Active Raid

You know,

I just don't get what Funasaka-san's saying.

Does he really have to get mad, just because I put my underwear

on top of that weird fish-animal?

I figured it would be rude to put them on the desk or the chair!

It's...

It's?

A giant monster...

That's a hologram... Right?

If it were real, everyone would be screaming.

Is it an ad for something?

The way it just moved...

Uh, what is that an ad for?

You're an idiot sometimes, aren't you, Kuroki-kun?

In the future,

when something happens beyond the normal police's capacity,

they turn to the power of the ACTIVE project.

This is the story of Japan's ACTIVE, the Third Mobile Assault Unit.

File 6: Rudra Strikes Back

I'm in front of the old Shinjuku city hall, where an explosion occurred yesterday.

Police say what happened last night was a combination of audio equipment,

Unit 8

several dozen 3-D projectors, as well as explosive devices.

No one's claimed credit, and the goal is unknown.

The old city hall was already being dismantled,

It's amazing, no matter how many times I see it.

Giant monsters are one of Japan's biggest contributions

so miraculously, no one was injured.

to world culture.

You're very knowledgeable, Emilia-chan.

All right, goodbye.

Boss,

the Shinjuku PS is requesting aid for its investigation.

Witnesses report that a Willwear assembled the projectors.

All right.

After something this big, we need to arrest the responsible parties!

No, that's impossible.

The crime's prime suspect is already dead, according to the Shinjuku PS.

They know who it was?

So it seems.

Is the man behind it—

Huh? Was today trash day?

No. Funasaka-san...

Yes?

Was the prime suspect

the movie director Kadoyama Hiromitsu?

Oh? How did you know?

The Kadoyama Growl.

Kadoyama Growl?

When the monster roared, it moved in a very unique way, right?

Oh, you mean this?

These motions are something

Director Kadoyama incorporated from kabuki.

Are you a giant monster fan?

I don't know much about them.

I just know a bit about Director Kadoyama.

That's right...

Hiromitsu Kadoyama was the last maestro of giant monster movies

of the Heisei period.

I am certain

that Director Kadoyama created that hologram.

But his being behind this must be some mistake.

But the police were sent production notes by Director Kadoyama

that could be interpreted as a claim of credit.

The delivery date was set in advance.

So he shipped them before he died?

What did the notes say?

"Rudra, the giant monster, will burn the land of my revenge to ash."

That's pretty nuts.

No, it must be some mistake!

But he was arrested before his death.

Chief, may I get permission to cooperate with the investigation?

As a civilian?

What do we do in these cases, again?

The law's been changed, so it's no problem.

That's right.

If we want to be sure, we should also send Emilia-chan.

We'll say it's part of her training.

Kadoyama

Kadoyama-san lived alone and had no relatives.

We just started the paperwork to turn this house over to the government.

He wasn't the kind of guy to...

No, that's what we're looking into.

Was there anything different

or strange about him?

Let me see...

Sena-san, I found a work contract.

He was very active just before his death.

It's for a New Zealand CG studio.

I can't say much about his activities outside, though...

And then a German...

3-D projection mapping?

What do you mean by "outside"?

He paid for the whole amount himself

Well, his work, I suppose.

He was away from the house all the time.

to make several minutes of footage.

He didn't seem to me like the kind of guy that people would dislike...

Project R

Project R?

Still, this house has quite an old-fashioned design... Or maybe I should say "retro."

Looks like a scenario document.

Yes...

Great Monster Rudra

"Great Monster Rudra."

Before his death,

Director Kadoyama was dealing with former Minister of Economics Mouri Takerou.

He wanted him to fund a movie project.

Come to think of it,

the Economics Ministry just started a support program...

Kadoyama Hiromitsu

It was a typical government project in the same vein

as the Cool Japan program decades ago, which sought to make

Japan's "coolness" known overseas.

But many individuals and companies applied, and no one was approved.

The only one awarded funding was

a projection-mapping project to support restorations,

run by a company associated with Minister Mouri.

The project they tried after Orochi was fixed?

I heard that didn't go so well.

It seems that two-thirds of the money went back into his pockets.

That happens a lot, but it's still horrible.

Kadoyama Hiromitsu

A year before his death, Kadoyama-san

was told that he had six months to live.

He planned for this to be his last, and greatest, work.

But Minister Mouri's treatment of him was terrible.

Minister of Economics and Industry

At least read it.

It's a giant monster movie, but not like any that have been made before.

It's a new—

I told you already,

we can't trust a freelancer.

Make your request through this company.

Please, Mouri-san...

You yelled at the company I introduced you to.

But they wanted sixty percent of the budget

for their own profit. That's crazy.

It's not crazy!

Every company wants to make a profit.

You're not taking that budget for yourself—

Leave! You're wasting my time!

Mouri-san, what's wrong with it?

I got a trustworthy company to support me.

I will decide whether

it's trustworthy or not, fool.

That's the problem with people into sci-fi and—

What did you say, you ass?!

Got a problem, old man?

Arrest him! Arrest him!

Stop!

Let me go!

Mouri!

In the end, not only was his request denied,

but the basic idea was stolen and used for a restoration-support event.

So it was ripped off?!

Project R

The idea was.

The actual event was garbage.

He said in his diary that it made him angry.

Was that his motive?

Revenge on Tokyo for stealing his work?

Then he'd target the former minister directly.

That's true...

Professor: The real destruction is yet to come.

"The real destruction is yet to come."

In the scenario that Director Kadoyama wrote himself,

a biologist looks at the destroyed city hall and says this:

"The real destruction is yet to come.

A destruction sufficient to crush a great city."

And three days later, this is what the scenario says.

"Commander! Rudra appeared again!"

Where?

Where?

The data in the scenario ends there.

It ends?

Soldier: Commander! Commander: Where?! Continued in Other File

It seems he kept the climax in another, top-secret file.

If his real revenge is just about to begin...

Bad news, everyone.

What is it, Funasaka-san?

We've found where the explosives at the old city hall came from.

The brand name is "Image Master."

Those got into Japan?!

I'm told the mafia smuggled them in

and hid them in an abandoned building in the quicksand district.

So they were stolen?

Yes, last month.

And the real problem is the amount.

The last explosion used 0.2 tons.

But 400 tons were stolen!

Two thousand times the last one?

If they were all used...

Tokyo would be annihilated.

Let's go talk to the film crew!

There might be a hint to the next location!

Impossible.

Why?

If this follows the scenario, the real explosion takes place in two days.

We can't reach the staff scattered around the world that quickly.