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Pretty Boy Detective Club ep12 – Last Dinner

Irina

Normally I’m not a fan of clip episodes. It’s one thing if you’re doing one in the middle of a long season as a recap or reminder and it doesn’t count as an official episode but when shows dedicate their finale to reusing scenes. Well, it’s just not very beautiful, now is it? Or that’s what I would say if this was any other show than Pretty Boy Detective Club.

It does help that the clip portion was restrained to a single sequence which was a speech anyways, and everything else in the episode was just stylish af. Honestly, you don’t even want to know how many caps I took of this episode alone!

Let’s get the important stuff out of the way firs. I almost did the dance! I’ve been practicing all week with that YouTube video I found and I think I got it mostly right. I didn’t d it well by any stretch of the imagination but I did technically do it…I think. Houray!

Pretty Boy Detective Club really did end on a high note. This last arc was my favourite and the very last episode wrapped things up…beautifully. Also, I think this iteration of the club room. with the shadows of the branches all over, was probably the one I liked the most. It’s ominous and sad. The bare branches recalling endings and death. The framing of the shot is perfect and the composition with that bright painting off-center in the back rivals Fire Force. And Fire Force has some of the best-composed shots out there.

But it wasn’t all-flash. Admittedly that can be a bit hard to tell with Pretty Boy Detective Club. It’s so allegorical that I figure every viewer just pours whatever they want into it and ultimately, that’s exactly what they get out of it. Still, there was an undeniable theme running through this arc. More pronounced than any theme we’ve seen Pretty Boy Detective Club embrace in the past. And I really liked it!

In my reviews for the past few episodes, I mistakenly identified this theme as “growing up”. More specifically the fear and discomfort of it. But looking back on it now, I realize that I was wrong. I don’t think it’s about growing up or refusing to do so. I think it was actually about holding on to childhood.

This may sound like the same thing but there’s a subtle difference and it changes everything. You see, I don’t think that Pretty Boy Detective Club was telling me to refuse any impulse to get older. I think it was telling me that there is a beautiful way to grow up and a not-so-beautiful way. That as long as I can hold onto the things that bring my joy and the little piece of magic that I find, there’s nothing to worry about because life will be beautiful. Am I just a big sap that read into this episode something that wasn’t there? Maybe. But hey, I believe it, and that’s pretty in its own way.

You know, during that clip sequence there was a flashback to the very first arc. And it focused on one of Manabu’s lines that can sound like complete nonsense and maybe it. Following your dream is beautiful but giving up on your dream is equally beautiful.

This last arc, and specifically this last episode, tied in the more general theme of the season. The one idea that was present the entire time and binds all the short arcs together. To thine own self be true.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if what you do seems useless or ridiculous. It doesn’t matter if other people perceive you in specific ways or have different expectations for you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a huge dork or an outcast. But you have to figure out for yourself who you are. And once you do, you’ll find where you belong.

In the end, Pretty Boy Detective Club stayed true to itself. It refused t bow to convention or even classical narrative structure. It shirked off the responsibility of a clear message or even of actual characters. And it did it all with style!

By the way? d you like how I ended my picture blocks with nice little images of the cast all together and happy. I didn’t even do that on purpose. It just happened that way!

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