What They Say:
Kindaichi is on a party boat with idol Hayami Reika and a lot of her other fans. He would be having a great time, too, if it weren’t for the suspicious man next to him…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the first storyline having completed after its four episode run, it’s time to get back to Japan where the fun will start anew. With the most recent statistics pointing to about 450 homicides in Japan per year (compared to the nearly 15,000 in the US), it’s easy to imagine that most of them get solved by kids considering how much anime detective shows like this cover in a year. Since you don’t hear about such events to the degree that you do if you’re US based, it’s something where you can imagine Japan being pretty peaceful and in some ways laugh at the way that murders seem to happen so often or easily in shows like this. Of course, such events aren’t solved by spunky kids which is why we can get into a show revolving around murder like this.
Such is the case here where Kindaich is on a party boat for an event and a murder has taken place within one of the bathroom stalls. A stall that Kindaichi almost walks into if not for someone pointing out the out of order sign that was carefully placed on it. Amusingly, the guy in question is named Mitarai and he finds himself seated for dinner not only with Kindaichi but also inspector Kenmochi. What we learn is that Mitarai is actually surprised by where he actually is, having thought he was on a boat for Hong Kong but instead ended up on this party boat for an idol singer. One that he doesn’t even know about but has to play up in order to not become suspicious by Kenmochi and the others. Mitarai has basically ended up in a very uncomfortable spot with a bunch of fanboys that grates on him but he has to try and fit into it without giving away anything.
Of course, things have to go comically wrong for Mitarai as he ends up getting all of the impossible questions right because he was just guessing the weirdest things possible. Kindaichi actually had all the right answers sine he was given a cheat sheet so it’s no surprise he was able to get in since Reika wanted to be with just him, but Mitarai gets in as well which just makes things incredibly awkward to say the least. And with Mitarai trying to escape from the ship before things are found out, he’s even more tense and awkward as it goes on. It’s kind of fun with how it plays out until Mitarai ends up making his way out, leaving Kindaichi and Reika to get all snuggly for a bit. But the way Mitarai is acting keeps getting on Kindaichi’s nerves and we see how he starts putting things together – since his mind never really stops, even when he’s with Reika – and he starts to figure out what it is that’s wrong with him and that pushes him quickly towards figuring out the game itself.
In Summary:
Standalone stories aren’t the norm in the Kindaichi manga for the most part, but they’re definitely there and they can be pretty fun since they focus on smaller things. This one does just that, though it feels like it could set up for something bigger for a bit, and we get a pretty fun story overall. With Kindaichi not exactly on the job for most of it as he just wants to spend time with Reika, there’s a lighter aspect to him that makes him fun to watch, especially as his frustration grows by having to deal with Mitarai and realizing that there’s something definitely off and wrong about him. It’s not a memorable episode in the long run but it was fun to have some time with him and Reika for awhile.
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.
