Remember when I mentioned last week that my biggest challenge when reviewing Pretty Boy Detective Club was going to be keeping the screencap count down so that these posts don,t spiral out of control. Well, I was right! And it’s not just because there are all these pretty boys. A lot of the fun of this anime is in the meta-narrative being told through the visual. It really is a story you have to see for yourself and for my money that’s an improvement on the novel. Gauntlet thrown!
I’m going to bet that any viewers that were still on the fence about Pretty Boy Detective Club after episode 1 have now made up their minds. Episode 2 leaves absolutely no room for doubt about what the series is going to be like by upping, well everything.
The visuals are very interesting in Pretty Boy Detective Club but episode 2 adds in even more tricks and a few sequences of that Groovy exaggerated animation I really like. Oh, and we got to see the OP for the first time. The OP is awesome! I was reminded because the crazy physics on the boys’ dancing also featured some pretty frantic animation! I don’t know if I can unequivocally say that Pretty Boy Detective Club looks good, but I can say that it looks interesting. As in visually interesting. And if you pay attention to those images, there’s a whole lot going on. I’m into that!
And that’s what I’m going to go with as an excuse for my posts being like 90% images!
Bit it’s not just the visuals that are gearing up. It’s everything. Episode 2 just piled on the ridiculousness at every turn and I ate it up. The explanation for why Doujima couldn’t find her star barely made sense and was delivered with such false sincerity that I could help but crack up. The turn to some type of tense action thriller would give anyone trying to watch this show purely by the text, whiplash and the ongoing saga of absolutely every character in the series was pure, sarcastic delight. They even added a nice dose of meta humour for good measure.
I liked this second episode even more than the first. It culminated in a case of double cross-dressing that was such blissful nonsense that when that evil lady came out of nowhere at the end, I thought it was Nagahiro also cross-dressing for some ridiculous reason. The fact that it was a character we have never seen before is just barely more reasonable.
The only fear I continue to have about the series is how sustainable this joke will be. I hope it lasts because so far it’s tons of fun! One last thing, did Manabu end up looking like a Hatsune Miku cosplay on purpose? I feel like something went over my head there. Well, I hope everyone’s alive next week…
The only thing I’d love more than the stupid theory if it turned out to be completely wrong, and those guys had all been hired by her parents who didn’t give in as easily as they appeared (we haven’t seen them, I note). I note the three rules say nothing about being “successful” detectives, just “be detectives”. It’s fine if you fail, as long you do it prettily.
I really did not expect this theory, but I think I can be forgiven.
(Oh, and yes, the show really merits all those screenshots.)
The sudden mobs of ne’er-do-wells being a coincidence or completely unrelated altogether would be perfect. Now I really hope it turns out that way.