First Impressions / UN-GO

「海勝麟六の犯罪」 (Kaishō Rinroku no Hanzai)
“Kaishou Rinroku’s Crime”

With only two episodes remaining after this one and so many unanswered questions hanging over things, it seems very likely that this is the arc that will take us to the end of the series. If so, they’ve chosen to go out with what looks to be a good mystery.

In a sense, I think BONES is cheating here by using Bettenou in the way they are, because her ability effectively makes it impossible for the audience to know whether they’re seeing what they think they’re seeing. It’s fun, but a little irritating, as I’ve always believed a good mystery should be audience-solvable if you’re smart enough and work hard enough. As such I’m sure we’re going to see lots of subtle hints that will have looked obvious in hindsight, revealing which “reality” is reality, as was the case with the prison episode. For now, we have a lot of potential culprits to sort through, starting with the 900-pound gorilla, Kaishou himself.

Among the other fascinating developments this week was seeing Inga in a totally different light. He was timid, nervous and hesitant at the prospect of Bettenou running around lose, and this is really the first time we’ve seen Inga on the defensive. Never has he looked more like a real child than when he was pleading with Shinjuro to stay away from Bettenou or begging Kazamori to let him watch anime instead of Kaishou’s panel appearance. Worse, it appears at least possible that Inga himself may not be invulnerable to Bettenou’s spell. At the very least Inga was definitely “off” when he reappeared after going missing while on the way to the hospital (a visit whose exact purpose is not elaborated) and running afoul of Bettenou – who can fly, apparently – in a dark alley. There was someone else in that alley too, who in a very brief and very distant shot looked almost like Hayami.

At the center all this is the paradox of Kaishou being in two places at once – Rie and his maid see him at home at the same time he’s supposedly appearing on a TV show with a group of his critics. When a bomb explodes just as “Kaishou” steps out to take a call, suspicious naturally falls on Kaishou himself, who turns up among the wounded, unconscious – especially given the recent success of the “cracker” group Full Circle at publicizing his secret dealings. The producer, Motoyama Minami (Ookawa Tooru), a bit of a conspiracy theorist, isn’t buying the police’s story that it was just a fire caused by the decrepit state of the studio. A member of the Diet, Kuramitsu Mine (Mariko Kouda) turns up as well, trying to get Kaishou’s testimony about the dangers or microwave technology that has “foreign nations” worried.

There seem to be no shortage of potential explanation for the bombing, and I don’t count “accident” among them. Kaishou is obviously a suspect, and if he were using Bettenou it would be easy to make others believe he was at the station and in danger when in reality he wasn’t. This seems to be Shinjuro’s working model, theorizing that Kaishou was using Bettenou’s voice on the air to create the deception – but I wonder if that’s his personal bias speaking. It seems too obvious, frankly. Rie certainly believes her father is innocent and while she initially recruits Shinjuro to help, he quickly sours on the notion of Kaishou’s innocence. Something has been brewing with Hayami for a while, and that sure looked like him in the alley. Could he have indeed turned against Kaishou and set him up? There’s the TV producer as well, and our old friend Yajima, the critic, has apparently released a tell-all book about Kaishou. And that newbie Diet member is a little cute and feels a little too unnecessary at this point not to have some as yet undisclosed connection to the conspiracy.

What appears reasonably certain is that only one of these two Kaishou’s is the real one – I’m betting on the one Rie and the maid think they saw at home being the illusion, since he hasn’t reappeared – and the other is part of a group hallucination inspired by Bettenou. I’m assuming the fact that Kazamori should, in theory, prove immune to Bettenou’s sorcery will prove vital in the resolution of the case. Inga’s situation is the most interesting wild-card, in that we don’t know his state of mind or even if he’s under his own control. The preview isn’t much help – to me it has “troll” written all over it, and my suspicion is that we’re going to see next week’s penultimate ep end in a vicious cliffhanger with one or more main characters appearing to be dead.

 

Preview

35 Comments

  3. I was very intrigued by this scene:

    https://randomc.net/image/UN-GO/UN-GO%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2021.jpg

    The following is just my ramblings about what i found intriguing in the episode -my thought process through certain parts :d-

    Show Spoiler ▼

    XD can’t wait to see wat happens lol

    Guest2
    Reply

    1. Sorry, I did not saw your spoiler when I type in my thoughts on the shown. It looks like I repeat some of your point of view.
      Still, I am glad someone share my questions on the matter……

      Zleihsh
      Reply

  5. I wonder if we can get some Bettenou’s history/her’s POV on the humans, or at least let her talk.
    One more thing, about Shinjuro’s handkerchief end up with Inga, was that newbie reporter the real deal or just, if by any chance, Inga under Bettenou’s spell !?!?

    Zleihsh
    Reply

  6. Inga’s either been compromised by Bettenou’s power or the Inga we see later isn’t the real deal. I agree that Bettenou’s ability is a bit of a cheat as it makes it quite hard to figure out, though there probably are enough hints.

    It did look like Hayami and him trying to set up Kaishou is definitely a possibility, though he seems to be using Inga and Shinjuro as pawns to pull it off if that is the case. I’d honestly be surprised if it actually was Kaishou since that just seems too easy and Shinjuro does have a bias against him. It’s not without reason of course, but I think that Shinjuro wants to catch Kaishou at something.

    I’m a little curious how they could stretch this out over three episodes unless we end on a cliffhanger next time and then conclude it at the start of 11 and then see the aftermath.

    Sean
    Reply

  7. I was so intrigued by this episode that I didn’t even notice the end approaching. I think this was the first episode of any show this season that had me captivated to such a degree.

    It’s a real shame this is only 11 episodes (damn you, Noitamina, you strike again).

    Tre
    Reply

  8. I disagree that it’s a “cheat” because we are already aware of the supernatural aspect of this show with Inga, and that Bettenou’s power is already established several episodes back.

    Now, if a difficult scenario, say, where everyone dies, was waved away as some effect of Bettenou’s illusion, then that would be lazy writing.

    We are observing the perspective of the characters trapped in Bettenou’s illusion, so we’re trapped as well.

    Besides, the show abandoned the mystery shtick a long time ago.

    Zammael
    Reply

  9. The moment I heard Inga at the end, I thought something didn’t feel right. But if Hayami really is behind this, he has no reason to hide from Shinjuro since he seemed like he was against Kaishou’s coverups. dunno, just my feeling.

    Luxorcist
    Reply

  11. I’m pretty sure that I have seen Hayami in the alley and he also is the person who is the first one who has seen Bettenou after Mr. Novelist left her(Bettenou was in Mr. Novelist’s cell and Hayami was sitting in this cell while after some time we see coming in Kaisho and then Inga see them arguing after leaving Mr. Novelist without mouth which implies too that Hayami has control over already.).

    lilu
    Reply

    1. Thats what it seems like to me too.
      It feels as if they made it obvious after that alley scene.
      Is that it? What is the motive of Hayami’s story? The sidekick is more than meets the eye?
      If thats not it, are we not shown something?

      Feels strange that in the last episode that Hayami and Riroku are talking about Bettenou like its nothing supernatural.

      iron2000
      Reply

  15. Another confusing episode. If it was a different type of anime, I’d probably said it was the worst episode ever. For this anime, it just adds to the puzzle I guess. At least with so few episodes left, I’m pretty confident that this won’t be another brain damaging Penguindrum for me (which I’m absolutely glad I dropped).

    x
    Reply

  16. I’m so in love with this show! I was hesitating when it aired but I’m so glad I watched it. I was so scared it was going to end up being something like KamiMemo which I happened to dislike.

    But this show has everything. Mellow mysteries, good soundtrack, decent voice acting and some really interesting characters. I’m going to make my brother sew me a little Rai bear. He is really talented with craft work. *U*

    teri
    Reply

  17. This one is about as far from KamiMemo as you could imagine. One of the things I’ve really come to appreciate is how it doesn’t fit neatly into any anime comparison, and I think that’s because BONES really went outside the box for source material.

    Guardian Enzo
    Reply

  18. There are many flaws in this mysterious enemy’s illusions. I think the biggest one is how Kaishou left the room right before it was hit with the explosion. If Kaishou was safe at home, then why would the fake one leave the room? Also, why would he just appear in front of his daughter like that? After all, Kaishou’s perfect crime would have to fool everyone, including Shinjuro, and he would do it using nothing but his own intellect. Shinjuro should know better that his rival wouldn’t use cheap tricks like magic. It’s as if Kaishou was set up to ruin his credibility with everyone, perhaps by a member of Full Circle?
    As to who is setting Kaishou up, I suspect Kuramitsu Mine, that Diet member woman is involved, considering the handkerchief Inga had near the end was the same one Shinjuro gave her when they first met. Perhaps the “off” Inga was actually her?

    MrMartini
    Reply

  19. I don’t see the motive for Hayami being the culprit here. However, both Kaisho and Hayami were the last people to look for Bettenou which makes them both equally suspicious. Could someone explain why they think Hayami may be the culprit?

    Genius
    Reply

  20. For now, I’m assuming that the Kaishou at the studio is the false one, and the Kaishou that was at his home is the real one. The reason why the latter hasn’t appeared yet is that he’s trying to solve this crime, just as he usually does. I do wonder, though, why he doesn’t do it in his room, like he usually does.

    SingerOfW
    Reply

  21. Well I certainly have my opinions about the solution to this case, but sharing them would be a horrible tragedy if they turned out to be right >). Until next week >D!

    But man, that Driver guy is awfully suspicious. He was the first one back in the room where the Novelist and Bettenou was. To me, he looked like he was going to shoot Kaishou then and there in the cell (Last Ep) @_@! … Who knows. Reveal the Truth! Defeated Detective!

    KumaKaori
    Reply

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