Mad Humans

Mad Humans
Operation: Mystery, episode 24
Information
Airdate	February 23, 1969
Directed by	Kazuho Mitsuta
Written by	Hiroyasu Yamaura
Special Effects Directed by	Toru Matoba
Continuity
Previous	The Cursed Jar
Next	I Will Buy Kyoto

Mad Humans is the twenty-fourth episode of Operation: Mystery.

The episode was included on VHS tapes released in 1984 and LaserDisc in 1991. However, after its rebroadcast on January 28, 1985, it was not aired again. In 1995, Beam Entertainment, a subsidiary of Bandai Visual, announced the release of the complete series, including this episode, in an LD-BOX. However, on the day of release, instructions were issued by the distributor to cease sales and immediately return the product, so technically, the product did not enter the market. Since then, episode 24 has been considered "missing", with no information disclosed to the public. To this day, no audiovisual software includes this episode.

The exact reason for the absence of Episode 24 remains unclear. Some speculations in publications not reviewed by Tsuburaya Productions suggest it may be related to "depictions of mentally disturbed individuals" or "frequent use of discriminatory language."

Synopsis

One evening, Yukiko, wearing a crazed smile, committed murder. Although she was arrested due to severe mental illness, Article 39, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code stipulates that "the acts of the mentally ill shall not be punished." Just two months later, Yukiko was discharged from the psychiatric hospital as her mental condition improved.

Similar crimes were committed by other psychiatric patients, who were also soon released. The police and SRI found this series of events suspicious and began to investigate.

Cast

• Shiro Maki : Shin Kishida
• Kyosuke Misawa : Homare Suguro
• Tadashi Matoya : Yasumi Hara
• Hiroshi Nomura : Seiji Matsuyama
• Saori Ogawa : Reiko Kobashi
• Taizo Machida : Akiji Kobayashi

Guest Actors

• Saeko Mikawa : Yuriko Hime
• Katsuji Sasaoka
• Yukiko : Ryoko Wada
• Japanese Sword Madman : Senkichi Omura
• Sayoko Mizuno
• Loan Shark : Eisuke Yoda
• Rifle Gun Madman : Masanori Irie
• Kosuke Sugita
• Yoshiko Hayashi
• Inn Man : Keisuke Yamada
• Yuko Shin
• Theater Group Henshin

Gallery

LaserDisc

Announcement Released by Beam Entertainment in 1995

Trivia

• This episode involves Article 39 of the Penal Code of Japan, which states that "Crimes committed by individuals with mental or physical abnormalities shall not be subject to punishment" and "Crimes committed by individuals with mental or physical defects shall be subject to reduced punishment".
• The initial concept of the episode was centered around Misawa, but it was later discovered that the actor playing Misawa, Homare Suguro, only had half a day available in his schedule. Therefore, when the script was printed on January 16, 1969, it was changed to feature Maki as the main character.
• In the script, SRI devised a dramatic plan and fabricated an accident where Maki's "pretend lover" died in a traffic accident to lure the elusive Saeko for investigation. The fugitive who caused Maki's "pretend lover" to be killed by a car was originally portrayed by Misawa, while the one who saved Misawa from being chased by the brainwave modulator-controlled Maki was Nomura. However, due to Homare Suguro's busy schedule, in the final production, their roles were replaced by Nomura and a police officer. The above plot was included in the planning stage of the final script.
• The song Saeko Mikaway was humming by the iron-barred window in the isolation ward of the psychiatric hospital was "Nanatsu no Ko," with lyrics by Ujo Noguchi.
• Some scenes in this episode were filmed at the home of Shin Kishida, who portrayed Maki, located within Zuishō-ji in the Minato Ward of Tokyo. Kishida also actively participated in the production of this episode.

Mention of episode 24 on the Tokyo MX official website

• On May 29, 2006, during the re-airing of Operation: Mystery on Tokyo MX Television, the title of episode 24 was listed in the scheduled broadcast column and on the official website, accompanied by a plot summary and images from the episode. However, the following day, these descriptions were removed, and a different program aired on June 27th instead.