?
That poor little girl was killed along with her mother.
She couldn't have been more than 10. Such a cute girl.
I'd become very attached to her!
That can't be! The girl couldn't have been killed.
Are you sure you aren't mistaken?
What? Somebody died?
I don't want to hear that.
I have a few years left in me, you know!
I'm sure my daughter-in-law...
wants me to go sooner rather than later.
Wind chimes whisper soft and sweet
Though there's not a hint of a breeze
Moonlight dancing on the garden walk
As it gently drifts through the trees
Romance takes flight on this perfect night
While all of the world lays sleeping
Find us here as we feel the moment of love
Draw near
Dream, sleep, with your hand in mine
Underneath a blanket of stars
Song birds singing in a distant glade
As we share the warmth of the dawn
Evil and ambition scatter in the darkness...
Ieaving behind dubious rumors to fly in public.
Life in the light, light in life.
The resentment of a woman in the shadows is deep.
By arson, murder, and blackmail...
she dirties the light. And the reason for it?
Next time, on Natsuhiko Kyogoku's "Requiem From the Darkness:"
Hi-No-Enma. (Flames of Desire)
To the next world, we commit Thee!