Asako is called to a prison where Akiko is being held for the murder of her own brother. To Asako, Akiko recounts events from the past 15 years of her life since Emili was murdered. At some point, Akiko decided she ought to live like a bear. She spends her days shut in her bedroom at her parents house, escaping into a dreamlike existence. Akiko's brother returns unexpectedly from Tokyo with a new wife and stepdaughter, Wakaba. Out one day in town with Wakaba, Akiko spots her brother giving money to a young schoolgirl. Memories of the past reemerge. Akiko is sent to her brother's home to deliver something to Wakaba. Upon arriving, Wakaba's mother is stone cold drunk in the kitchen while, in the next room, Akiko finds her brother playing a bit too tenderly with his stepdaughter. Akiko puts an end to it. Back in the prison, Asako questions whether Akiko committed this act out of penance to Asako or only for herself. ABOUT THE SERIES Japanese master of suspense Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s eerie, intense psychological thriller Penance (Shokuzai) unfolds on a sleepy small town playground, when a mysterious stranger approaches a group of young friends, then kidnaps and brutally murders one of the girls. Wracked with grief, the victim’s unhinged mother Asako (Kyoko Koizumi) demands that the shaken survivors identify the killer or face a penance of her choosing. Growing up in the shadow of this tragic debt, each of the four girls cultivates a warped survival mechanism – avoidance, desperation, fear, and obsession. A disturbing, sensitively helmed chronicle of post-traumatic stress from a female perspective, Penance offers Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s trademark creepy twists as well as a subtle commentary on Japanese society and gender expectations. This gripping long-form serial drama highlights a new facet of renowned auteur Kurosawa (PULSE, CURE, CHARISMA) and features absorbing performances from a stellar line-up of award-winning, up-and-coming young actresses.