Mail 2005 Horror Movie Review

Detective Akiba, a private investigator specializing in supernatural phenomenon, mades a living freeing people from the troublesome ghosts that haunt them.  In fact, he receives messages through the Mail from spirits who are unable to detach themselves from their former earthly existence.  With psychic powers and a custom-made pistol, known as a Kagutsuchi (this is the name for the Japanese god of fire), Akiba seeks them out and sets them back on the cycle of death and re-birth.  Through these so-called ascensions, he facilitates the transmigration of the soul.  During a standard call one day, he meets Mikoto, a quixotic young girl who takes a sudden interest in him and insists on becoming his assistant.  Mikoto’s sudden appearance in his life seems to accelerate his own date with destiny, leading to a confrontation with his past and a discovery that puts his career path into perspective.  As the tally of exorcised spirits climbs, Akiba’s forgotten past gradually begins to return to him in glimpses.  But it is with the 100th ascension that his memory is to become fully unlocked.  Only then will he recall why he possesses the spirit pistol, Kagutsuchi, or why he has suppressed certain incidents fro his childhood.  Perhaps it will even shed some light on this relationship with Mikoto.  The shroud of mystery that surrounds Akiba gradually unravels through nine ghostly chapters, concluding with a romantic twist.