It has been adapted into an anime series, Top Secret ~The Revelation~ (秘密(トップ·シークレット) 〜The Revelation〜), by Madhouse and broadcast in Japan on NTV between April 8, 2008 and September 30, 2008.
[3][4] The story takes place five decades from now when brain scanners have been perfected to the point that the government can retrieve up to five years' worth of memories from people's minds — even if they are dead.
The investigators of the National Research Institute of Police Science's 9th Forensics Laboratory must weigh the ethical choices in the ultimate invasion of privacy as they delve into people's minds to solve crimes.
He used to be more open but became closed off after having to shoot his best friend and colleague, Suzuki during an investigation into the Kainuma murder case.
The case also takes out the whole Ninth unit except Maki at the time, with his other subordinates dying and only one left to survive although he becomes incapacitated.
It is later revealed in episodes 12-13 that he saved a man from starvation but this man became obsessed with Maki and became a serial murder who murdered 28 boys while alive before committing suicide and hypnotizing ten other boys to commit suicide (though one survives) as these boys all looked like Maki and he wanted to torture and make them suffer the way he wanted to make Maki suffer because he loved and hated him.
He is initially conscious of Aoki due to his similarities to the late Suzuki, but he also favors him among the newcomers and grows closer to him throughout the series.
He also constantly wears a bulletproof vest underneath his suit to ensure that if he is killed, it has to be via a shot to the head, essentially destroying his brain from being misused.
Maki quits the Ninth and heads the MRI Development International Project (MDIP) in New York after the final showdown with Takizawa.
When his sister and brother-in-law are murdered, Aoki accepts the reality that being an investigator in the Ninth comes with a safety risk, extending to his loved ones.
Viewing Suzuki's memories exposes himself to the Kainuma case but like Maki, Aoki overcomes the challenges to stay sane and alive.
He also volunteers to be infected with a deadly virus, just to catch a killer, despite being told off by Maki that their unit does not deal with active police work.
While investigating the household massacre case and Maki suggests that it is the work of a copycat killer inspired by an old tv show the killer watched, Aoki begins to dream of Suzuki's memories involving Yukiko, and at times he confuses himself as Suzuki, even dreaming of proposing to Yukiko.
He expresses his wish to spend everyday together even for a short time, calling Maki as someone like a family.
She is a 35-year-old formidable woman and doctor/ medical examiner of Section One who has a strange habit of falling asleep on autopsy tables and refers to the deceased as her "lovers".
She is strong, independent, stubborn to a fault and a formidable opponent with martial arts experience.
A scientist in charge of setting up, programming and monitoring the MRI that connects to the victim's brains and shows the images they saw through their memories during their life.
It is revealed that in order to spare Maki the grief and guilt of having been indirectly responsible for inspiring a man to become a serial murderer, Suzuki decided to look at the criminal's mind.
A stuck up self-centered man who wishes to use MRI to his own benefit and vice Director of Section Nine and leader of the Committee and does not care about the well-being of others, even once sending criminals to suicide as part of an experiment.
[7] The fourth volume of Himitsu – Top Secret was ranked 4th on the Tohan charts between January 29 and February 4, 2008.
[8] The fifth volume of Himitsu – Top Secret was ranked 5th on the Tohan Charts between July 29 and August 4, 2008.
[10][11] The seventh volume of Himitsu – Top Secret was ranked 11th on the Tohan charts between October 26 and November 1, 2009,[12] and 28th the following week.