Institute History
Description
High on a grassy hill, surrounded by a beautiful forest, on the land of Michael Sho, lived an enormous oak tree named Charisma. Now, with the untimely death of Sho, life as it has been for decades is suddenly changed. This once peaceful rural landscape is in a state of turmoil.
Goro is a detective from the city whose next case will not be like any other he has taken on. Although summoned by a Real Estate agent who wants Charisma removed to make way for a high profit sale, Goro finds himself in the midst of two other parties vying for control. A Botanist, in awe of the rare powers of Charisma, believes that it starves the rest of the forest of essential nutrients and may be a detriment to everything that comes in contact with it; the Gardener, Sho's loyal servant, believes that all the plants have feeling. It was this particular tree, on the verge of dying, that he had nursed back to health by playing the bassoon.
Goro must listen to each side and struggles to make the fair decision. To complicate things further, in a chance meeting with Sho's widow he inadvertently becomes lawful owner of all the land and in turn holds the key to Charisma's fate.
In this modern fable, Goro as the protagonist confronts environmental disruption, power, authority, and the reality of freedom itself. His path of discovery, as in nature, is a constant ecological struggle as he comes to understand the true meaning of "charisma."