Review of Case File nº221: Kabukicho

Reason for watching: The show looks like it will be fun and pack with Mysteries too; I am looking for something lighthearted to watch for a change of pace. TL;DR: This show which revolves around mystery cases is fun at the start, then took an escalator down to the entrance of the psychotic realm, all while having the consistent subjects of what is considered as dark and taboo(in many cultures in our real world) as the underlying setting for most storylines. Due to its cross-overs with vastly different genres, that are strongly depicted in the show, if you were to slightly dislike one of them, thisshow will most probably be unbearable.

After watching the show and reading the reviews, I would have to say, this is the kind of show that picks its audience, not the other way around. IYKYK though~
I am going to have to put this forward and say that I was not watching this show wholeheartedly, I was in a state of grieve while I was watching this show. (Is just how I was trying to cope with my grief.) I will try to write my review as objective as I can to do the show justice.

Story: Concept and Execution
Concept
This is somewhat a parody of the famous Sherlock Holmes novels, there is of course many versions and adaptations throughout our time and we won't know what exactly the creators/author referenced, but they all revolves around Mystery cases. As in all parodies, there is of course the element of comedy, but this show incorporated both slapstick comedy and dark humour into the story. Comedy in general is already a very difficult genre to exhibit, but to weave two different types of humour into a story that possess quite a load of seriousness, just seem to be a lot of work. Comedy and Mystery are just two of the more outstanding genres that can be seen throughout the show. The unique environment the characters are placed in, the characters design itself, and the characters' background themselves are all interesting. With this setting and the mix of genres, this show is the definition of peculiar.
And so from my point of view, I can't see how this show is transphobic, in fact part of this show's peculiarity is its diversity of characters from all walks of life. (Well there is a diversity of characters, but not to say the show is about diversity, is really not about any particular group or category of people)

Execution (Story-telling)
The execution of this concept is considerably good, for all its strange events and characters that it has. They were able to smoothly transition from slapstick to mystery to dark humour to psychological to thriller and many more. The first half of the show is definitely more lighthearted and "detached", in the sense that is pretty much episodic and there's little personal involvement from the characters. Right at the ending of the first half is when the story took a turn and continued into the second half of the show with the characters getting more personal and more involved with the cases on a emotional/psychological level. In the first half, there are some dark humour lurking around in the background while slapstick plots are everywhere, but in the second half, the slapstick humour toned down a lot, but the dark humour did not "took its place". They did increase more storylines with dark humour, but not by a lot, instead the psychological aspect of the show comes straight up in your face, paired with the thriller element. So much so that, even while grieving, I knew that if I were to watch this on some other normal days, I would have been pretty emotional more than a couple of times. I actually have to stop watching the show a couple of days because I know I am ruining the show for myself by not being able to be invested in it wholeheartedly. But I do understand logically how the storylines unfold and how they linked to each other in the most simplest way. There is nothing confusing in how the events are told, yet the events all habour the mysteries that they should have properly. Very nimble way of executing the story. Throughout the show, there are many instances of mature and taboo subjects that appears on the scene so very "casually". Is only casual due to the premise of the show of course. The way the story throws in the mature-taboo contents in is quite smart, imo. They are not explicit and focused on enough to "scar" anyone, but they are not hidden like "easter eggs". They were conveyed on to the scenes like how natural the topic of "what new animes are there this coming season?" can be brought up in real life. They aren't taboo in the show, they are as normal as any of the characters in the show. Is possible that these scenes of "sensitive" topics are more noticeable to me due to my experience too. Hence, this is especially subjective, but I like (mildly appreciate it even) how this show engineered its depth into the story. The show is deeper and darker and more real than I had expected.

Art and Sound
Character art style is not the typical bishoujo, bishounen art. They are not pretty, they are not unique, they are just interestingly normal. Normal as in, they don't have all the same eyes where only the eye colour differs, or they don't have the same face shape where only the hairstyle tells them apart. Is almost like they are as close to real life as an anime style drawing can get ("almost" because I think the anime <Monster> have a more real life drawing style). Well overall the character art style isn't wack, is interesting but not eye-catching. The background and scenery on the other hand, are a sight for sore eyes. They are pretty, colourful yet not obscenely bright, and very detailed. Opening and ending scenes are very fun to watch too. Animation is also what you can expect of a quality work in this day and age. To sum it out, Art is above average with very good colour matching senses.
There are no issues with the Sound of this anime. VAs are good, sound effects are on point, opening and ending songs are above average. All is good.

Character
Well it is a parody of Sherlock Holmes, so the main characters' design are based upon the characters of the original of course, but with a twist. Sherlock is quirky, but in what way? That is in the way he deduces the mystery with a performance, his eating preferences of unthinkable combination, and many more. Can't really go on describing the characters since they are all so very distinct, I would have to write an essay just to cover them. So, yes, the characters may be based on the originals but they all have their own twists and are rightfully exclusive to this show. The characters design are mostly interesting and entertaining (there are some which are really boring and possess the personality of a mob character) that I wouldn't have mind a minor 2 - 3 episodes arc of these characters' origin story or development storyline. The show did at least dedicate 1 episode to some of the characters (But it focuses more on the cases than the characters). For the few characters that we do get to know more about their past, their backstories are refreshingly "normal" as compared to the current premise of their life in the show, which further highlights the peculiarity of the story. Hahah~ The show also established a vastly different relationship between the characters than that of the original. The twists in the characters, and their relationships to each other, along with a vivacious environment where the story takes place in, makes for a cast of mysterious characters (which also helps in making the story more dynamic actually). Out of those entertaining characters, only several of them are as deep as the story, or probably deeper though (the others are just the "you get what you see"). But then due to the execution of the story, there are hardly any character developments in the first half, and the second half only develops the very main characters (the minuscule development of the side characters are just predictable). There is a slight discrepancy here though, where the main characters that have depth develops and grow, they don't actually mesh well with the other characters. (Or maybe is just me, since the characters that have depth developed through a psychological narrative, I may have felt like they were more than just simple fictitious characters) But then, due to the nature of the show focusing on the mysterious cases to be solved, the lack of character development isn't very obvious, after all, the story itself develops well.

FYI: Moriarty is a main character in my opinion~

Hint: Don't expect anything from this show, let it take you on this ride~ Hahaha~