Himitsu Top Secret is a Japanese manga masterpiece by Reiko Shimizu. Himitsu Top Secret borders on the mystery, psychological and science fiction categories. It was serialized in Hakusensha’s josei magazine, the Melody on December 2001. As of today, the manga still continues with its chapter collected in 9 tankobon volumes so far. It was later adapted for a 26-episode anime television series under the direction of Hiroshi Aoyama. Together with splendid work of Satoshi Suzuki (series composer and screenplay writer), Atsuko Ishizuka (storyboard and episode director), Kyuma Oshita (character design and chief animation director) and Tomoyuki Shimizu (art director), they were able to bring out the potential of the anime. It was produced by Madhouse Studios and broadcasted all over Japan on NTV network on April 2008 which ended shortly on September 2008. Himitsu Top Secret was recommended for the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival. Its volumes were ranked several times on the Tohan Manga Charts.
Set in a futuristic Japan, in an era when brain scanners have been perfected to a point where governments are able to retrieve information, memories and data 5 years in the past. They are even able to recheck a dead person’s memories back in the 5-year time period. In the present time, murders are no longer solved through severe scrutiny under investigations but using the memories of the long lost dead. The Forensic Investigation Office of Section Nine specializes in these types of research. They remove the brains of the dead victims in order to examine the dead person’s last moments of his life in order to determine a suspect and motive for the murder. Even though the relatives of the dead victim opposes to this kind of investigation, they can hardly do anything as it must be done to bring the criminals to justice. Despite their good intentions, even the investigators themselves feel it is something unethical and immoral in doing so, making internal conflicts within themselves harder to deal with rather than the actual deed itself. The story revolves around the story’s protagonist, Aoki Ikko as he goes through his life dealing with crime and injustice and going through a dead man’s memories to find clues about his murder. As he tries to take down the bastards responsible for the crimes, he is left doubting himself whether he is doing the right thing or bad despite the means. As the crimes escalate, the investigators of the National Research Institute of the Police Forensics Laboratory must now weigh the ethical choices provided to them in the ultimate invasion of privacy as they delve into the minds of the dead victims to solve crimes.
