Shoushimin Series

Jougorou Kobato has a habit of inserting himself into other people's problems. After realizing his detective skills are neither wanted nor appreciated, he makes an agreement with his shy friend Yuki Osanai to become ordinary together. Now entering high school, they aim to be perceived as regular people, yet Kobato cannot help but fall back into his deductive ways when faced with everyday mysteries.

Unfortunately, mundane occurrences are not all the duo stumbles across. As they go through their school days trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves, Kobato and Osanai at times get caught up in incidents that put their plan of a peaceful, average life at risk.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Osanai, Yuki Main

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Kobato, Jougorou Main

Umeda, Shuuichirou Japanese

Doujima, Kengo Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Urino, Takahiko Supporting

Uenishi, Teppei Japanese

Osanai's Mother Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Yoshiguchi Supporting

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Nakamaru, Tokiko Supporting

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Houjou, Tomoko Supporting

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Ueno Supporting

Takamori, Natsumi Japanese

Hayashi Supporting

Miura, Chiyuki Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Endou, Kazuki Producer

Reviews

Nov 21, 2024

section9necrosis

Recommended

SHOUSHIMIN completed 8.62/10

"we r just arrogant high schoolers"

P U R E - P E R F E C T I O N


I was originally gonna start this review with this (when I started ep 9)

"I am gonna first talk about the thing I HATE ABOUT THIS SHOW, is that it's suppose to be ordinary, and how many people hated the 'filler' eps those were my best eps, as that is what it's suppose to symbolize and not this whole ass hard core criminal storyline, cuz this then just turns into child detetvie trope, detection q, conan, kindaichi etc"
...
But after completing ep 9, my heart went steady again, and I was proved wrong, that NO, THEIR IS NOT A SINGLE THING WRONG WITH THIS ANIME, not ONE

With the quote above(start of the review) , it made it clear that the show is, was and will be ABOUT CHASING THE ORDINARY as stated in the title



I was hoping for something hyouka esque


I got something diff completely which just shows yonesawa's writing capabilities, his these two works r WORLDS APART

Coming to the world

So. Much filling and vibrance in a world which is exactly empty,

I have seen shows, post covid prods which visibly become empty, desolate, this show, literally. At most u can see two characters for most of ep, but still it's so filled in rich, lived in world, the rusty pavements, the cocao milk marks in cup,

In the ep6 where kobato and waw-toh-sawn were sitting in the ramen shop, it was literally them and still assets

But
The giggles, the counter remarks, the sound, te chatter, the speaker whistle, cooking sounds and no music mind u, literally made it fkin LIVED IN


And this is the diff between rdr2 and gta v, and why I always prefer rdr2 as best games every created, and gta not even in the barrel

This anime gave a vibe of ONE OF A KIND Jdrama and a great kdrama, IT FELT REAL but animated at same time


I got mislead into thinking by people, that it was actually not that good, by Mal reviews and people in this group, but Damm oh Damm what a complete 360 turn of events FOR ME SUBJECTIVELY

I still dont understabd the 7.31 score, I can't justify it


Here people want DIFFERENT ANIME, than just generic predictable brain rots


This was literally diff, this is their ages x their GENERATION'S

Sagrada reset, zaregoto, monogatari, bunny senpai, SUBETE f, kakshigoto

And they treat like this

Coming to characters

Just wanna talk about one

Dojima = watson banter ( a play on classic CASE BRINGING CHARACTERS)

He was meant to be watson
(waw-aww-toh-sawn), without doubt, not the observer but the one who brings the cases

Regarding the "mysterjes", if we can quantify it like that

I could connect to the mystery at a much more personal lvl, cuz that's literally what I do and used to do, posisbilites IN "HOW CAN I SUBVERT THIS situation" , how would I respond, how can i eat the extra shit without anybody suspecting or feeling doubtful, how can i successfully copy notes without them knowing or understanding even if they can see me doing it



S2 IS ANNOUNCED, and the world is STILL okay, everything still hasn't gone to shit


IT OUTDID ON ALL PARAMETERS, this is anime, this is what we stand on


GREAT FUCKING SHIT

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 25, 2024

Marco_Yooo

Mixed Feelings

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Honobu Yonezawa is not just my favourite japanese author, but one of my favourite authors in general. His amazing “Koten-bu” series (Also known as “Hyouka”) drew me in with it´s small scale mysteries, great characters and the overall atmosphere. This season, another famous work of his got an anime adaptation and from the outside it looked like this show will follow up in Koten-bu´s footsteps. But did it deliver?

Story – 6/10

This is eerily similar to Hyouka and it hurts this show a lot. The setting, the characters, the pacing, the structure and everything else feels like another version of something he ... has already done. You just cannot stop comparing the two with each other and unfortunately, Shoushimin is far inferior to it´s predecessor. The little mysteries are constructed with similar effort, but the writing as a whole has taken a step back. It just feels a little bit bland and unrefined. The cases do not get enough explanation and some of them leave questions unanswered. This probably happened during the transition from novel to anime, which is a process that is very hard to do, especially in a genre like mystery, where every little remark or sentence can be of extreme importance. The show starts pretty slow and takes a long time to get going. I also think that there are some issues with the tone of the series. In one episode, our main characters sit at a table and eat cake, and the next episode someone almost gets killed with a knife. If you do not commit to one of these directions seriously, they both just feel out of place.
I know comparing this show to something as beautiful as “Hyouka” is not really fair, but even without doing it, this show has some glaring faults.

Art – 8/10

The art is actually really good. They did this very interesting thing with the aspect ratio, giving the whole show a more cinematic feel. The close-ups are beautiful and the show is constantly experimenting with the camera and the surroundings. They also did this cool thing where our main protagonist envisions himself as the culprit, so he follows their steps himself and even wears their clothes. Nothing here is quite as outstanding though, and most of that is because the relatively small and inexperienced Studio Lapin Track lacks the insane amount of outstanding creativity that Kyoto Animation did. This is still their best work so far, so there is definitely an upswing!

Sound – 7/10

The OP/ED combination fits the show extremely well. I actually think this might be the only time this show out-trumps Hyouka, if even by a small margin. They are animated fantastically and set a perfect tone for the show itself, especially the ED. The BGM however does not hold up as well. A lot of the important scenes lack music, and the show does not have these one or two outstanding little tracks that play during the mysteries.

Characters – 7/10

This is a hard category to rank. First, let´s talk about our main Character, Kobato. i really, really did not like him. His backstory didn´t really speak to me, the way he acts is super unrelatable and i think he is a huge step-down from Oreki from Hyouka. There is room for development so I won´t write him of completely but so far, he really missed his mark.
The same can not be said about his friend, Osanai. She was actually really damn interesting. I always love it when there are characters that don´t seem to fit into one of the established character archetypes that have existed for a long time in the anime community. Osanai is mostly a big mystery, but when the show finally delved deeper into her intentions and she reveals her true demeanour, it gets really interesting. She alone might be the reason for me to come back to this show once season two arrives. Other than that, the side characters were alright. Doujima is always nice when he is on screen, but he did not receive that much development so far. The “villains” were absolutely comedic and could not be taken seriously. This also has to do with the insane tone-shifts that this show goes through during it´s climax.

Enjoyment – 7/10

I definitely see potential here. I just love these kinds of small-scale mysteries to much and it is always a treat when a show piques your curiosity, even just a little bit. Season two has already been announced, and I am willing to give this series a second chance to fully win me over. I really want to love this show…

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 1, 2024

Cayusashi

Not Recommended

Funny

If shoshimin has no haters, I'm dead.

Shoshimin is genuinely one of the most boring anime I have ever watched. Gsarthotegga's review said it best; this show is an absolute nothing burger.

Kobato and Osanai are cardboard cutouts who talk as if they have some crazy, wild, dynamic backstory between the two of them making them change their life and become ordinary. So much of this show is them talking about nothing like it's the most high stakes adventure of their lives after they decided in middle school to change for the better when in reality they're solving mysteries like, "how was the hot cocoa made?" ... and "who ate the spicy candy?" It feels like I'm watching paint dry and every minute is excruciating. When we do see glimpses of their supposedly crazy lifestyles, it's the most normal interaction between middle schoolers ever. And don't even get me started on the lame twist of episode 9 and how nothing actually changes because of it.

At least the technical aspects are slightly better. I could tell there was signigicant effort put into how the series was portrayed visually. As much as possible is done to make up for the complete lack of anything happening. The second worst element of this series however, is the aspect ratio. For seemingly no reason other than to feign being cinematic and save money, the choice was made to letterbox every episode. Half of the screen is taken up by giant black bars which adds nothing. Only in the opening is anything creative done with it, and even then it's the bare minimum.

Shoshimin isn't bad per se, but it commits the crime of being so boring it hurts. I can't believe it was approved for a second season. The only reason I completed it is because it was 10 episodes, but I should have just dropped it. I don't recommend it to anybody. Don't waste your time.

3.6/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Really short anime series to watch (less than 12ep)

by lainnvx

50 Entries · 16 Restacks

Less Than 12 Episodes (3)

by Gino99

50 Entries · 67 Restacks

Normal anime with normal plots for normal people

by ImNotAnOtaku1

15 Entries · 6 Restacks

Second Season of 'Shoushimin Series' Announced for Spring 2025

The tenth and final episode of Shoushimin Series (Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary) ended with an announcement for a second season on Sunday, scheduled for a Spring...read more

Sep 14, 10:00 AM by Vindstot | Discuss (22 comments)

Summer 2024 Simulcast List [Update 6/6]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Summer 2024 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Jun 28, 2:58 PM by Snow | Discuss (15 comments)

	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Aug 10	85 replies	by YahyaBekaoui »» Dec 4, 1:16 AM
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Sep 14	162 replies	by Starpudding »» Nov 28, 9:56 AM
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jul 20	82 replies	by bydazai »» Nov 17, 12:00 PM
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 7	87 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Nov 6, 10:15 AM
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Aug 3	68 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Nov 6, 7:42 AM