Episode 2 and I am still digging the show. There were a few little silly jokes that actually made me laugh out loud this week. I think the character designs are throwing me off and I keep subconsciously expecting a serious and dramatic show. As such it’s always a happy little half surprise when Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions goes for lighthearted absurd humour. I’m here for it.
I know that this is true in real life but I have to say, I’m always impressed by how much hair changes a character. I shouldn’t be. There are shows which are basically the same character model with a few colour adjustments and a different hairstyle to differentiate the whole cast. Still, it’s almost hard to believe clean-cut Ron and the shaggy rogue we see in the show are the same person. I like shaggy better. I have a soft spot for dorks after all.
As I mentioned in my intro, I have a bit of dissonance whenever I watch this show. Not in a bad way. For instance, with the introduction of BLUE, I remember thinking to myself, how is it possible that Totomaru has never heard of the place? Sure, he’s not the greatest detective out there but he still IS a detective. If this is the most prestigious detective school in the world, surely even laymen have heard of it. Is it a secret school or something, cause Ron isn’t saying that it’s a secret… And then Ron and Toto had a completely ridiculous conversation and I remembered what type of show I was watching.
And that’s sort of nice. It has the trappings of one of those more self-serious shows that takes itself seriously but avoids becoming trite by, in fact, not taking itself seriously at all. Something that could have helped a lot of series of the type that I have watched in the past.
For instance, Ron’s impossible quick change into his costume uniform with the only follow-up being Toto saying I have so many questions was a perfect two-man gag. I loved it. I loved that they ended the scene on it. Great timing. I also loved that Ron didn’t sulk or even seem to mind that they got assigned to what a lot of people might consider a much less important or prestigious case. Of course, it did end up being connected to the homicide but I don’t think Ron knew that from the start and the show didn’t hint at it either.
You know what else is kind of cool, Ron is completely indiscriminate about his intolerance towards criminals. OK Spoilers up ahead! If you haven’t watched this week’s episode you have been warned! So far, we’ve only seen Ron deal with murderers, so his…quirk… may only apply to them and not, for example, underage shoplifters. Still in this situation, we have a perp that clearly acted in self-defense and it was an accident, in the sense that she didn’t mean/know it would kill anyone. But Ron reacted the exact same way as he did for the premeditated serial killer motivated by personal greed. I like that. It makes Ron much more of an ambiguous character and once again, models him after Sherlock who was also morally grey.
Amamiya is turning out to be an early favourite character in the show. I do like the thought-as-nails and efficient boss lady archetype, to begin with. Her complete lack of sympathy for the main character was already a considerable source of amusement for me. But her now comically girlish infatuation with Ron is such a great contrast that I have a feeling she’s going to be what I look forward to most in episodes. And that’s saying something cause I’m having a great time with the show in general!
Finally, we got a peak at BLUE as it is today… It sure does seem like some type of shadowy underground organization with its own interests. Now we have some wide-ranging conspiracy going on and let me tell you, this is exactly the type of ridiculous I have been craving from my anime. It’s BSD or Vanitas type of happy-go-lucky nonsense that translates into pure fun. Honestly, what more can you ask of anime than to be fun?
