High school student Azusa jumps off from the rooftop of a school building, but she survives. One month later, the school is taken over by group of people wearing bizarre masks. A pregnant teacher is imprisoned, while the head director of the school and male students disappear. Azusa then finds pieces of a puzzle in an envelope given to her by classmate Shigeo. The puzzle pieces holds the key to solve the case. Azusa chases after Shigeo and she sees something which is unimaginable.
Direction
Naito weaponizes empty school halls into claustrophobic dread.
Practical Effects
Those masks will live rent-free in your nightmares.
Editing
Ruthless 85-minute runtime that refuses to let you breathe.
Director
Eisuke Naito
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Eisuke Naito adapted this from his own novel, written while he was still a university student obsessed with bullying's psychological mechanics.
The 'puzzle' structure directly references Japanese 'karoshi' and school bullying (ijime) scandals of the 2000s, where institutional silence became complicity.
JP
