From the author of Reborn! and designer of Psycho-Pass, this show ticks all the right boxes.
Summary:
- A silly crime show is really entertaining.
- The story is quite simple, but it's executed in a very stylish way that makes you love it.
- Another point is that the style feels similar to Ace Attorney in its silliness.
There are two types of crime shows: the first ones are serious and devastating, the second ones are silly and seem to downplay the severity of the crimes — until they don't and the harshness of reality hits you hard. This season's detective show, Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions (Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri), is the latter — and that makes it good.
No premise can be too stupid for a crime show
It has this inherent goofiness, one that makes you snort a laugh but still go with the antics of the main characters. It follows the story of a legendary detective Ron Kamonohashi, one of the best at the most prestigious detective school — who fumbled his exams because although his success rate was 100%, all of the suspects whom he proved to be guilty ended up dead. That made the school's board feel suspicious and they banned him from doing any kind of detective work.
But fate has its ways, and a very upbeat junior detective, Totomaru Isshiki, asks him for help. Toto is not very smart, but he's pure-hearted and always ready to save everyone, so he can prevent the accidents that happen when Ron finally solves the cases. And the duo starts working together: Ron solves the crimes almost from the shadows, and Toto relays his findings, acting like he is the one who connected all the dots.
Being stylish always helps
The premise seems weird but fun, the cases don't feel too complicated, but the way they are solved is stylish. Ron is arrogant, he flaunts his intellect and skills, he dons the most bizarre disguises when he works with Toto, and overall he behaves like someone you'd like to punch in the face. But there's something that makes you stick with this story, aside from the characters — and it's the style.
The most recent episode, episode 5, shows a pretty simple murder case and introduces a new character, another detective, and as he's pitted against Ron, their rivalry looks like something taken straight out of a court case in Ace Attorney. The poses, the animations, the general essence of pretentiousness oozing from their confrontation is something that makes these two franchises intertwine in the most fun way possible. So if you wanted to find an anime that has the vibe of Phoenix Wright stories, then look no further: this season got you covered.