Fun fact – the seiyuu playing Kawamata Sanae is named Osanai. Unfortunately that may just be my favorite part of this episode. Honestly compels me to admit that Shoushimin Series really hasn’t worked for me on the whole. But even within that context, I think I liked it better when it was about nothing. Because silliness about nothing grates on me less than silliness about something trying to be serious.
More than anything, I find this series to be self-indulgent. And I’m sorry to keep comparing it to Hyouka but they’re the same author and structurally pretty similar, so I think comparisons are both unavoidable and fair game. I don’t deny that Hyouka could be self-indulgent, but there was a core of something meaningful to it. It was really about the experience of being a smart teenager ultimately disconnected from what the world expects of you. Shoushimin is really just a lot of ridiculous plot contrivances cobbled together to form so-called mysteries that are either so obvious you solve them way before the so-called genius detective, or just make no sense at all and could in actuality never be figured out by anybody.
Given all that maybe it’s a surprise that I don’t hate this show, which I don’t. I admire the ballsiness of it I suppose, its determination to just ramble on without a care in the world what kind of impression it makes. It’s cheeky in a kind of endearing way, too. Plus there’s a certain fascination in just how twisted Yuki is, and how far ahead she is of Kobato at every turn. Even assuming it were possible for her to neatly orchestrate this entire summer to the letter the way she did (it’s not), it takes a very cold and disturbed person to put innocents through what she put the guys through.
So does any of it mean anything, in the final analysis – the whole “trying to be ordinary” conceit? Jougorou is, to be blunt, already more ordinary than not – just a slight bit more clever. And Osanai is making no attempt to be ordinary at all, quite the opposite. Which in a sense is sort of mocking him, actually. I guess we have one more episode in which to find out, but I’m not sure I want the series to go there and I’m not sure it will. I think trying to explain this premise away at the death would be a doomed exercise from the beginning, and they’d probably be better off finishing with an episode about Pocky or something.
Nadavu
September 9, 2024 at 10:38 pmThe problem I have with this episode is that it played out pretty much exactly as I predicted it to. The only surprise is that watermelon is served in a dish where it apparently doesn’t go well, hence necessitating to eat it first.
catterbu
September 10, 2024 at 4:57 amWhile the way that Osanai was framed throughout the episode, I could not shake that feeling that some Shaft-like creativity circa Monogatari Series would have made this episode so much more fun (and drawn attention away from some of the issues mentioned above).
Guardian Enzo
September 10, 2024 at 6:38 amIf being more like Shaft would improve a series, you know it’s in trouble.
Nicc
September 10, 2024 at 5:27 amI was expecting that this episode would spend part of the time talking about the case, but I didn’t think we’d get a whole episode of it and while the two of them are enjoying some huge parfaits. This episode in particular really was self-indulgent as it’s revealed that the entire summer vacation was a set-up to Osania getting kidnapped and giving Kobato the clues he needed to solve it. Enjoying the sweets along the way was just snacking on the side. It’s a lot to believe and a lot of innocents were indeed involved for her amusement and to seemingly create amusement for Kobato.
Oh yeah, and I’m pretty impressed that Kobato was able to finish that much of the parfait. He at least enjoyed it enough to get that far. I have no idea where the final episode is headed to and maybe it’s for the best that the both of them spend it by thumbing through the J. Peterman Catalog and picking out things that look interesting, like the Urban Sombrero or that fur hat that George wore.
Joshua
September 12, 2024 at 11:09 pmPerhaps if I interpreted this series as more of a character interrogation of two disturbed folks who just want to learn how to “fit in” better, then perhaps all of this probably makes better sense including how these mysteries are little more than just examinations on how “different” these two really are. But ultimately, it’s just a show that I respect more than I actually like compared to Hyouka. Still, for all of Mamoru Kanbe’s indulgences as a (not all that great) director, his grounded “live-action” direction feels better suited for this rather than say, The Promised Neverland.