TV-Series
Description
Shinji Oki resides in the unit below Minare Koda. He has short black hair, blue eyes, and wears square-framed glasses. Primarily quiet and possessing common sense, his life unravels following the disappearance of his girlfriend, Ritsuko Azohara, whom he met on a Dogashima hot springs bus tour in Tokyo.
Convinced Ritsuko is dead and haunting him, Shinji performs superstitious rituals like placing salt in corners and warding ceremonies. His distress peaks when he observes a drop of blood falling into a glass during one ritual. He contacts Minare by fax, expressing his belief in a curse and that Ritsuko intends to drag him to the afterlife.
Hearing his cries, Minare and her colleague Mizuho investigate his apartment. They find over a hundred wards plastered on the ceiling and walls to prevent Ritsuko's return. During their visit, a growling sound emerges, a stench of decay fills the room, and a substance resembling blood drips from the ceiling, intensifying Shinji's panic. He recounts his relationship with Ritsuko, revealing they never "crossed the line" intimately. He describes passing out naked at an isolated co-ed hot spring during winter and awakening near Gaga hot spring. Ritsuko was never found despite extensive searches.
Minare discovers the dripping substance originates from leaking water pipes upstairs mixed with decaying meat stored in plastic bags within the crawl space, creating the liquid seeping through Shinji's ceiling. Police later confirm the meat was old processed mutton left behind by Minare, not human remains. Shinji is arrested based on Minare's initial assumption of foul play, repeatedly asserting his innocence. He later drops the charges against Minare after she publicly apologizes during a live radio broadcast.
In later developments, Shinji and Ritsuko reunite, though their relationship remains unstable. Ritsuko wanders toward the MRS radio station with no memory of her reasons. Shinji encounters a fortune teller who claims she can recover Ritsuko's lost memories; this fortune teller and her partner, a spiritual counselor, have potential ties to a cult, suggesting ongoing complications. His name "Shinji" combines the characters for "advance, make progress" and "next," while his surname "Oki" translates to "offshore, open sea, ocean."
Convinced Ritsuko is dead and haunting him, Shinji performs superstitious rituals like placing salt in corners and warding ceremonies. His distress peaks when he observes a drop of blood falling into a glass during one ritual. He contacts Minare by fax, expressing his belief in a curse and that Ritsuko intends to drag him to the afterlife.
Hearing his cries, Minare and her colleague Mizuho investigate his apartment. They find over a hundred wards plastered on the ceiling and walls to prevent Ritsuko's return. During their visit, a growling sound emerges, a stench of decay fills the room, and a substance resembling blood drips from the ceiling, intensifying Shinji's panic. He recounts his relationship with Ritsuko, revealing they never "crossed the line" intimately. He describes passing out naked at an isolated co-ed hot spring during winter and awakening near Gaga hot spring. Ritsuko was never found despite extensive searches.
Minare discovers the dripping substance originates from leaking water pipes upstairs mixed with decaying meat stored in plastic bags within the crawl space, creating the liquid seeping through Shinji's ceiling. Police later confirm the meat was old processed mutton left behind by Minare, not human remains. Shinji is arrested based on Minare's initial assumption of foul play, repeatedly asserting his innocence. He later drops the charges against Minare after she publicly apologizes during a live radio broadcast.
In later developments, Shinji and Ritsuko reunite, though their relationship remains unstable. Ritsuko wanders toward the MRS radio station with no memory of her reasons. Shinji encounters a fortune teller who claims she can recover Ritsuko's lost memories; this fortune teller and her partner, a spiritual counselor, have potential ties to a cult, suggesting ongoing complications. His name "Shinji" combines the characters for "advance, make progress" and "next," while his surname "Oki" translates to "offshore, open sea, ocean."