Subculture Anime Blog

The culprit is…….!
……..not you.

Summary

Nozomu wakes to the sound of a phone. Answering it, he informs Matoi that he has new work. On the train ride to his location, Nozomu sees a group of black clothed girls on the beach. Reaching the mansion he has been sent to, Nozomu is introduced to the inhabitants as a famous detective. The girls there, the regular students, notice that Nozomu has the same name as their old teacher. This teacher has passed away, and the girls act very suspiciously towards the detective before them. Jinroku also reports that two students have disappeared, Maria and Manami. When Jinroku names all of the girls in the room, Chiri and Kaere become outraged at the implication that one of them were the culprit. Walking outside with her dog, Rin panics at the sight she sees on the beach. When Nozomu and the others go outside, they find Manami’s body is on the ground. Ai confesses to being the culprit, but Jinroku explains to Nozomu that she is simply one who will take the blame for things. Meanwhile, Nozomu overhears Chiri and Nami discuss their disappointment. Jun takes Nozomu to an old woman next, who has a large video collection related to the previous Itoshiki. Nozomu proceeds to watch, but he wonders what good this will do.

While pondering outside the mansion afterwards, Nozomu sees Chiri and Abiru run outside to kill something with knives. Nozomu panics, but learns from the other girls that these are dinner preparations. Later, Nozomu learns from a few of the girls that they were actually Itoshiki’s lovers. The girls then wish to learn about the current Nozomu, so he tells them his reasons for wanting to solve mysteries. Shortly after, Ai and Jun witness something horrible. Kaere is found to be murdered, so Nozomu is forced to look at the situation decisively. Seeing that the previous teacher enjoyed watching anime, Nozomu finally decides on the culprit. This turns out to be Kagero, who everyone else was unable to notice. This isn’t the end of the case, however, as Nozomu and the girls enter rooms below the mansion. Nozomu does not believe that any of the girls could be the culprit, but they suggest otherwise. Although Itoshiki was loved by all of the girls, he would not pick any of them to marry. As all of the girls pull out knives, they suggest that Nozomu resembles their previous teacher. Nozomu runs in fear, escaping the mansion as it bursts into flames. On the train ride home, Nozomu despairs at the results of this case.

Walking through a Tanabata festival, Nozomu expresses his belief that no wishes will be granted. The other students then appear, and Kafuka contradicts his belief. This makes Nozomu believe he should make a wish too, but it is a particularly despairing one. Nozomu learns all of the other student’s strange wishes next, but he again suggests that they will not be granted. Kafuka again contradicts Nozomu, then saying that wishes will be granted in the afterlife. This causes many people to rush to Kafuka, expressing for their impossible wishes to be granted in the afterlife. Nozomu decides to make a wish too, going through procedures to make his trip to the afterlife faster. Looking out into the starry sky later, Kiri puts up her own wish.

Impression:

Oh man, the EVA reference was hilarious (a lot of you have been lucky enough to watch that recently, huh?). Though I enjoyed this episode thoroughly, I did find the first part kind of strange. It just didn’t seem like the usual Zetsubou style. After digging through the AnimeSuki forums out of curiosity though, I learned that the first half was an apparent parody to the film “Ten Dark Women”. The director has passed away recently, and Shaft was the perfect production team to do such a cool tribute. It was funny that they still managed to fit in all the girls’ quirky traits, and the parody of a typical mystery film was great. They did have a special OP, but it was just instrumental on black text. The second half, dealing with Tanabata and wishes, was a cultural riot as usual. I loved Kafuka’s suggestion of the afterlife and the crowds she drew to herself because of it. The funny thing is, people are actually that easily manipulated in real life. Ah, how I love this series. With only two episodes left, I feel like I will be falling into despair for a second time.