Saturday, December 18, 2010

Psychic Detective Yakumo ep 1 & 2

Well fall exams have come and gone and i've got a bit of time on my hands. Recently i've been playing a lot of Leauge of legends but i also decided to pick up a bit of anime as well. I caught a few episodes of detective Conan and watched the Clash of Red and Black arc. (Seriously Detective Conan is the only show epic enough to do a 14 parter arc)

Looking back at Divine's anime list Psychic Detective Yakumo caught my eye, no doubt due to all the Detective Conan I've been watching.

SPOILERS BELOW. No spoilers in the impressions section

Episode 1:

we start with an introduction to our protagonist Yakumo who can see ghost. Hes commissioned by a girl named Haruka. After Haruka and 5 of her friends went to an abandoned haunted school house, one has died and one more has fallen seriously ill, as if shes been possessed. through various clues, like miscounting the number of people present due to not all of them going inside, Yakumo finds out the killer of the spirits in the girl is responsible for the death of the other friends. He eventually tracks it down to Haruka's teacher and saves her just in time with the help of another spirit. its later revealed that Haruka has a twin who she inadvertently killed, and wanted to apologize. Yakumo reassures her that her sister isn't mad, because it was her sister that helped him save her.

Episode 2:

Continuation of the story, we find that the possessed girl's father paying Yakumo's bill after the spirits left, which he feels he deserves because he indirectly caused them to leave. We learn more about Yakumo from his uncle whos taking care of him, and strong hints that Haruka has a crush on Yakumo. The story ends with another small mystery solved at a temple.

Impressions: (no spoilers)

Well if your looking for a detective show like Detective Conan, look elsewhere. Thats not to say the story isnt interesting. Its really hard to get a feel for everyone's character because everyone is so reserved and has their own reasons to keep secrets. Theres also a side story with a man trying to resurrect her daughter, which will probably be an underlying plot throughout the season.

Yakumo is obviously an attempt at a jerkass protagonist, on the level of Kazuma or Inuyasha. But to be honest, hes not that much of a jerk. Hes just more cold and reserved and seems to enjoy teasing Haruka, but other than that, hes acutally very caring, especially for the feeling of the spirits he can talk to.

Haruka is a fun character. Shes happy-go-lucky and very sweet. One thing that bugs me a bit though is her huge eyes compared to well everyone else in the show.Its also seen in Yakumo's child cousin, so maybe its to show off a childish side of her. It definitely makes her look cute so I'll let it slide. I'm just wondering if it acutally means anything, seeing as eyes are kinda a big deal in this show.

The show seems rather episodic with just a slowly building plot hiding in the back. It might work for this type of show, it might now. Either way this has given me enough reason to stick with it, at least for a while.
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