Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace

So the summer anime season is coming to a close and as we prepare for the Fall to simultaneously disappoint us and blow our minds, let’s start looking back at how awful these last three months have been. And what better way to start than to beat up a shitty noitamina anime? I’m actually kind of surprised Ranpo Kitan was amongst the first of this season’s crop to have an ending. Okay, it started on the first week of releases rather than wait until everything is out like noitamina anime usually do, but I assumed it was just 12 episodes like the other two offeringsfor the timeslot this year and that it anticipated that weekly delay that practically every show went through this season. But no, it’s the standard 11 episodes, which is a blessing in disguise because A) it ends quicker B) I get something to review and nothing says catharsis more than beating up a show no one in their right mind would defend. Yes, I’m sorry to say that unless A-1 somehow churns out a worse mystery anime next season - and I know it’s A-1, but this series is just sad - Ranpo is easily the least interesting of noitamina’s offerings in 2015. Punch Line had a decent story that was let down by execution issues and some people seem to like Saekano in all its poorly animated, stakes-less ugliness for some reason, but at least they promoted discussion. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone other than masochistic mystery buffs who made it past the first two episodes of Ranpo Kitan, mainly because it was directed by a hack who makes Akiyuki Shinbo look like David Fincher. Where exactly are these fans who still support Seiji Kishi enough to have him continue with this thing we humans call a career? Yes I know he’s always adapting really popular stuff due to whatever connections he’s got, but after a while, you’d think people would catch on and realize that Devil Survivor 2 will be more the rule rather than the exception. And more to the point, who was it that approved of him to adapt the works of Edogawa Ranpo in the first place? Who even owns the rights to the property these days? Because after watching this tripe, I think we’re going to need a change of hands to someone who can actually say no as well as some psychological counseling towards the original guy after he experiences the thing for himself. This is where I usually describe the plot of this show, but I honestly don’t know what to say because it’s just too fragmented and lifeless to put in coherent words whilst being way too dependent on the characters. I mean you’ve got this downbeat detective out for justice. You’ve got this kid who looks and talks like a girl, but is really a boy, and speaks like a robot. You’ve got his male glasses-wearing friend who may or may not be gay for him. Then there’s this bag-man and woman dressed in bondage gear - and I never actually read a Ranpo story, but I’m pretty sure the wacky nurse who looks like the bastard lovechild of Paranoia Agent and Danganronpa wasn’t in the original source, let alone took a substantial role in the show’s climax. All of these characters are given the Kishi hyper-stylization treatment and have about as much believable human emotions as Itchy and Scratchy when they’re phoning it in. And you remember how in Durarara where the unimportant people are drawn in gray and only when they actually have significance to what’s going on is when someone bothers to color them in? Ranpo Kitan has something like that too, except the characters fade into silhouette-like backgrounds at really arbitrary moments and it looks incredibly unfinished rather than stylistic. It leads to this weird disconnect of coldness most normal people who try to watch Ghost in the Shell experience in that even if you saw something worth watching in here, it’s presentation makes actually accessing it all but impossible. Only in Ranpo Kitan’s case, not only are the smart things just the same old bullshit regarding “what is justice” and every other moral you could get in any cop show either, but there’s no excitement to be had even if you penetrate the presentation and dig that sort of stuff. Now the show’s utter lifelessness makes remembering events difficult, but I do remember that most of the individual cases are more stuff the anime does to fill out time rather than pieces to a much bigger picture. The closest thing we get to an overarching plot thread is through some lunatic named Twenty Faces, who basically kills criminals for justice, and catching him would be a lot easier if there weren’t multiple people doing things in his name. But this conflict only takes up half the screen time and the rest of it is just piddling about. Please explain to me the significance of that one episode where The Amazing Bag-Man stops by the detective’s house and we spend the entire run time basically coming up with theories like a bad stand-up comedy before ending on a conclusion that - as the domesticated father said regarding the broken toilet bowl that had just been used by his kid after digesting food from Taco Bell- was full of shit. There’s taking a break from an on-going plot and then there’s just throwing shit out of that bowl just because you can. I’m probably going to have to address the elephant in the room regarding the actual mysteries in this show and whether or not they’re good at some point. Short answer: no. Long answer: Fuck no! The logic is incredibly hard to follow - not helped by the giant heapings of dialogue that desperately needed an editor during investigations - and the actual criminal is always some arbitrary person that the show just pulled out of thin air with either no foreshadowing or so little of it that it wouldn’t make a difference either way. Backstories for the criminals are so token and predictable that you’d only need thirty seconds to explain it. Detective Conan-style. And yet for some reason, the show decides to devote entire half-hours trying to make me sympathize with these morons. The way the Twenty Faces arc concludes is pretty much a combination of all the problems I listed above with another one added, and that problem is the feminine main character. Up until that point, he’s always been an audience cipher that no audience member can relate to, but he was in the background so I let it slide. But the final few episodes put him at center stage for the crucial part of Twenty Faces’ grand plan and his emotionless accepting reactions become impossible to ignore to the point that he might as well have been wearing a yellow T-shirt that said “I am an obvious plot device” in big black letters. It wasn’t until the final few minutes that ended on him that I realized he was basically a walking metaphor for the show: a small lifeless pile of gimmicks who hangs around with the big boys just because he can. And if he died, no one but sad geeky losers would give a shit. So on the whole, I can’t really say I recommend Ranpo, even if you’re a die-hard noitamina fan. It’s badly written and it’s hard to even pay attention to the writing at times because there’s a high chance the visuals will put you to sleep beforehand. Some people may say Kishi’s style is still fresh and interesting even if it’s not being good, but I say that gimmicks are gimmicks. It was gimmicky back when Shaft first used it over a decade ago, and it’s godawful now.

Ranpo Kitan: Game Of Laplace was created to commemorate the passing of the famous Japanese author, Edogawa Rampo. And just as his literature was, Game of Laplace is dark, twisted, and all over the place. The weird thing though, is that it's all done with a smile. All of these grotesque scenarios like: Child abduction, self-mutilation, murder...they're all presented lightheartedly as if they were no big deal whatsoever. And if that sounds weird to you now, you don't even know the half of it. Ranpo Kitan is one of the most creative shows I have seen in quite a long time. However, it has comeunder fire as of late by many viewers who see it as "Too sporadic and odd to provide a positive watching experience". That isn't a direct quote, but I feel like I paraphrased a good portion of the community pretty well. Regardless, this is definitely not something you have seen before. Directed by Seiji Kishi (Angel Beats/Persona 4: The Animation) and animated by the lesser-known studio Lerche, Ranpo Kitan comes off as abstract, while still bringing forth and even satirizing a good number of typical anime tropes. The story follows a 12 year old girl....err, boy...named Yoshio Kobayashi. Being the suspect of a gruesome murder case involving his teacher, Kobayashi had to figure out a way to prove his innocence. Which, in turn, he did. This ultimately lead to him discovering an interest in detective work which would soon-after morph into him clinging on to the lead detective of the former case -- that being Kogorou Akechi. Akechi (Who is also a full-time coffee and drug addict) is reluctant in letting Kobayashi help, but eventually submits seeing as it would be even more annoying having him beg at his doorstep like a stray cat for 24 hours a day. And so, these two (As well as Kobayashi's friend, Hashiba) start going out and solving various cases too intense for regular police to handle. Whether it be a fat guy who steals little girls and buries them in his walls, a guy with a bag on his head that can somehow disguise himself as any other person, or that same guy that continues to steal little girls despite being told not to. The crimes are few in numbers and extremely weird, but there is a sense of unspoken realism to them not commonly touched in anime. Ranpo Kitan, if anything, isn't afraid to be ambitious and depict events that most studios wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. And it only gets more in-your-face as the story goes on. The downside, if you can even call it that, is that it winds up getting more confusing as a result. But at least a concrete story line is picked up once Twenty Faces emerges around halfway through the series. At this point, the show becomes less focused on shock value and instead shifts its focus toward a deeper meaning -- the difference between right and wrong and the flaws of the typical justice system. In this anime, and even in a lot of real-life cases, criminals receive reduced sentences for pleading their mental instability. This eventually turns into them being able to roam the streets and repeat their offenses, hurting even more people. Twenty Faces is a vigilante who only kills those people. So now we have to ask ourselves if what Twenty Faces is doing is actually justice or not. Yes, it's illegal and even immoral, but should Akechi be going out of his way to catch him instead of the same people that Twenty Faces is targeting? I mean, he must be doing something right if half of the city has started to follow in his footsteps and even worship him on some levels. Twenty Faces becomes more of an ideal than a single person. If one is caught, two appear in his place. If those are caught, even more show up. The vigilante justice increases and increases until it eventually escalates way too far and the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, are at stake. Ranpo Kitan is a lot different from how it appears on paper. It isn't your typical "Detectives doing detective stuff and catching bad guys" story. It's more of an audiovisual collage that blends lighthearted anime tropes with the darker side of the real world. It's the subtlety of the characters morbid tendencies that is more than just disturbing -- it's real. The school teacher has scars covering her wrists, but does her best to keep a smile on her face. Shadow-Man stalks children in order to "Protect" them. Akechi is an obsessed drug addict who has dedicated thousands of hours to proving that he is right. And everyone else is blacked out. Literally. The characters that don't matter are just shadows and wooden figures, implying that they are all the same, interchangeable creatures. The show is well-aware that it isn't a typical detective anime, and that's okay. In fact, it's even better. Creativity is the first thing I look for in any form of art, anime is no exception. Ranpo Kitan is absolutely beaming with it. No, its bleeding with it. This shows emanates the darkest sectors of reality and presents them as if they were normal. Because the truth is, they have become normal. The world isn't all smiles, Pocky, and brightly-colored haircuts. There are forces out there beyond our control -- subtle miseries, that we are afraid to acknowledge. This anime takes those fears and disintegrates them, leaving us with a product that can be confusing to some, but memorable and important to others. It might not be for everyone, but I honestly feel like Ranpo Kitan is one of the deepest, most under-looked shows out there. In Summary: Ranpo Kitan is not for everyone. If you are looking for a detective anime or a murder-mystery, look elsewhere. If approached with a clear state of mind and no specific expectations, Ranpo Kitan could wind up as something extremely thought-provoking and important. By no means is this show for anime-beginners. Instead, I would recommend it to seasoned viewers looking for a show that will break away from the norms that have grown to shape the anime industry. It may just be the single most creative thing I've watched this year. That alone can't possibly be a bad thing.

This is an odd noitaminA series celebrating the temporary entry of Edogawa Rampo's work into the public domain. (@$%# TPP rubbish) The series isn't a whodunnit, but resides firmly on the crime story or borderline horror end of the mystery genre. Rampo, like his namesake, frequently wrote about horrific things so this isn't an inappropriate focus. His work has been turned into a horror anthology film (Rampo Noir), and the only readily available English translation of his work for a while was the inclusion of "The Human Chair" in the My Favorite Horror Story anthology. The series probably shouldn't have been billed as amystery for western audiences, but that has little to do with the work's quality itself. Story: I've seen a lot of complaints about tone shifts, but have watched enough live action Japanese movies not to be put off by it. Fits in well with stuff like Tokyo Gore Police, Stacy and Tokyo Zombie. So it might appeal to fans of those. Like me. Spends a few episodes working up to the main plot, which is well used to develop the characters. The structure is odd, but that's to be expected when you're adapting favored short works and novels from a large canon as a single season anime. Imagine what a Sherlock Holmes anime doing the same would be like and you might get an idea of the overalll story. Art: The art style can take some getting used to. Highly stylized overall. Frequent use of marionette imagery, words, etc in the artwork for thematic purposes. Pretty high quality throughout. Sound: OP and ED are two of the better ones for the season. Sound is used effectively thoughout the season. Characters: Kobayashi has never found anything fun or interesting, until he becomes a murder suspect in episode 1. Which he outright admits is the most fun he's ever had. He's a bit ghoulish, but well intentioned. I think he's one of the more interesting protagonists I've seen lately. Akechi was originally a Sherlock Holmes expy, and that's still in force here. He usually knows the answer within minutes, and lets things play out for his own inscrutable reasons. If you dislike that type of character, he won't be changing your mind. Hashiba, Kobayashi's best friend and possible love interest, spends most of the series as the only sane man. He also tries to save Kobayashi from Kobayashi a lot of the time. The three have a pretty neat dynamic together, and I enjoyed the focus on them. Recurring and secondary characters are a strength of the show. It's a pretty odd collection as you might imagine. Hard to go into without spoilers, but there are a lot of fully realized characters who could carry a story. Enjoyment/Overall: Ranpo Kitan deals with some pretty heady themes: the morality of vigilantism vs law, Japanese laws on mentally ill criminals, and even determinism vs free will. It manages to do it without coming across as pretentious which is hard. Overall it was a pretty fun mix of action and characterization. The series is sort of the mutant freak baby of Yoshihiro Nishimura and Edogawa Rampo. Which is cool in its own way. I enjoyed the odd collection of characters and will miss seeing more of them.

Ranpo Kitan is often considered to be one of the worst anime of 2015, though being a completionist I nevertheless decided to give it a shot. Did it lead up to it's infamy? You bet. But why is that the case? Well, that's what this review is for. The series is based off the novels of historical mystery writer Ranpo Edogawa, and this series was dedicated to him. Needless to say it wasn't EXACTLY the best dedication in the world, but enough jibber-jabber. The show follows Kobayashi, a kid who pairs up with a classmate from his school and a famous detective named Akechi. Now, Ranpo'sstory line is messy to say the least. The show starts out episodic, but then dwells on the mystery of a figure named 20 Faces. The problem with the 20 Faces plot is that its pretty predictable. Once you see a certain theory that appears in the show, the culprit of the 20 Faces crimes is pretty easy to figure out. The other major problem with this show is that it relies too much on shock factor to get chills out of the viewers. We got a pedophile who turns disobeying children into wall paper art, a school teacher who turns people into chairs, a masochist who tortures people and pees herself constantly etc. These are too over the top to be taken seriously yet too disgusting to be taken comedically. It just fails to add up. One thing Ranpo IS good at though is info dumping. Some of the stronger episodes were those that dwelled on the backstories of certain characters. Too bad a lot of these are pretty damn clichéd and melodramatic. And a lot of the time the show isn't even good at being a mystery due to lack of any intrigue whatsoever and some episodes can barely be classed a mysterious in nature. The ending is pretty poor as well, leaving a sour note on a show that was already sour to begin with. Onto the characters. Well, the characters are mostly one-note and not even enjoyable to watch. There's Kobayashi, a bishounen who thinks everything is fun and is constantly confused for a girl. Doesn't help when they try and lure in the pedophile by making Kobayashi crossdress. My main beef with him is that his overly happy persona gets grating after a while and he solves pretty much all the cases even though he's basically the Watson of this story. Hashiba is pretty much pointless and is only there as either sub-par comic relief or to serve as yaoi bait, there's not much too him. Then there's Akechi. Now, I normally am fine with characters like him (cold-hearted and emotionless), but the problem is that he's so freaking lazy. He can never get a case solved on his own, and for someone who's a professional detective that's pretty pathetic. The rest of the characters aren't too notable. They either only serve as shock factor or have good ideas but very poor execution, though there were some I actually kind of liked (in particular, the nekomimi school teacher actually made me laugh intentionally). To end things out on a lighter note, Ranpo actually looks pretty solid. Its dark and grim settings along with the way the flashback and info dumping scenes change in style is handled wonderfully. The soundtrack is good too. The OP and ED songs are great listens on their own, and while the songs in the show aren't too memorable, they fit the mood. There's this one English song that plays in nearly every episode that does get a bit grating after a while, but the song it self isn't that bad. However, good production values don't equal a good show, and Ranpo is a big example of that. Overall, Ranpo Kitan is a show that fails both as a mystery and as a horror anime, due to its ludicrously over the top situations, uninteresting characters, and predictable mysteries in general. Something I do give Ranpo credit for is that its presented pretty well and that it at least never failed to amuse me. But that doesn't mean its a good show. Far from it. Several anime does its elements a lot better, and Ranpo doesn't really have much to set it apart other than human chairs and urinating masochists. I don't recommend it what so ever unless you purposefully want to watch a sloppily written show. That or you just like blood and guts with nothing much else to it. Either way works.

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