You can definitely color me unsure of Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro after two episodes. I rather liked the premiere (better than that of its natural kin Fugou Keiji), and a lot of what I liked about it was still present here. Which is to say a very interesting color palette, a lovely depiction (rather impressionist, I want to say) of early 20th-century Tokyo, and quite stylish direction. But the tone of this ep and the nature of the mystery were rather jarring, I thought – and kind of incongruous with what we saw in the premiere.
Kindaichi-san as the awkward virgin being dragged to the pleasure quarter by the worldly Ishikawa-san was quite authentic to me, a scene which I imagine played out rather often among young men who’d migrated to Tokyo from the provinces. Ishikawa’s tone here was a little snarky, but in the context of young male friendship it rang true in a way that’s independent from era or nationality. In his own mind Ishikawa was doing his friend a favor, and getting a little fun out of the experience is the eternal toll that must always be extracted between guys in such situations.
What happened after that though… That’s what I’m not sure about. I can certainly see Kindaichi being awkward to that extent, and I still think it’s an open question whether he’s interested in women at all (though there is circumstantial evidence that he is). Otaki-san is the lady of the evening assigned to the job – I wonder if all brothels in this time in place had a designated cherry-picker? She seems to bring the requisite demureness and patience to the occasion, but – as Ishikawa eavesdrops from his own scarlet woman’s chamber – Kindaichi should doesn’t seem up for it.
I think it’s pretty obvious Kindaichi isn’t the sort of chap who’d kill a prostitute – or anyone else for that matter. And I don’t really think Ishikawa-san is either, though I’m perhaps 98% sure there as opposed to 99.99%. My problem is, I didn’t think either of them was the type who’d believe the other of being capable of it, either. Certainly nothing we saw in the premiere led me to believe that either man was inclined to believe the other capable of murder. Did I misread their friendship? Sure, maybe that’s possible. But this all rang kind of false to me.
There’s another possibility of course – maybe it was supposed to, and this is some kind of long con by the five-dimensional chessmaster Ishikawa. But that wouldn’t explain Kindaichi-san (who clearly isn’t a five-dimensional chessmaster) believing Ishikawa killed Otaki. I’m going to reserve final judgement on all this because we’re only in the middle of the arc – the rest of the gadabout writer-detectives are going to be looped in to solve the mystery, and we don’t yet know what we don’t yet know. And there’s a lot I really liked about these first two episodes, so I’m more than inclined to give Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro every chance to win me over.
Say
April 22, 2020 at 2:50 amI didn’t say anything last time because I wanted another ep to ponder the matter, but in episode 1 Ishikawa producing a false evidence to prove the truth left a bad taste in my mouth. Now Otaki saying that Kindaichi didn’t know his friend sounds sinister. Plus, we know that Ishikawa is dead when all is over. I must say that I thought he was a serial killer or a professional killer back in episode 1. I don’t trust his as much as you, Enzo.
This show is interesting!
Guardian Enzo
April 22, 2020 at 9:16 amWe’ll see. I think the premiere’s constant focus on smoking (and quitting) is foreshadowing but in any event, while Ishikawa definitely came off as an oddball I wasn’t thinking serial killer. My biggest problem with him was his selfishness, and that was even more grating in this ep.
Kim
April 22, 2020 at 3:42 amIf you ever watched Columbo, Columbo often uses false evidence to trick the killer into confessing
Of course the cases in Columbo and how he solves the crimes are far more interesting then what we are getting here
Say
April 22, 2020 at 4:37 amBut there it wasn’t used to prod the culprit to confess. There’s a difference. The culprit wasn’t caught.
Kim
April 22, 2020 at 5:09 amIn this case it was used to stop an innocent person from being framed
Say
April 22, 2020 at 4:03 pmThat innocent person was a stranger to Ishikawa. What motivated him to go so far for a stranger? He didn’t come out as the philanthropic type. It could be that he enjoys being in control, deceiving the police. Power/control serial killer are frequently charming, charismatic and intelligent in everyday life. Who he was looking for when he found the corpse in episode 1?
Kim
April 23, 2020 at 1:07 amOkay just watched the episode. The mystery is far more interesting in this episode then the last so far
Personally I do think Ishikawa was falsely accusing Kindaichi not because he believes he did it but to trap the real killer
For me the verdict is still out on if Kindaichi is in on this too or if he was so upset he then thought Ishikawa was covering up his own crime
No matter what it’s obvious things aren’t what they seem here so I will withhold judgement until then.
Say
April 23, 2020 at 2:41 amI agree that it could go as you said. We’ll find out soon or later. I am not in a hurry.
Guardian Enzo
April 23, 2020 at 10:07 amWith so few shows airing, we certainly don’t need to be in a hurry.