Since the arrival of the Black Ships, the Tokugawa Shogunate's dream of peace has been shattered, and the succession problem of the ailing Shogun Iesada has become a headache. At the same time, Tamamo, a prostitute in Yoshiwara, is dismissed from her position at the behest of a high-ranking noble family who has come on a secret mission.

A shiftless resident in a boarding house spends his days crawling in the attic and spying on the renters below. One day he spies an elegant lady enter a room where a clown awaited her and watched as he pleasured her. But she spotted him watching and it aroused her more. Thus begins a story of two people who find they share similar desires and deadly passions.

Sisterhood is powerful. Before leaving for a mission in Africa, Runa, a nun, visits her sister three years after entering the convent when her sister stole Runa's boyfriend. Runa comes to forgive and to help her sister make enough money buying and selling some convent property so she can marry. The old boyfriend has new women in his life, but he and the sister tell Runa they're a couple in order to keep the property deal. To make even more money, Runa's sister wheedles large gifts from various men she's stringing along. There are flashbacks to Runa's sexual awakening at the convent. But what are her real reasons to close this deal?

A decadent count in 1920′s Japan becomes obsessed with the life and works of the Marquis de Sade. He creates a theatre to show plays adapted from the notorious writer’s novels and recruits thieves, prostitutes and low lives to act out his fantasies on stage for the delectation of his rich, jaded friends. In search of new sensations the nobleman orders one of the actors, on pain of death, to make love to the nobleman’s wife while he watches. Unfortunately, this incursion of real life into his fantasy world will have dire consequences for the count and his divinely decadent coterie.

After having dropped out of school and given birth at age 16, Mako has little choice but to move in with the baby's deadbeat father. Struggling to make ends meet by working at a bar and in constant conflict with her conservative parents, Mako has to find her way in a harsh world.

Rokuheita Narumi is fascinated by oriental art and works as the director of the Saho Art Museum in Nara. His wife, Noriko, is unable to leave Tokyo, despite his wishes, and the two live separately. Feeling lonely and neglected by her husband, she immerses herself in the depraved life of the city and continues to have a loveless relationship with a doctor, Katsumori. One day, Narumi arrives in Tokyo and learns of Noriko's affair, but he cannot divorce her for the sake of their child, so he devotes himself to his work.

Tatsuo, a reverent lumberjack, seeks to disrupt plans to build a marine park on his family land, instead promoting his traditions in reactionary ways.

After the death of previous Boss, a gang war lasts for more than four years.

An unsatisfied married woman reconnects with a friend who has been engaging in peculiar sexual practices with her own artist husband.