It depicts the true story of serial killer Akira Nishiguchi, changing the protagonist's name to Iwao Enokizu.

[2] In the opening scenes, serial killer Iwao Enokizu is taken to a police station, where he is greeted by an angry mob and a huge crowd of journalists.

In a flashback going back to Enokizu's childhood, he is seen as a rebellious, violent child and son of a Catholic father Shizuo, whose fishing boats were forcibly conscripted by the Japanese Navy in the 1930s.

His father and wife go to the top of a mountain to scatter his ashes, but the thrown bones remain hanging in the air.

Jasper Sharp commented, "Both seducing and repelling with its unusual story and grisly humour, Imamura uncovers a seedy underbelly of civilised Japanese society.

"[3] Roger Ebert called the movie "a cry of despair and hopelessness on behalf of its insane hero" and "poignant, tragic and banal enough to deserve the comparison with Crime and Punishment.