(L+CR) Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru

[foxbox360]

I haven't seen this series yet, is the similar to Bone the TV show?

[Draco Spirit]

Wow.

Serous feels train that episode. While using little kids in harms way is a classic method of getting a emotional response, it's still nice too see it used this well. Interesting to see the 'Watson' is actually fairly badarse. I've done knife defence in martial arts before, but doing it in class quiet different to doing it under pressure with out of control murderous junkie.

I'm also getting vibes that our female 'Sherlock' sees him as a dead little brother surrogate or something. It would explain her obsession with the dead quiet nicely if she lost someone close at a young age.

[HandofFate]

Not a fan of using little kids as the stakes since I think its boring. As well as generic abusive drugged up guy
But the episode as a whole was fine.
The 'mystery' aspect so far isn't that huge.
Like the one here is just oh there's another kid.

Also man police box officer, just shoot the guy!
I felt the window seemed big enough for an adult women to squeeze thru.

[blakstealth]

I wish they explained how the mother died.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by blakstealth

I wish they explained how the mother died.

Multiple stab wounds in the back.

[kuromitsu]

This episode was better than the previous one, although the drama was a bit trite. Still, it was better than the completely random stuff in episode 1. I wish I was surprised that Shoutarou is secretly a badass, but yeah, not surprising at all.

Also, I'm normally willing to suspend my disbelief and say "let's not think too deeply about it", but the way the writers here handwave police regulations and just plain common sense away in order to allow Sakurako to get involved is way too much. I'm not asking for realistic investigations, but come on!

[Dop]

Well on the whole that was a good episode.

OK, so the 'Bone-O-Vision' segment is a bit silly, and the show does make the cops look bad. Why they didn't get a car down there ASAP and seal off the crime scene I don't know - maybe they had to come from the next town or something.
We also need to see Sakurako getting a Damn Good Talking To for interfering in a crime scene.

But otherwise, yeah, I liked that episode and it did improve on the first episode.

Originally Posted by blakstealth

I wish they explained how the mother died.

Blood loss would be my guess...

[Toullaty]

The opening is also very good by providing additional elements to the characters.
Everyone seems to have been marked by the death of loved ones.

[hoshino_crimsonwings]

The artwork in this show is stunning.

[Haak]

Why do they feel the need to have that weird magical girl transformation scene in extremely inappropriate moments?

[Ghostfriendly]

Spoiler for ep 2 details:

I don't mind that this wasn't a complex mystery so much as one that felt ripped from the headlines, built up very effectively. 'generic abusive drugged up guy' who nearly caused death of a baby becomes very serious and un-generic.

I was surprised that Sakurako blamed the mother for letting her child's injury go untreated, when the child was taken to a hospital. Obviously the mother took the child too late, or not enough times, for necessary treatment. It's understandable since they were obviously in hiding from the drugged man. He seemed much likelier to have broken the kid's arm than the mother. All that rubbish was in the house so they wouldn't be seen outside. The mother should really have found a shelter, or social services, but tragically people often don't

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by Haak

Why do they feel the need to have that weird magical girl transformation scene in extremely inappropriate moments?

I agree, I think it clashes with the art style of the rest of the series.
I'm sure there be better ways to show her getting into the mood than the bones cgi sequence.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by hoshino_crimsonwings

The artwork in this show is stunning.

I totally agree...I have been quite impressed with it.

Originally Posted by Haak

Why do they feel the need to have that weird magical girl transformation scene in extremely inappropriate moments?

Hmm...I just understand it as symbolic and such like - it does not jolt me out of the narrative or create an impression of being inappropriate or the like. I am reminded of when Victorique in Gosick would also have her "increased concentration" sequence portrayed when she would tap her wellspring of wisdom. It did not really bother me in that series either. Guess I could see how it might have that effect on others though.

Ep 02

Those aspects aside I enjoyed the narrative quite a bit, but there was something about it that felt...hmm...I dunno...lumbering, I guess? It is hard to describe.

Its not that it was too fast or unrealistic (my fishing line related to a lack of realism extends very far), but moreso like it was trying too hard, but not as an adult, mind you, but as a talented high school freshman working on their first work in the film club.

Because of that "sense of things" in my case there is a feeling of allowance and overlooking things because of a detected enthusiam and love of the work being put together. But even with that it still does bear the mark of something...well, lumbering, but well intentioned and showing an unpolished energy while having a polished surface.

Hmm...wonder if that makes sense.

Anyhoo, I like it, and I appreciate its eagerness. ^^

[blakstealth]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Multiple stab wounds in the back.

hm, that would make sense. What a terrible way to die like that.

[GMT]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

I agree, I think it clashes with the art style of the rest of the series.
I'm sure there be better ways to show her getting into the mood than the bones cgi sequence.

They spent good money on that sequence, so I expect we're going to see it pretty often in this series.

Anyway ...

In this episode of Sherlock Holmes Sakurako-san ...

- Getting involved in dealing with corpses happens so often that Watson Boy knows the smell of death.
- Sherlock Sakurako-san knows how to deal with children. How did she learn that?
- Lestrade Police Box Man isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
- Watson Boy shows off the mad martial arts skills he picked up fighting in Afghanistan from his martial arts master grandpa. This causes Sakurako-san to yell at him, and we see a hint of some importance Boy (or someone who Boy reminds of her) played in her early life (which might explain why she's so loathe to call him by his name ... it's obviously a painful memory for her.)
- Don't do drugs, kids!
- Next week ... instead of Sherlock Holmes references, I swear it'll be Hyouka references (even though this show hews very close to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's archetypes.)

I am quite enjoying this show, so far. It's ridiculously pretty, and very, unflinchingly, adult in its subject matter (and handling thereof.)

Originally Posted by HandofFate

Also man police box officer, just shoot the guy!

Him and what gun? This isn't America, where each individual policeman has a semi-automatic sidearm of a caliber of at least 9mm with several spare mags on his person, plus an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle or a Remington tactical shotgun in the trunk of his squad car. It's extremely rare for police in Japan to carry firearms at all. You would not expect a local yokel in charge of a police box to be armed with a gun. You have to go pretty high up the police food chain to find a Japanese cop with a gun, and even then it's typically a little .38 Special snub-nosed revolver.

[SeijiSensei]

I hope we don't continue to have convenient events to move the plot along like the girl showing up at the playground and identifying the child or the murderer coming back home. I rewatched some of Monster not too long ago and noticed the same types of events in that story as well.

I also wish the policeman wasn't such a doofus.

Sakurako obviously lost her younger brother, the one with the very similar name, though whether by foul play or something more ordinary like being hit by a car is still left to be discovered. I suspect Granny knows the details of that event. Is the dead brother buried under that tree? The subtitle apparently translates to "A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako's Feet."

I had an easier time accepting her mucking around a crime scene this time because it led to the rescue of the baby. Still any reasonably well-trained cop would have accompanied her inside and monitored her actions. I suspect this show isn't a favorite among the Japanese police.

Still I liked this episode a bit more than the first one. Like others here, though, I could do without the ridiculous transformation sequence.

[Marcus H.]

Also, I'm normally willing to suspend my disbelief and say "let's not think too deeply about it", but the way the writers here handwave police regulations and just plain common sense away in order to allow Sakurako to get involved is way too much. I'm not asking for realistic investigations, but come on!

This is what I assume is the series being savvy about being a detective story. Real police usually has the capability of solving cases without the help of freelance detectives since investigation bureaus can handle it quite decently.

I don't mind that this wasn't a complex mystery so much as one that felt ripped from the headlines, built up very effectively. 'generic abusive drugged up guy' who nearly caused death of a baby becomes very serious and un-generic.

I like how the crimes are "possible". I'm personally not a fan of classic mystery because some of it is too unrealistic, as if all criminals are people who can make puzzles out of a simple murder.

__________________


That said, I feel that the circumstances are more complicated as it seems. We don't see Yuka's father, and that amount of trash inside her house is illogical, even for someone who only lives out of the government's money. There's also the need to change Yuka's name during that visit to the orthopedic clinic. Is it possible that Yuka's mother is on the run from someone? That someone couldn't be her drug addict brother though, but it is possible that she is constantly extorted by her brother to keep his fix. The lack of money also makes Sakurako's accusations of neglect unfair. After all, it could have been the brother who is abusing the child, and that's the reason why she had to cover the windows in her house.

But then again, all of this doesn't matter. The case is closed.

Sakurako-san and the skull of a child in the ED. I guess that was Soutarou.

[Master_Yoma]

Wow that was messed up the cop is an idiot and Shoutarou got skills but must say why didnt know one call child welfare

[Marcus H.]

I think the druggie took away every single cent the mother got from child welfare.
(Well, you can pinpoint my bias against the druggie. I'm a baaaaaad detective. )

[Yu Ominae]

Originally Posted by GMT

Him and what gun? This isn't America, where each individual policeman has a semi-automatic sidearm of a caliber of at least 9mm with several spare mags on his person, plus an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle or a Remington tactical shotgun in the trunk of his squad car. It's extremely rare for police in Japan to carry firearms at all. You would not expect a local yokel in charge of a police box to be armed with a gun. You have to go pretty high up the police food chain to find a Japanese cop with a gun, and even then it's typically a little .38 Special snub-nosed revolver.

The rules of "Law Concerning Execution of Duties of Police Officials" state that active police officers can only fire their sidearms (regardless if uniform or in plainclothes) in self-defense situations.