Shoushimin Series

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"Kobato decides to become an honest, humble citizen after enduring a bitter experience known as "wisdom work." He forms a pact with Osanai, his classmate with the same goal, and they plan to enter high school leading quiet lives. But for some reason, inexplicable events and disasters keep happening around them. Will Kobato and Osanai ever manage to live ordinary, peaceful lives?

Source: Crunchyroll"

Genre(s): Mystery

Research

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1-3

As soon as I heard this was an adaptation of another book from the author of Hyouka, I had to give it a try, and so far, this is hittin' the mystery spot. I was expecting a serious visual downgrade from the Kyotoani masterpiece, but this is... in the same league? Preposterous! Even the direction is top shelf making this a complete package.

Anyway, the mysteries are low stakes, but still interesting to guess at and see unravel. The hinting at the main pair's troubled pasts is intriguing as well, and Osanai herself came off as unhinged in her understandable desire for revenge. I wonder if that will be an ongoing side story? Don't sleep on this if you like mystery shows!

4-7

This show really does make good content seem effortless. I can't speak for the re-watchability of this as a mystery series, but the first go through has continued to be gripping.

For how soft ball the mysteries have been, the escalation to potential kidnapping at the end of episode 7 has had a few hints dropped (crime rings, drug clubs). Is this going to go full dark?

8

It's too bad that I get almost no tension out of a really traumatic episode. Kidnapping is no joke, much less attempted torture/murder, but both leads kinda just... play it off by the end and aren't even really shaken by the ordeal. At least Kobato acknowledges that getting excited over the mystery is inappropriate given the potential severity of what is happening, but Osanai really puzzles me. As mentioned in the show, her strange texting/wording last episode suggests she knew something like this was going to happen, but went along anyway. Also, if she could get a message out to Kobato, why the cryptic hint instead of a "I'm here at xxx"? Bizarre.

Funny that his buddy got hospitalized for fighting girls off screen, but it was 3-5 versus 1, depending on how many went after Kobato (his face also took some damage).