So when I looked at this show the first time I saw a few things that clued me in that this needed to be the show that I shotgunned this season. First, it’s a mystery show. I do love mystery shows. Second off, the animation was absolutely beautiful and I do love beautifully animated shows. Last but not least at all, was the appearance of Sakurako-san in the PV being a beautiful black haired woman kissing a skull.
DID SOMEONE SAY BEAUTIFUL BLACK HAIRED WOMAN KISSING A SKULL? THIS IS MY KIND OF SHOW!
In all seriousness. Episode one proved to be everything I expected and more, the story follows Shōtarō Tatewaki and his, somewhat complicated relationship with Sakurako-san. He’s not her boyfriend, or even really friends…something more of an assistant as they go and collect bones together. Her job, hobby and life goals all revolve around bones. She digs up animal bones and reconstructs their bodies from the remains.
Though every time they go out together, they somehow stumble upon human remains…Well that sounds like an episode of Detective Conan am I right? Alright, nobodies laughing. So let’s move on.
So they go down to the beach to look for animal bones and find a human skull instead. Shōtarō calls the cops, but there’s honestly no point since the skull is over a hundred years old. Maybe he should of let her finish telling him about it before he called in the cops. Because now she’s pissed at him, because she wanted to keep it and they’re not going to let her now.
Omg, she’s so cute. She pouts about it. Like she’s weird, super weird but in the cutest way! She even tries to make off with the skull at the end of the episode and gets really upset when she’s outed on it!
Anyway, on their way to the station the cop mentions that two bodies had washed up on a beach nearby where they had been. It appeared to be a double suicide, Sakurako has him pull over and goes to investigate their bodies. Which, she concludes was not a double suicide but in fact a double homicide that was disguised as a double suicide.
The proof? Well it’s in the pudding so to say, or in the knot that holds their hands together and in the lack of mucus in their mouths to indicate drowning.
I can’t say for sure if this show is going to work on a case by week basis or if there is going to be an underlying plot. Perhaps something to do with how stagnate the town seems to the main character. Perhaps a serial murder case that would break the ‘usual’ of everything. Something that the police might call her in to help on since her uncle, who was a specialist has retired due to illness.
I’m looking forward to it regardless. I think Sakurako-san is precious, even if she’s an anti-social bone maniac with a tendency for playing her music too loudly. Shotaro needs to do something to earn her respect. I’m sure he will, I just wonder what it will be.
The animation in this show is gorgeous, the part where she goes into ‘investigation mode’ and all of the colorful animal skeletons parade around her. Is absolutely breathe taking. The part in the beginning that was in the PV, the part that sold me on the show to begin with. The part with her and the skull, that is another moment where the animation just shines.
Will I be covering Sakurako-san? Yes, for sure! I mean, I did shotgun it for a reason! BEAUTIFUL BLACK HAIRED LADY WITH BONE OBSESSION! Yay murder mysteries.
~Midnight
Kinda like a cross between the TV shows Bones and (BBC) Sherlock? 🙂
I have… a surprisingly large amount to say. Forgive me… Please! =.=
[My thoughts on the show]
If the town called the anime industry has grown stagnant, though, I mean that in the most positive way possible as it still is highly enjoyable… I hope that this will be the breath of fresh air, the ripple in the pond, the new life that disturbs the current lull. All these things and more that I’m confident it can be! Frankly, it doesn’t seem like “another anime”, but simply a brilliant story written in another land on the other side of the world, and it’s finally been put into motion. It definitely helps that it’s a novel first and an animation second.
It truly was breathtaking. This is the first time that I’ve been compelled to share an anime with all my friends through social media (for starters! I think that a lot of them could come to enjoy this as their first anime experience, even if they never watched another anime again unless it promised to be as stimulating, yet not tiring as Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru. Quality entertainment that’s a refreshing change from much of the nonsense experienced at school and work and heck, it takes up less time than a lot of the plebeian shows that people are usually offered by TV networks.
I mean, just look at it. A work that contrasts life and death in a dynamic, multifaceted way and I could say it does just the same with Sakurako-san and Shōtarō (thanks for the accenting by the way)!
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[My thoughts on the characters]
-Sakurako Kujou-
…is bold and beautiful. She takes an interest in life and life that’s left, but not in some airy fairy vague way. She doesn’t have much interest in interpersonal relationships, yet she has a kouhai in the works – is it just a new experience for her or is there some legacy she wishes to leave with Shōtarō? Meanwhile her fascination with bones isn’t introduced as the result of a trauma or fetish-esque, but as the result of a nurtured passion which sometimes leads her down some dark turns. At the same time she has a more delicate side that she isn’t afraid to show off, even if it’s done a little selfishly at times, haha. A well-rounded character from the get-go, no?
-Shōtarō Tatewaki-
…is firm yet yielding. He may question his Sakurako-san, yet he’s clearly been influenced by her positively. He doesn’t quite understand his senpai in his head, but he can clearly feel much of where their bonds already do and don’t just yet connect. All the while he has the innocence and fascination of your average youngling, or perhaps something more which caught her eye that even a fateful encounter would lack. Right alongside all that is also a seriousness, enough to spray-bottle Sakurako-san like an overly curious cat when her passions run too high. I’d say that he’s a great complement despite his more humble position, yes?
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[My thoughts on the story]
I definitely have my concerns about this show. All of them are for the characters and their story, though, as this work is beautiful from head to toe!
Just like Sakurako-san seeks the elusive blue whale, I wonder if she’ll eventually get a catch that’s a bit too big for her to wrangle in. Of course, this is where her work with her fiancé may get an opportunity to shine. I wonder how the two even came to meet and fall in love ^_^ I just… really hope we don’t come to like him and then lose him. He is a police officer in training after all and if his fiancée is stumbling across murders now and then… *shudders*. Naturally I also wonder how Sakurako-san and Shōtarō met and I look forward to seeing how they both get along with each other’s family, at least, I hope Shōtarō still has a family of his own even if the opposite is very likely.
Mystery abounds and I’m definitely looking forward to going along on this ride with you, Midnight! Thanks for starting up the coverage of this!
Quick history lesson: Asahikawa City, where the anime takes place, started as the Meiji-era equivalent of the American Wild West frontier town.
Meiji colonists from the main island founded many of these towns to colonise Hokkaido, which was previously left alone by the Tokugawa Shogunate. They also served as militia bases for border security from external forces, especially Imperial Russia, which had prior vested interests in Hokkaido.