Early in the 21 Century, the Tyrell Corporation advanced Robot evolution into the Nexus phase - a being virtually identical to a human - known as a Replicant. Used as slave labor Off-world, escaped Replicants on Earth were hunted by Blade Runner Units, tasked with killing them on sight. The rumors of bootleg Replicants appearing in the Far East has prompted the Tyrell Corp to investigate, determined to protect its monopoly on synthetic humans. Corporate agents and Blade Runners have been deployed to aggressively eliminate any threat from these industrial pirates. In Tokyo, ex-Marine Mead and Replicant Combat Model Stix work as off-the-book P.I.s while searching for the traitor who betrayed them during an unsanctioned mission to Kalanthia. A spree of brutal killings, apparently by a rogue Replicant, has the city of edge, and Stix a suspect. When a young woman named Sayo hires Mead and Stix to find Miyuki, her missing sister, ties to the Yakuza are revealed, plunging them deeper into a dangerous investigation.