Synopsis

Based on a novel by Kusakabe Yo.
Drawing on the author’s own experience – having served as a medical officer at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs before continuing to work on the front lines of end-of-life care as a home-visit physician – this work grapples with themes that are eerily continuous with contemporary Japanese society as it enters a super-aging era, evoking a future that feels just half a step away.
 
In this work, a physician is portrayed as he steps into the perilous space between rationality and madness in his pursuit of ideals, through a controversial treatment centered on so-called haiyoshin – limbs rendered permanently unrecoverable due to paralysis or similar conditions. Among elderly residents attending a day-care facility in a certain town, a groundbreaking treatment begins to spread quietly. By performing amputation, the procedure is said to produce unexpected positive side effects, with patients reporting that they “feel lighter both physically and mentally” and that their “formerly harsh personalities have become gentler.”
 
After catching wind of these rumors, editor Yagura senses the potential for a revolution in geriatric medicine and approaches clinic director Urushihara (Sometani Shota) with a proposal to publish a book about the treatment. However, an internal whistleblower report concerning the day-care facility leaks to a weekly magazine. Then, following an incident at a patient’s home, everything takes a sudden and ominous turn.