Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11349 |
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Episode 8
Wasn't Kobayashi wearing a dress when he arrived last week? Did he stop to change clothes before entering the murder scene? oO |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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This episode felt a lot more tone deaf than the previous ones, trying to make the comedic-relief character become one Twenty Faces', but also keep being the weird annoying/loud character. Imagery was really top notch though, and it really saved the episode. I wish the whole formula thing was better though, just having a character tell us they can predict the future with a formula is just such a leap I can't really put my head into believing. It sounds completely ridiculous even in this world.
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zztop
Posts: 645 |
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This episode, based on a story not available in English translation...
Does anyone know what the source story, Terrifying Mistake/ Osoroshiki Sakugo is all about, and how it relates to the anime's story? All I know is that it's a short story published by Rampo in 1923. |
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Jacquipuff
 Posts: 274 Location: Silver Spring, MD |
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I was curious as well, so I attempted to translate the summary from the Japanese Wikipedia article, using an online dictionary to help with the kanji I don't know. If anyone actually knows the story, or has a better grasp of Japanese and notices any errors in my translation from the Wikipedia page, feel free to correct me. Putting it under spoiler tags, just in case. spoiler[Kitagawa and Nomoto have been rivals since their schooldays. When they were students, they were rivals in love as well as in their studies. Kitagawa's family ran a boarding house, and the two boys, along with many of their friends, were in love with a girl named Taeko who stayed there. All the boys would often visit Taeko at the boarding house, but they all thought she would choose Nomoto, who she seemed to like the best. But, she ended up marrying Kitagawa instead. Before long, Kitagawa and Taeko had a child, but their happy life took a turn for the worse when their house caught fire. Kitagawa grabbed their child and ran out of the burning home, calling for his wife to follow. But for some reason, after managing to escape, Taeko turned around and went back inside the burning building, where she died. Koshino, a friend who lived in the neighborhood, told the grieving Kitagawa, "Before Taeko went back into the burning building, there was a man who spoke to her. He looked like one of our friends who would visit Taeko at the boarding house." After confirming the identity of the man who led Taeko to her death, Kitagawa started formulating a plan.] And that's where the Wikipedia summary ends. But seriously, if anyone who has a better grasp of the Japanese language than me wants to take a stab at correcting the mistakes I'm sure I made, please feel free to do so. The summary had quite a few rather long sentences, and the longer the sentence, the harder it is for me to translate (the very end gave me particular problems)...but I'm fairly sure I got this at least half correct, so for now, here this is, for anyone who is interested. 
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2606 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Thank you, Jacquipuff! That actually does make some sense in the context of the episode, given spoiler[the supposedly dead man's return. I wouldn't be surprised if the return of the "dead" was somehow a factor in the resolution of the original story, since Edogawa loved twist endings. Plus he used that device in "The Ghost," an early Akechi short story.]
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haguruma
Posts: 1 |
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That's pretty much what it says, only that spoiler[Taeko's family ran a salon near the boarding house the students lived in, if I remember the story correctly. Also, Kitagawa was never completely sure who the culprit was, he just assumed to know since he thought that Nomoto would be the only man out to destroy his life out of spite over losing Taeko to him.] The story continues something along these lines (I'll heavily abridge here): spoiler[Kitagawa concludes that there are three men from his student times who loved Taeko: Igami, Matsumura, and Nomoto. Taeko had a pendant, in which she put Kitagawa's picture when they married. Before confronting the suspects, Kitagawa creates 3 copies, one with a picture of each suspect inside. He quickly stops suspecting Igami and Matsumura, since they seem innocent to him. They each invite him to a drink, apparently worried about Kitagawa's mental state since the incident.. So he concludes without confronting them with the pendants. Nomoto is behaving quite different. He seems to be in a daze, his eyes bloodshot with lack shadows under them. Nomoto silently sits by while Kitagawa tells of his theory that Nomoto made Taeko jump back into the flames by convincing her that her child was still inside. Kitagawa then takes out the pendant and shows it to Nomoto, claiming that this is proof that Taeko always loved Nomoto and he had just killed the love of his life. Nomoto shows a short look of horror and then falls silent. Kitagawa leaves him under the impression that his plan had worked and he had destroyed Nomoto mentally. A little while later a letter from Nomoto arrives home. Kitagawa reads it and goes insane himself. The letter reads: "I am very sorry. I am very busy due to my work recently, but to fall unconscious during a conversation is not like me in any way. I understand that you have been in pain since the passing of your wife, but your story is hard to believe still. You should not torment yourself any longer and maybe seek out a retreat. PS: I have included the item you left at mine. I understand that you assume Matsumura to be the culprit, but he is not one to act out such dark urges. Please calm yourself." Attached to the letter is one of the fake pendants. It is the one with Matsumura's picture inside, so it becomes clear that Kitagawa had shown Nomoto the wrong one. In his confusion whether this letter was the truth, a lie using Kitagawa's silly mistake, or whether maybe Koshino had been lying about having seen a man in the first place, Kitagawa is driven completely insane.] Similar to "Scenery of Hell" the episode and the shortstory the title was borrowed from have almost nothing in common. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, sometimes I just wonder if their references to Ranpo aren't a little bit style over substance. |
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Jacquipuff
Posts: 274 Location: Silver Spring, MD |
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@haguruma
Ah, thanks a lot! Yeah, that does seem like a much more complete story, I wonder why the Wikipedia article only summarized up to the point I mentioned? |
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LinkSword
 Posts: 188 |
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This show just dived into the next level of terribleness. Sasuga Seiji Kishi.
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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Kishi is the director, not the writer, and for the most part the show looks okay (I really like some of the visuals), the pacing is decent, etc. It's not his fault that the writing sucks. |
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bobob101
 Posts: 201 |
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For me, Ranpo Kitan became my Anime of the season based on how strong the first episodes were, and while I can agree the season isn't one of all standout episodes, as both an atmospheric and stylistic work Ranpo is one of the best shows I've seen in a while.
Of course I was predisposed to like this show since Ranpo is my favorite Japanese author, I like him even more than writers like Haruki Murakami or Yukio Mishima (seeing both Ranpo and Mishima's take on homosexuality is a very interesting topic). When recommending this series, I always say that if you like weird murder not-really-mysteries you will like Ranpo Kitan even if you haven't read any Edogawa books. But what a coincidence, the people who really like this show are also really into Edogawa's writing!?! I am definitely in the small percentage of people who absolutely love this show, but to me Ranpo Kitan is a show that I am just glad actually exists. I'll leave off by saying "Hey, why don't you read some Ero-Guro stuff? Don't you miss being horrified and disturbed by literature? There might be some nice furniture for you to pick up..." |
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1242 |
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After watching the first episode, I decided this show wasn't for me. I might yet try out some of Rampo's works someday, so I didn't want this show spoiling a bunch of surprises.
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D00dleB0Y
 Posts: 120 |
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I want to apologize in advance for posting on this thread really late, I’m just wondering why the detective Kagami pretended to be talking on the phone with his sister in episodes 2 and 3 if she had died long ago. Did Akechi not know Kagami’s sister was already dead, or did his sister die sometime after episode 3 but before episode 4?
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2606 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Honestly, I thought it was a sign of his mental state - that he only thought he was talking to her, but in fact was not.
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