Doberman Cop 1977

Kano, Sonny Chiba, a visiting policeman from Ishigaki Island, arrives in Tokyo with a quiet insistence that there is more to the case than the police theory of a serial murderer and arsonist. In a burned-out apartment in Shinjuku, the remains are found and numbered as a woman named Mayumi Tamashiro, but the police suspect that is a pseudonym used by Yuna Tamashiro, a runaway who has vanished for five years. The case quickly widens as Kano digs deeper, driven by a stubborn intuition that the truth lies beyond surface appearances.

Kano’s inquiries bring him into contact with a tangled world of names, secrets, and alt identities. Among others, Chōei Mikawa [Koichi Iwaki] emerges as a former boyfriend with an intimidating alibi, yet he becomes entangled in the investigation as the layers of deception begin to peel back. Meanwhile, Hidemori [Hiroki Matsukata], a powerful figure in the Osaka-backed underworld, watches the police with a calculating eye, his influence touching the showbiz side of the city. The tension intensifies as a topless dancer, Kosode, is drawn toward Kano, offering a strange kind of companionship as he navigates a maze of relationships and motives.

As the plot thickens, Miki Haruno—the aspiring singer at the center of a larger manipulation—enters the frame. Janet Hatta portrays Miki, a persona crafted with calculated care by a manager who bankrolls an elaborate plan to shape a star. The investigation cross-points with the entertainment industry when Miki becomes a key figure in a dangerous game of blackmail, staged performances, and public spectacle. Kano identifies links between Miki’s career, her backstage truth, and the long shadow of the Mayumi case, while the onlookers at the Lido Club begin to piece together how the fake identities, the plastic surgery, and the money trails all connect.

The case grows more perilous as Chōei Mikawa and Kano find themselves hunted by Hidemori and his associates. A brutal attack on Miyoko [Maki Tachibana]—a fellow woman connected to the underworld—underscores the stakes and demonstrates how far some will go to protect a carefully curated image. A brutal confrontation leads to Chōei’s capture and a dramatic turn as a masked assailant strikes, forcing Kano to navigate a deadly cat-and-mouse game that culminates in a dramatic revelation about who the real killer is.

The climactic moment centers on the A Star Is Born production, where Miki’s nerves threaten to derail the show. When Hidemori intervenes with a drug injection to steady her, Kano pieces together the truth: Mayumi’s death was staged, and Miki’s belt—engraved “YUNA”—was used to plant a body, a ruse designed to fuel publicity. The revelation triggers a decisive encounter: Hidemori’s men close in, but Kano acts with precision, using a lucky bullet entrusted to him by Chōei to shoot Hidemori through a door, ending the conspiracy in a single, quiet act of justice.

Yet even as the killer is unmasked and the conspirators fall away, Miki remains strangely resilient, choosing to finish the show rather than flee. The performance becomes a surreal, bittersweet coda to the case as she delivers an encore of her song, “My Memory,” to a captivated audience. In the final ritual of shells, Kano discerns that the person known as “Yuna” is truly dead, closing Mayumi’s diaspora of identities once and for all. With the case closed, Kano returns to Ishigaki with his pet pig, stepping back from the city’s bright glare to reclaim a quieter life, even as the island looms large in his thoughts and the memory of the case lingers.

• The narrative threads through a dense network of characters and motives, each connected to the others by money, fame, and fear. Kano’s relentless pursuit is both a procedural and a personal journey, a steady examination of truth in a world where appearances can be manufactured and loyalty can be bought. The film is anchored by strong performances that texture the suspense with moments of vulnerability, and it sustains a tense, atmospheric rhythm that keeps the viewer attentive to every clue, every hesitation, and every decision that could alter the course of justice.

Note: First-time character mentions link to the corresponding cast actor when available:

• Kano, Sonny Chiba

• Chōei Mikawa Koichi Iwaki

• Hidemori Hiroki Matsukata

• Miki Haruno (Miki Harukaze) Janet Hatta

• Kinji Mizuki Keiichi Suwa

• Fujikawa Tetsuo Fujisawa

• Miyoko Maki Tachibana

• Nakatani Masataka Iwao

• Wataru Endo Riki Harada

• Hitoshi Isomura Kinji Nakamura

• Det. Takuya Tamura Ryō Nishida

• Luger Matsukawa Shunji Sasaki

• Sakura Jun Hoshino

• Isuzu Shiki Jun Yamaguchi

• Kosode Murasaki Eiko Matsuda

• Makoto Shimokawa Daisuke Awaji

• Sanada Ryuji Katagiri

• Noboru Kawakami Noboru Kawakami