Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru – 04
She won’t bite unless there’s a bone
A family curse…no wait, a cursed dog!…and a cursed painting!…and a creepy house! It’s like listening to a 6 year old try to tell a spooky story on Halloween and just mashing a bunch of creepy concepts together. Well, it certainly is confusing…
Check out this loser smoking alone in the rain
Finally, a mystery that isn’t over in one episode! It’s relieving that Sakurako-san is finally giving itself some room to stretch out and develop a proper story. The previous mysteries weren’t bad, per se, but I felt that this show could really do well with a long-term mystery where we really get to know all the players involved. That extra breathing room worked wonders this week as we intimately got to know Fujioka and his wife. With all this time dedicated towards proper character development, I found myself getting effortlessly drawn into the tenuous relationship between the couple. They seem to love each other, but one is getting ready to just kick off and isn’t doing anything to comfort his terrified wife. She’s trying so hard, celebrating his birthday with a cake and offering fresh drinks to everyone. She was even moved to tears that his friends came to check up on him (mixed with the sorrow that they were the only friends to do so). It’s such an unusual situation that seeing all the dynamics between him and his potential future widower wife was really interesting.
“Alright, according to this book of how everyone died that I just so happen to own…”
The episode is not much more than a long conversation, but it’s still very lively. I found myself leaning in, trying to soak in as many clues as I could. The problem is, there’s just so many darn mysteries that I can’t keep track of it all. As I said at the beginning of the post, we have a family curse, a cursed dog, and a cursed painting. It’s a little silly (I laughed at the cursed dog part), but I think that’s part of the mystery of it all. Curses are usually silly things people misattribute to the wrong source. It’s like how if a batter in baseball thinks they score more homeruns when they wear their lucky socks, even though that is clearly not the case. There is another force at work here, and these other objects are likely just distractions from the main cause of premature death. I doubt very much that adorable ball of fur killed anyone. If anything, he’s probably a really astute guard dog who wants to protect his owner when he’s in trouble.
The mystery is very much still in early stages. The weirdest thing is undoubtedly Fujioka talking to some guy on the side of the road and smirking. That’s not typical behavior for a victim who is suspiciously against anyone trying to find out the mystery behind the curse. It looks like he’s in on something, like a massive conspiracy where all the males fake their deaths to evade taxes or something. It really made me stop feeling sorry for the guy, although his rude outbursts in his wife’s presence were already taking me in that direction.
The episode ends with him being accused of taking out the cursed painting (*cue scary music oooOOOOooo*) when it should be locked away in storage. I don’t know why that’s such a horrible thing, because it’s not like taking a painting out of the basement closet or whatever is going to result in sudden death. But it was framed as a big deal so we’ll see what Sakurako has to say about it all. She seems like she already has a lot figured out, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the mystery wraps up next week.
I’m really enjoying this week’s mystery – so much that I’m actually trying to piece clues together as best as I can in my head. The car…the liver diseases..asthma?…no, maybe the dog?…OH GOD, IS IT CAKE?! I’m going crazy here thinking about it all. In the end, I’ll just leave it to Sakurako, but this episode really got me excited. I guess I’m starting to enjoy mystery series now!
So beware of butterflies, don’t go to school, and defeat Master Hand in Smash Bros.?
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: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Nah, all the guys were killed by a witch from Madoka/SHAFT…with Master Hand as the puppetmaster…or is it Master Core?!
I’ve heard that in music, the notes give us the sound, but the rests give us resonance.
I loved this episode for how the story was told in the pauses, the more quiet moments. As it stands, many of the so-called clues are pretty much disposable as they are clearly the fuel for paranoia…which doesn’t make the curse easy to ignore.
But damn, it’s like the dude is looking to die no matter what…I’m a smoker, and if I got asthma I hope I wouldn’t be this moronic and still smoke…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
The murderer was…..Master Hand!
I’m falling for the paranoia fuel because everything was so ever so slightly suspicious. But yes, this was a good episode for catching important moments in fleeting facial expressions, smalltalk, and awkward pauses.
He really seems resigned to just let the curse kill him. I know smoking is one of the hardest substances to quit, but I couldn’t help but laugh at him going so far as to smoke in the rain…alone…with asthma…and the penalty of having to chop wood…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Paranoia? Did you think there was mold in the juicer? Highway did…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, this one was good and I was doing the same kind of thing, thinking of all the things that could be killing this guy. Smoking, an untreated lung infection, parasites from the dog, the improperly vented fireplace, the juicer that didn’t get cleaned out so it had mold in it, there were so many things. But it was one of those great episodes of anime, I thought, that kept you completely engrossed while people sat around and talked in the car, then sat around the living room and talked. I love episodes like that.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
So, so many possibilities…
When I was watching it, I really was totally engrossed and it felt like it was just so full of life and content. Then when I went to write about it I realized “oh, wow, that was all just talking…”. This is turning out to be a really great mystery.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Thinking some more about this situation, and I’m starting to wonder if the guy is trying to set up a fake death for himself. The issue with the day trading makes me wonder if his wealth is an illusion, and he’s actually broke and has to go along with the other guy’s plan to get out from some debt.
The other thing that I wonder is whether Sakurako-san will end up with the dog. I mean, a dog that finds dead things? Plus it really likes her? Seems like quite the match. I thought it was funny all through the episode that she just sat there with the dog looking at her. Just a really interesting look.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Dog is in OP, but OP may lie…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah, I also figured that his family might actually be faking death due to money issues. I mean, the guy seems so desperate for his wife to believe that he’s going to die that is seems weird…
It makes sense. I feel like the dog loving the smell of death would make it such a convenient companion for Sakurako…but then again, the owners would have to give it up for some reason. But all the flags are there and it IS really cute…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Good call to have a longer mystery to sit down and think on. The past ones were somewhat alright but were too short lived to enjoy due to lack of breathing room.
I get Fujioka is in despair over a family concern yet nearly all sympathy evaporated thanks to his inconsiderate outbursts right in his wife’s presence. She doesn’t want or need that in an already depressing situation, equivalent to twisting a knife she’s already been stabbed with. At least tone it down.
The curse thing is obviously bogus but if anything’s going to kill him quick, it’s his smoking addiction. Seriously, people need to kick that nasty, self-destructive habit. My bets are on the mentioned painting and it’s probably been passed around as much as the cute dog. Reasons are possible lead poisoning from the paint.
I remember an episode of Law and Order: SVU where a teenager killed his doctor in a fit of rage because he was mocking him. He was declared not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect because he was found developmentally delayed due to missing brain matter from ingesting lead based paint when he was licking the paint off his toy cars when he was a kid.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
See, the lead has to be consumed in some way, or breathed in when it’s being sprayed. Painters, who are exposed to the later, are more likely to succumb to lead poisoning than anyone else. Or a slave in ancient Rome smelting the stuff, or a noble in ancient Rome drinking the stuff that’s been put in wine ON PURPOSE to sweeten it. So, unless the chain of people who’ve owned that painting are eating chucks out of it, or freebasing parts of it for kicks, lead from the paint might not stack up. This guy is an idiot, but at least he doesn’t look like he’s partaken of the wall-candy buffet.
Also, whatever the cause is has to account for more people than just him. His list is fueled by his paranoia, but it’s not completely in bug-eyed crazy land.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…a few bits and pieces for consideration….
Also, Japan was never very friendly with leaded gasoline… if you want to take lead off the table.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Coooooooool
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
The “curse” stalking the men in his family could just be poor genes resulting in early death. Particularly if they also had bad habits like smoking or drinking too much.
I’m another one who thinks the painting is important, either as a major clue or the cause. Maybe not lead, but something in the paint is poisoning them. And that could tie back to poor genes making them more susceptible to whatever it is about the painting that could be killing them.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Honestly, if this were a real life case, that’s what I would think too. Bad genes plus bad habits plus bad luck. But that would be a pretty boring TV mystery.
I’m more likely to believe the painting is cursed than the dog, that’s for sure.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
As others have said, not having to wrap it all up in one episode makes for a much better and more compelling mystery that has time to develop properly.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think that *if* you have a mystery that takes more time to set up, then you take more time. But it’s not like the ones we’ve seen in the episodes up until now have been so involved they rushed through them to get them done in an episode. They were one-and-done because that’s all there was to the story.
It feels like people are dinging the show for being varied, and leading into longer things with more digestible pieces rather than starting off with something massive right off the bat.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Oh, I agree. It’s the smaller bits which give us character and depth. This is a story, after all, not a box of puzzle pieces dumped on the floor…