Directors of the better Japanese commercial films typically carve out thematic or stylistic niches for themselves, so that even if they do a manga adaptation for the masses, it's their kind of manga filmed in their kind of way. One is Yoshihiro Nakamura, a master of mysteries and thrillers with brainteaser plots who is fascinated by the strangeness of the universe and the dualities of human existence.

How can a punk rock song recorded in 1974 save the world ("Fish Story")? How can a mousy office worker become a diabolical murderer, at least in the eyes of the mass media ("Shirayuki Hime Satsujin Jiken" aka "The Snow White Murder Case")? His answers may surprise you.

This is also true of his latest thriller, "Yokokuhan" ("Prophecy"), a film based on Tetsuya Tsutsui's 2011-13 manga series about a nerdy former IT company employee who forms an underground group that rights society's wrongs with criminal acts.