The headliner and the headless.
What They Say:
“The Headliner Appears”
This farce concerns the culprit in Lady Godard’s murder. A certain detective makes it clear that Lady Godard was murdered by a member of her own family, despite their protests. Regrettably, the services of the detective’s bodyguard are required.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After multiple episodes of very little happening and no resolution or really even progress on the mystery we’ve been focusing on, it’s finally time to get to business. Virtually the opposite of the episodes that preceded it, this one jumps straight into the deduction and revelation right off the bat. This is what we’ve been waiting for, and it would’ve been nice to get it sprinkled into the previous episodes dedicated to this case, but we’ve had to wait until this finale for essentially anything at all.
Although nothing about it seemed like it would be all that complex in the earlier episodes, the detail Aya goes into shows how much thought was put into this ordeal. It feels like we spend half of the episode just watching this severed head walk us through her seven intricate topics, how they all work into the plot of the murder, and how each one eliminates some of the suspects until the combination of all facts and factors leaves only one possible culprit. It’s a very traditional murder mystery detective deduction, but it’s significantly more involved than many, especially given how simple the story appeared to be before this point, so anyone who appreciates that kind of reasoning will find a lot to like here.
We follow the trope of the detective being allowed to go through all of their logic in front of the culprit, ultimately revealing their identity, without any interruption. Too often these end with said culprit just lying down and accepting their guilt. We get the slightly more realistic alternative, as they instead try to attack the detective. As Aya repeatedly points out, this is essentially a confession, which isn’t any smarter of a strategy, but it’s understandable that someone would react that way if they weren’t thinking a few steps ahead, especially when the odds seem stacked in their favor that they could get away with it. Sure, the rest of the crew might’ve taken some issue, but they would presumably be easier to reason with than outsider detectives whose only goal is to find the murderer who they have no other connection to.
Because of this, it gives the episode the opportunity to not only solve the mystery at hand but also show off some rare battle action. Although the series centers almost entirely on mystery and general banter, it is in fact a story about supernatural beings, and each passing episode has hinted more and more of how powerful they are, especially Tsugaru. Now we get to see a taste of that, with the tables turned and our headliner finally having a chance to live up to his name and prove that he’s good for a lot more than just carrying around a head that does all the work (after all, there’s already a maid to fill that role).
Oh also, Lupin is in this show. The first, but still.
In Summary:
A slow mystery arc drastically changes gears with an episode full of reveals, action, and resolution, all the things that have been nowhere to be found prior. It’s an extremely welcome move after being frustrated with the lack of progress recently, though it still would’ve been preferable to have the real content more spread out across the arc. Still, the reveals were complex enough that it gave some sense that the buildup was warranted, and some quality Tsugaru action is fun as well.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
