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

Doujima, Chisato Supporting

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Yoshiguchi Supporting

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Osanai's Mother Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Isawa, Hasemi Supporting

Kawase, Maki Japanese

Houjou, Tomoko Supporting

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Ueno Supporting

Takamori, Natsumi Japanese

Kawamata, Sanae Supporting

Osanai, Reo Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Endou, Kazuki Producer

Reviews

Sep 2, 2024

KiyaHaru

Recommended

Preliminary (8/10 eps)

There are much needed to be said about SHOUSHIMIN, or perhaps, it's rather of what have been said by others, especially when akin to numerous series that offer a similar premise of which I prefer not to disclose nor associate those series I was infering to, considering the virtue of fact that while it may be enjoyable to draw a comparison along with its pros and cons out of the blue, it appears to lack common sense and irrationality to begin with. Ergo, such a tiny bit dazzling but with the cutthroat of spectacles series simply is unmatched to any of those.

Such a storytelling gives ... an incredible perspective when it comes to the narrative, plot along with its twists, characters, environmental background, and premise being taken to have livened up the show, and all of these require a flawless recipe to captivate the audience about this show. Simply said, it has what it takes to outlive the expectation given by its predecessor though I would rather not to give any per usual as a thumb rule I adhere to when watching a show. The transition is smooth and accurate, the way scenes switch from one to another is a beauty to anyone's eyes - these are one of the best, thus coupled with a soothing and relaxing but still consistent pacing, the plot blends itself akin to a creamy sauce melts inside your mouth when you eat a cake. The premise that is thematically slice of life albeit with major mystery and minor suspense and action themes gives such well-proportionate ingredients to slice the living out of a show to put it roughly.

For the enjoyment, it was peak. By the time you drown yourself into the show, as the wall between audience and characters is disappear, it is as if you soak yourself into a cake that balances the taste of between sour and sweet, giving the entanglement of relaxation, to satiate your own appetite, especially given that the plot alone is revolved around foods, beverage, and culinary recipe, much fitting for those whom may have an inclination to savour any of these digestive ingredients without eating them with pleasure, including the fact that this show alone, despite calming and relaxing, also is serious and somewhat tense, of which gives you an ideal state to ease your boredom.

Also, it is better not to expect anything out of Shoushimin, especially action with a lot of plot twists, complicated plots, or some exaggerated drama with a lot of conflicts - you aren't watching shounen nor shoujo, but a show that resembles reality. Sure, you may call it 'boring' or 'average'. However, this most likely determines your attitude towards life experience - if you consider this show as boring, this then rather implies this whole experience you've been living: You see your own life as one. And no, this is hardly an iyashikei as the show on itself still has a suspense here and there, despite not as much. One more thing: Never, ever, compare it to Hyouka.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 13, 2024

Ba-Cii10

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (9/10 eps)

🟡Summer 2024
This is probably one of the most underrated anime of this season, although is there really anything to appreciate here? Overall, this series seems to be a victim of the fact that there is already a similar anime by the same author that stole the hearts of many people, but I haven't watched Hyouka so my review will not compare these two titles.......



So... the plot is that our duo of slightly (really very) eccentric high school students with extraordinary detective skills "try to live normally" what does that mean? it means that they cannot interfere in other people's affairs and solve their problems (puzzles) ... but they always do it without a moment's thought and the anime itself does not really give the viewer a sense of why they want to be perceived as normal at all, the main goal of this story that holds together all these episodes based mainly on the puzzle, seems poorly built and senseless. Some of the dialogues seem as if our heroes were some superhuman beings who for some reason have to lower themselves to the level of humans.

But still...
The characters, dialogues, atmosphere, animation and the puzzles themselves are enjoyable.
Overall, most of the time this anime is an extremely slow, calm and simply relaxing SoL that surprisingly does not focus only on school nonsense and gives the viewer a breather by expanding the action to the entire peaceful town (with some exceptions) in which our heroes live, everything seems so homely and slow.
We observe the daily lives of the characters, who are not too many in this anime, but each one gets the right amount of time, which is mostly used for dialogues that are great/sometimes a bit monotonous but still, thanks to the direction it is really enjoyable to watch.
You will not see here the exaggerated reactions typical of anime or fan service, unless you count the existence of the protagonist as that.
Our duo, despite a certain sense of superiority and rather exaggerated self-control, is likeable and full of character, they are slowly built, this anime does not pour out a lot of information at once but doses it appropriately, gradually, we learn that our characters are not what they seem at first glance.

The formula of this anime is one riddle per episode, the riddles usually start and end in the same episode and generally serve to some extent to develop the characters.
Although the plot revolves around everyday life and does not really go anywhere, the characters simply exist in their own strange way, not rushing into anything, there are also longer plots that concern something more exciting and are a nice break from the slight monotony that someone might feel watching the characters solve riddles about trivial matters.
Ok...the puzzles are not about important things, but that's what makes this anime seem unique, it looks at the seemingly boring and calm reality that most of us live in and tries to find something interesting in it, you can feel like in your childhood years where thanks to your vivid imagination, everything seemed more interesting, the characters in this anime delve into something so absurd, for a moment they forget that it's ordinary and boring, they get into it and take it seriously, this dissonance between an ordinary insignificant thing and how seriously the characters take it, has a certain charm to it.
Really, I know it's not for everyone but I see some beauty in how an ordinary hot day when you're just eating cake with a friend can turn into something exciting without adding who knows what, we just have a boring reality and a vivid imagination of our characters. The way they are solved seems quite unpredictable, you really wonder "how did he make this fucking cocoa" and you enjoy following the course of this absurd "series of deductions" of MC, although some conclusions may be nonsensical, far-fetched, without proper support, based on fragmentary information and it may as well turn out to be something else, however MC is sure that he is right and it always turns out that he is, at the same time sometimes MC does not do some obvious thing, just so that the puzzle is not solved too easily.
If I had to find fault with something else when it comes to puzzles, it seems to me that the fact that Kengo (MC's friend) is always involved in these puzzles somehow and he is the one who usually assigns them may seem tedious, it would be better if MC accidentally got involved in them in random places, observing everyday life and finding a puzzle in them, I think that something like that could add even more charm to this anime.


But back to the theme of this anime....

It really seems completely irrelevant and incoherent.
Starting with the fact that MC always engages in all these puzzles without a moment's hesitation despite his serious approach to this matter of "being normal" and the only moment when he is able to hold back/is reluctant is not when his friend assigns him a puzzle "who ate the donut" but when his best friend is in serious trouble, only then MC has to be convinced to use his skills....yes

Generally the reason why MC decided to be normal is the fact that "people don't appreciate him, they don't want his help" but he just says it and the anime itself doesn't show in the present any negative effects of MC engaging in puzzles, as if the characters are having fun and nothing happens because of it and then they dramatically say "God, I did it again, I promise it won't happen again" (it will repeat throughout the anime) or MC will be excited "oh I did it again, but I'm rude, I'm playing with fire" xDD
REALLY our duo's approach to the issue of being normal, it seems like a couple of superhumans who are above all these human issues, have to lower themselves to the level of humanity despite seeing the absurdity in its existence, because there is no point in being better in a world adapted to ordinary people where the stupid common folk do not even notice your superiority and try to bring you down to their level....yes, maybe I am prejudging but really, the whole theme of being "normal" is a bit like that, I expected some analysis of human nature and idk, celebrating ordinariness like riddles do (from my perspective) and I think I got a bit of "elitist" gibberish which in itself may not be bad but the inconsistency and general senselessness of it all, does not allow me to engage 100% in the story.

But still...
I think this anime is quite good and the characters and their interactions are really fun to follow.
MC and Osanai are a duo of eccentric teenagers who don't fit into normal society, while MC is still quite normal and has friends, Osanai is a complete weirdo and it seems that she can only get along with MC who is her shield from uncomfortable situations.
Although most of the time, mainly at school, their relationship is quite calm? However, it seems that in everyday life outside of school they are more open and show their true character, they compete with each other and are not so nice to each other that they throw up, which is really fun to watch, additionally it is refreshing that there does not seem to be any romantic relationship between them, just a pair of super and intelligent friends.
As I said earlier, we don't have too many characters here, especially the important ones who get any development, but looking at the number of episodes it was a good decision.
For me, the most important asset here is undoubtedly the character of Osanai who introduces the most confusion and emotions to this anime, she clearly has the most character out of the entire cast and watching her on screen is simply pure pleasure, on the one hand a charming and shy girl who is obsessed with sweets, and on the other a strange, vengeful and terrifying genius who will destroy your life if you cross her. Unfortunately, sometimes her relationship with MC seems poorly written, for example... Osanai is sad and runs out of school saying where she will be waiting, MC guesses that it is something serious and what does he do? Yes, he ignores her and goes to solve another puzzle that his friend assigned him, not to mention the countless previous times when he interrupted a meeting with Osanai because that fucking Kengo wanted something, MC ignores his friend and nothing comes of it, although it should affect their relationship... ahh poor Osanai.

Apart from that:
-The animation is brilliant, one of the best in this season which is surprisingly high level in this respect.
The backgrounds are extremely detailed and have great compositions.
The cinematic strips, despite the initial discomfort, give an interesting atmosphere.
The animation is very detailed, all these everyday things are so well animated, you look at someone pouring milk into a cup and you say WOW, the same with the animation of gestures and facial expressions of the characters which help with the dialogues.

-The dialogues are very well written, you just flow through them and everything seems natural, a lot of conversations about nothing give more realism, additionally each time the direction diversifies them great, the camera is alive and looks at the characters from different angles.
We also get a nice presentation of emotions using the change of environment which during the dialogue, visualizes what the characters are feeling at the moment.
Although one might complain about the overly calm tone of most of these dialogues, they have a calming effect and do not throw you off the rhythm of this anime with some typical, over the top reactions.

- The soundtrack is great, it perfectly builds up the calm mood and tension, some themes are really dark and atmospheric, as if they did not fit this SoL anime but they work.



Well, even though I was as positive as possible about this anime and overall I liked it, I can't rate it higher than...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐❌❌❌❌

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 11, 2024

whatever_2002

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (4/10 eps)

It reminds me of "Koga Maryuin's Last War" that's adapted for people that are livinig in a 1st World Country so they actually do find themselves caught in different awful disasters such as "Bloody Mуstery Of Hot Chocolate" or "What is a small talk script that is written by AI but without I".

So, high-schoolers pretend that they are middle-schoolers that actually have mystic-overwordly powers syndrome, but wanted to become normal people that actually does not have mystic syndrome so they can stop pretending to be middle-schoolers that pretend to be high-schoolers that pretend to be normal people that pretend to be high-schoolers that did not ... have mystic-power syndrome during their middle-school years so there is nothing to pretend to?

Coming-of-age thingies can be (and should be) a bit edgy and cringy. We all been there and done that. That's a beauty of that one can say. Of being alive and ever-changing and trying to grow up or you know. A bit of drama (or a lot of it), some delusions and hopes that are shattered and different types of confrontation with others and yourself.

This show is kinda stripped of anything like that except for good visuals. This show shoud be named "Fruits basket ultimate" and converted to some kind of rose-colored AMV about some rose-colored stuff in a world without even microbes.


I suppose that this show was generated by AI and sponsored by Nestle, cause there's nothing except for different kind of sugar and it's differently colored substitutes. Nothing of substance. This show pretends to be a show that is a no show. That's why it is 3.

Some of the most soulless parts of this show are even scarrier than "Made in Abyss", but not in a good way.

In case they (studio or whatever/whoever) tried to create an animated series about psychopaths that instead of senseless physical violence use sighs and moans and cold-blooded stares deep into each other retinas (w/o any sexual context) during consumption of sweets - they successfully did so. Very uncanny and very valley.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Why didn't the author just continue with hyouka? Dragevard - Sep 8	13 replies	by KeepCalmAndMal »» 2 hours ago
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 7	77 replies	by uewbn7 »» 5 hours ago
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Aug 17	60 replies	by Otamegane0988 »» Sep 11, 2:24 AM
	Just because the author who made previous title is famous, doesn't mean the anime will be good. restush - Jan 14	46 replies	by Pokitaru »» Sep 9, 1:02 PM
	Poll: Shoushimin Series Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Aug 10	79 replies	by perseii »» Sep 8, 8:11 PM