Hello and welcome Project Nitsuj’s annual Ani-ween month! When people talk Japanese mystery/horror writers one of the names that pops up is Taro Hirai. Better known by his pen name Edogawa Ranpo, the best way to describe this guy is the Edgar Allan Poe of Japan. He was a popular writer in the early to mid-1900s with stories often centering around mystery, horror, love, and the idea of justice. His most popular work was the Private Detective Kogoro Akechi series and his work would go on to inspire other works such as Detective Conan, Man of Many Faces, and Bungou Stray Dogs where a character is actually named Edogawa Ranpo. Over the years many of his works have been adapted into films and shorts, and in 2015 in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death, fans of his work pulled together and created the anime called Ranpo Kidan: Game of Laplace. Inspired by the works of Ranpo and produced by Lerche (Kino’s Journey 2019, Assassination Classroom, and Monster Musume), this anime tries to show a new generation just how impactful and great Ranpo’s work was and how it still inspires people to this day. Let’s get this strange game started. This is my review of Ranpo Kidan: Game of Laplace.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Speed to Masatsu” by Amazarashi who you might remember sang the 3rd opening for My Hero Academia. No joke, I actually liked this opening way more than I thought I would. The song just sets the mood for this anime perfectly and the flow and tone of the song is just great. When I first heard it I found myself going back and listening to it a number of times after watching the first episode and I never skipped over it.
The ending is “Mikazuki” by Sayuri. I wasn’t too fond of this ending when I first heard it but looking back it’s actually pretty good. The sad tone along with red horrifying images perfectly matches up with the anime and gives you a sense of both sadness and hope.
Episodes 1-5
The anime starts off with our main character Kobayoshi voiced by Rie Takahashi (Megumin from Konosuba) a boy in middle school (that’s a boy? I thought he was a girl) waking up to the sight of his teacher murdered in his classroom and he’s holding a weapon (well you’re not suspicious at all are you?). He takes this rather calmly if anything he’s actually happy this happened because his life has been so boring (oh I can tell you are going to be one of those MCs). He cooperates with the police with his best friend Hashiba voiced by Daiki Yamashita (Izuku from My Hero Academia. I know, I’m shocked too) not believing he killed their teacher (he also might be gay for Kobayashi. I can see why). The police call in Akechi voiced by Takahiro Sakurai (Reigen from Mob Psycho 100. Wow, this anime had a solid voice cast) a genius 17-year old boy who solves mysteries for fun and comes across as a cold-hearted person (he’s also a pill popper). Akechi knows Kobayoshi didn’t commit the murder (obviously, he’s still here) and takes an interest in him. A few days pass and class resumes (in the exact same classroom where the dead body was found. What. The. Fuck?). After school Kobayashi and Hashiba go to Akechi’s office which is an old record store on top of a building where Kobayashi says he wants to be Akechi’s assistant (one’s a pill popper the other’s possibly crazy. They’ll make a good team). Akechi says no but they work out a deal where if Kobayashi can solve this murder, he’ll become Akechi’s assistant. The police soon bust in and arrest Kobayashi because of new evidence in the form of human furniture found in the house of his teacher parent’s house. Apparently, the teacher was a murderer and Kobayashi is being accused as his accomplice (well the furniture does bring out the room).
In episode 2 Kobayashi proves his innocence. He tells the police that he received a call from his teacher asking to meet with him in the afternoon because he wanted to confess his love to Kobayashi (oh you are just 50 Shades of fucked up aren’t you?). However, when Kobayashi arrived the teacher was already dead and Kobayashi was gassed by the real killer and framed for the crime. We find out that the real killer was his classmate Hoshino who their teacher was secretly dating before he fell in love with Kobayashi (50 Shades of fucked up). The teacher had a habit of taking the people he loved and turning them into furniture to be with them forever (this isn’t love, this is disgusting). Hoshino wanted to be killed because nobody really cared about her except for their teacher and once he stopped loving her she decided to kill him and pin it on the person who stole him away from her (wow, all this done by a middle school girl. This is harder to take seriously than the philosophical talks they have in Magical Madoka). She gets arrested confessing to everything and Kobayashi thanking her for the fun game (you’re a little messed up Kobayashi. You know that right?) and becoming Akechi’s assistant.
In episode 3 someone has been kidnapping little girls and the police believe it’s the work of Shadow-Man (na na na na na na na na na na Shadow-Man~) a master of disguise who’s always helping little girls but he’s always a gentleman to them and never harms them (he’s also wears a paper bag over his face). So far 9 girls have gone missing and the police want Akechi to look into it, but he’s not interested so Kobayashi decides to investigate it himself. While he and Hashiba are out investigating they run into Shadow-Man who wants to help Kobayashi find the real culprit because he kidnapped a girl named Sachiko who was hospitalized for some time because of a rare illness and her father didn’t have the money to pay for her treatment. While she was hospitalized Shadow-Man came to visit her disguised as a kind old man and even as a nurse to cheer her up and he even paid for her operation (what a nice guy). Shadow-Man wants Kobayashi to disguise himself as a girl and get kidnapped where they’ll track the culprit back to his place and catch him (smart strategy. Scene here: https://youtu.be/HtJlM3starM). The plan works as Kobayashi gets kidnapped (pulling off the girl look quite well as expected) and wakes up in a house with other girls who are afraid to run away. We see that the kidnapper is some fat bastard whose family used to be a major player in the construction business but went bankrupt destroying his family. He now seeks family love by kidnapping girls calling them his daughter and his mother is completely letting him get away with this (worst mom ever). Shadow-Man comes in disguised as the mother where he finds out that the fat bastard killed Sachiko and 4 other girls because they refused to be his daughter (you…fat…FUCK). Shadow-Man attacks the fat fuck but he keeps getting beaten up until the police and Akechi comes in and take him out (give him capital punishment). Shadow-Man manages to escape the scene, but a tear runs down his face as he was unable to protect the happiness of a girl he cared about.
Episode 4 focuses on a vigilante by the name of 20 Faces who kills those who have escaped justice (so he’s like Batman except he doesn’t mind the blood). Because of this, he’s gained quite the reputation as a hero on the internet with a lot of people praising him. In the episode, 20 faces has killed 15 criminals in the last week and the police want to stop him. They give the case to Akechi who goes to see Black Lizard a female master thief in prison who’s both a sadist and masochist (first time I’ve seen an anime character do both). We see that she has a mad crush on Akechi so much so that just having the guy insult her sends her into a state of ecstasy and makes her wet herself (wow, I got nothing on her that sentence pretty much speaks for itself). In order to lure out 20 Faces they let that fat fuck from last episode go free (he’s still alive? Kill this fat fuck and use his body oil as fuel). Yeah, apparently since he’s considered mentally insane, they can’t put him on trial. He easily gets captured by 20 Faces and just when 20 Faces is about to kill him the same way he killed his victims Akechi comes in to stop him (no! Let him do it) where they fight and just when 20 Faces has a chance to kill Akechi he stops himself because of his code allowing Akechi to get the advantage and take him down where we find out 20 Faces is really Kagami the police superintendent (and. . . I’m not surprised, it was kind of obvious throughout the episode).
In episode 5 we learn the story of how Kagami became 20 Faces. Kagami lost his parents at a young age leaving him to raise his little sister by himself. He went to college while working part time eventually graduating from college and joining the police force (alright so far, his story is sounding like something out of a Batman comic). He was a good officer who worked up the ranks becoming superintendent and making a lot of arrests but unfortunately the people he brought in had all their trials dropped because they were considered mentally insane (which is a GODDAMN dumb rule! I don’t care if you are mentally insane that doesn’t excuse the fact that you killed someone and need to be rightfully punished for it. I say lock them up or give them the death penalty. I’m sorry but this rule pisses me off. If you say your mentally insane you’re basically saying I can’t be trusted around other people because I’m dangerous). His breaking point finally came when one of the criminals he arrested escaped from the mental hospital and killed his sister by giving her external injuries and hanging her body on a flagpole (oh you sick son of a bitch). Kagami came to see the law as pointless (he’s not entirely wrong) and became 20 Faces punishing those that deserve to be punished (I don’t blame him for doing this. If anything, I applaud his actions). He knew that he would be captured by Akechi one day so he wanted to punish as many people as possible including the person who killed his sister. Instead of just killing the bastard he tortured the bastard in his home subjecting him to the same external damage he did to his sister and then end him (man he really is like a Batman who doesn’t mind the blood). After hearing his story Kagami is taken away but before not he tells them that 20 Faces will never die (scene here: https://youtu.be/K5cGmoR_Ba4, as long as there are psychos who go unpunished by the law he’ll be there to carry out the justice that the law won’t handle). This sad episode does end on a high note, however. We see that fat fuck from episode 3 finally get killed in the streets by Sachiko’s father but I think it was Shadow-Man in disguise (doesn’t matter to me. The fat fuck got killed and I am satisfied).
Episodes 6-11
Episode 6 is a rather funny and crazy episode (and with all these sad episodes recently I could use something lighthearted). The episode starts with Kobayashi finding a kitten outside the office and taking it in but Akechi doesn’t want the kitten around because he’s afraid of them (haha so the badass detective is afraid of something). As they talk about what to do with the kitten Shadow-Man comes in with a bomb strapped to his chest which is set to go off in 40 minutes and he’s surprisingly calm about it as is everyone else (this kind of thing is commonplace in their world I assume. That or they’re just desensitized). Then all of sudden a baby appears outside the door with a note saying that the baby belongs to Akechi (alright whose the unlucky lady?) who the baby apparently likes. Of course Akechi denies that the baby is his and says that she belongs to one of the hookers that hang around the building. As they all try to piece what’s going on here all of a sudden the shop below them gets held up by some extremists demanding 300 million yen and a getaway car (okay was the writer playing a word game with his child/children, showed it to the director, and decided to animated it? Because that’s what this feels like. Randomness, crazy randomness). They all try to figure a way out of their predicament with each plan comically ending in Shadow-Man’s death until finally Kobayashi figures out the combination to the bomb and manages to save Shadow-Man however the bomb is still going to explode but Akechi throws it out in the nick of time (this has been an eventful day). We find out that the bomb was done by Black Lizard as a way to celebrate her birthday (the kitten, baby, and extremist those are just coincidences. Very very strange coincidences). The baby’s mom shows back up to reclaim her baby apologizing for all the trouble, the extremists get arrested, and the kitten finds a home in the agency much to Akechi’s displeasure.
In episode 7 it’s exam week for Kobayashi and Hashiba (dark days). While they’re busy taking exams Akechi is swamped with 20 Faces impostors popping up everywhere (leave a legacy and let others try to copy it). Last month there were 10 20 Faces and this month there have been 3 and now a fourth with an open letter of challenge to the police. This 20 Faces impostor has attacked a place called Panorama Island a theme park for adults run by the Komoda Corporation a corrupt corporation which works its employees like slaves forcing them to work 20 hours a day, exploits them, encourages corporal punishment and even forces them to worship their chairman like he’s some god (man, and here I thought Walmart and Sam’s were bad. I’m starting to root for this 20 Faces). The 20 Faces impostor challenges them to solve the crime so Akechi and Nakamura (Kagami’s former partner and senpai) go to the island where we see that the two who died were the company’s president and the head artist for the park. The two were basically crushed by large naked mannequins that were meant to move around and dance (you know, it honestly would have been more erotic to buy actual dancers. It would have been more expansive but at least safer). As Akechi begins his investigation Kobayashi and Hashiba arrive via helicopter with Kobayashi crossdressing again (oh come on that’s just shameless fanservice).
In the first half of episode 8 we find out that the murderer is a worker named Chiyoko who was used as the model for all the naked mannequins in the park (wow, she’s got a good body). She killed them out of vengeance for her friend who died because of overworking and Chiyoko demanded that they apologize to her family and compensate them for it (you really think these monsters are gonna listen to you?). Once the two saw her they wanted to use her body for the mannequins, so she signed away her body in order to get them to apologize to her friend’s family. Chiyoko sent the letter to the police hoping to get caught because she wanted the world to see just how creepy and messed up the mannequins were (uh, we came to that conclusion on our own). In the second half of episode Akechi talks about his past. He talks about his school days where he was seen as an outcast (geez I can’t imagine why) because of his intelligence. He never interacted with his classmates until he met his first and only friend around his age Namikoshi the first 20 Faces. Namikoshi was working on a formula that he believed would eliminate all evil in the world (well that explains why the formula is so flawed). Akechi took an interest in it and helped him complete the formula which they called Dark Star (looks like we got a few Star Wars fanatics here). But along the way Akechi recognized mistakes in the formula which resulted in 20 Faces a phenomenon where people would use the mechanism for anonymous judgement resulting in fiends of justice who can commit impossible crimes being born (yeah, I’m a little confused too). Akechi told Namikoshi about this mistake but he refused to listen and continued the formula until 3 years later when Namikoshi killed himself by self-immolation. After his death 20 Faces kept appearing right and left and Akechi was determined to catch them all not out of revenge but for his ego.
Episode 9 opens with Akechi showing Kobayashi and Hashiba the Dark Star where we get a better understanding of it. Basically, the formula can predict everyone and everything. What they’ll do, when they’ll do it, how they’ll do it, why, etc. Everything you ever wanted to know about anybody or yourself can be predicted by this formula (of course if we’re going by real world logic this formula just wouldn’t be possible due to too many uncertainties in the world. Plus they’re only just probabilities and it’s not like they’re cemented in stone and will happen no matter what). This formula resulted in the rise of the 20 Faces crimes and even after Akechi left the project Namikoshi still continued working on the formula until he killed himself trying to improve it evermore (kid, there are some things in this world man was never meant to tamper with). The formula now has many unknown areas that not even Akechi can figure out but once he does he says that he can put a stop to 20 Faces once and for all since he’ll be able to predict what the criminal is planning. Kobayashi decides to help him becoming obsessed with the formula worrying Hashiba since he’s been absent from school a lot (you should just confess to him and get it over with). Kobayashi figures out the formula by saying that Akechi needs to factor himself into the formula and sure enough this completes the formula and predicts the next 20 Faces a character by the name of Successor who is an avid follower of 20 Faces. At a ball set up to award a doctor named Mukata, Successor shows up to reveal himself as Minami a crazy nurse who would break the 4th wall and explain how the victim died in past cases (what!? You’re not a figment of my imagination who breaks the 4th wall?). Years ago, Minami’s brother was diagnosed with a seriousness illness she says Mukata caused due to his medical practice. The brother not wanting to watch his sister suffer anymore killed himself to relieve the pain (only to replace it with even more pain). She now wants revenge and has poisoned all the food at the party but Akechi comes in to reveal that the food is just regular food meaning no one is poisoned. Just before Minami can be arrested she reveals that she knew this would happen and that her getting captured was all a setup to reveal the original 20 Faces, Namikoshi is still alive.
So in the mother of all twists Namikoshi is still alive and is the true 20 Faces in episode 10. He manages to escape the police however he kidnaps Kobayashi before leaving (you sure the trap didn’t go along with him willingly?). Once alone Namikoshi talks about his sad past where he was beaten up not only at school but also at home by his father (this was his reality. A cycle of violence where no matter where he went he couldn’t escape it). His life however changed when he met Akechi who as I said before took an interest in his theory, protected him from the school bullies, and gave Namikoshi a place where he could be safe from the violence of the world (it was like an angel descending from Heaven and pulling him out from the depths of despair). Namikoshi continued to suffer abuse at school and at home with the only thing keeping him from going insane was being with Akechi at the library and working on their formula (some might say he developed romantic feelings for Akechi but I think it’s more of an admiration for the guy). One day the school bullies went too far on a prank and actually cut Namikoshi’s neck with the teacher doing nothing to stop them and just ignoring his cries for help (you are scum~). His parents were even worse. They didn’t take him to the hospital because their abuse would become public so they instead left him in his room to treat the bleeding and cut all by himself (I swear I would kick all of their asses). Namikoshi finally had enough and test his formula out on all the people who did him wrong. The results were perfect. Everyone died as a result of an accident (according to the law) just like the formula predicted (well I don’t know if you count getting crushed by an elevator and dying in the bath as an accident). Once Akechi found out what happened he tells Namikoshi to stop saying that if he continues one of them will die as a result of the formula (it’s really hard to explain even I have a hard time figuring out their formula but the flaw of their formula is a domino effect. Basically, you become 20 Faces to punish those who have committed a crime because the law refuses to do their job. The more crime goes unpunished the number of 20 Faces increases. Eventually, these 20 Faces will start killing each other because they will see each other as criminals whose crimes went unpunished. For example, I kill that fat fuck from episode 3. While I view it as an act of justice the world will see it as a crime that goes unpunished because I plead, I’m mentally insane and can’t go to trial. Therefore, you will become 20 Faces in order to punish me but then somebody else will become 20 Faces to punish you because you’re a criminal now and I think you get the idea. Namikoshi has basically created the perfect cycle of endless killing, one in which the law is powerless to do anything to stop it). Namikoshi was heartbroken by Akechi’s betrayal and refused to accept that the formula was wrong. He went into denial and continued to work on the formula by himself where everything including his fake death and Akechi’s success as a detective was all thanks to the formula (the formula is life. The formula is love). Namikoshi’s goal now is to show Akechi that their formula isn’t flawed and is perfect but in order to do that he still needs to complete the formula (this thing is still incomplete? Dude, you’ve pretty much created the perfect killing cycle what more could you do?) and to do that he requires Kobayashi’s life as the final piece of the formula.
In the final episode it’s Akechi vs Namikoshi. Namikoshi has staged his followers who have been wronged by the world in the past to jump off the clock tower to kill themselves as a way to tell people to rise up against the oppressions of the world. Every 5 minutes that Akechi doesn’t arrive at the clock tower someone will jump so Akechi rushes to the clock tower to stop this semi-mass suicide. It would be easy except everyone in the city has sided with Namikoshi and tries to stop Akechi from reaching the clock tower (there’s also a riot going on in town but one problem at a time). Hashiba steals a bike (who knew he had it in him) and gives Akechi a ride to the clock tower where Akechi tells Hashiba that the final move in Namikoshi’s plan is to have both him and Kobayoshi jump from the tower at the same time and let him decide who he wants to save (in the end it doesn’t matter who he saves he’ll be blamed for the death of the other. The world will see him as the man who let his best friend die or the man who let an innocent child die). Akechi reaches the top of the clock tower to meet Namikoshi and Kobayoshi who is okay with dying saying his life was very boring and how he really doesn’t have anybody in his life (what is with this kid? This is all coming from a middle school kid’s mouth) saying he’d rather have Namikoshi and Akechi make up and be friends again and if he has to kill himself to make that happen then so be it (a noble gesture but let’s be honest there are better ways to sort out their issues). Both Namikoshi and Kobayoshi jump from the tower with Akechi saving Namikoshi and Hashiba saving Kobayoshi berating him for being so reckless and not caring about his feelings (just kiss him already) and this actually causes a tear to fall from Kobayoshi’s face (so the tin man has a heart after all). With this Akechi has broken Namikoshi’s Dark Star theory but Namikoshi refuses to accept this loss and slips through Akecki’s hand to drop to his death. In the conclusion we see that half a year has passed since that night. There were many 20 Faces impersonators over the year but Akechi caught them all and eventually they stopped. As for Namikoshi’s body, never found (some say he survived the fall and went on his merry way. Others say he died, and his body was carried off by his followers to be worshipped like a god. Me, I don’t care).
Final Thoughts
Ranpo Kidan is not a really great anime but it’s not a bad one either. It was never meant to be a hit anime. Rather, introduce a new generation to the ideas and works of a great writer and to their credit it. . .somewhat worked. I actually did find myself becoming interested in the work of Ranpo and the anime’s philosophical dive into justice and how messed up it could be was good and interesting. The characters are alright, but we never learn that much about them such as why Kobayoshi is the way is. What’s his home life like, what do his parents do, what is his relationship with them are they distant or close? How about Hashiba, how did he and Kobayoshi become friends? Like I said these characters are alright, but nothing really makes you grow attached to them. The animation is decent, it’s like a cross between Danganronpa and Kino’s Journey. Surprisingly, the mysteries aren’t really all that mysterious as they never give us an opportunity to develop our own theories on who we think is the real criminal. This is most likely due to time constraints and budget but it would have been nice if we had a chance to follow the clues and come up with our own theories on who we thought was the true culprit. Where the anime really succeeds is showing us the themes of Ranpo’s work. How justice can’t fully be carried out on those that deserve it and how one’s love can be both beautiful but dangerous at the same time. These are all good themes and really hit you hard as there are people who take advantage of the justice system by pleading mental insanity to avoid punishment. You can’t help but side with the criminals at times because of how unjust and unfair the world can be.
Final Score
The final score for Ranpo Kidan: Game of Laplace is a 5/10. Nothing good but nothing bad either. Would I recommend this anime to fans of horror/mystery? No, it’s really not that scary or mysterious. Instead, I would recommend checking out the work of Ranpo as some of his best works have been translated such as The Fiend with 20 Faces, The Strange Tale of Panorama Island, The Boy Detectives Club, The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro, and many more. Some of the episodes in the anime are based off these stories so if you like mystery/horror novels definitely check them out. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj as more Ani-ween is to come. MUHAHAHAHA!
(Johnny the tackling Alzheimer’s patient from Scrubs): Who am I!?
(Nitsuj): AHHHHH!
*Johnny tackles Nitsuj to the ground*
(Nitsuj): And more of me getting hurt by random stuff is to come as well.
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