Shoushimin Series 2nd Season

First-year student Takahiko Urino aspires to write something truly original for the school newspaper, Furnado Monthly. Encouraged by his girlfriend, Yuki Osanai—a seemingly average second-year student—Urino convinces the newspaper club to let him pursue an unusual story. A case of small-scale fires has escalated into serial arson, and Urino intends to predict the locations of future fires and identify the culprit. But his obsession with the case does not always reflect well on the club, and Osanai may not be so fond of her boyfriend's growing arrogance.

Meanwhile, another supposedly unexceptional student, Jougorou Kobato, spends uneventful days with his girlfriend, Tokiko Nakamaru. However, when he witnesses a fire tied to a past case and Osanai herself, Kobato cannot help but slip back into his old, less-than-ordinary habits in search of the truth.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Osanai, Yuki Main

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Kobato, Jougorou Main

Umeda, Shuuichirou Japanese

Doujima, Kengo Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Urino, Takahiko Supporting

Uenishi, Teppei Japanese

Nakamaru, Tokiko Supporting

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Hisaka, Shoutarou Supporting

Fukamachi, Toshinari Japanese

Asoya, Hitomi Supporting

Sekine, Akira Japanese

Fujidera, Makoto Supporting

Ishii, Takahide Japanese

Hisaka, Kazutora Supporting

Miyamoto, Mitsuru Japanese

Ushio Supporting

Ichikawa, Aoi Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Ozawa, Fumihiro Producer

Reviews

Jun 21, 2025

ZNoteTaku

Recommended

Well-written

“Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or Act of God?”
~The Detection Club Oath

When the mystery novel was establishing its own inner circle of authoritative figures, there were several rules which the “masters” insisted upon. Knox’s Commandments, as they were so-called, have been clung to not necessarily as immutable absolutes, but rather as a true way to “play fair” with the reading audience, that it is in ... fact plausible to always present the reader with the chance to solve the mystery by making the game itself adhere to clear standards that should not be infringed. Therein lies a particular kind of glamour for both the story and the audience, that the detective exists beyond any emotional matters other than the sheer fun or love of “the chase” or “the answer,” and that the reader can congratulate themselves on staying on-track with the author or outsmarting their friends who are reading along as well. In this construction, the mystery novel is the greatest ego test as a reader. The consequence, however intentional or unintentionally it might be, is that they are ironically free of any consequence. The fiction and the reading experience became so much about “solving the mystery” that the detective assumed a lofty place both in and over the narrative itself. They were so untouchable as both an intellectual figure and an actual person inhabiting the story. The ego is unchecked.

To put it in other terms, the detective is involved, but only insofar as supreme judge in light of the facts. The Oath may have spoken about avoiding “Divine Revelation” and “Act of God,” but the detective as a figure was itself divine.

Yonezawa Honobu clearly loves detection club mysteries, but if *Hyouka* was any indication, he is not nearly so concerned with the whodunit aspect. That’s not to say that it’s unimportant (each mystery both in it and *Shoushimin* does have an answer that follows “the rules”), but rather that it’s not the point. Yonezawa loves clawing through the actual DNA and structure of mysteries as a larger phenomenon, understanding their pieces, people, and how they do, do not, and perhaps most significantly, how they SHOULD interact. It’s not for an answer – it’s for a meaning. *Hyouka* positioned Oreki Houtarou as someone who learns that mysteries occupy the everyday, and however mundane they may be, it’s always worth looking for The Future before it becomes The Past. He optimistically moves from impersonal to personal. Involved.

In that spirit, *Shoushimin* seasons one and two not only are more than worthy to stand alongside *Hyouka* as one of anime’s great mystery narratives, but I’d daresay that it’s perhaps an even grander display of Yonezawa’s dissection. In its ever-thicker and ever-thornier knotting, it doesn’t take long to get there. Caught within the aftermath of the kidnapping plot that closed season one, Osanai and Kobato have reached an impasse and gotten themselves involved with others, Urino and Tokiko respectively. Old habits die hard, as each aloof smile from Kobato or Swiss-clockmaker-precise dessert bite from Osanai so indicates. Fires break out, property gets destroyed, and Urino eyes an opportunity to investigate! And all the while, Tokiko tries having some kind of normal relationship with Kobato, but why the hell can’t he stop smiling or be even marginally upset?

*Shoushimin* season one prided itself on its intensive insularity. Regardless of whatever was happening at any given moment, mystery or otherwise, almost everything concerned its two leads (and occasionally Dojima). With the two leads now apart, the world opens to aerate the closed room, and with it, we see the sense of just who these two people are in reference to others. They do not exist in a vacuum, divorced from the weight of their words and consequences. Characters get mad. One-sided displays of affection are nearly acted upon. There’s a candid phone call about how a friendship is probably ending when the night is over. *Shoushimin* season two cares about how the detective perceives themselves and their interactions with the universe as actual tangible objects and spaces. It says that if you’re a detective, you are involved simply by existing as a detective (and a human being before that), and like it or not, things are royally going to suck for at least one person—if not more—in the midst, whoever they are. Compared to the days of Knox’s Commandments, the detective is, and causes, a mess, facing consequences for their relentless pursuit of the truth. You found the truth, but what actually happens here? Mysteries have never looked so glamourous with such deliberate lack of glamour.

Being a detective, by necessity, brings friction, which Yonezawa and director Kanbe Mamoru exploit to deliciously tizzying ends. The cast glimpse mysteries with the same kind of innate thrill, but the vibrations in the air chart perpendicular courses. Urino’s full-fledged and unapologetic charge to find the arsonist setting all those fires is stoking not only his own ego, but likewise burning many others he’s coming across. As Dojima says point blank in episode one, “You’re too quick to jump the gun.” And given how irked Urino is that the greenhouse fire is small-scale, he has to follow the trail in the hope that it validates his own effort and time sink. Shouldn’t EVERYONE want to get behind him, to stop such damages? And besides, it’s not as though the fires are his fault since he’s so unconnected.

After all, he’s just the detective!

But for all the supposed non-involvement of The Detectives™, *Shoushimin’s* visual language pointedly involves them with their detached constructions of reality. There is a certain kind of perverse pleasure in Gifu as a setting: it is physical and with the thickest of tight art direction but, paradoxically, empty. Its spaces, its denizens, and even its denizens’ memories are employed as tools to reconstruct the closed room reality of the mystery, the real world treated itself like toys. Brazenly theatre-driven blocking with abstraction and lighting staging (something that I readily confess an aesthetic weakness for), freezing reality, and observing horror from a distance with a kind of calmness and pristinity too weird to be normal. It is in this realm that *Shoushimin*, driven by Kanbe’s sheer confidence in its ideas and theming, claims its territory. So long as any of the characters feel some kind of detachment, they can be at home here. The time there is fleeting though, and eventually, you or somebody else will have to answer for all the tinkering you did there.

In Kanbe’s hands, Yonezawa’s story splays everything in both the macro and the micro, allowing its slew of mysteries and detectives to chart their courses and dirty the sandbox. The fate of Tokiko and Kobato’s relationship may not have the same gravitas as fires sprouting everywhere and the eager beaver gumshoe springing into action, or an incident that happened several years ago seemingly repeating itself. But wherever there is a mystery, there is someone trying to solve it, and it’s only a matter of time before the world itself or its people get effected because of the detective. An arbiter or investigator of justice, ready to point the finger at “the answer,” must by necessity dirty themselves. A popular light novel series once said that the detective was already dead. *Shoushimin* says that the detective, or ANY detective for that matter, simply existing causes problems.

Just don’t let one of those problems be messing with Osanai, okay?

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 21, 2025

Marinate1016

Recommended

Shoshimin season 2 is a perfect example of why you have to watch shows all the way through before passing judgement. I was a huge fan of the first season and really liked the first half of this season as well. Then there’s a big turning point around episode 7 or so that wraps up the first big case of the season and I HATED it. To the point I sorta became totally disinterested in the show, but the last 2 episodes completely changed my opinion on this season. I can now confidently say it’s better than season 1 by a big margin. If you ... can get through the at-times slow moving serial arson case, you’ll have one of the most satisfying conclusions to a season waiting on you. I mean my jaw was on the floor for the last two weeks with this one and now I am desperately awaiting an adaptation of the 6th volume. This is a must watch for any Hyouka fan or fans of well written stories with great dialogue and direction. Shoshimin doesn’t really feel like an anime, it has such a nice cinematic feel to it that transports you somewhere else and allows you to fully immerse yourself in the story. Not to be overly dramatic, but this really is “absolute cinema”

My experience with this second season of Shoshimin was such a mixed bag until the final arc. I loved seeing Kobato and Osanai dating other people because I felt their relationship in the first season was very toxic and bordered on codependency. Additionally, with their mental.. issues(to say the least), I felt like them being around each other would only encourage their bad tendencies and that they wouldn’t grow as characters/people. Guess who was wrong? Well, half wrong anyway. This season is pretty much one big build up to the realization that Osanai and Kobato are perfect for each other. They’re both deeply messed up individuals with a plethora of undiagnosed mental conditions, but they just work together so well. They compliment each other perfectly and by the end of this season it’s apparent, there’s no other partner for either of them. If it seems like I’m focusing intently on our two leads’ relationship, that’s because I am. It’s the very core of this series and what makes every episode so special. Their chemistry is undeniable, the way they exchange subtle jibes and the snarky replies, the attention to detail the author put into this story is amazing and it helps you fall in love with these characters.

There’s really two big cases in this season in contrast to last season where it felt like we had one every week or every other week. The first one, the serial arsonist case was enjoyable until the last third where I felt it started to drag. Could’ve done with it being an episode or two shorter. It ended up really just showing why our two leads belong together. The second, the hit and run incident is easily the best in the whole franchise. For the first time, the seemingly always in control Kobato and Osanai are genuinely stumped by a case and the twists at the end had me damn near jumping off my couch. I learned a lot about Osanai in particular during that arc that changed my perception of her, making the overall relationship and series even better. There’s so many subtle details and the sudden reveals.. just perfection.

Production values have always been one of my favourite aspects of this show and something that sets it apart from other seasonal anime. The letterboxd ratio giving it that film look, the subdued colors, the down to earth voice acting performances that feel believable, character designs, scene composition and direction.. this is a masterclass. If you’re a film nerd like me, enjoy the whole creative process, you’ll really find a lot of things to praise in this series.

I could gush on and on about the writing, characters and cinematic aspects of Shoushimin, but honestly if you’re reading a season 2 review, you probably already know what to expect from this show. It’s one of the best mystery anime and season 2 is even better than the first. A must watch for any mystery fan and a needed continuation for anyone who watched the first. It’s that simple. They might be completely unhinged, but Osanai and Kobato will always be iconic.

Shoshimin season 2 gets 10 out of 10

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 7, 2025

EntireInternet

Not Recommended

Funny

Spoiler

Season one of Shoushimin started as a great, slowly paced exploration of a pair with something not quite right. They were both off, trying to be a little less sociopathic and trying to fit in. Season 2 more or less drops this. They've both become full sociopaths. You could argue that the male lead is still trying to fit in but his way of doing so is beyond broken in how little he actually cares about anything. This is interesting still, if it was the focus. Instead it gets relegated to a side plot while the main story is about a new character on a ... power trip. The plot proceeds to humble him and our characters look awesomer for it! But...

Honestly? That's when it became a boring powerfantasy which is fine there's plenty of that to go around with so many of the isekai slop. For me I was hoping for something a little more out of a mystery anime though, than autism wank where the main character's autism is a superpower. I don't want to spoil anything but its basically two main stories in this season. The first one stretches itself too long, but sets up potentially interesting dynamics for our main characters at the very least. And the second one just drops the ball hard, has probably the worst mystery and motivations of the series. Most of this is in service of trying to make the MCs look cool and smart by instead making everyone else kinda dumb or nonsensical. Instead of exploring these two very destructive people embracing their bad tendencies and the consquences, it celebrates them by making others seem even more insane/worse by comparison and ignoring anyone who's even relatively normal.

Visually it's a step down from the early visuals of the first season. Story telling remains slow when it should be ramping up, and focuses on possibly the weakest aspects of the show. Characters are poorly utilitzed. Don't recommend.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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