Forum - View topicHolmes of Kyoto (TV).
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2 |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
||
It's a pair of tickets. Rewatch last week to see for yourself. |
|||
|
|||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
||
|
#9
It's a fairly innocuous year-end party, but the mood sours really quickly after Ensho shows up. He even obtained the Yagashira patriarch's permission to attend as well, which is interesting in its own right. Considering how quickly he solved Kiyotaka's puzzle, it shows he's not just a forger but also has considerable knowledge of the art world and the ability to make seemingly random connections between different mediums. Ensho's style is obvious by now: he always goes for any opportunity to publicly humiliate Kiyotaka by showing up his appraisal skills to be subpar in full view of the public. To that end, he's certainly taken the trouble to create three different categories of forgeries to put Kiyotaka through the wringer. He's already shown off at least one example of each type in previous episodes, but as expected it is the painting which gives Kiyotaka the most trouble. Taking a famous ukiyo artist with limited output as his subject makes matters harder since there's less source material to work with, but Kiyotaka just about passes the hurdle even though the mental burden of dealing with a potentially valuable genuine masterpiece didn't allow him to declare its authenticity with full confidence. The pair of them REALLY don't like each other, but Kiyotaka's ability to get under Ensho's skin with his insight is probably the one asset he has over Ensho which the other doesn't really have a counter to. Just as well Mashiro intervened, since leaving those two at it any longer would have resulted in a brawl which would have left Kiyotaka and his family as the losers. There will probably be one or two duels between the pair before this adaptation winds up, but I doubt there will be one next week since it seems like another character exposition piece rather than this week's focus on fine art and art history. |
|||
|
|||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
||
|
#10
Both this week's mystery and the obligatory introduction to Kyoto's scenic spots play a back seat to the central doll story and why Kiyotaka's grandfather is in a civil relationship with a woman many years his junior. It seems Kiyotaka certainly inherited both eccentricity and the ability to accurately read the unspoken intentions from others from his grandfather. While they're at it, it appears the other point of this episode is to give the pair a nudge regarding what relationship they would both like to have. Both of the grandparents (including the grandmother who hasn't seen him for a while) already know but won't say it out loud, especially when Mashiro is right next to him. Considering Mashiro is already fantasising about herself and Kiyotaka getting together in that bisque doll scene, the only thing remaining is for the two of them to let go of their respective emotional baggage and just get on with it openly like Yagashira Seiji is doing. The age difference is a bother for Kiyotaka, but his grandfather has already set a far more significant precedent it wouldn't really make much of a difference if he did the same. If next week's Valentine party (another party, but then again if your family owns a successful antiques shop in one of the prime retail areas of Kyoto you'd have to socialise to keep things going) sees Kiyotaka's mother show up to give another nudge I wouldn't be surprised either. Besides the relationship these two are supposed to be building, there's the small matter of Ensho and his obsessive desire to crush Kiyotaka with the perfect forgery. Not sure how the animators are going to reconcile both arcs with the limited time remaining, but this is not an original work so there's probably a solution already worked out that will hopefully not make everything feel rushed. |
|||
|
|||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
||
|
#11
This week is probably the first time the series has alluded to another of crime fiction's biggest selling authors, Agatha Christie. Even the setting to bring the individuals together has elements from "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" and "Sparkling Cyanide". Although the final conclusion makes sense after taking stock of the guests' answers and their various reactions to Kiyotaka's questions, it felt very rushed since everything had to be squeezed into the 24 minute window and there's no room for wasted shots. This is another episode involving a mystery that has no element of Japanese fine art whatsoever and probably the last, it's probably better than the previous one involving Kiyotaka's ex because it's much longer and the cast more diverse. Although barely mentioned in this episode, the pair have reached the point no one would be surprised they were dating each other had they announced it; the only stumbling block being Mashiro's conscious decision to draw a line between herself and Kiyotaka and Kiyotaka's reluctance to be more honest about himself. To be fair to him, telling her which day his birthday is of his own volition doesn't hurt their chances of their relationship progressing further. The outfit of this week's novel writer recalls the outfit used by the shut-in detective from Kamisama no Memo-chou. Considering how awful this week's gathering of individuals is, the unusual appearance is probably the only good thing to say about the intended victim. Next week is the last episode according to the schedule, and with a title episode like that I wouldn't be surprised if Kiyotaka has it out with Ensho at the last. There's a bit of fourth-wall breaking in Kiyotaka's off-hand comment at the end, but I can't see any other way that would have drawn out Mashiro's signature ending line for each trailer announcement. |
|||
|
|||
DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
|
||
|
So they are just letting some attempted murderers go free?
|
|||
|
|||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
||
The intended victim doesn't want to press charges at present and didn't say anything about turning them in at a later date, so... |
|||
|
|||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
||
|
#12 End
Rikyu's biological father gets his turn in the spotlight. Turns out he's a descendant of one of the warrior clans of times past and his father has anachronistic viewpoints of how an old family is run and the place of women in such an arrangement. Regardless of how viewers might find the Saito clan head, he does provide the setting for the adaptation's final opportunity to engage in Japanese art history. A good eye needs lots of practice to get even better and Mashiro Aoi has certainly had the latter. It was just an excuse in previous episodes to hide her embarrassment, but it looks like she really paid attention when getting those extra lessons on Rikyu vases. She aced the test and even received acknowledgement from a museum curator so her career path has opened up a few new possibilities should she choose to take them. I was wondering why Ensho didn't show up, but I wasn't surprised he did since this was the perfect episode to put in one last duel between the two rivals. This time he lost, although the record between the three of them is more or less even. If Kiyotaka's assessment of the screen painter is an accurate one, then there's no way he could have identified the value of the unsigned screen painting since it's something that would have never registered in his line of sight. Mashiro's quip about Kiyotaka being envious of Ensho's gift at copying might hit a little closer to the bone that at first glance. Although at its heart a Shoujo romance series, its selling points of showing viewers the sights in Kyoto (ironically this last episode is the one exception), Japanese art history, lots of fancy parties and a central pair who are absolutely indecisive at making the next significant step in a relationship make it a charming watch for light entertainment. The mysteries don't always take centre stage, but I'm not sure that was always the point of this series. At any rate there's room for further storytelling since Mashiro is not yet in university and will almost certainly want to follow in Kiyotaka's footsteps. Neither Kiyotaka nor Ensho are done with needling each other so that's something to focus on in any future adaptations. As always, home video sales will determine if sequels are in the offing for this particular franchise. |
|||
|
|||
|
DuskyPredator
Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
|
||
|
I really did not care for this show very much, that I would go so far that it bored me. I just little interest in the antiquity thing. I really don't see how the villain in this show could continue to act, he was a criminal who created forgeries and stuff, I can't see how the second he showed up they could not hold him until police came. The villain never had any real consequences to his actions. Actually, the more I think about it, the show lacks quite a bit of any consequences by the way of law getting involved, like the series did not want to have that sort of thing in their girly anime, but still needed to have some stakes.
I think that I am just not the intended audience, which I say while I can think of multiple shows released on the same day that actually accomplish appealing to me despite that. Probably the best bit of story was when she resolved her ex-boyfriend and best friend situation, which she started out with. At least felt like a situation that was easy to follow and personal, but that only goes so far. I give a rating of Not really good (4/10), I would say it just failed to capture my attention, but more than that I think I had problems with it. |
|||
|
|||
|
poltroon
Posts: 104 |
|
||
|
I think it's funny how expectations really color how we feel about a show. I've come across multiple reviews that were grumpy that the show didn't really use the mystery genre that it promised, but for me, since I tend to avoid mysteries, I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't and I liked it more than I expected. I enjoyed the antiquing and the sights of Kyoto, but I'd agree that the storytelling kind of rambled because the creators seemed to lose sight of what they were trying to make. It had lots of nice moments and I'm not sorry to have watched it even if it's not going to make my long term favorites list. I'd watch another season if it came out.
|
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group