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haize78

  • Joined Nov 6, 2014
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After reading the synopsis I wasn't sure there was any reason why I should watch this, I was expecting to find it boring and clichèd. So it was a surprise when it actually turned out to be quite good. It's entertaining and mildly amusing, with really good animation and drawings. So if you like detective/mystery stories, you could give this a try. 

Obviously there are some major flaws regarding the plot and character development - or lack thereof - which is why I rated it as I did, giving it a 5.5/10. The story is about Sakurako, a rather eccentric osteologist (FYI: Osteologists identify and provide information based on the scientific identification of bones, whether they are human or animal. Osteology can be employed in a wide range of research topics and is frequently used in forensic science) and Shoutarou, your typical high-school kid who tags along with her acting as the voice of what's fit and proper in society. The format is episodic for about half of the anime, whereby some bones or a body turn up somewhere in the vicinity of Sakurako and she starts investigating in order to solve the mystery as she is much more intelligent than any police officer could ever hope to be. Truth be told, the mysteries aren't that banal. At a certain point an overarching plot centrering on a psychopath called Hanabusa starts to emerge, but it happens way too late and the plotline is left hanging - this and another couple of things just hinted at during the episodes that don't get any explanation make it obvious that the creators developed it intentionally like this in view of a second season.

The other setback regards the lack of character development. Sakurako is one cool lady and her relationship with Shoutarou is fun to watch but also heart-warming at times. And that's basically all there is to it, Sakurako doesn't develop and Shoutarou is kind of lacking not only under the development perspective, but also as a character per se. We get a little bit more insight about him only in the last episode, but again: too late and too little.

As I value highly good character development and most of the time I am profoundly annoyed by episodic stories, I cannot bring myself to give this anime an average rating. Nonetheless, it isn't a bad watch, not at all.

5.5/10 story
7/10 animation
6/10 sound
5.5/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

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