July 13, 1983.
In the upper-middle-class suburbs of Aoyama, just outside of Adachi, Tokyo, a young man's murderous and twisted fantasies are taking shape in his head. They're beginning to manifest themselves in reality. The young man was Tohru Akagi, a 17-year-old, second-year student at Aoyama High School. In his journal, he intends to commit a murder so violent and shocking that it will secure his place in history.
"Someday, I'll show the world what I'm made of. I want to make people who have bullied me in the past wish that they never fucked with me. If I've learned from seeing news coverage on serial killers, it's that they're all dumb. They had committed murders for their own gain, but that won't be me. I want to leave a lasting impact on the world."
…
Thirteen months later, from April 21 to August 9, Tohru Akagi and another student at Aoyama, Mika Hoshizora, would make that a reality. By committing, at the time, the most violent and horrific case of juvenile delinquency and murders in post-war Japan, killing 24 people (9 adults, 10 of their peers, and 5 young children) before ending their lives after being exposed to law enforcement. It left the town of Aoyama shocked, confused, and saddened and caused panic throughout Japan as they tried to figure out why two teenagers snapped and committed mass murder. Was it the neglect from adult authorities, family life at home, persistent bullying, hatred toward the school system, peer pressure, mental illness, or the influence of violent media? The answer is all of them and none of them; we do not know, and we might not ever know. What rational justification could there be for carrying out such an atrocity and doing so at such a young age? For years, the horror of their crimes has defied any explanation. But from the accounts of students, teachers, police, parents, siblings, and doctors, it is possible to reconstruct a fuller picture of Aoyama from events before and during the murders and the circumstances that saw and ended with two 18-year-old youths—both with bright and promising futures ahead of them—to throw it all away to take the lives of 24 innocent people.
End of Prelude.
