First Impressions / Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin

「七重島第三高等部・冒険部 」 (Nanae-jima Dai San Koutoubu Bouken-bu)
“Nanae Island 3rd Senior High School – Adventure Club”

The plot thickens as this week reveals more about “the other people” also hunting down Nanana’s Collection. If it wasn’t obvious enough, Ikkyuu Tensai (Asumi Kana), the self-acclaimed Master Detective is going to be the brains behind our group’s hunts. She’s quite observant and has a keen sense to pick up on small details that lead her to her answer. I was very impressed by her deductive reasoning on how she came to the conclusion that Juugo picked up the box, or how to access the treasure at end of the tunnel. It’s not as fun when the audience is given the answer rather than guessing with the characters, but it was still amusing watching Juugo’s failed attempts. Tensai resembles the Sherlock Holmes in all mystery series, while Hoshino Daruku (Hanazawa Kana) is like her Watson… just not as bright. But she is male! In other words, she is a trap – as Tensai puts it. And for all those that didn’t understand the subtitles (because it was confusing), it was Tensai’s play on words. “She” is not a boy, but “she” is a trap!

The other characters introduced were the president and co-president of the Adventure Club. Yuiga Isshin (Okitsu Kazuyuki) and Ibara Yuu (Suzuki Eri) invite Juugo (and company) to join the club and help find the remaining Nanana treasures. Even the notebook indicated that Juugo should join the club… but why? I’m terribly suspicious of Isshin and Yuu and their motives, but for the time being, I guess I have no reason to doubt that they’re doing it for good. The fact that they know about Nanana makes me wonder just how many people at the school (or on the island) know about her. Are they hunting for her treasures for her amusement, or do they have a secret agenda as well? As an off-side, the seiyuus that play Isshin and Yuu are also not top A-listers and I’m beginning to see a trend of the voice actors that this show is hiring to play roles.

Speaking of treasures, this episode leads me to believe that Nanana knows where the pieces of her collection are hidden. And if that’s the case, why doesn’t she share that secret or drop hints? She says that it’s because this is more “fun”, but is that the real reason? I’d hate to follow this show just to realize that it was all for shits and giggles and Nanana is just trolling everyone on it. On some levels, I think Nanana herself doesn’t realize the importance of the treasure either because she’s only confined to her room. She only knows what others tell her and it seems like no one’s been really telling her anything, even to the point of hiding secrets in a notebook in the washroom. The Great Seven must have a history that’s not being shared right now that leads to the reason for Nanana’s death. I’m just so impatient that I wish they would skip to that part of the story already!

I’ve decided to pick up this series for this season! I have my doubts that the ending will be conclusive, but I hope the ride there will be worth it anyway. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged such a carefree, fun show and I think Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin will be a perfect show to blog for the spring time (no, I likely won’t pick up anything else). It’s definitely interesting on many levels and the characters aren’t boring to watch although they can be stereotypical sometimes. I’m mainly keen on seeing where and what these treasures are and how they provide any value to solving the ultimate question – who is Nanana’s murderer. There are also other characters that are on the hunt that we haven’t been introduced to yet… and who knows what they’re up to…

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: Wow… So this treasure hunt is all a ruse just because Nanana wants some fun in her life?! O.o #gg #nanana_tv

41 Comments

  1. Hah, that’s the second HanaKana trap this season already. Wonder if this is going to be a pattern.

    In any case, I’m quite liking this show so far. It has a good sense of fun and a colourful cast of characters. The detective-girl could’ve easily gotten annoying if handled wrong, but I was pretty impressed by her powers of deduction as well. Not to mention that nobody takes her seriously despite that, so that gives her underdog appeal. The main protagonist won points as well – you gotta admire his persistence in trying to get that treasure (even if he did go about it wrong). As for the club members, they’re a shady sort. A dude in glasses and his yandere don’t seem to be the most thrustworthy types, but eh, maybe they’re not all bad. Either way, these guys are keeping me interested.

    As for Nanana, I think it’s less trolling and more about the fact that the others have to earn it. She risked life and limb for them when she was still alive, so if someone else wants to have them, they’d better put in some effort. And besides that, her killer might be among the people searching for them. Would be kind of stupid to go around spilling the beans on everything when there’s a chance you could give the person who murdered you everything they want that way. Now that she’s dead, there’s no way to get that valuable information out of her besides her own free will, after all. I’m not surprised she safeguards it.

    So yes, let’s watch more of The Goonies: The Anime. Glad to see it get picked up.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

    1. Or a character who’s name was brought up in the first episode but wasn’t discussed much further like the architect Mutsumi Koma who the mc is “quite a fan of.” Just speculation but I thought it was a little strange.

      klaatu
      Reply

  6. Explanation on Otoko no ko:
    Daruku’s Otoko no ko is written as 男の娘,male daughter, with 男 = man and 娘 = female child, daughter.
    娘, normally written in hiragana as ‘musume’,むすめ,has been written as こ here.

    In normal Japanese usage, Otoko no ko is written as 男の子,(young) boy, with 男 = man and 子 = child.

    Just for everyone’s linguistic benefit. ^-^

    zztop
    Reply

    1. Just to add to that: it’s reasonably common (in informal writing anyway) for ‘ko’, meaning ‘kid/child’, to be written with 娘, the kanji for daughter, when it’s referring to a girl. So 男の娘 is basically a play on that, using the feminine kanji to modify a term for ‘boy’ to give it an implication of femininity.

      Kind of sucks that ‘trap’ is used in English, as that isn’t a very nice term in comparison.

      ham and brie
      Reply

  9. You know what, I have a feeling Nanana isn’t really dead and this is just one big game with her being the
    mastermind behind all of it, because what kind of ghost that eats pudding, where do those pudding go when
    she eat them? I’m guessing her ability to be ghostlike has something to do with that huge necklace thingy
    she’s wearing because now we already know those Nanana collection is somewhat magical

    lol
    Reply

    2. The moment she met Juugo and tried to touch his hand, her hand went through his >_> I think that’s really hard to fake so I’d be pretty impressed if she ended up being a living person… good theory though!

      Cherrie
      Reply

  10. I hate to say it, but Nanana is the weakest part of this show IMO. I know we’re told a lot about her, but I don’t believe 90% of it. I believe she knows where all the treasures are and she once found them, but I don’t believe she’s a genius, or (after that last conversation) even that she can’t leave that room or that she really wants to know who killed her. And by “believe” I mean that while I accept it because “plot”, we haven’t been actually shown anything to make me feel it. At this point I really can’t say that her presence helps anything in the show besides motivating Juugo.

    She’s supposed to be an airhead genius, but right now all I see is an airhead. With her holding out on so much it’s no wonder no one’s solved her murder in ten years. It’d be nice to see a more serious side of her to show that she actually cares about anything that’s going on.

    And yeah, I agree Cherrie: the Adventure Club members were hella suspicious. No trust earned there. I really don’t care that Nanana trusts them either, cause she comes off as really gullible. Tensai is fun though, and Daruku seems like he’ll be amusing in the “victim” role.

    Aex
    Reply

    1. I agree… Nanana is being portrayed as an “airhead” and someone that just cares for games and pudding… but she’s SUPPOSED to be someone like Tensai who helped fund the building of this island so what you see isn’t what you would imagine a character like her to behave like. I also feel like Nanana doesn’t add a lot of value to the story so far? She says very little and when she does talk, it’s just to Juugo about very minimal things. A lot of her past is being told to us through the eyes of someone else – the landlord, a notebook and the club members. So who are we supposed to trust?

      I don’t think Nanana is that bright either to be honest so I definitely don’t think she knows who her murderer is… it sounds like SHE doesn’t even know why she’s still a ghost and when Juugo asks if she wants to know her who murdered her, she’s like “ya, that’d be nice” lol o_O so maybe that isn’t the reason she’s still around. Maybe she, herself, just wants to stay on Earth to play games and eat pudding.

      Cherrie
      Reply

  16. Kind of irritating that Juugo just gets the crap beat out of him all the time. I really hope that we don’t continue down the path of him being more or less forced to take part in these hijinks.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    1. Unfortunately that’s pretty much the set-up. To escape the hijinks at this point means escaping Nanana, and he doesn’t have enough money to leave the room if he doesn’t want to be homeless. He at least seems convinced he’s doing this all on his own, but it really doesn’t feel that way from an audience standpoint. He’s stuck with Nanana, so it feels like he’s just letting himself go with the flow while getting pretty much zero respect (except from Tensai, which makes her my favorite!)

      Aex
      Reply

    2. Amen to that…it is really irritating to see him get no respect from anyone. I had some hope for him since as the class rep put it last ep., he has the face of a delinquent, but it seems like it is all for show, and he is just like a standard fare harem protagonist who gets the crap beaten out of all the time. I will keep watching hoping things will change and he will get some vindication at some point, but from my experience with those kings of shows, I should know better by now…

      Darklord
      Reply

  17. Ever since Captain Earth and Log Horizon – though the latter was in a more favorable light – it seems shady characters come with four eyes instead of two.

    As usual the art was stellar. Not quite sure what I’d make of this, but the treasure hunting premise looks very interesting (and with that crazy set up in a innocent-looking room too!). Tensai aside, I’m curious as to what kind of background Juugo has as well.

    3-episode rule is going out the window if they give another good one.

    Owaranai
    Reply

  19. ugh, another trap character. Japan sure is trying to cultivate a nice fetish there. and I don’t trust Yuiga Isshin either. it wouldn’t be much of a mystery if there were no hidden agendas! though why do I think the landlady killed Nanana, er maybe by accident or something. lastly, pudding!

    a box like Hippo
    Reply

  20. Yep, Nanana was playing Virtua Fighter, I hope the anime doesn’t get a cease and desist order because it is getting better.

    I can’t wait to see what the other puzzle looks like. The first one was already better and more creative than anything that ever happened in Psybrain, plus there was no cheaters to mess with the puzzle either.

    magoiichi
    Reply

    1. Definitely surprised by the puzzle aspect so far… I was hoping for a more thought-out approach with the clues all laid out and you go and think about it (something along the lines of Hyouka), but Nanana is definitely like not like. The audience literally follows Juugo along as he makes mistakes and stumbles around not really thinking and just doing. Then the answer kind of just reveals itself when Tensai comes to play. The puzzles are also more unique than I gave them credit for… the maze was interesting to watch (even though it’s 3D animation).

      Cherrie
      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *