Synopsis

In a dystopian society, the government enforces a brutal law called the National Welfare Act: citizens aged 18 to 24 are randomly selected to die for their country. They get twenty-four hours' notice via an "Ikigami"—a death notification delivered by government messengers. The official justification is that it teaches people to value their lives. Kengo Fujimoto is a new Ikigami messenger struggling with his feelings about the program. He keeps his doubts hidden from the authorities and decides that actually delivering the notifications might help him figure out where he stands on it all. The story follows how people spend their final day once they know the end is coming. Some commit acts of kindness; others act on impulse or rage. Either way, their choices ripple out and affect the people around them—and through witnessing all of this, Kengo begins to make up his mind about whether the law is justified.

Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.

Genres