Manatsu no hôteishiki

What a story this is! One of theme is fairly obvious - protection, whatever the cost.

For those uninitiated, this is a one-off movie/special from a TV series about a physics professor helping the police to solve difficult cases. And the original stories came from a various novels.

This one opens with the Professor travelling to s small town. The town is on the verge of redevelopment but is opposed by environmental concerns - to 'protect' the ocean. The professor stays at a small local inn where a death occurs. An ex-cop no less. Then as he gets intertwined with a little local boy he unravelled a series of 'events', passed or present from this death.

The story is a bit heartbreaking, but I think the message comes through loud and clear. Although the message is nothing new, and occurs very often in this type of crime/drama, the way it was handle was fairly well. There are a couple of places where sentimentality could have been more restrained. Other then that, no complaints.