Subete ga F ni Naru: Perfect Insider – 06

Curry Heals All Wounds

I tend to forget about Perfect Insider as soon as I’m done watching it. Usually, I get posts done quickly because I have a burning desire to write down everything I’m feeling before I forget. With Perfect Insider, I never feel like I have much more to say since so little happens in any given episode. It’s only until I sit down and start writing that I (usually) realize there’s actually a lot for me to say.

My fave screencap this week. I feel for you, dude.

Nishinosono and Saikawa return to camp and reiterate all the clues that have been gathered up until now. I appreciate the change of background, largely because we’re reintroduced to the other side characters. Remember them? The ones I said I was excited to get to know because they sounded so cool? I had completely forgotten about them (and the whole world outside the lab) until now. We still didn’t get to see much of them, but I think it was nice to switch from the cramped lab to a more relaxing setting, even if just for a moment. In fact, I kind of wish Nishinosono and Saikawa spent more time here since so much of the series has taken place in a dull, white lab. Ah well. It makes picking screencaps easy, at least.

A change of scenery and a change of dumb shirts…

While the setting was new, the information presented was mostly old. It felt very much like a scene in a video game where the characters explain what has happened so far to a naive, new party member in a veiled effort to drop the player hints and help them solve the mystery on their own. By re-stating the same facts in different ways, it lets the player to focus on the most important clues without forgetting anything. The only thing is, this isn’t a game, and the recap felt a bit dragged out. Perfect Insider seems to really want us, the viewer, to be able to solve this on our own. That’s respectable, and I think a lot of people go into mystery series expecting solvable cases (and very few deliver on that). But despite all the ways they try and rearrange the situation for me, I still don’t know who the killer really is, what their motive is, or how they did what they did. I just don’t know. And unless they start highlighting the important words like they do in games, I don’t think I’ll come any closer until we get some new clues. So what point is there re-capping now when we don’t have enough information to know the truth?

For a slow episode, I’m surprised how quickly Nishinosono and Saikawa made up. Nishinosono forgave him instantly and that was that – they were mystery-solving buddies again. I’m a little disappointed their dynamics are going to stay the same since I was craving some tension. It seems like Perfect Insider is most comfortable following a set routine, and disturbances such as arguments or going to the beach are meant to be temporary. The focus here is clearly on the mystery, and there’s no room for other drama to get in the way. At this point, I’m worried about how the romantic tension between Saikawa and Nishinosono will be solved. If all arguments are fixed with a few pleasantries, how will they ever grow? Saikawa is still taking his avoidant stance on the issue (as he does with everything else in life), and Nishinosono remains content with one-sided fawning. We’re back at the status quo. I assume they’re waiting for just the right moment for them to really connect, but the way it’s being dragged out makes me feel less interested in how the issue will be resolved.

In exchange for telling an amazing mystery, some of the nuances of other possible situations are being lost. I’m still upset that the lab members are so chill over a murder case instead of getting scared, and that Miki hasn’t been seen properly mourning, and that Nishinosono resolved her argument with Saikawa so effortlessly. Anything outside of the mystery is deemed as unimportant. Even the “breathing moments” in the episode are filled to the brim with deductions, accusations, and re-arrangements of the facts so far. There’s no break. I’m not asking for an episode where they all don swimsuits and split watermelons to ease the tension, but it feels like the rest of the story is getting shafted. Is it better to have a well-rounded story or to just excel greatly at one mystery? I’m enjoying Perfect Insider a lot, but like an obsessive tiger mom, that success just makes me want to push it to be even better.

All in all, this was a quiet episode that allowed everyone to regroup before marching back into the lab. The only real action was at the end where we see the actual murder of Shiki’s parents. By now, her actions don’t surprise me, but I was a little taken aback at how quickly her uncle took her side. I knew he was dangerously in love with her, but I didn’t think he would be pushed that far. If he’s willing to do this much for her, it’s hard for me to see anyone else being the killer. Of course, it’s possible this is just a big, fat red herring, which is why I suck at mysteries and never play Phoenix Wright games. Anyways, it was quite the note to end the episode on, especially after everything was so low-key.

Next week = more clues. Maybe I’ll be less lost by then!

 
“Uhh….surprise..!”

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.