Citizens who do not agree with the National prosperity law and who publicly voice their opinions are accused of "thought crime."

The film follows Kengo as he delivers Ikigami to three citizens: a rising musician debuting in the music industry but struggling with leaving his friend behind as a busker, a shut-in who is the son of a council woman who supports the law whole-heartedly and attempts to use her son's upcoming death to gain sympathy votes, and a working-class debt collector who is about to take his blind sister out of the orphanage she lives in now that he is finally financially secure.

Towards the end of the film Kengo walks past a school where the year ones are entering; there are nurses encouraging children to have their inoculations.

Kengo sees the man who was taken from his Ikigami deliverance training, standing in a lab coat encouraging the children to get their inoculations, supporting the brainwashing theory.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, written and illustrated by Motoro Mase, was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday from January 27, 2005,[3] to July 31, 2008, when the magazine ceased its publication.