Tags
Animation, Anime, Anime Review, Beautiful Bones, Characters, Music, Opinions, Story, TW: Abuse, TW: Death, TW: Suicide
Listening to: Dear Answer – True (Beautiful Bones Opening)
This review is free of major spoilers, in the interests of being helpful to those who are considering watching the show in question.
CONTENT WARNING for some discussion of suicide, abuse, and death.
“Here, beneath the Kujou family’s cherry tree, is a princess who loves bones.”
I’ve always enjoyed a good mystery, and I frequently enjoy anime, but Beautiful Bones was actually the first pure “mystery” anime I’ve watched (for the purposes of this review, we’re not counting The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as a representative of the genre). So, while I certainly can review it (and am currently reviewing it), I don’t have as much basis for comparison. With that minor disclaimer out of the way, here we go.
This story takes place in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido Prefecture, where a rather odd pair of freelance investigators make their home. The first is Sakurako Kojou, a rather antisocial woman whose consuming passions include sweet desserts, loud music, and painstakingly assembling skeletons for display in her home. The other is Shoutarou Tatewaki, a rather hapless high school boy who serves as Sakurako’s assistant–and sometimes “guardian,” when her eccentricity gets out of hand.
Although their main objective is to find Sakurako more specimens, they frequently stumble across much more sinister situations: cold cases of murder or suicide where Sakurako’s talent as an osteologist shines through. Further complicating matters is Shoutarou’s confusion as to where the two of them stand in regards to each other: does Sakurako consider him a mere nuisance? A convenient helper? Or perhaps, an actual friend? Continue reading