To be perfectly honest, wasn’t going to watch Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions this season. I certainly wasn’t going to review it on a weekly basis that’s for sure. The synopsis was okay, I do like mysteries a lot, and the key visuals were fine but there was a lot more interesting coming out this season and frankly, I didn’t want to watch another The Case Files of Jeweler Richard. But then I realized that this title had been on my manga TBR for over a year now and I figured, why not jump right into the anime instead… I still wasn’t going to review it, obviously…
So far, only a single episode of this show has aired and it already has a dozen 1/10 ratings on AniList. Bad start, right? Maybe people just transposed their manga rating but why watch a show on a manga you gave a 1/10 score to? Morbid curiosity maybe? This really wasn’t a great start to my journey with Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions. I decided I would watch an episode before work just to see if I could yeet it off my list right away and save me some time.
Even though, as I said, this title has been on my manga TBR for some time, I should clarify that I have never read a single chapter. I just happen to really like mysteries and have been looking for a good whodunnit in manga or anime form for a while. I also liked the cover. It had some great colours and the manga is from the character designer of Psycho Pass so I guess something felt familiar. I only found out the connection a minute ago though so it’s not all that obvious. In any case, I didn’t know what I was getting into in the least and had no clue what to expect. If you are like me, allow me to enlighten you.
The very first thing I noticed about this show is that it’s actually pretty funny. I mean your mileage may vary just like with any comedy but Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions does not take itself seriously at all. There are a lot of straight-up jokes, slapstick and physical humour not to mention that our two leading characters: Toto and Ron are a classic odd couple archetype.
I have to say, discovering that this was a light and funny little series and 5:30 a.m. before work was one of the best surprises I have had in a while. It instantly put me in a good mood and has probably made me a little biased in favor of the series.
The second thing I discovered is that this is Sherlock Holmes. Not exactly but basically it’s another retelling/adaptation/modernisation of Sherlock Holmes. And as someone who has watched most of them, I welcome this. Ronn is a pretty standard Sherlock archetype. Brilliant but eccentric, occasionally rude, often flippant but with a strong even unyielding sense of justice and a soft spot for good people. Totomaru steps into the role of Watson, he is the one who has to reel Ron in and is more conventional and socially acceptable but rather than being a complete straight man he is also branded as a naive but pure character to be a foil for Ron’s let’s say darker inclinations.
In the first episode, we get to see the two meet and even have them solve a crime together. I don’t know if this will be a crime of the week show but I hope so. The crime itself was ok. It was a bit convoluted but as the series doesn’t take itself seriously, it worked pretty well with the tone the show was setting up and they did explain everything.
By the end, I realized I had a really good time watching this first episode. It was far from perfect but it was fun. And then the horrible truth sank in. I would have to write about it. I don’t know if many other anime bloggers are going to cover it after all, it’s pretty low on the popularity polls. But I think it’s way more fun than most people probably think it is. I certainly didn’t think it would be. So now I have to tell you about it… every week…
Wait 1/10? That’s just too low on any count.
I really didn’t expect the reason why our detective didn’t want to take the case. That came out of nowhere for me, which is… rare. Usually, when I don’t expect something I get the I-should-have-seen-that-coming feeling, and if I don’t get that feeling I usually get the this-makes-no-sense feeling. Not this time though. It was brilliantly unexpected. I don’t think I could have seen this coming. And to top it off it makes sense.
Other than that, it’s just plain fun. It’s certainly not a second Jeweler Richard.
(And I’ll second momomanamu; Undead Girl Murder Farce was definitely a highlight last season; it’s the director of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju and Sankarea [and also Grancrest, but I don’t talk about that…]).
After that review, it is the second new anime to be put on my “to be watched” list for the fall season.
This series was the exact same for me! I wasn’t planning to watch this anime at all, I didn’t even know that it was a mystery series, but I read a blog post mentioning this and I thought I would try out one episode just to keep an open mind. And I ended up really liking it! I really liked the dynamic between the two main characters, and I definitely enjoyed the humor! This is the second time that I was recently happily surprised by a mystery anime (Undead Murder Farce being the first one) and I’m not complaining!
Yay!!! I’m really glad to hear it. Now I have to see undead murder farce
I wonder how Akira Amano feels with getting a third manga to anime adaptation.
My favorite part of the episode was the part when Ron was talking to the corpse. Did he really need to be in the French girl position to talk to the dead body?