Ok, last week I praised Ron Komonohashi for pointing out weak inferences or at least particularly presumptuous inferences but this week we’re just coming up with all kinds of conclusions. I still enjoyed the episode. The characters jumping to conclusions is just something you have to accept when watching a lot of mysteries, and like I keep insisting despite all evidence to the contrary, I’m a huge fan of mysteries. But most of all, Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions is a carefree goofy show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and doesn’t ask you to. That allowed me to relax a bit. Because it is very interesting!
One thing that really impressed me about this episode was that it was essentially a bottle episode. At the end we get a bit of an expansion of the setting and a few flashbacks but when you think about it, the majority of the episode takes place in this one place, around the hot springs, with all the characters having face and doesn’t really move.
Episodes can be complicated. In fact, they only tend to work when you have very strong personalities or relationships that are very well established to withstand the pressure of this closed system. It’s a pretty bold move to have the fourth episode of your series be a bottle episode. I think the author has a lot of confidence in her ability to create great characters and Ron is quite funny. But what really worked for me was the interaction between Ron and Toto (or Tototo… I wonder if he becomes Tototototo). I’m really digging their odd couple dynamic and adding in the nonsense of Ron having to somehow cajole and discreetly make inferences to Toto to make it seem like he did nothing chief. What can I say, it’s the kind of harmless stupidity I live for.
After the last episode, there were many theories put forward. Some of my readers think that perhaps there never was a murder in the first place. A good theory and certainly one that I would love to adopt but I always had my doubts just because Amamyia was the one who declared the woman dead and declared the body had been located. Rigid corpses are very difficult to fake and somehow I couldn’t fake it. found Amamyia lying about murder. It seems out of character for her.
Spitz is one of my guesses but is a bit annoying. The show really went to great lengths to make him look cartoonishly evil. This is quite an achievement when you consider that all the other characters are literally cartoons as well. But damn, I’m working with limited information and limited suspects.
Now the husband is an obvious choice. From what little I know about actual crimes, sadly in real life 90% of the time it’s the husband. And it was straight. They had argued, he knew all about her condition and weaknesses, and all the clues were there that made him the most likely suspect. You know what they say, the simplest answer is usually the right answer. But it’s not satisfying, is it? It’s almost too simple.
Ron also took us under his wing there. Because the culprit can be easily guessed, this method is nearly impossible. I mean they need a graph to explain it and I’m still not 100% clear on how it works. Somehow, an elaborate drainage system was created and then re-established by the time the body was found. Since no one commented on the temperature of the water, I assumed it was quite hot again. As someone who has only recently discovered a love for bathing, let me tell you that it takes a long time to change the temperature of such a large amount of water. But I started again…
The problem is we caught the murderer and now everything can go back to normal except… There’s still the problem of the spy among us! Isn’t it impressive how tweaking Spitz’s facial expressions just a little turns him from looking like a crazed monster into a rather affable guy who could very well end up being an idiot sidekick? Another trick for Ron to use when needed?
You know, the production of this show was not without its flaws. I have a screenshot there, it looks like Toto’s face is melting. and I often see contradictions. But the designs are good. They are vocal and very expressive. I’m quite impressed by that. And for my money, it’s more enjoyable to watch than if it were completely consistent but bland.
I wonder what the next case will be. I hope it’s something less risky like someone feeding pigeons or a purple garage door. (There is actually a city in Ontario where painting a garage door purple is illegal… You can paint the front door purple but not the garage door. We have too much time on our hands…)