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Mystery edition? Yeah – but these two shows sure don’t have much in common beyond a genre tag.
Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note – 01
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I was rather disappointed to learn that Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note wasn’t a full-length series, though at almost 10 minutes it has long enough to make an impression. It make s a bit of one with its premiere, but only a bit – the episode is modestly entertaining but nothing really leaps out and grabs you.
The story here is that a fairly normal (read: neurotic) 6th-grade girl named Tachibana Aya (Tatsumi Yuiko) is thrown into a cram school with four boys who are members of “Soccer Team KZ” – a group that’s extremely popular around school (especially with the girls). Those same boys have just pissed Tachibana off royally after a run-in on campus, and it’s clear that this is a girl with a long memory.
There’s one aspect of the premiere that stands out for me, and gives me hope this kids’ series might run deeper than it appears. That’s when Tachibana muses on the difference between “getting along” with people and being friends with them – and a subtle but profound difference it is, too. Japanese schoolkids are hammered on over and over to get along with their classmates, but actually coming to like someone is a much bigger ask – yet way, way more rewarding.
We’ll see where this goes. I like the fact that all the boys are a bit odd, and school mystery series can be quite fun if the writing is up to the challenge. My expectations are modest, but I haven’t given up hope that this series could be a mild sleeper yet.
Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru – 01
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It’s funny how LN adaptations almost always have a quality to them that makes them easy to spot, even the good ones (and that’s not even counting the overlong titles, of course). One really gets the sense in watching most of these shows (and it makes sense given the source material, when you really think about it) that the characters love nothing more than to hear themselves talk.
All of that is true of Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru, but on balance the show is pretty good anyway. The visuals (go figure, given the absence of a major studio) are quite lovely and often strikingly detailed. There’s an interesting chemistry between the two leads, death-obsessed bone collector and possible cougar Koujou Sakurakou (Itou Shizuka) and her boy toy Tatewaki Shoutarou (Enoki Junya). And there’s a creepy vibe throughout the proceedings that obviously suits the premise.
I’d like to know a little more about these two before I decide if their odd relationship is remotely believable – things like just why Shoutarou is hanging out with a morbid (though gorgeous) woman 10 years or so older. And since this looks to be a mystery of the week series, we’ll need to see an actual mystery or two before it becomes clear whether the anime has the chops to make that style work. But the premiere is interesting and well-produced, and that’s always a good sign.
KY
October 8, 2015 at 1:48 pmAre you going to check out Utawareromono this season? The first episode was great and it looks like something right up your alley.
admin
October 9, 2015 at 12:13 amI wasn't much of a fan of the old one, TBH, so I wasn't really planning on it.
Earthling Zing
October 14, 2015 at 2:22 pmI second Utawarerumono, its not brilliant or anything but it feels like a real breath of fresh air with a genre I hardly see in anime…
Mark
October 8, 2015 at 8:00 pmThe big mystery in Beautiful Bones is why the cops acted the way they did. It completely took me out of the episode. Also, do people go searching for bones on beaches? Is that a thing? Or is the writer just contriving all kinds of stuff to make the story work? Maybe there's a supernatural explanation since the kid says they always find human remains. Still though, those cops.
Obviously I wasn't a fan. It looked really nice though.
Gary Cochran
October 9, 2015 at 1:50 amI enjoyed the episode. Small town cops want to clear cases ASAP and do jump to conclusions. Its why we have autopsies.
Transference
October 9, 2015 at 3:25 amI've read a bit of the original LN where they explain the cops' reaction better. It seems to have to do with funding issues, as the funding for each autopsy is no where near enough to cover the cost. This discourages the police, at least in Japan, to consider something a homicide as they don't really have the money to do the autopsies.
Mark
October 9, 2015 at 4:36 amThere were definitely some enjoyable stuff. I'm curious how such an odd duo formed for one. I'm also hoping the always finding human remains thing goes somewhere fun.
However, the setup for this episode was just way too half-baked, especially since this is a detective show. Setting shit up is pretty important in such shows and this episode didn't inspire much faith.
As for the police, it's not the whole suicide vs homicide thing that bothered me. It was that bones lady should have never gotten a chance to tell them they were wrong in the first place. Cops, no matter where they're from, would not have spilled the beans on an active suicide investigation to a random civilian. They wouldn't stop at the scene when ordered to by the civilian. They would not let her get close to the bodies and certainly not just waltz up and lift the sheets to check them out. They also wouldn't even entertain heeding the advice of this random civilian.
The searching for the bones on the beach thing was also just too forced. I would have liked for that to make more sense. I can't just accept everything that happens because the show wants me to. The writer needs to help me along at least a little.