What They Say:
While surprising information about the parentage of several of the people involved is revealed, Ran is kidnapped for real and the true nature of the Poison Dragon comes to light. Ran’s tattoo indicates the whereabouts of a nuclear bomb that could detonate in less than 12 hours!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The return of Kindaichi to the anime scene definitely worked well for me in the opening episode of the series, but I’ll also admit easily that it didn’t do a great job of truly introducing itself to new viewers. But there’s a certain knowledge of the property in Japan among fans and those outside of that circle due to the various interpretations that I can understand the light introduction aspect and getting right down to business. With Kindaichi, Miyuki and Saki off in Hong Kong dealing with a situation that has gotten dangerous after Miyuki got kidnapped, Kindaichi’s deductive abilities are put right to the test as a lot of other people are starting to get involved. With the phrase “dragon eyes” now entering the lexicon after Kindaichi and Saki came across Ran, a young woman that Miyuki was mistaken for, we’ve got the murder case factoring into it as well.
Kindaichi always uses the tools he has available and that includes Kenmochi, a reporter in Japan that has long followed Kindaichi around when he gets into situations since it usually leads to some great stories for him to write about. And Kindaichi uses him as well to get access to things through his investigative abilities and access that isn’t always on hand for Kindaichi. While all of this is set into motion, the show does slow things down a bit, something that you don’t get in the single episode shows, as we get a little time to just enjoy the view of Hong Kong. But even that provides clues for Kindaichi as talking with others that reside there leads to more background information, particularly in regards to the jewels that are the cursed Dragon Eyes and why they’re going to be an important part of the larger mystery that’s going on here.
As the investigation goes, the storyline definitely grows more complicated and convoluted as we get details of who Ran is, the tattoo itself and even some time dealing with a bit of Russian influence along the way in search of the Kowloon Treasure. There’s an intriguing bit that’s brought into play with Ran’s tattoo and a little quirk of it that shows us the kind of small details that builds more of the story as information rolls in. A lot of it just comes from the dogged persistence of investigating something and how each small detail builds the larger story. With a show like this, watching the way these details are sussed out is a lot of the fun, even if they don’t always make sense in a way because they’re just part of the bigger picture, and especially as more critical moments start to happen, including another body being discovered along the way in the quest to rescue Miyuki.
In Summary:
When it comes to multi-episode detective stories, there’s pros and cons to it. The pros tend to be the first and third acts in a lot of ways since we get the introduction of it all and the roundup that explains how it all went down. The second act is the harder act since it’s getting the information for the investigators to figure it all out and that can make some unusual leaps since it’s not real time – which would be boring as hell – and those leaps can feel unnatural at times. With Kindaichi, we do get that mix of simple deduction, luck and missteps by others that pushes us further into the storyline. It is interesting to see how Kindaichi continues to keep a level head while in search of the kidnapped Miyuki and the flash of emotion that does surface here and there. We get a lot of little details and pushes here as the storyline continues to move forward.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
