Aibou TV Season 7 Episode 16 - Woman Whose Hair Was Cut(髪を切られた女)

Subtitle: Woman Whose Hair Was Cut(髪を切られた女)

 Constable Serizawa from Trio the Sōichi sneaks into the Tokumeigakari office alone to ask Inspector Ukyō for his help finding out if the constable's high school friend's fiancee was killed by a serial killer who was active a year ago. That serial killer, who chose all of his victims from the suburbs of Saitama Prefecture, used a knife to cut off and take a lock of hair from his three victims. Inspector Ukyō recalls that the case ended with the suicide of the suspect, but there are rumors going around the real suspect is still at large...

Locations

St. Heim Suginami(セントハイム杉並) - The name of apartment where Natsuko lived.

Kyōei Tōkyō Satsueijo(共映東京撮影所) - Kyōei Tokyo Studio. Director Kawashima is filming his latest movie at this movie studio. On the day Natsuko died, the Kawashima staff had been using water at the studio. They experienced a blackout for about fifteen minutes.

Golden Gai(ゴールデン街 Gōrudengai) - A small area in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The location is famous both as an area of architectural interest and for its nightlife.

Flight(飛翔 Hishō) - The name of the bar Director Kawashima supposedly was drinking at the time when Natsuko died. The bartender there says that the director drinks two to three cups of bourbon straight every time he visits the bar, which is two or three times a week.

Characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Toshio Kawashima(川島 敏夫) - Veteran movie director from Saitama Prefecture. His previous works include Superintendent Kakuta's favorite Heartless Tears(無情の涙 Mujō No Namida) and Dark Green Light(深緑の光 Fukamidori No Hikari). Books about him include Footsteps of the Masters(巨匠の足跡 Kyoshō No Ashiato) and Steal from This Person 7(この人から盗め 7 Kono Hito Kara Nusume 7). According to Superintendent Kakuta, the director's works aren't flashy, but his works have a storyline that makes sense.

Six years ago, he was shooting a scene from the movie Light Nap(微睡 Madoromi) when one of the extras, a wind surfer, died after being swept away by the ocean waves. Since then, he had not directed any movies, but recently, he decided to try directing Madoromi once more. He even went to the Agency of Cultural Affairs to obtain grant money for this film.

Natsuko was a big fan of Director Kawashima, and she was helping him with this movie. She typed up and hand delivered scripts to the studio, staying to talk to the director many times. She also dropped by the studio on the day she died to deliver a revised script, though the director recalls that he didn't see her that day.

The movie staff experience rainy weather day after day, keeping them from shooting the final scene of the film. Other members of the staff discuss rewriting the script to change that scene. Director Kawashima, however, insists on keeping that scene the same as the previous attempt, even though the extra was killed while trying to film that scene, saying the scene is critical to the film.

Kaori Nakagawa(中川 香織) - Assistant director. She says that she doesn't remember when Natsuko left the day Natsuko died, though Natsuko probably left by 6 PM.

She does not wear high heels at work.

Itaru Asai(浅井 至) - In charge of the art direction for many of Director Kawashima's films, including this one.

Kōichi Nagasawa(長澤 浩一) - In charge of the camera for many of Director Kawashima's films, including this one.

Shinya Tada(多田 信也) - Producer who wears glasses.

He confesses that Director Kawashima is actually finished as a director.The director would sleep during filming sessions and leave when he wakes up. When the director comes back, he would be dead drunk.

Natsuko Mimura(三村 奈津子) - Akiyama's colleague and girlfriend. She was a big fan of Director Kawashima. One day, she wanted to write her own screen play. She started working at the Bunkō Printing Company(文光印刷社) so that she would get opportunities to read various scripts the company printed for movie studios. Recently, she hadn't been sleeping much, saying that she was writing a screen play she was going to submit to a screenwriting contest.

On 2/15, she drowned in her bathroom between between 6 and 9:30 PM. Chilblains were found on her fingers and cream for dealing with chilblains were also found in her room. The local police department concluded that her death was not suspicious, and her body was not autopsied. Constable Serizawa did notice that a clump of her hair had been cut off during her funeral.

She posted posters from various movies directed by Director Kawashima in her room including the 1983 movie Dash of the Heat Haze(陽炎の疾走 Kagerō no shissō) and the 1988 movie Early Summer Story(初夏物語 Shoka Monogatari), but for some reason, she did not have a poster of the director's famous work, Heartless Tears(無情の涙 Mujō No Namida). There was a a blank space on the wall, just big enough for a poster to have been posted there. She also had a script for a movie called Afternoon Gloom (暗がりの午後 Kuragari no Gogo) in her room.

On the day she died she worked until 4 PM then went to Kyōei Tokyo Studio to meet Director Kawashima. The security camera pointed at her apartment's entrance door did not record her coming back that night. The camera was momentarily blinded by a car's headlights around 9:45 PM, obscuring anyone who passed in front of the camera at that time.

Later, Inspector Ukyō and Constable Serizawa find a high heel shoe print underwater at the movie set where Madoromi was being filmed. Natsuko's high heel shoes matched that shoe print. There were no signs of struggle in the area however.

Takayuki Akiyama(秋山 孝之) - Bunkō Printing Company(文光印刷社) employee and Constable Serizawa's classmate from high school.