Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru – 02
Who’s smarter, a cop or a toddler?
I’m very pleased to be blogging Sakurako-san because it’s impressing me more and more as time goes by. That being said, I’m a total newbie to this kind of show. I’ve never seen a police/crime drama on TV so I’ve only been exposed to anime versions of the genre. So to me, just about everything here is new and exciting!
“A story dedicated to those trapped by the past” is the text seen as the opening song begins to play, and I feel this statement really clarifies what Sakurako-san is all about. Just look at the OP where we see characters shooting lingering glances on people who vanish, suggesting that they still feel attached to people who have either died or distanced themselves from them. The second episode has a much different feel from the first as we start to see some of the darker aspects of what it means to be so closely intertwined with solving murders. Episode 1 had Sakurako jumping out of a car and waltzing into a crime scene out of her own will. She was entirely in control and as impressive as ever. In comparison, this episode she was forcibly swept up into solving a crime and brought to near hysterics at knifepoint. She nearly died. There was no sense of her being powerful or in control any more, as her wits could only take her so far. As she is triggered to remember the loss of her [brother/friend/other], Soutarou, she reveals just how fragile she truly is.
The guy in the back livetweeting the crime scene on his phone is all the commentary on society we need
The OP itself shows all of her weaknesses as she mourns the loss of Soutarou, desperately trying to run outside to meet him. If being “trapped by the past” is anything to go by, she is probably not ready to move on and accept Soutarou’s death. OP visuals aside, her unwillingness to call Shoutarou by name since it’s so similar to Soutarou says a lot about how fresh the wound still feels to her. It’s still a painful topic, even though he (seemingly) died when she was fairly young. So, instead of accepting death, she is dwelling on it in an obsessive manner and learning everything she can about bones. I’m almost worried Sakurako kept Soutarou’s bones, but that would be an extremely literal interpretation of being unwilling to let go.
Sakurako remains a mystery, but it’s very satisfying to unravel her piece by piece while she solves crimes. It’s very natural her character development just so happens to occur at the same time we get to the bottom of a murder mystery. That’s another thing I love about the show – it effortlessly blends character development and compelling mysteries in a 2-for-1 special. For example, Sakurako reveals that she’s actually a nice person from the way she treats Ii-cha. That level of courtesy may simply be because Ii-cha looks remarkably like her dead whatever-he-is, Soutarou, but it’s still a better response than her slamming the door on Shoutarou (you’re really gonna have to look for that h whenever I type their names, huh?). Her desperation to get Aa-cha to live despite claiming to be only interested in bones and dead things tells me that she has a soft spot…even if she did shove the mom out of the way roughly to figure it out. She ain’t perfect, but she’s no ice queen.
All that cola…all those bad life decisions…Oh my god, is she grown up Umaru-chan?!
With such a complicated past and muddled motivations, it’s easy to think Sakurako would steal the show. Hell, she even has her own magical girl transformation each week as she’s surrounded by sparkly skeletons while striking her best Gendo Ikari pose. However, Shoutarou doesn’t lose to her. Most of the time he kind of just confirms what Sakurako says since the cops in this show are so incompetent it’s like the entire police force is filled with Adachi from Persona 4. But I catch little glimpses of special moments that pique my interest. The most obvious “holy shit” moment being when he used a karate sweep/grapple combo to take down the drugged-out murderer. I did not expect a plain kid like him to be capable of such and thing, let alone be brave enough to try his hand-to-hand combat out on someone who was armed. It was impressive! There are also some minor things I’m curious about that have been hinted at, such as whose grave is he visiting in the OP and why he’s so familiar with the smell of corpses. One final reason for me to be surprised at this seemingly bland lead character: he doesn’t blush like an idiot when Yuriko sees him taking after a kid with an older woman. The lack of light novel reactions is so refreshing!
It’s difficult to build a deep mystery in the span of one episode, but I enjoyed how this one went. I’m sure we’ll get longer ones in the future, but I’m more than pleased with seeing all of Sakurako’s deductions here. Also, II-CHA WAS SO CUTE!!! ….Ahem, right, getting back on track with his Serious Murder Mystery here. To speak of Sakurako’s weaknesses again, I thought it was more realistic (take that word with a grain of salt here) that it took her several tries to envision what really happened on the night of the murder. She only noticed the baby after a bit of stumbling around.
However, there is one thing that is a bit of a deterrent to me enjoying the crime-solving process. That one thing is the police. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the police, it’s just that the police force in Sakurako-san in particular are so incompetent that it’s hard to believe. Why would a cop’s first resort be to go to some weird lady’s house to ask for help? Is that even legal? It’s depressing that in order to frame the show in a way to let Sakurako solve crimes, the police have to be painted as complete imbeciles incapable of tying their own shoelaces. They should just cut them out of the equation if they’re going to be so useless, because it just makes the justice system look like a big joke.
All in all, I loved this episode even more than the first. I’m excited to see where things go as we unlock more about Sakurako and Shoutarou, and the crazy mysteries they solve along the way. Butterflies seem to be an important motif to watch out for, based on the sphenoid scene in episode one, the amount of them in the OP, and the murderer spewing nonsense about butterflies. We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery soon…CUE MY MAGICAL GIRL BONES TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE!
“Ah yes, look at my nice fancy mansion and how gorgeous it is before we go to this POOR PERSON’S HOUSE”
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.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I would much rather have a police force like the one we see in the show than the militarized “Cops vs Everyone else” forces that we have in North America. And it’s fed by too much of the populace, who never realize that nearly all violent crime is on a multi-decade steeply downward trend. But about the police force in the show: Japan, with much less crime, is going to have much less experience with dealing with it, especially in the immediate response of the average officer in the local kiosk.
Anyway, I liked the episode quite a bit, although I could do without Sakurako’s Mortician Girl transformation being a continuing thing. It was amusing the first time, but that was enough (in contrast to your opinion 🙂 ). I also hope that they keep Sakurako and Shoutarou outside of the influence of the police. I think it’s more interesting that they are outsiders and not affiliated at all than if they become part of the standard “investigative team”.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Huh, good point. I think it’s easier for me to believe the cops being so dumb if I just think of it in the context of them not having a lot of experience in a country with such a low crime rate.
Yeah, I like the duo being their own sort of detective team. To be honest, I hope they cut out most of the interactions with the cops because Sakurako and Shoutarou doing stuff on their own is much more exciting.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I actually quite liked this one. The tension was really edgy involving a toddler, because that just muliplies how ghastly everything is;then they added an infant!
My only complaint (well, real one, I’ll kid you later!) was them meeting up with the girl classmate that just so happened to know where Il-chan lived. Coincidence is just too easy.
But….you’re in support of the Magical Bone Girl Transformation each episode?! Are you really going there?
…don’t know what to do with you!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Pure White Kuroneko GosuRORi. Oh, the dichotomy.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Adding in the infant really made things get serious! I can’t say I expected that one.
Yuriko conveniently knowing the kid was pretty convenient, yeah. I was rolling my eyes a little there.
Hehe, I’m the blogger who likes Phi Brain, there’s a whole lot of things wrong with my taste in anime!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I suppose that the one called “The LOLi-Defender” shouldn’t worry about what to do with anyone else, eh?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I remember that. You blogged the first two seasons back to back. Each of which were two-cour. That’s a year of dedication on one show.
Besides, you already did a number on my psyche with Gochiusa. I’d be stumped with uncertainty if I had to make a profile on your anime tastes. 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Sakurako’s true disposition after fearing for Shoutarou’s life is worthy of bringing up two episode titles of Psycho-Pass season 1 that very much describe her: “Nobody Knows Your Mask” and “Nobody Knows Your Face”. Suffice to say a part of her hidden side was beginning to surface. Whoever this “Soutarou” is, I’m guessing he’s a deceased friend of Sakurako. The elderly maid never mentioned anything about her having siblings.
The tragic part of the whole crime was that it didn’t have to happen. Nothing more than a random occurrence leaving you to believe the ordeal could’ve been avoided. Now there are two children orphaned at young ages. A saddening thing to think about.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
…How did you remember those titles? Wow. But yes, I see those as quite fitting for Sakurako!
It is very sad. I wonder if we’ll get to see what happens to Ii-cha and Aa-cha later on. Probably not though. :/
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hahaha!
1: I have both Psycho-Pass seasons stored on an external hard drive along with other seasonal animes I can re-watch whenever I please.
2: Anything I like in a series (Often times the whole series itself) or find poignant tends to stick at the back of my mind on occasion. Just needs something to trigger it.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I do like this show, but I have one criticism, which I think (hope) will be addressed. We need more involved mysteries that take longer than one episode to solve.
The main characters and how they’re being developed so far are good ones. There are layers beneath Sakurako’s cold exterior and thankfully Shoutarou isn’t the hapless high school boy of so much anime.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I think it will be addressed. The first few episodes are usually one-offs and then as we get more used to how things work we’ll see some more involved stories spanning several episodes. Er…hopefully.
I’m really impressed by them too. I was ready to write off Shoutarou as a typical male lead because of his looks but man, he’s really holding his own here!