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| THIS IS A MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER. ---------------------------------------- This had to be one of the longest cases in the manga, and while there is a lot of things to unpack here, I still think the whole picture leaves much to be desired. I would not argue that is was necessarily bad, nor terrible - but 'mediocre' is a fine word to describe my fixed feelings about this confrontation. Case is decent, fine as a whole I suppose. I have not much to say about it, besides that I was never truly invested in this kind of 'Japanese treasure hunt'. Some of the twists and turns were effective, the narrative was also neatly tide together - it is just that the main characters' objectives, and especially their moral ideals never really interested me. I thought Riko's inner struggles were a bit redundant with what she went through in the introductory case. Sure, this was thematically justified (thanks to the rival character who came a bit out of nowhere), but it did not make for a compelling arc as a whole: it is a 'been there, done that' situation for a manga adaptation that is only five cases long. Speaking of the 'rival culprit', I thought he was really poorly thought-out, and unfortunately poorly written as a result. The guy was never particularly threatening (compared to other villains in the series), nor did he make for an interesting character study. This 'anti-Riko' has already been explored with previous characters. In fact, this whole series is primarly a succession of antagonists who reject Riko's ideals and moral standards. That is all well and good on paper, but that does not make for the most original narratives, does it? Plus, it is not like Riko's character has grown over the series: she always manages to challenge the culprit's minds, but never truly questions, nor puts into perspective what she has to go through in order to arrive to these conclusions. Her character feels quite shallow as a result: she has to overcome obstacles, and sometimes needs to think outside the box - but at the end of the day she always remains the same. Furthermore, in terms of her status as a woman, this case was really not the best. I get that it was time to give Yuuto (the Watson-type of character) greater scenes, and some heroic moments. What I do not get however is why the scenes and moments in question had to go against what Riko stands for as an independent woman. Here, she was merely seen as a prize for the two male leads: Yuuto being the one trying to save her from the malevolent culprit - culprit who was extremely questionable in the way he really hit on her. And sure, by the end, this was all a twist to help Yuuto realise his feelings to Ruko - to help him understand how and why her friend / love-interest matters so much to him. Here is the catch however: not only is it extremely 'cliché" (thus tiresome) as a narrative trope, I also do not see how such a twist can excuse the blatant sexism this narrative was a showcase for. I cannot buy the bad guy being the good guy all along, because what he did and what he said was completely inexcusable - and the series clearly lacks in gender awareness to turn the tables on his intentions. Here we are: 40 chapters in, and we end up in a subpar case rendered worse by some questionable narrative choices. The series was up to a promising start, but I cannot deny how disappointed I am thus far. The series has still things going for it, but it is certainly not as good as I imagined it to be. |
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