Yasuko Sawaguchi stars in the Getsuku drama "Absolute Zero: Emergency Investigation of Information Crimes" (Fuji TV, Mondays at 9pm). The synopsis and stills from the third episode, which will air on October 20th, have been released.
Mizuhara Akito (Kobayashi Sanjuro), the president of Mizuhara Manufacturing, a small factory struggling with poor business performance, seeks help from Kamimura Motoya (Matsuoka Kodai), a tax accountant introduced to him by the Chamber of Commerce.
Uemura advises Mizuhara to seek outside help and proposes a merger with the financially well-funded Nebs Corporation. Nebs' president, Masato Okuda (Yuu Machida), agrees to the proposal. Mizuhara is relieved that he can maintain business, but a few days later, all the money in the factory's account disappears. With no funds and only debts, Mizuhara commits suicide.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Saso Shinjiro (Ken Yasuda Ken) has his eye on Michifumi Kurosawa (Imai Kiyotaka), the leader of the religious corporation Luminous, which established Kurosawa Holdings, the parent company of the corporation. He is a villain who tricks his followers into buying expensive products and offers "succession business" to companies struggling with a lack of successors and financial difficulties, thereby stealing their money.
There have been multiple reports of similar damage to Mizuhara Manufacturing, and Saso instructs Hiroshi Hayami (Yohei Matsukado), head of the Information Crime Special Task Force (DICT), to investigate. Nami Ninomiya (Sawaguchi) and Mutsuo Minakata (Hayate Ichinose) visit a Japanese confectionery shop that was affected and interview the victim. This shop has also merged with Okuda's company, and it was Uemura who introduced Okuda to the shop owner.
Minamikata is shocked by this fact. Uemura was a friend of Minamikata's from university. As Minamikata continues his investigation with mixed feelings, he arrives at a certain truth.
The drama is the fifth in the "Absolute Zero" series. It is set at the DICT, an investigative agency that investigates information crimes that abuse advanced information technology to threaten the lives and property of citizens. They tackle a variety of information crimes, from special frauds typified by anonymous and mobile crimes (tokuryu) to cyberterrorism, ranging from everyday crimes affecting people's lives to large-scale crimes that threaten national security.
