Onihei

In 1783, at the height of the Tenmei era, Edo is plagued by thieves, arsonists and ruthless criminals. Standing against them is Heizou Hasegawa, chief of the office charged with suppressing theft and arson, a man so feared by the underworld that he is known as Onihei, 'Devil Heizou'.

Heizou knows the criminal world from the inside: in his youth he ran wild on the streets of Honjo as a dissolute delinquent before taking up his post. That experience shapes his methods. Merciless toward the worst offenders, he is also capable of compassion, and he relies on a network of reformed thieves who serve as his informants, helping him uncover crimes and bring the most vile criminals to justice.

Based on Shotaro Ikenami's celebrated historical novels, which have long been adapted for Japanese television and film, the anime presents a series of largely self-contained stories about crime, punishment and the people caught between them on the streets of old Edo.