Kindaichi Case Files Returns Episode 1
What They Say:
When a model who looks like Miyuki goes missing, Miyuki is recruited to take her place at a fashion show event in Hong Kong. Hajime and Miyuki go to Hong Kong, where they run into their friend, Saki… and Miyuki is abducted!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga by Yōzaburō Kanari and Seimaru Amagi with artwork by Fumiya Sato, Kindaichi Case Files (returns, in this case) is a sprawling manga series that has been going in since 1992 with sixty five volumes to its name so far. A good chunk of the manga came out from TOKYOPOP a decade ago when they went the “authentic” route, which was my first experience with the creators that left a hugely positive view of it for me across the dozen plus volumes that got released with its dense and complex stories of murder and mystery. The property hsa gotten some anime interpretations before, most of which returns for this incarnation, as well as some light novels and even a live action film. Mystery/murder material always has its place in Japan and in most cultures and Kindaichi Case Files definitely is one of the more interesting ones.
The show revolves around a young man named Hajime Kindaichi, who has a heritage in the detective business by being the grandson of a famous detective. With the help of his friend Miyuki, the two end up getting caught up in all kinds of mysteries along the way, many of which are certainly familiar, but it’s the trappings of it that made the manga so engaging since it sprawled over so many chapters. While he is a high school student, there are many times where he does feel like he carries beyond it and is just kind of bored with the high school routine because of his nature and deductive abilities. We get to see how he basically doesn’t do much in school because of this but he has amazing logic based abilities that even throws his teacher off completely, which helps to reinforce the rumors that his IQ is incredibly high. And that is, admittedly, a fairly common theme with gifted students dealing with ordinary school days and routines.
Thankfully, their days are broken up by the cases that comes his way as a man named Takigawa from Tokyo Girly Mode fashion wants them to go to Hong Kong to help in finding a model that went missing who looks like she could be Miyuki’s twin. With their friend Saki in tow, the trio head there to get things underway, as well as a little sightseeing as well, of course. Thankfully, the series has adapted to the times and isn’t stuck in its creation point as when we see the gang in Hong Kong, Miyuki gets captured and Kindaichi’s quick thinking of using cell phones and GPS apps allows him to track her down to some degree and to go through some hostage taking material through text, which definitely helps avoid the show feeling dated and out of touch. Not that a series taking palce twenty years ago would be bad, but it’s also good to get an up to date piece as well.
The hunt to find Miyuki leads to an interesting area as they actually come across the missing model and understand why she was being sought after and why Miyuki got caught up in it instead. This provides the expected plot points to be sure but it also fills us in a bit on the relationship between Kindaichi and Miyuki since Ran is so nice here and her polite form feels so good to hear coming from a face he usually associates with Miyuki and the way she is with him. You can tell easily that Kindaichi has a bigger interest in her, but it’s also not something that’s driving him most of the time. As it progresses, we start to get into the heart of the mystery – and the sudden murder – but for the most part the show does a decent job of throwing us right into things with just enough character material to latch onto in order for it to make sense.
In Summary:
Detective stories are always kind of dicey in a way for people as some will love them, some will hate and most will just nod and move on. I’m not a fan of these kinds of shows on US primetime or their various procedural types that we get, but I’ve long enjoyed a number of anime and manga interpretations. Kindaichi Case Files in its manga form really did a lot of great stuff over the volumes I read (and subsequently lost in a flood) but I never saw the previous anime incarnation. What we get here isn’t exactly by the numbers, but it plays well with the formula and allows the storylines to exist outside of a single episode, which is definitely its biggest plus since it’s not time compressed and forced. The opening episode gives us the basic introduction to the characters and throws us right into the thick of things since it’s not a reboot but just a new adaptation of the material that’s moving forward. It looks good with a solid kind of color to it, appealing animation and character designs that makes them feel like even as it deals with high school kids that they’re real people and not just flimsy or overly stylized pieces. It may not be a knockout series, but it fills a niche perfectly.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.