First Impressions – Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru

Them bones…

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru or A Corpse Is Buried Under Sakurako’s Feet (or Sakurako-san for those of us who have other things to do) is exactly as advertised: a mystery story about a girl who really loves bones…like, a lot. It’s super hard not to try and make boner jokes about everything but I’ll do everything within my power to refrain from doing so.

We begin with gentle flutter of sakura petals as a bunch of lively young teens get ready for school. This image of the essence of life is quickly replaced with one of death as we see a rather mangled piece of feline roadkill just seconds later. Sakurako-san is all about contrasting life and death, showing the beautiful and ugly side of both.

Every show needs a cute animal mascot!

Sakurako clearly loves bones, and therefore, by extension, she’s pretty chuffed whenever something dies. It’s not so much because she has a deep-seated hatred for humanity as much as it’s because bones just so happen to be hiding within living, breathing bodies. It also just so happens most people aren’t willing to give up their bones unless they die. The nerve of them! So Sakurako strikes me as the type who is simply indifferent about people and life, instead choosing to surround herself with death…which is much more interesting to her. She’s just the right amount of crazy to be intimidating and mysterious without devolving into raving lunacy. Despite being billed as someone who dislikes forming relationships, I found her to be rather pleasant and almost charming. Well, as long as you’re not a cop.

Shoutarou is more of an opposite to Sakurako, caring more about matters of life than death. He’s a younger student, he gets excited over the promise of food, and he has friends (…at least one) who he enjoys talking to. He’s not moved with the sheer beauty of the sphenoid. That being said, he has a mature view of death. He doesn’t turn away from it or deny it, he embraces the ugliness of it straight-on. When he sees the hideous, pancake cat in front of his school, he buries it despite acknowledging how darned gross it is. When he finds a skull, he calls the police. Shoutarou has such a calm reaction to death and corpses, but for a different reason from Sakurako. I’m looking forward to see what the root of that reason is later on. Why is death so familiar to him? At the scene of the double murder they comment that Sakurako is composed…but so is Shoutarou. What happened to him to make him so unlike other students his age in the face of the horrible bleakness of death? He may be the straight man to Sakurako’s obsessions for now, but I’m also excited to see what will happen when we get to learn his story.

The framing in this show is really good except when the camera gets distracted by people’s crotches

These two really go together perfectly, and not because ones likes bones and the other just wants to eat good food (I relate to the latter). Their relationship is great because it’s so dynamic. At one point, Sakurako will have the upper hand with her cunning nature and vast knowledge of forensic science. Then Shoutarou will just whip out some febreze and spray her in the face when she’s being childish. The tables can be reversed at any time! It’s also really nice that Shoutarou, so far, doesn’t seem interested in her romantically. He likely finds her to be very pretty so he gets flustered when this older woman gets too close, but that’s about it.

That’s what you get for (almost literally) picking his brains

Final Thoughts

Compared to all the light novel garbage I’ve had to wade through this season, Sakurako-san is a real breath of fresh air. It doesn’t have a guy walking in on a girl getting changed and/or being called a pervert, which is sadly enough of a virtue for me to start this series off with a lot of optimism. We begin with Shoutarou and Sakurako already having an established relationship, so the only thing left is to explain Sakurako’s predilection for bones (and how this can be helpful for solving crimes). It doesn’t do much more outside of laying down the framework for future episodes, but I like how upfront it is about everything. This show wastes no time diving into finding a human skull on a beach and solving a double homicide mystery. It’s all very efficient! It’s not doesn’t pack a big punch for a premier episode, but it gets the job done and proves to me that this is a show starting from a solid, competent base. I feel like I know where things will go from here whereas for shows like Osomatsu-san or One Punch Man, episode 1 tells me next to nothing about what the rest of the show will be like.

So what’s in store for us? At the surface level, it’s a show about a hot girl solving crimes while making borderline sociopathic comments about humanity. And she solves crimes very prettily, I might add, with lots of rainbows and gorgeous visualizations. But it also seems to have a lot to say about the main duo as well, and things could get real personal real fast. This is a very welcome possibility for me as I already quite like Sakurako and Shoutarou. These two really click, although it’s a bit silly how everyone else in the show is a good handful of IQ points dumber just to make them look better. I’m pretty new to watching mystery series (unless you count reading Goosebumps or The Boxcar Children from when I was like, 9 years old) but I like the way Sakurako solves things. It’s very…educational. But in a good way! So I must say I’m very interested in seeing where this show will go in a season that’s filled me with nothing but indifference.

I couldn’t pick one image to end the post on so you get two

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.