Bishounen Tanteidan – 02

OP Sequence

OP: 「Shake & Shake」by Sumika

「「きみだけに光かがやく暗黒星」その 2」 (Kimi Dake ni Hikari Kagayaku Ankokusei” Sono Ni)
“The Dark Star that Shines for You Alone – Part 2”

Bishounen Tanteidan’s second episode gives Mayumi an inconvenient answer as to what she saw in the sky as a kid. Although it starts to make sense that the falling star she spotted turned out to be a falling military satellite, what’s making less sense for her and the Pretty Boy Detectives is why this revelation is bringing tons of mysterious stalkers out of the woodwork.

This episode does a great job at getting Mayumi acquainted with the remaining guys she had yet to learn about. She gets the most time with Hyouta in this episode who might have been designated as a fan service character with his athleticism and posing, but he also stands out as one of the more insensitive members of the group. If there were anyone who’d quickly go against the leader without a second thought, it would be Hyouta with his inquisitive, curious hunches that sidestep the niceties of a regular conversation. Notably, he’s the only member that wished to prod at Mayumi about her parents and the complex she had about her eyes. His perspective is greatly appreciated mostly because he is callous enough not to overthink the idea of reading the room before he speaks, making for quite a valuable trait for seeking answers crucial for a mystery.

Another group member with the golden idea to go against the leader’s line of thinking is Nagahiro. Because of his research, he managed to deduce that it was a military satellite and it might’ve been seen in the daylight. It was impressive detective work on his behalf, especially since he broke it all down while concentrating on making a pot of tea. He might seem nonchalant about the arranged marriage he has set up with a first-grader, but, if not for his investigation and the details he learned about the day/night cycle that drove him to the conclusion it wasn’t a star, they might’ve still been trapped in the stargazing phase.

We also got to see a little bit of Sousaku, whose art prowess makes him interested in the finer details of a subject. While he shows up a little in Mayumi’s investigation, his makeover prowess is not to be forgotten as he was able to convincingly gender-bend Mayumi and their leader Manabu to help them avoid any of her stalkers. He seems to be a man of few words, but his input appears to be beneficial both for representing the group’s strict adherence to over-the-top beauty standards and the detective group’s ability to use as many disguises as they need to unveil the truth.

The fast-talking might have accelerated the plot even further as the second episode went on, especially with the story redirecting towards uncovering the cover-up rather than cutting it off with the revelation Mayumi received. But through Mayumi’s elusive shooting star, it’s easy to see what gravitates the detectives towards certain mysteries. “Beauty” could be a grandiose experience that makes you question whether anything could be as visually evocative to you. It could also be a vague, opulent phenomenon that is larger than life and would pose far too many issues to confront face-to-face. Think of the creeping, foreign feeling that might come from staring directly at an Eldritch abomination; it’s shocking and terrifying, but it’s also far too complex to comprehend and boil down beyond just “scary,” and in that complexity lies a multi-faceted entity that is too captivating in its design and conception to forget.

In this case, a military conspiracy involving a shot-down foreign satellite, global conflict, and relentless stalkers would prove to be an outlandish mystery that was dramatic and elaborate enough to align well with their “beauty” standards. With this in mind, along with the ending of this episode, I’m wondering how many cases the detectives will go through within the season or if most of these coming episodes will dive deeper into mysteries where the stakes continue to grow exponentially higher.